Full Day Pre-K November 3, 2017

Fall weather has finally arrived and the classroom has been a hive of activity as we investigate this wonderful season with plenty of exciting activities and learning experiences. The pumpkin patch has been a great resource that has fueled plenty of enthusiasm for this topic. Excitement gradually built as we drew closer to Halloween, and while we don’t formally celebrate this holiday here at school, we were able to incorporate some fun Halloween inspired activities over the past two weeks.

v Science and language arts were integrated into our study of fall as we learned how, and why, leaves change color this time of year. After consulting several books we found that the beautiful fall colors seen in leaves are present all along; they are just covered by the green chlorophyll that gradually fades away as the trees get ready for winter. While learning this, children were introduced to a number of new vocabulary words (chlorophyll, photosynthesis, autumn, dormant, hibernate, etc.).

v Leaves are not the only things that trees shed during fall. This is the time of year when they release their nuts and seeds as well. We used the nuts and leaves we collected for several sorting exercises that challenged the children to classify the same items in more than one way. This takes some practice and requires a higher level of critical thinking. Sorting is an important math skill that helps children see how things are alike and different so they are able to group them logically into sets.

Dear Parents:

Popular Children’s Choices….. v Gym room games: basketball

and “snowball fight” v Spooky things in sensory

table v Collage art v Pumpkin carving/decorating v Cutting ghosts/pumpkins v Block center constructions

v Rhyming/sounds of speech games – phonics

v “Making music” provocation v Ramp provocation v HWT letter builder activity v Halloween inspired fine

motor activity and phonics games

v Bat research from books

Above: Pumpkin measuring Left: Halloween phonics game Below left: “Making music” provocation Below right: Journal work Learning Activities…

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As the kids would say…

Left: Special puppet show Right: Nut sorting Lower left: Team puzzle building Lower right: Cuisenaire Rods

v A trio of pumpkins helped us demonstrate another math skill when we measured them in order to rank them from largest to smallest. A lesson on how a ruler and tape measure work allowed us to perform this task with accuracy. After ranking the pumpkins we compared them by noting how much bigger, or smaller, one was to another.

v As you know, we recently introduced the children to their new journals. These will be used throughout the school year to document important memories or activities that the children experience. They chronicle the growth and development your children go through and will become a wonderful keepsake. Journal work helps children develop drawing and writing skills and lays the groundwork for future literacy. We have been hard at work in our journals over the past two weeks.

v We recently started exposing children to more challenging puzzles. The class has been encouraged to work in teams to complete them, but a teacher is always close by to help the children develop effective strategies. Puzzles are a great way to cultivate attention span and problem solving skills.

v This week the class was introduced to one of our most versatile math manipulatives. Cuisenaire Rods are brightly colored blocks that develop a wide range of mathematical concepts without involving numbers, which are still rather abstract for young children.

v On Thursday we were treated to a special presentation by IBEX Puppetry who put on a wonderful show detailing the life and migration habits of the whooping crane. The play described how animals, like the whooping crane, are revered by the native peoples of North America. The set design and puppets were incredible and the children even had a chance to try on various costumes for themselves. The performance ended with a Native American dance that included all of the children.

Reminders: v Please collect discarded cardboard tubes for us to be used during the upcoming

Stanwich School led STEM project. v Please send in a picture of your child in his or her Halloween costume. v School is closed next Friday 11-10 for staff development day.