What's Up

This week marks the birth of Dr. Seuss. Naturally, it's an opportunity for us to share the stories this wonderful author created for us to enjoy ... and learn from.

On Monday, we introduced the letter of the week. It is "S". The kids had fun going around the circle naming "S" words (words that begin with the letter/sound). They did VERY well. We followed up by practicing writing the letter and making it with a piece of yarn. One might assume this is a simple letter for the preschooler however, it is actually one of the most difficult. One reason we wait to introduce it till closer to the end of the year as their fine motor skills have had time to develop. They all did very well with this letter.

We went outside for gym and soaked up the sun. Much needed vitamin D at this time of the year (although we really can't complain as we have had a very mild season). We visited with Madame Smail and she scared us with her magic trick. She poured what she thought was perfume on her nice blanc scarf! Although it turned out to be ink! Thank goodness she made it disappear (disappearing ink). She had us all fooled. BTW, Madame is celebrating her 40th year here at St. John's. We have many parents who bring their children to the school and tell us they remember her when they attended as a preschool ... decades ago!

We also had some fun with numbers on Monday. The kids found their "number buddies". They wore a card around their neck. The card either had a number on it or a grouping of images. The kids had to walk around the room and locate their "number buddy". What a great activity to reinforce the number recognition. Again, to support this notion we had a little worksheet with birds and numbers (like a graphing sheet). The kids had to "read" the number and decide how many birds to color in. Most did very well without difficulty (this is a foreign concept to them).

Lastly on Monday we colored our very own kites for the bulletin board in the hallway. We read a poem to the kids and they had to come up with a place they would fly to if they were a kite. Read them all. They are quite cute.

Today (Wednesday) was more of a Dr. Seuss day! We talked about Dr. Seuss and who/what he was. The kids had very intelligent questions. Like, "is he still alive?" "how old was he when he died"?. Most thought the character "cat" from his book Cat In The Hat was Dr. Seuss. We explained he was a talented writer who left behind a wonderful legacy. We are fortunate to have all these books to enjoy even after he is gone (one wanted to know why his books were still here if he wasn't). Mrs. Sapp pulled up a picture of Dr. Seuss on her iphone so the kids could see what he looked like (compared to the cat in the hat).

We read Fox In Socks and There's A Wocket in My Pocket. Both are fun rhyming books. The first is logical and easy to read (except for all the tongue twisters ... rubber tongue as Dr. Seuss called it). The second, however had rhyming words that were made up.

We did an activity in circle time where the kids had to locate matches of socks on index-like cards. Naturally, they did very well. Next, we had to dream up our own rhyming words and decide what was in the pocket with our wocket. Those came home. They are very well thought out.

Finally, we had art but Mr. Erikson wasn't there. We talked about Pablo Picasso. Mrs. Sapp lead the discussion about this artist who was wacky -- like Dr. Seuss. He painted pictures with great thought about the shapes represented. So we did some art with some small wooden shapes that we painted and made a face with. We thought about the eyes and what shape we could use to represent them and so on. They turned out nicely.

Have a super Thursday off. See you on Friday! Don't forget. We are doing a science experiment with hard boiled eggs. One parent already told me they would not be able to bring one so if anyone can bring in extra that'd be super!

Thanks.

Buckeyes, Cardinals, Astronauts, Bird Feeders, Triangles, Oh My!

A busy day in the purple room. We have to share with you that we cleaned our room on Friday morning ... bleached every surface, every toy, etc. One girl walked in to our room and said, "Why does it smell like a pool in here?" We thought that was a brilliant response to the smell of bleach. She recalled the smell and applied it to the smell she was experiencing. We thank you all, by the way for helping us with this germ-spreading thing. We want you to know that we are very appreciative of your support and we don't want any ONE family to feel responsible. That's just not how germs spread. Something like the chicken before the egg. We don't know how it starts, it just did and we all are victims. Our intention is not to make someone feel like an outcast and we hope that is not how it comes across. We just want healthy kids!

So our day on Friday started with pictures! We think you will all be pleased with the results. Mr. Callentine is super at getting the kids in and out and making it pain free. He is also very good at getting them to look at him just right and he even eeks smiles out of those stubborn ones. We had fun watching the kids in their photo shoots!

Our discussion about Ohio ended this week with "symbols". We talked about the buckeye; the white-tailed deer (which is how the buck-eye got it's name, incidentally); the cardinal; the carnation; and football! We are amazed at how much information they retained. We made a cardinal out of construction paper. This required us to really examine the bird and note that he had a pointy head and black around his face ... like a mask. This also required us to revisit our cutting skills ... which we are all doing very well with. We also made a bird feeder for those poor birds that stay here in the winter. Course since ours was mild, maybe we shouldn't take too much pity. At any rate, this activity required us to measure ingredients (what do we use to do this?. We had to figure out what to do if the recipe required TWO cups of something. All the ingredients were edible to us also (except for our peanut allergy) and so several wanted to taste it. They stuck the mixture in a cup with a string on it. When it hardens, you can remove the paper cup and hang it outdoors for the birds to eat!

We were treated to cupcakes in honor of one sweet gal's birthday! Happy 5th to you lil lady!

Finally, we ended the day with a parent visitor. She helped us talk to the kids about shapes. There was the square, the rectangle and the triangle. The kids noted (with much prodding) that the square and the rectangle are NOT the same. One side is long and the other "squishy" in the rectangle. But, both DO have four sides. The triangle however, only has three. Our parent helped us help the children to realize their own triangle using straws and playdough! It was a struggle cuz our playdough was so soft the straws kept falling out. Try it at home with a more sturdy dough. Homemade perhaps? Then they can help you measure and mix!

Have a super weekend!

Say Cheese!

Today was picture day! And, by the time we went to music class, went outside for gym, had our snack and did our jobs it was about time to go. We had enough time to read a story and play with some centers. That did it!

Please take a look at the note in your mail regarding "healthy kids". We had four more children out today. Several parents confirmed that their children are on eye drops for pink eye which they dealt with since last Thursday. At this point, we really would like you to keep your child home if there is a chronic cough; runny nose (esp. if the discharge is yellow, thick white or green); swollen, red, puffy eyes; and chronic sneezing. It really will help to keep our classroom germ-free.

Thanks for your help.

Catchin Up

Welcome back from a little break! Hope everyone enjoyed their day of no classes on Monday.

We got right back into the swing of things today beginning with our sight word, WAS for the week. The kids listened to our song which really emphasizes the letter W (double U) and we think it threw them a bit (sounded like the word was spelled with a U). We think we cleared things up.

We visited the Music Lady and enjoyed ourselves as per usual. She had a little song for the kids that helped them with their rhyming words. They had to place a card on the picture of the item the Music Lady called out. Only their card didn't have the picture of the thing she sang about, they had a card with an item that RHYMED with it. They did very well.

When we returned from music class we discussed some infamous folks from our great state. We began with the Wright Brothers. They were from Dayton and they had the dream to fly while flying a kite one day. Their experience in a bike shop they owned together helped them realize this dream. The kids were quite impressed that such fantastic inventors lived right here where we do at one time! We talked about how they were persistent in chasing their dream (the first several attempts crashed and the plane was destroyed ... so they began again). We also discussed how planes have changed our lives. We asked the kids to brainstorm about why planes might be a good idea. We were (again) blown away by the deep thinking done by these young children. We had answers like: "so we can go far away"; "so we can travel over water"; "so we can visit our grandparents"; and "so we could see things down below"; and my personal favorite, "so we can get a snack". They even went so far as to tell us the plane has wheels so we can drive real fast then go high.

We thought it would be fun to make our very own kites and see if they would fly. And you know what, the weather was such that some of them did actually fly a bit. We just had fun trying ... and running around outside!

We will be talking about John Glenn on Friday and in his honor we did a little project about our "dream" of where we would travel if on a space craft. These went home today. Not many want to leave earth as answers included disney, florida, california, arizona and north carolina!

At the end of the day we did a little math project. We asked the kids to put some puzzle pieces in two sets of equal parts. There were six puzzle pieces. One gal took a stab at it and made three piles of two each. Very good effort! When we reminded them the instructions were to put them in TWO piles another gal moved two pieces from the third pile, divided them up and put them in two piles of three! Very nicely done. We added two more puzzle pieces and asked for another volunteer to sort these in two groups. She confessed that the first girl helped her out and she just added one to each pile. Oh my goodness are they ever intelligent. It brings us great joy to observe such thoughtful thinking and learning based on what they are seeing their peers do in group activities. We couldn't be more proud. Course, then we remember they have wonderful parents that are working with them at home!

One last note. You may have read an email from the office that went out today regarding illnesses. First, the office would like you to let us know the reason your child is staying home if they are ill. In other words, if you call in sick please tell us what your child is ailing from. We are trying to stay on top of the spread of infection and it's helpful to know who has what. Second and most importantly we have had a serious case of pink eye going through our classroom. In fact, it's the largest spread of infection we have seen in the preschool in at least 8 years. The moral of the story is this: if your child is displaying ANY signs of illness please keep them home. Many parents tell us they are just suffering from allergies. That is understandable. However, remember that allergies often spread to other infections like sinus and even pink eye. We would much prefer that your child stay home. It can be difficult to rid our room and school of these infections and it's just not considerate to other families. We know you will agree no one likes to be ill but keeping them home and getting their needed rest is important to a speedy recovery.

Thanks for your assistance with the health of our classroom. See you on Friday ... picture day.

Friday with the Four's

We had a good week. Today was jam-packed with fun. First we reviewed our sight word, LIKE. The kids completed their sight word page and we moved on to our lesson on presidents (or as some of the kiddos thought we said, prisoners). We talked about what a president is. Some said they run our city (close!). Very bright children. One mentioned Washington. Several knew this was a person that was "in charge". When we mentioned Obama, several said they had seen him on tv. We talked about the first president and why we celebrate President's Day (and don't have school on Monday). We colored a little book about President's Washington and Lincoln. We also Did a sort of matching activity with the things these two presidents are notorious for.

The kids made a V craft given this is our letter of the week. We cut out paper vases and filled them with violets.

We hung our earth and suns in the window of our classroom. They look sooo nice.

We showed the kids a penny and who was on the penny. We then did a coin toss activity where the kids practiced making tally marks and counted by 5's. We showed the kids that it is much quicker to count by five's. Mrs. E. counted to forty using the tally's and Mrs. Sapp counted by one's. Ask the kids who finished first!

We didn't post on Wednesday but I will tell you we had fun making our very own sun (did you know it's actually a star? We also learned about the Ohio flag and studied the differences between it and the United States flag. These kids are so bright ... they didn't miss a beat!

Our number of the day on Wednesday was 19. The kids practiced writing it on the dry erase board. They are really starting to do well with their number writing AND recognition. By just putting out things and repeating these exercises they are coming along! So fun to observe.

We made our own Ohio flag. We practiced our cutting and learned that the Ohio flag has an interesting shape to it. Did you know it's the only flag that is NOT a rectangle. We did a connect the dots activity. Very good practice at the number recognition. Practice these at home! Ours turned out to be the state of Ohio.

We will talk Ohio more next week (Wright Brothers; carnations, cardinals, etc.).

Remember no school on Monday. See you Wednesday!