A look ahead for the week of November 18-22, 2013

This week we will be: reviewing the letters Ll, Ii, Ff, Ee, and reviewing the numbers 1-9.

This week is the book fair.  It is set up in the welcome center, just inside the main entrance.  It will be open before school and at each dismissal time. These make great Christmas Gifts!  We have also put a list together of books that we would be interested in having in the classroom if you are looking to do something nice for the classroom!

On Thursday we will be having a Thanksgiving Feast in our room.  We will be having lunch meat and cheese, Thanksgiving Trail mix, Pumpkin Pie, as well as a few other things.  If parents wish to attend they are invited to arrive at 11:00 am. 

We are asking for volunteers to help with purchasing the items for the trail mix.  Please see the sign up sheet outside the classroom.  Your help is appreciated.

I am hoping to begin adding pictures of the kids to this blog in the near future.

There will be NO SCHOOL the week of Thanksgiving (November 25-29, 2013). We will be having parent-teacher conferences on Monday, November 25th.  If you have  not received a note with you time on it please get with Amy or me.

Mrs. Amy and Mrs. Becky's Pre-K

There will be no school on Monday, November 11, 2013 due to Veteran's Day. Please take time to thank those who have or are serving.

 In our three day week we will be working on the letter Ll and the number 10. 

This week we are collecting cans of Yams for the food bank.  We would love to win the top spot for the most cans of yams collected.  Please bring them and place them in the crate outside of the classroom door.

Thank you for helping us keep your kids safe in continuing to pick your child up in the pick up line.  We are aware that some of you are picking up on your lunch breaks and are working to get the lines moving as efficiently as possible.  If you have a conflict with the pick up lines please feel free to talk with Amy or me.

The bookfair will be open in the welcome center inside the main entrance for you and your child to shop before and after school each day this week.

I am so excited to be working with this class. I am still learning all the names  I have most of the kids, but am still struggling with their wonderful parents.  Please be patient, I promise I will get it. As the kids may tell you I am also learning all their little songs (such as their good morning and good bye songs). 

Have a Great Weekend!
Mrs. Becky

Photodump and What we've been up to

Hello! I will endeavor in the coming weeks to increase communication in this method. If nothing else, your kids are all adorable, so I often times (or you know, most of the time) am enjoying helping them learn and listening to their great stories so I forget to take pictures. 

We're working our way through our stick letters in the alphabet. I always enjoy seeing what great things your kids come up with for their letter bags, especially when they're things I didn't even think of. I know the kids always enjoy sharing them with their friends too!

Sharing our V letter bags as a class. 

Crazy Hair on Wacky Wednesday (gosh this was a while ago...)

Building cities with our Bristle Blocks. 

Bristle Block Bell Tower

Every day, you see our arrival activities. I know Wednesdays are a lot of kids favorites because it's our day of manipulative toys. They notice see the toy aspect, but we try to have things that increase their manual dexterity. Amy and I have both seen huge improvements in their penmanship in just the couple of months we've been in class!

Every week, during two of our centers we do worksheets. I know your kids say they just play, but we do learn! We also have a "fun" learning activity after they complete the worksheets for both writing and math.  This week, for example we are practicing letters with shaving cream and working on number association with candy corn (Like this, if you're curious). While our fall assessments will not include recognition of number words, it's nice practice in phonics/reading for things they know (for example, one student was able to identify the word "four" as opposed to "five" because she knew both had an "f" sound at the beginning, but four didn't have a "v" sound in the middle)

 We also do a sensory activity and/or a fine motor activity during centers. Those our things like our moon sand (Recipe Available here) or our cutting crafts, as well as our days of creation book.  The whole world craft that went home last week was a combination experience for getting their hands in paint (sensory), plus dying those coffee filters using medicine droppers.

On most Thursdays we have Enrichment, where we work on universal skills improvement (Cutting skills, letter recognition, reading/writing their own names), or skill-level specific activities. This allows us to work with your  student at a level where they are not too comfortable, but not frustrated with the level of difficulty. This allows those students who are ready to add to start learning that skill, while those who are still working on counting to work on that skill. Everyone succeeds and improves his or her confidence in his or her schoolwork! 

Cutting and pasting names in the correct order

Bus Craft: cutting on the lines

Finding letters in the news paper

More Letter finds in the news paper

We also try to read stories as often as we can. First, I love to share books I loved as a child with your children. As an avid reader myself, I know that fostering a love of reading starts early. I hope many of you are participating in the Book-it program that went home at the beginning of the month. It's also a great bridge to literacy in early grades. 

Listening to "My Mouth is a Volcano." If your kids have been discussing that they are volcanos, this is why. 

If your kid is there in the afternoon, it runs much like the morning with either large group activities, like the bird nest craft below, or center-based activities in shapes, math, writing and fine motor skills.

Marble Painting for Birds Nests

As always, thank you for letting us teach your children. Have a wonderful weekend!

P.S. Fun quotes from your kids that made me laugh

-Why can't I see? "Because you're wearing a hat!"

-You seem very happy today! "That's because I love coming to school!"

-"Ms. Rachel, I moo'ed at that cow and it went [he nods slowly]."

- (Before starting our lesson in Chapel) "Can I read this book?" <Do you know what book it is?> The Bible. I don't have any at home. (For the record, I know this was not true, so I laughed for a good three minutes)

Blogging

Sorry I haven't really been updating. My expectations lead me to believe that I would have loads of time during our day to take pictures and blog about the great things we do in class.

In reality, I'm spending time at school interacting with your children and teaching them, and when I'm at home, I'm prepping things to do when I'm at school.

Will have a huge photodump/post tomorrow or Wednesday.

Tidbits:
It's review week! Reviewing:  M, N, T and Y; the numbers 1-7; the 7 days of creation; sight words me, no, yes, and to.

Look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow!

Thanks!
Rachel

First Five Days!

Hello!

I hope your kids have had all had a good time in class. Amy and I have had a great time with them! We were so busy getting everyone settled and getting work done that I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked. But here's a small sampling of some of the things we did the first five days of school

Quick housekeeping before the fun blogging:
1) Please send August tuition if you have not. It's half of what is normally owed ($100 for full-day/$65 for half day), due to the shorter month. Also, don't forget $1 fee for water bottles and $3 art fee, if you have not already paid this. If you have paid all of these HOORAY! :)

2) Our letter this week is V. Our number is 2. Our shape is the triangle. Our Sight word is "am." Your kids are pretty great at remembering this day-to-day, so feel free to ask them about this at breakfast (if you have time). Our memory verse for the week is "In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth." Genesis 1:1. At least for the first couple of weeks, we will be trying to parallel some of our memory verses with our Wednesday Chapel series on the Days of Creation.

3) PAPERWORK! If you have not turned in your HFYH paperwork or Emergency contact form, the administrative staff has requested you please do that ASAP. If you have lost the paperwork and need a new copy email me rachelhfyh[AT]gmail.com and I will send them to you.

4) Image release: all photos pictured in the blog only show faces of those who turned in an image release for HFYH. That includes the blog as well as the private HFYH Facebook page. If you DO NOT wish to have your child's picture on the blog, let me know.

On Monday, we will always have library. On the first day of school, our Librarian/music teacher Mrs. June just read stories, but your student probably brought home their first library book today!

On Wednesday, we have all-school Chapel where Pastor Doug, our Youth Minister Allen, Mrs. Nicki or the teachers will be teaching a bible lesson to the three preschool and two Pre-K classes together. This is a recent change from individual Sanctuary Classes in previous years and I for one am already enjoying seeing all of our kids in one place sitting so nicely!

As you might already know, the letter for the week was A so we got to do a couple A things, including sharing our letter bags, making some apples (which will be in the hallway once it gets painted!) and, of course, practicing writing As! The afternoon kids got to meet with Mrs. Tracey and Mrs. Brandy's class to make applesauce on Wednesday and Thursday. We got some pretty great faces out of your kids and apparently the finished product was delicious!

On Thursday of last week, we began our first assessments for Enrichment. During enrichment periods on Thursdays, students from the two Pre-K classes will be grouped based on abilities and have tasks that are geared especially to improve certain skills. For example, ability grouping allows the students who are already ready to begin reading can work on that, while our students who are still working on some of their letter identification and letter sounds can focus on those skills. 

 As far as this week goes, I'm guessing the major story that most of you heard today was about the Hawk. This is a Red-Tailed Hawk, and he/she was rather calm about your kids being around, much to my surprise! It was perched on top of the covered bridge to the playground and stayed there for enough time for all the kids to see and for me to share some of my knowledge about hawks.  Mrs. Nicki decided that we're now the Home for Your Heart Hawks, which the kids also agreed upon by majority vote. 

Also during recess today, we happened across a live cicada. The boys were enthralled, but the girls couldn't care less. I have never seen a live one before, so it was pretty exciting for me too!

Thank you for checking the blog, and I will be posting new things as often as possible. As always, email if you have any questions or concerns! See you in the morning!

Ms. Rachel

Hello!

Hello and Welcome to our blog! We are so excited to have your bright young ones in our class this year! Check back periodically for more great updates and pictures!