Thank you to all who helped with our playground clean-up! The playground looks beautiful and new! We appreciate all of your hard work!
Thank you to everyone for making our Teddy Bear Picnic a success and an enjoyable experience for the children! We really appreciate everyone who brought in food and prizes for this day. We could not have accomplished these activities without you!
Upcoming Interest and Curriculum Content
Our theme for June is “Transitions”; with this theme in mind, we will be talking about transitions in our classrooms, in our families, and in our community. We will be talking about planning special times together and taking time to relax.
June’s art curriculum will revisit topics covered earlier in the year. We will be focusing on working with clay this month. The children will be using their hands to manipulate the clay into different structures.
Now that we are spending more time outside we will be planting outside and watching things grow. Experiencing nature is one of our priorities whether it’s watching plants grow, finding bugs, watching the ants as they work, digging for worms, listening to the birds and seeing them fly or observing any other living thing we encounter. These are all important experiences for the children.
New Discoveries and Learning
Next time you are in the classroom please take a few minutes to enjoy all the wonderful art projects the children have done as well as reviewing our hallway. You can talk to the children about how they made their project, what material they used and what they made. This review process helps the children recall their work and use their language skills.
Reminders and Communication Regarding Care of Child
We will be discussing transition in June because many of us will experience change. Your child may be moving into a new room, or maybe they are staying home for the summer, or they may have a friend moving to a new room or leaving for the summer.
Scheduling play dates with friends who will not be in the classroom is a great way to strengthen the social relationships that have been developed.
Just a reminder to sign your child in and out for the day! Also, please let a teacher know that you are picking up your child and leaving for the day. This will help eliminate any confusion at the end of the day. Thank you for supporting us in this way!
Health and Safety Communication
Please be sure to apply sunscreen either at home or upon arrival at school and mark with a highlighter on the sign in sheet. This helps the children have a smooth transition to outside time and allows proper timing for protection from the sun’s rays. We will reapply sunscreen after nap before heading outside in the p.m.
Just a reminder, children are to wear closed toe shoes while outside and in the gym. This helps prevent falling on the playground/gym surface and supports your child’s safety. Crocs are allowed as long as your child can be active in them while in the classroom.
Suggestions regarding participating in your child’s classroom
While we spend more time outside observing and exploring nature, you can really help our exploration with an enthusiastic and positive attitude toward all living creatures. As adults we have all said “Yuck!” or “don’t touch that, it’s gross” as our children enthusiastically show us a bug, worm or something else they have found while exploring the outdoors. Your children will be delighted if you encourage their exploration and join the excitement.
Happy Father’s Day to all of our great dads!
Thank you,
Danette, Catherine and Roza
Preschool II June 2013 News Upcoming Interest and Curriculum Content
The topic of conversation will be families/vacations. If your family intends on visiting a vacation location we ask that you bring pictures for the children to share. We’ll be discussing how we plan special times together as families.
Clay exploration will be the art element for the month of June. Children will be exploring using clay tools and working towards creating a simple pinch pot.
Courage will be the core value discussed in small group. We will talk about being brave to do difficult things.
The group will be ending their exploration of continuant consonants R, V, Z, and L.
We have continued reading from Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White. We will be viewing the movie in the WECC theatre upon completion.
New Discoveries and Learning
Closure on Woodworking/Birdhouse Building Project:Children were partnered with one or two friends to collaboratively build a base, perch, and roof of a birdhouse utilizing wood scraps, wood shims, wood glue, and other natural elements such as sticks, pine cones, and branches. This project was conducted over a two month period with the first month purely focusing on how to properly use wood glue. First, we practiced with popsicle sticks. Children had to decide what number to count to, ensuring their wood glue work was dry and stable.Students enjoyed tremendously working with a partner.Children would frequently ask, “Is today the day we work on our birdhouses with our partners?”The children being able to cooperatively create a plan to enact for each work session shows how much each child has grown in their capacity to use their executive functioning and social relation skills! A planning task was to draw a “blueprint” of their plan before starting. Watch for bird houses in the display case and outdoor learning areas.
Handwriting:Our older friends who will transition to kindergarten have been working on upper and lower case letters in their names on daily sheets.
Planting grass, herbs, and other vegetables:Potting grass and observing the grass growth has been an enjoyable tactile experience for the children.Small groups have planted grass and wheat. They have observed and graphed growth weekly on their own charts. We also planted vegetables in the berm garden.
Please welcome new friends Henry Butz and Ryan Krueger to our class!
Health and Safety
SUNSCREEN: Reminder that it is the parent’s responsibility to apply the first application of sunscreen at drop off. Teachers will supervise the afternoon application before exploring the outdoor classrooms.
WATER BOTTLES: Please bring a water bottle that is labeled with your child’s first and last name. As the weather is increasingly becoming warmer and outside times are becoming extended, the need for the group to stay well hydrated during their outdoor exploration times is critical. We ask that families bring water bottles home nightly for sanitization.
CLOTHING: Please check that your child has the appropriate clothing if the need for them to change would arise.
A special thank you to all the parents who helped beautify our playground and berm spaces. We appreciate your partnership in creating a green outdoor environment. Children have illustrated before and after pictures of the playground while undergoing construction for our new turf.
A special thank you to the Zorn/Turrittin household for donating the turf.
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