Camping

Our Last Day of School is Thursday, June 16, 2016

Camping

We have begun our final unit for the year; camping. With the end of the year being so hectic and busy- I will post the books and activities for the entire unit at once. I want to make sure that you have all of the unit information in case time gets away from me! Please remember to check the “Reminders” page for any extra important information such as upcoming dates for the rest of the year!

Here are the theme concepts for this unit:

Theme Concepts

1.        Camping is an activity when people stay overnight in a temporary structure.

2.       You need to prepare for a camping trip in advance.

3.       There are many different places to go camping.

4.       There are different activities you can do on a camping trip.

5.       You need to take precautions to stay safe on a camping trip.

Questions

1.        What is camping?

2.       What supplies do you need to bring on a camping trip?

3.       Where do people go camping?

4.       What do you see on a camping trip?

5.       What activities do you do on a camping trip?

Books for the week:

Just Me and My Dad by Mercer Mayer

Bailey Goes Camping by Kevin Henkes

Absolutely Not by Matthew McElligott

Curious George Goes Camping by Margret Rey

Molly Goes Hiking by Ruth Shaw Radlauer

We’re Going On A Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen

Small Groups:

1. Patterns

2. Camping memory

3. Build a campfire art activity

4. Telling Campfire Stories

5. Just Me and My Dad Sequence

6. Tent Positional Book

7. Nature walk

8. Rhyming words

9. Camping sequencing

10. Campfire game

11. What goes camping? What does not go camping?

Choice time:

Our choice time activities will vary but will include: lacing, games, dramatic play area, blocks, puzzles, coloring, books, and sensory table.

Songs, Word Play and Letters

Our song selection will remain a secret as we are now working on our choices for our end of the year performance.

5 Senses Week 1

5 Senses Week 1

This week we will begin our next unit on the 5 Senses. Here are the theme concepts for this unit:

• There are 5 Senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell
• Each sense has a different job and sometimes, they work together
• Different body parts are associated with different senses
• Senses give us important information about the world around us
• Some people do not have full use of all of their senses
• Senses can be enhanced artificially

The questions we will be answering in this unit are:

• How do we find out about the world around us?
• What are the five senses?
• How do you use your five senses?
• What body parts are connected with each sense?
• How do our senses work together to get information?

April 26th

Books for the week:

On My Way to Buy Eggs by: Chih-Yuan Chen

Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young

Hero Cat by Eileen Spinelli

I learn with my senses by

Small Groups:

1. Journal Page

2. Elephant and mice (retell of Seven Blind Mice story)

3. Mixing Colors - Mouse Paint

4. Guess my Rule

Choice time:

Art Table: coloring Seven Blind Mice

Manipulatives: Lite Brites

Blocks - lego

Library Area: Spring and 5 Senses
Sensory Table: colored grass and monkeys

Writing Table:

Dramatic Play: Finding letters in a cave with a flashlight

Rug Toy: Puzzles

Transportation

Transportation

We are sending home the houses that were made as part of our last unit.  They had a blast using the houses with the roads they made to make neighborhoods and driving to each others house. I apologize as some of the houses are not being return in the same condition as they were sent in as they were played with for several weeks by the Lucky Duck friends. 

Transportation Weeks 1 & 2

During the next two weeks we will begin our unit about Transportation. Here are the theme concepts for this unit:

• There are many different modes of transportation
• Transportation is a way of moving people or things
• Transportation changes over time
• The choice of transportation depends on where you are going and what you are transporting
• There is public and private transportation
• There is land, sea and air transportation

The questions we will be answering in this unit are:

• What is transportation?
• What are the different modes of transportation?
• Why would we use different modes of transportation?
• Where would you find different kinds of transportation?
• How is transportation powered?
• What gets transported and how?

Week of March 21-25th - This week we are focusing on land travel

Books for the week:

Mr. George Baker by: Amy Hest

Freight Train by: Donald Crews

Small Groups:

1. Handwriting without Tears Traffic Light
2. Transportation Bingo
3. Cars counting book

Choice time:

Art Table:  Making Hats

Easel: Closed

Manipulatives: car counters
Library Area: Books about transportation
Sensory Table: water

Dramatic Play: kitchen

Rug Toy: Doll Houses

Block Area

Playdough

Week of March 28th

Books for the week:

Taxi Dog by Debra and Sal Barracca

Freight Train by Donald Crews

Small Groups:

1. Name Trains

2. Sorting same/ different

3. Transportation Vocab Book

Choice time:

Art Table:  build-a-tracks

Manipulatives: car counters - sorting by different attributes
Library Area: Books about transportation
Sensory Table: water

Dramatic Play: kitchen

Community Helpers

Week of March 7th

Books for the week:

Just Going to the Dentist

My New Neighbor

Caps for Sale

Small Groups

1. Matching Vehicles to Community Helpers

2.Bingo

Week of March 14th

Wilfirid Gordon Partridge

Just Going to the Dentist - Mercer Mayer

Small Groups:

1.Firefighter Positional Book

2. Sorting mail by size

3. Dentist Sequencing

Choice time:

Technology - Ipad and Smartboard Games

Dramatic Play - Making a neighborhood 
Sending Letters from our Post Office
Next week - The airport

Brushing Teeth - Students are using Shaving Cream on a toothbrush to practice brushing teeth (on paper)

Math - Making shape with Geoboards

Water Table - Squirting out the fire - Each flame has a numeral written on it.  Students put out the fire by squirting the flame the same amount of times as the numeral.

Community Helpers

Community Helpers 

No School Tuesday, March 1, 2016

This week we will continue our unit about Community Helpers. Here are the theme concepts for this unit:

• A community is a group of people with something in common.
• There are people in our community that help us
• Everybody contributes to the welfare of the community
• We are all members of multiple communities
• Some communities have their own traditions

The questions we will be answering in this unit are:

• What is a community?
• Who are the members of a community that help us?
• What communities are you a member of?
• How can you identify community workers?
• What can you do to contribute to your community?

Week of February 22nd-26th

Books for the week:

A Pocket for Corduroy

Librarian

On Thursday, the Lucky Ducks will take a trip to visit the Burlington High School Library

Small Groups

1. Sorting letters (2 day project)

2. Sequencing pictures from Corduroy

Stories:Feb 29-March 4th (No School Tuesday March 1st)

Wilfirid Gordon Partridge

Just Going to the Dentist - Mercer Mayer

Small Groups: Feb 29-March 4th (No School Tuesday March 1st)

1.Matching house numbers with mailboxes

2. Sorting mail by size

Choice time:

Art Table: Making Burlington - The Lucky Ducks will be creating roads to place their house on as well as street signs and other places we see in Burlington.

Manipulatives: truck puzzles

Blocks: cardboard blocks
Library Area: Books about community helpers
Sensory Table: sand

Dramatic Play: Laundry Center

Rug Toy: Legos

Playdough - Dr. Drill N Fill

Science Center Show

Thank you Wendy for teaching the preschool friends about animals from The Mitten.  Today we were excited to learn about an owl and hedgehog.

This week in the Lucky Duck Room:

Stories:  The Mitten
When it starts to Snow

Small Groups
Snowman Counting Book
Making heart holders
Rhyming words from tracks in the snow
Sequencing pictures of building a snowman and a snowman melting

Choice Time
Dramatic Play - Kitchen
Rug - Straw Builders
Writing Center - Heart stamps and Vocab words
Art - Decorating Snowflakes
Fine Motor - Lacing a Mitten
Math - Using numeral cards to create buildings with the same number of blocks

January 19, 2016

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Burlington High School received an anonymous Skype phone call this afternoon threatening the school.  The Emergency Response Team was immediately gathered, which includes school personnel and the Burlington Police Department.  After evaluating the situation, and due to the fact that many other schools in Massachusetts received this type of threat last Friday, and many more today, the police assessment was that this was a low level threat and most likely a hoax.

Students at the BECC were dismissed as a result of this threat (those students in our morning programs were already home).  All BECC employees did a fantastic job of keeping the children calm in this atypical situation.

At this time, school is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.  There will be an increased police presence in the all of the Burlington Schools tomorrow during both arrival and dismissal times, and we will update everyone if the situation changes.

Going forward, a reverse 911 call should go out to all families notifying them of any situation.  BECC staff will follow-up with phone calls to make sure that we make contact directly with you or another one of your child’s emergency contacts.

On Wednesday afternoon, please check your child’s backpack when he or she gets home as there will be a letter describing the specific BECC procedures in more detail.

If you have questions or concerns about this incident or your child’s safety, please do not hesitate to call me at 781-273-7632 or e-mail me atclark@burlington.bpsk12.org.

Sincerely,

Deborah Clark

Director, BECC