Week of 10-27-14

Wow October is flying.  This is what's happening in the Lucky Duck room.

Curriculum Stories:
Whistle for Willie
Corduroy
Noisy Nora

Fun Seasonal Stories for this week:
There was a little old lady who was not afraid of anything
Big Pumpkin

Small Groups
Sorting Pumpkins by Size
Creating a scarecrow
What do big kids need? What do babies need? sorting activity

Choice Time:
Marble Mazes
Taking care of babies
Trains on the rug
Making 5 pumpkins sitting on a gate
Blocks


Special Activity - Parade
The Lucky Ducks will parade up to central office at 9:30.  Children are permitted to dress any way that they like (a costume, silly hat, fancy clothes or a special outfit). Please let us know if you would like your child to change out of his or her special clothes after the parade as we will be playing outside weather permitting.  

Parking:
We appreciate your patience during our new parking process.  Please understand that I may still ask for an ID, even if they have the blue card, if I cannot identify the person.  This is done for the safety of your children and my peace of mind.  Your child's safety is my highest priority.  Thank you for your cooperation.

Preschool Life Skills #3
When a teacher gives you directions, do them right away.

Nursery Rhyme:  Jack Be Nimble

Important Dates to Remember!

We follow the Burlington Public Schools (K-12) calendar.

November

No School - Tuesday - November 4th - Election Day

No School  - Monday -   November 10th - Prof. Develop.

No School  - Tuesday -  November 11th - Veterans Day

No School  - Thursday - November 27th - Thanksgiving Recess

No School  -  Friday -     November 28th - Thanksgiving Recess

December

No School  - Thursday - December 4th - Conferences

No School  - December 24 - January 2 - Winter Break.  

School resumes on Monday, January 5th.

October 20, 2014

We are continuing our family unit through the month of October.

New Parking - Please let me know if you need additional cards for pick up. The cards are most helpful if they are in the windows as you are driving down the 'live parking lane'.

Today we read The Button Box, and I showed the class my grandma's button box.  They loved looking through the different buttons and making different collections by size, sheen, number of holes and colors.  New pictures have been added to our blog from today's choice time.

This week we will continue our work on our Family unit. In this unit students will be exploring and talking about families and the many different ways family members relate to and help one another.

Theme Concepts:

• Family members have role names (mother, father, sister, brother, etc)
• Some family members live together, some live in other places but are still family members.
• Grown-ups in a family take care of children. Younger children need more care. Older children can help take care of younger brothers and sisters.
• Families do things together that are fun.

The stories we will read this week include:
Corduroy - Don FreemanThe Button Box 

Small Groups:
Science - Making Ooblek with cornstarch and water
Language- Alphabet letter matching with vocabulary from our unit
Playdough - Making and counting pumpkins
Following Direction coloring farm page
Following Positional Word Directions by adding animals to specific locations to the farm.
How can I help my family?  The children will pick chores they can do to help out at home.

Choice Time:
Blocks - Closed
Sensory Table - BubblesDramatic Play - Taking care of babies in the nursery
Math - Button sorting Library - Book on Cds - Big Pumpkin

Family

Reminder - No School Monday, October 13th.  

Back To School Night
October 15th, 2014          6:30-7
Please join us for an overview of our curriculum and view some of your child's artwork.  We are more than happy to answer general classroom questions but this will not be a time for individual conferences.  We will have a sign up sheet for our December conference day.  We hope to see you there and at our book fair after.

Scholastic Book Fair
Tuesday        10:30-11:25            12:35-1:30
Wednesday   10:30-11:25            12:35-1:30          6:30-7:30 pm 

Online Book Fair Opens October 8th - October 17th at:
 http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/burlingtonschooldistrict


We are continuing our family unit through the month of October.

This week we will continue our work on our Family unit. In this unit students will be exploring and talking about families and the many different ways family members relate to and help one another.

Theme Concepts:

• Family members have role names (mother, father, sister, brother, etc)
• Some family members live together, some live in other places but are still family members.
• Grown-ups in a family take care of children. Younger children need more care. Older children can help take care of younger brothers and sisters.
• Families do things together that are fun.

The stories we will read this week include:
Corduroy - Don Freeman
Oonga Boonga - Frieda Wishinsky

Small Groups:
Handwriting - Making vertical and horizontal lines
Language- Some friends will be matching vocabulary pictures and some will rhyme vocabulary pictures
Math - Adding buttons to Corduroy's overalls
Art - Is there a difference when rolling a marble in paint versus an acorn?  Why?
Language- Alphabet Bingo
Math - Sorting buttons by attribute

Whole Group: What do babies need versus children?
What are ways you can help your family?

Choice Time:
Blocks - Closed
Easel - Painting Leaves
Sensory Table - Bubbles
Making Sensory Letters
Dramatic Play - Pizza Shop
Library - Book on Cds - Big Pumpkin

Family Week 2

Back To School Night
October 15th, 2014          6:30-7
Please join us for an overview of our curriculum and view some of your child's artwork.  We are more than happy to answer general classroom questions but this will not be a time for individual conferences.  We will have a sign up sheet for our December conference day.  We hope to see you there and at our book fair after.

Scholastic Book Fair
Tuesday        10:30-11:25            12:35-1:30
Wednesday   10:30-11:25            12:35-1:30          6:30-7:30 pm 

Online Book Fair Opens October 8th - October 17th at:
 http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/burlingtonschooldistrict




We are continuing our family unit through the month of October.

The stories we will read this week include:
Nosy Nora - Rosemary Wells
Peter's Chair - Ezra Jack Keats

Small Groups:
Using paint chips to match colors
Folding Paper
Exploring Sound Eggs - Plastic eggs with a variety of materials to compare sounds
Journal - Draw your family
Math - Color the correct number of babies

Choice Time:
Art- Decorating Pumpkins
Blocks - Wooden Blocks
Easel - Painting Leaves
Sensory Table - Beans
Alphabet Arc

Germs

Since we were unable to go outside to play today, we talked about Germs.  We talked about how germs can spread and what we can do to get rid of them.  To demonstrate this topic I put my hand in a plate of glitter than shook everyone's hand.  We discussed how the glitter moved from my hand to theirs just like germs.  We talked about appropriate hand washing (20 seconds) or sing your ABCs while washing as well as coughing into your elbow.  After we washed away our 'glitter germs' we watched a video of Curious George - Toot Toot Tootsie Goodbye.  

Back to School Night

Please join us October 15th from 6:30-7:00 for our preschool Back to School Night.  


This is for parents/guardians only.  We will be discussing our curriculum and preschool day and not specific details of your child.  However we will have a sign up sheet for our December conferences.  I'd be happy to meet with you if you have any concerns before our scheduled conference day.

Following the brief presentation, we will be hosting a book fair in our big room.  We hope to see you there.

Unit 1 Week 1

Happy October!  

Opening the World of Learning (OWL) is the curriculum we will be using for the remainder of our year.  Our first unit is all about families.

Reminder – Please send in 3-5 pictures we can use for our family tree project.

Families Theme

Children will be exploring and talking about families and the many different ways families relate to and help one another.  Through the Story Time books, children will hear about a boy who helps his family take care of his baby sister, a boy who realizes how much he has grown when a new baby arrives, a girl who behaves badly when she want attention, and a lonely stuffed bear who finds a new friend.  Besides listening to stories, children will begin to recognize initial sounds in words and identify rhyming words as they build vocabulary and comprehension skills.  They will also be participating in a variety of music, poetry, mathematics, science, and art activities during Center Time and in Small Groups.

Theme Concepts:

*Family members have role names: mother, father, sister, and so on.
*Some family members live together; some live in other places but are still family members.
*Grown-ups in a family take care of the children. Younger children need more care.  Older children can help take care of younger brothers and sisters.
*Children sometimes get angry at parents and may feel that their parents don't love them as much as their siblings.
*Sometimes grown-ups in a family don't like things that children do and tell them to stop or be quiet.
*Families do things together that are fun.

Books This Week:
Oonga Boonga by Frieda Wishinsky

Peter's Chair by Ezra Jack Keats 

   

Small Groups:-
-Math- How many people live in your house?  This is a 2 day activity with coloring, cutting, gluing and counting.
-How many ducks in the pond? A math counting book

-Exploring Books – Students will ‘read to babies’ while learning how to hold a book and to turn pages gently

-Art- Making trees for our ‘Family Tree’ project

Choice Time
-Dramatic Play- Pet Shop
-Sensory Table- Water Movement using squeeze bottles and funnels
-Art Table- Making shakers and Sound Boards
-Writing- Making names with foam letters

-Blocks- Building with wooden blocks and drawing the building on a white board

-Library- Books about families

-Easel – Painting pictures Peter's Chair

Social Curriculum

We will continue to work on each of the preschool life skills each week as we introduce new skills.  This week we are continuing with out PLS 1 - Response to Name.

Songs, Word Play, and Letters
-Five Green and Speckled Frogs
-If Your Happy

-Itsy Bitsy Spider

-Down by the Bay

-If your name starts with ____ raise your hand

-Poem - Stand Up