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.