PreK News
Early May 2016
Letters, Spring, and Space!
We have been putting a big focus on letters lately, as we prepare for moving on to next year! We have been learning letters all year long, and are now going back over them in the order of the shapes they make, using our Handwriting Without Tears patterns of "big line, little line, big curve, little curve" to make each capital letter. We sing, make letters in the air, trace them with our fingers, and make them on paper. The children have all been excited to see which letters are next each day, and have been independently following up with letter activities on their own.
Dry erase practice, just like the laminated sheets that came home :)
Sorting pictures by beginning letter sounds/letters
Practicing each others' names is fun!
Bean bag letters can be stacked, tossed, or matched for fun!
Practicing in our books :)
We have also just been having fun in the classroom!
Group building is great for language development, turn taking, and problem solving!
Togetherness after snack in the classroom library!
Building has been a big focus lately - totally child-driven and so interesting!
THE DOCTORS ARE IN!
We changed our pretend play area to a doctor's office - and it has been hard to get an appointment!
SPRING!
We continued our spring exploration with units on baby animals and growing things, with a little Mother's day prep thrown in! :)
We read some animal books that gave animals in sequence (a math skill!) and we reconstructed the stories, using pictures and word cards.
We "mapped" a story for retelling (a literacy skill!) and the friends all retold it to each other!
Our real plants are flourishing, all grown up since our Jack and the Beanstalk planting!
We did the Walk for Wishes with the rest of Stoy School!
SPACE!!
We just finished a week of space exploration, too!
First, we made ourselves as astronauts!
We played with reusable felt pieces to make rockets - and experienced how shapes go together to make pictures!
We designed our own space command centers - control panels :)
and then we used them to pretend space travel, either by ourselves, or with partners, and ....
... eventually, as a whole flight crew!! FUN!
OT CORNER
We continue to challenge ourselves with activities led by Ms. Kelly, our staff OT. We passed things over our heads, to the right and to the left, twisting and following directions. Great practice for all!
We did another obstacle course, crawling through a fabric tunnel (not as easy as it looks!), ...
... following directions to follow the line, ...
... and balancing our way across a set of "bridges" - great large motor exercise, as well as balance and simple sequence following directions.
Make your own at home, or let them! Have fun with it :)
Coming up...
We have a class trip this Friday, May 20th. Students will come to school in the morning that day, as the trip will go from 8:30am-approximately 12:30pm. All chaperones/rides should already be arranged, but if you have any questions, just let us know! There is no afternoon class that day.