Connecting our classroom to your home
Welcome to the Pre-Kindergarten class blog! I am excited to share all of our classroom experiences with you and hope you visit our blog often! I hope that you had a wonderful summer and look forward to our first day of school on Monday, September 12th.
It is a pleasure to welcome you to the Visitation Academy family as the new school year opens. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as your daughter's Pre-Kindergarten teacher for the 2017-2018 school year at Visitation Academy. My name is Priscilla Hage and I attended Visitation Academy. So, you can only imagine how honored I am to teach in the school that I have always considered my second home. Before my years of teaching Pre-K, I assisted in Kindergarten for 8 years. I know what the expectations are for Kindergarten and so I am aware of what needs to be accomplished in Pre-K to ensure a sound foundation.
Back to School
Pre-K will begin on Monday, September 12th from 9:00 AM to 2:20 PM. We will assemble as a class in the Alumnae Room. Please be sure your daughter has a snack, lunch, and a change of clothes in a Ziploc bag with her name on it. On Tuesday, September 13th we will begin our regular schedule of 8:20 AM to 2:30 PM - with drop off and dismissal through the Alumnae Room.
School Days
This is an exciting time as your daughter embarks upon new adventures in the world of learning. The first week of school will introduce classroom rules and procedures and develop the idea that our classroom is a community with the common purpose of learning, growing, and becoming friends. To help your daughter make a smooth transition into her new environment, I will take the students on a "tour" of the classroom and familiarize them with the various learning centers that will be utilized throughout the year.
This month will focus on the theme entitled, "All About Me." We will learn the importance of what makes us special and unique and discover a lot about ourselves as well as our classmates. We will also have plenty of time for fun activities including playing outside on Visitation's beautiful grounds.
Please be sure to check your child's folder daily as well as our weekly "Tuesday Folder" for important news and information from the class or school. Thank you for all of your support - I look forward to meeting you and I'm delighted to work with your daughter this school year. As the year progresses, you will notice all the new skills your daughter will be learning. By June, she will leave with the social and academic skills ready to conquer Kindergarten!
See you soon!
Sincerely,
Ms. Priscilla Hage
This is an exciting time as your daughter embarks upon new adventures in the world of learning. The first week of school will introduce classroom rules and procedures and develop the idea that our classroom is a community with the common purpose of learning, growing, and becoming friends. To help your daughter make a smooth transition into her new environment, I will take the students on a "tour" of the classroom and familiarize them with the various learning centers that will be utilized throughout the year.
This month will focus on the theme entitled, "All About Me." We will learn the importance of what makes us special and unique and discover a lot about ourselves as well as our classmates. We will also have plenty of time for fun activities including playing outside on Visitation's beautiful grounds.
Please be sure to check your child's folder daily as well as our weekly "Tuesday Folder" for important news and information from the class or school. Thank you for all of your support - I look forward to meeting you and I'm delighted to work with your daughter this school year. As the year progresses, you will notice all the new skills your daughter will be learning. By June, she will leave with the social and academic skills ready to conquer Kindergarten!
See you soon!
Sincerely,
Ms. Priscilla Hage
September: First Week of School
The beginning of school transitions the girls from their summertime schedules to getting accustomed to the Pre-K daily routine. Our first week of school introduced the structure of the Pre-Kindergarten schedule: learning and adapting to our daily routine. Students took a "tour" of our classroom: learning about the different centers featured in their differentiated classroom. They especially loved the Science Center! We also got the chance to take a tour of the rest of the school and visited areas the girls will have their specials (French/Music/Art).
However, the most thrilling part of the day for them was they discovered our awesome playground located on the beautiful grounds.
Getting to know our classroom .. And each other!
Our second day of school went just as wonderfully as our first day. It is an absolute pleasure to have each and every one of your daughters in class. All of the students have become fast friends and will only strengthen their bond with time!
"Since there is nothing so well worth having as friends, never lose a chance to make them."
-Francesco Guicciardini
The girls were introduced to our SmartBoard. The excitement they had could be felt throughout the school building! We have been learning the uppercase/lowercase letter 'A' and exploring words that begin with the letter A. For their first SmartBoard task, the girls participated in a fun learning game sorting uppercase 'A' and lowercase 'A' apples in the appropriate basket. We have also began to use our writing center: practicing to write uppercase and lowercase 'A'.
We've already began our "Morning Meetings" and eagerly await adding to our Word Wall. One of the ways we have been counting numbers is by adding gum balls to our gumball machine for each day we are in school. Counting techniques and number recognition go hand in hand with handwriting. In a world where iPads and technological educational devices rule, it is especially important to continue to stress the importance of handwriting- even simply practicing to write numbers. Pre-K spiced up writing practice with rainbow numbers. Each students participated by choosing a particular color and writing number one "from the sky to ground" until it shined like a rainbow! This simple yet fun group activity helps students improve their form and hand control, and made things a bit more colorful interesting by using rainbow markers instead of pencils. Once we finished, the number was positively glowing!
Science and Social Studies in skills have also been implemented. The girls truly enjoyed their read aloud of "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn. In the story, Chester Raccoon doesn't want to go to school--he wants stay home with his mother. She assures him that he'll love school--with its promise of new friends, new toys, and new books. Even better, she has a special secret that's been in the family for years--the Kissing Hand. This secret, she tells him, will make school seem as cozy as home. She takes her son's hand, spreads his tiny fingers into a fan and kisses his palm--smack dab in the middle: "Chester felt his mother's kiss rush from his hand, up his arm, and into his heart." Whenever he feels lonely at school, all he has to do is press his hand to his cheek to feel the warmth of his mother's kiss. Chester is so pleased with his Kissing Hand that he--in a genuinely touching moment--gives his mom a Kissing Hand, too, to comfort her when he is away. Audrey Penn's "The Kissing Hand", was the perfect book for your daughters starting Pre-K. Afterwards, the girls completed a follow up activity pertaining to the story.
Not only are we getting to know our new friends, but we are also learning more about
ourselves. It's no wonder one of the main themes is "All About Me" in which each of the children become "Star of the Day" and star in a "Student Spotlight."
Following our daily morning meetings, students practice writing their names on our “Class Names” sheet. Each student is given a personalized sheet with their names on it where they can practice tracing the upper/lowercase letters of their name and attempt to write their own names in the proper format. It's an extremely useful tool for practicing our names and strengthening letter and word recognition. The following is one example demonstrating students tracing their names and then choosing the appropriate foam letters that match the letters in their name. They completed their task by drawing a picture of themselves, their families, and any hobbies or special talents that make them so unique.
Enjoying our beautiful playground ~ The Importance of Outdoor Play
The outdoors is the very best place for children to practice and master emerging physical skills. It is in the outdoors that the girls can fully and freely experience motor skills like running, leaping, and jumping.
Having a bit of fresh air contributes to learning
The outdoors has something more to offer than just physical benefits. Cognitive and social/emotional development are impacted, too. Outside, children are more likely to invent games. As they do, they're able to express themselves and learn about the world in their own way. They feel safe and in control, which promotes autonomy, decision-making, and organizational skills. Although the girls are only playing to have fun, they're learning
-communication skills and vocabulary (as they invent, modify, and enforce rules).
-number relationships (as they keep score and count)
-social customs (as they learn to play together and cooperate).
Learning to Appreciate the Outdoors
We can't underestimate the value of the aesthetic development promoted by being outside.
Aesthetic awareness refers to a heightened sensitivity to the beauty around us.
Because the natural world is filled with beautiful sights, sounds, and textures,
it's the perfect resource for the development of aesthetics in Pre-K.
In Visitation Academy's Pre-K Program, students learn much through their senses. Outside there are many different and wonderful things for them to see:
(animals, birds, and green leafy plants),
to hear (the wind rustling through the leaves, a robin's song),
to smell fragrant flowers and the rain-soaked ground,
to touch (a fuzzy caterpillar or the bark of a tree),
and even to taste (newly fallen snow or a raindrop on the tongue).
No wonder why when we think back to our own childhoods,
chances are some of our fondest memories are of outdoor places and activities!
When we show an appreciation for the great outdoors, the children in our lives will follow our lead.
EXPLORING SCIENCE: All About Apples
After learning to compare and contrast things, we implemented one of our September themes (apples) with a fun task in science. Since the girls have recently learned about using scales and the notion of measurement, we used our science scales to weigh a variety apples and recorded our results. We followed up one of our first science lessons with another apple project-decorating their own personal apples with three apple colors: red, yellow, and green.
Mathematical Thinking: Aside from focusing on the number one, the concept of AB patterns have been established in our classroom. A simple fun way to begin learning about AB patterns was by creating our Apple Wreaths, which required students to form patterns differentiating apples and leaves. We couldn't help but wear them on our way out to dismissal.
September Sound of Music: Pre-K's Music Class
Pre-K had their first music class and started singing and learning about the instruments. We are beginning to learn about classical music as well as famous music artists and popular songs. One of the music genres we explored was Jazz. Students developed an awareness of classic and modern jazz and discovered pieces by the famous jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong.
Pre-K Takes A Nature Walk
To celebrate the First Day of Fall, Pre-K went on their very first nature walk! The girls joined Mrs. Sarachman and I for a stroll outside on our beautiful grounds. Prior to our outdoor experience, we worked collaboratively to create a Fall Nature Checklist. Students put on their "thinking caps" and fully participated in our 'fall'-ing in love with nature experience, helping to make a list of the first signs of autumn. Naturistic objects such as acorns, chestnuts, pine cones, leaves, were just a few of the items on our check list.
We discussed the colors of autumn (how leaves have begun changing from green to yellow/orange/red/brown). We spoke about pine cones and learned that pine cones come from all different types of evergreen trees which explains the different shapes and sizes that they develop into. We included a technological component using our SmartBoard - which displayed charts categorizing and labeling different leaf shapes. Seeing this chart before we set foot outside greatly enabled the girls to classify the leaves they discovered as they began their "Signs of Fall" collections. We followed up our nature walk with a great read-aloud: "We're Going On A Leaf Hunt" by Steve Metzeger.
Our nature walk was so much fun! Can you spot signs of fall?
Singing along to our lovely leaf song "The leaves are falling one by one."
Who wouldn't want to end an educational nature walk with some outdoor play?!
OCTOBER
Letter Focus: O is for October; Orange (one of the colors of fall/leaves)
P is for Pre-K/Pumpkin/Patch/Purple (Another Halloween color)
Pizza; Popcorn; Pasta (Oct. is National Pizza/Popcorn/Pasta Month)
Pattern (AB pattern is introduced)
H is for Halloween; Hay; Head; Hand; Hat; Helmet; Hot; Hose; Hydrant (Fire Safety)
Focus Number: 2
Shape: Triangle
Color: Orange
Connecting the past to the present
We sailed right towards Columbus Day. Before reaching the holiday, students learned all about Christopher Columbus and the celebration of his life. Furthermore, we discovered our own ideas of mapmaking and learned about compasses and directionals. The girls loved viewing the SmartBoard history clip depicting this historical section.
While September's centered on the color red, October is all about the color Orange. Students will focus on the color word and explore items that are orange colored. We began this month with another exciting experiment: mixing colors. The girls had so much fun mixing the colors red and yellow and watched the color orange appear before their eyes.
This month the children will develop awareness of the colors, sights, sounds, seasonal changes, and events that characterize the month of October. Our main focus throughout the month will be “Exploring Fall.” It is through that focus we will explore: Leaves, Nuts and Trees, Fire Safety, Pumpkins, Spooky Creatures such as Spiders & Ghosts, and Halloween. Additionally, we will continue to focus on our first names.
PRE-K IS FIRED UP ABOUT FIRE SAFETY!
October is also Fire Safety Month. Pre-K discussed general safety rules that apply to all of our lives. We spoke of the possibility of a fire and how to react. We practiced fire drills - lining up - meeting spots- and evacuation procedures. Students learned the "Stop, Drop, & Roll" technique and practiced preparing and exiting in case of a fire. We worked as a team to form a list of Fire Safety Procedures and nearby exits. We also went over items that correspond with fire safety. Together, we produced a list of fire prevention items (Smoke Detector/Exit Sign/Fire Alarm/Fire Extinguisher/etc.) After reviewing these topics, we proceeded to have a Fire Safety Scavenger Hunt. All of us really enjoyed playing the role of Fire Chief and crossing off each of the items off of our checklists. The girls learned the emergency number 911 - and different scenarios that would require emergency calls.
Technology: We utilized the SmartBoard with a fun clip by Sparky the Fire Dog, who taught the girls how firefighters save lives. Students experienced a virtual tour of a fire house and realized how important firefighters are.
October is a month that celebrates Autumn and introduces the girls to the seasonal changes before winter. We have reviewed the many different changes that occur during fall. One of the studies we have done is on leaves. The girls grasped that just like the weather, leaves undergo a series of changes as well. Leaves change from green into the fall colors: yellow, orange, red, and brown. We also investigated the subject of leaves in science. We discussed different leaf shapes and considered why some leaves look different from others. The girls learned that leaves are like the faces of trees—just like all humans have different faces, all trees have different leaves. Our lesson illustrated how rain water seeps into the soil – water travels from the roots to the “veins” of the tree – compare students to tree. Humans have veins just like trees which have branches that act like veins. Trees need nutrients like humans to thrive.
Smart Board: Pre-K expanded their scientific knowledge with their leaf exploration. Our Smart Board exhibited a very extensive leaf chart - in which the girls learned all of the sizes/shapes/points/ and characteristics of leaves. Some questions that we recorded were: What color is the leaf? What size? Comparing size (small/medium/large); How many points does it have? Does it have a scent? Does anyone else have another one like it? We then proceeded to sort leaves by color/size/shape.
Our monthly attendance tree was one of the many features that changed in our classrooms. The girls went apple-picking and picked off their apples off our September Apple Tree. After selecting their favorite leaf shape and fall color, each child placed their own October leaf for our monthly attendance tree. The girls also practiced coloring by numbers to connect and complete a leaf collage.
Did you know that October is also the national pizza/popcorn/pasta month? We celebrated each accordingly. For example:
1) Pass the Pizza! -> Colors/Sorting/Size (Small/Medium/Large)
Pizza Patterns -
The use of AB Patterns have also become more extensive. One fun concept to broaden this was the use of manipulatives such as unifix cubes to link different patterns.
We also used the Smart Board to fill in "what comes next?" and made a class pattern.
2) Pasta Possibilities -> "Spaghetti, Rotini, Macaroni, too. Noodles are great learning tools for you"
3) Get Poppin' -> Class Popcorn String Necklace
Each kernel spells out the letters in the girls' names
The letter P was one of the letters we paid strong attention to. Accompanying the "Pre-K Pumpkin Patch," the class engaged in the study of pumpkins and participated in a variety of pumpkin related tasks and projects. One example was the emphasis of the pumpkin life cycle: from seeds to the pumpkin itself. The new vocabulary words instilled were: stem, leaf, root, seeds, hay, vine, etc.
Letter P also begins with the word "puzzle." Students spent time playing and working together.
October's leaf theme and focus on patterning was also utilized in Music Class.
The girls enjoyed singing and dancing to "The leaves on the tree are falling down." After another lesson of reading quarter notes and quarter rest, the girls reviewed using "Ta" and "Shh" along with clapping along to the variety of notes. Each time, the group of notes got trickier, but Pre-K did not get tricked and recognized the given notes! Such a smart class we have.
The girls practiced walking their Ta's with music. This time they were taught to differentiate switching between Ta (normal walking speed) and Tao's (our new slower note) along with the slower and then more upbeat fast-paced sounds of "The Trumpeter's Lullaby" by Leroy Anderson.
In addition, the girls relished experimenting with different musical instruments.
Halloween will be here before you know it. Our Halloween theme presented many interesting and child-friendly lessons. To really bring a bit of Halloween fun to our classroom, Mrs. Junsch and I guided the girls in decorating our classroom. We began with our Spooky Spiders. Each child received a paper plate and painted it black. After adding googly eyes and their choice of Halloween-themed glitter, then the mathematics came in. Students were directed to count up to number 8 (the number of legs we learned each spider has). They were taught to fold each leg "under and over" to help create spooky spider legs. Once completed, we thought it would be really fun to spook the rest of the school. Take a look at our classroom bulletin, complete with the spider web for our spiders to climb all the way up to the hallway ceiling!
Going batty
Our lesson on bats introduced the topic of "Nocturnal Animals" to the children. They were quite surprised to find that a whole different world awakens at night while we have already fallen asleep. Our nocturnal theme will continue into the month of November.
Some interesting bat facts we learned:
-There are over 1000 different species of bats
-Some bats may choose to live alone while others join thousands of other bats in caves
-Bats can live for over 20 years
-A few items bats feed on are insects, fish, and fruit
-The three bat colors we focused on were black, brown, and gray.
We compared and contrasted to of our letter B creatures: bats and birds in a chart that we worked together on. That's not all..
After our book study on "Stella Luna," by Janell Cannon, we decided to decorate our bulletin with our very own Bat Girls!
Halloween Happenings
