PK3.3 - Peek at the week
22- 26 August 2016
Hello again PK3.3 parents!
Learning to manage our emotions and transmit what we are feeling can be really hard, especially when you still don’t know the right words to use to express them. At this age, children tend to react negatively when they don’t understand what is going on inside them. Crying, kicking, and screaming are some of the reactions we see when they are not able to voice what they are actually feeling.
The first few weeks of school, these emotions are triggered due to the lack of knowledge of routines and the new experience of entering a new school. “The Kissing Hand” by Audrey Penn and “Wemberly Worried” by Kevin Henkes are two amazing books that take you through the emotional rollercoaster a child might experience when coming to school for the first time. By integrating these two books into our reading time and our arts center, we were able to talk about feelings such as sad, angry, and happy and how to manage them.
As soon as we taught our student how to communicate their feelings, we had to come up with classroom agreements. On Friday’s morning discussion we played “Big Rule, little rule” where we talked about specific behaviors that will help us create that caring and loving environment we all wish to have when coming to school.
We had such an amazing time talking and getting to know each other.
If you have any questions, however big or small please do not hesitate to get in touch. JMcDonald@isp.edu.pa
Have a great weekend everyone.
Our kissing hand cookies were delicious !
INGREDIENTS
· 12 ounces plain flour (1 ½ cups) - we used gluten free
· 4 ounces caster sugar (1/2 cup)
· 8 ounces butter (1 cup) - we used dairy free spread
· Chocolate drops
· 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
· extra caster sugar, for sprinkling (optional)
DIRECTIONS
· Mix the flour and sugar together in a large bowl, and then rub in the butter - as if you were making shortcrust pastry. Use the tips of your fingers and ensure that all the butter has been rubbed in -- it should resemble sand!
· Then start to knead the paste, pushing it together to form a smooth dough - the heat of your hands whilst kneading helps it form.
· Roll out the shortbread dough and using a biscuit or cookie cutter, cut into cookies about 1/4" in thickness. Place them on a well greased baking tray or cookie sheet.
· Bake the shortbread cookies in a pre-heated oven 160C/325F/Gas Mark 3 for between 20 to 30 minutes, or until they are pale and golden - but NOT brown!
· Sprinkle extra caster sugar over the top as soon as they come out of the oven if you wish.
· Allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight tin or container. NB: These will last for about 10 to 14 days in a cool, dry and dark pantry.our kissing hand cookies were delicious !Our cookies lasted about 10 minutes before we gobbled them all up!!
In the library......
Rhyme Time
Two Plump Armadillos - we make each hand into a fist and pretend each fist is an armadillo's shell and each thumb is the hand. We then move each fist behind out back one at a time saying:
" Two plump armadillos crawling down the street, one named (and we add a childs name) and the other named (another child name). Crawl away xxx, crawl away xxx. Come back xxx, come back xxx"
The children enjoy the anticipation to see if their name will be called and their faces light up when its their turn!
Continuing our talks about feelings we acted out "Little Miss Muffet" - what brave children we have in PK3 as no one was really afraid of the spider!
Singing songs
Garden and PE with Ms Sharon
During our PE class this week, we have been:
- Practicing single leg balances (focusing on agility, low body strengths, and flexibility)
- Played hula hoops as a review for our last week activity.
During Gardening, we watered the plants and measured them!
- Sunflowers (Grew 10 cm)
- Cucumber (about to sprout)
- Tomatoes (grew 5 cm)
- Green Peppers. (starting to sprout)