Weekly Newsletter
Buildings Study
Dear Parents
This week PK3 has jump right into our new study: Buildings. This study offers many opportunities to explore buildings first hand. Children are very curious about them, so we take this opportunity to learn about how they are built, the materials, their characteristic, and their different uses.
Our focus questions were “What do we know about buildings?” and “What do we want to find our?” Their answers will guide our path through this next few weeks. Together, we studied pictures of different types of buildings and using lots of "building" vocabulary such as roof, door, window, glass, bricks and tiles, the children described what they noticed.
The Three Little Pigs served as examples of different materials used for buildings. Children chose their preferred material for building their homes. We actually read this book 3 times! It sounds like a lot, however books with repeated phrases allow pre-readers to become active participants in read-aloud time. This will help get them ready for the reading process that comes later on in school.
We have planned lots of opportunities to experience activities relating to buildings both inside and out of the classroom. On Tuesday we went for a walk around school, looking for all our building words. We discussed the materials used to make our school - bricks, glass, tiles. At the PAC (Performing Arts Centre) we observed walls, doors, windows and a big roof. This was a very interesting building to observe.
Here are some ways to encourage your children in our building study:
- Look at buildings around you. Chat about how many windows or doors you can see? Is the building bigger or smaller than another one? What is the building used for? What is it made from?
- Send in a picture of your own building. We can make a building poster to show the similarities and differences in our own buildings.
Have a great weekend!
PK Team
Important Information
- PTA BBQ -Tomorrow!
- Yearbook Pictures Retake- Feb 13th and 14th
- Sister School Drive
Books, Poems, and Song
Whole Group
Which Building Do You Like Best?
Then we counted and compared their answers.
Which would you use to build your house?
A Building My Size
Building Together!
A Walk Around School!
Planning and Building
Small Groups
- Clothesline Storytelling: retelling the story of The Three Little Pigs
- Observational Building: children used blocks to build famous panamanian infrastructure
- Counting and Comparing: children chose a cup filled with small manipulatives, counted them and then compared their amounts. Who has more? Who has less?
- Building a House for the Three Little Pigs
- Puzzles about Buildings
- Dinnertime: the Dramatic Center turned into a dinner party for this activity, We pretended to have friends over and had them cook and serve them. Each child prepared a meal made of delicious play dough. We discussed healthy choices and foods that are eaten only occasionally.