Both groups of children are wrapping up a weeks-long study of folktales. We have a mural in the hallway outside the classroom that is the culmination of this study. I invite you to come take a look at it, the children have been working very hard. This mural will stay up for a few weeks and children's characters will go home with them after April break.
After the break, both groups will launch into a study of "seeds and growing." It is hard to believe right now, because there's still snow in some of our places, but spring is well and truly here. Time to plant! We will be planting seeds in the classroom and helping with Central Elementary's garden outside.
As with all our curricula, we found guidance in the Vermont Early Learning Standards when planning this focus. Children will be practicing skills in the science and math domains such as measuring, predicting, counting, comparing, using tools and recognizing growth and change. The “Approaches to Learning” domain has traits like curiosity, persistence, and reasoning which will all be supported and practiced during this curriculum focus.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday group:
Along with Seeds and Planting Focus we have planned, the MTW group has changes scheduled after the break. We are slowly starting to build up to our transition to kindergarten. Step one is learning about leaving the class to go to different places in the school. We have been going to Library every Monday for several weeks. We have a library time with Mrs. Hauser, CES's librarian. After the break, we will start going to lunch in the lunchroom on Mondays and Tuesdays. Children will carry their lunch boxes down the hall or get a hot lunch at the window from Miss Erica or Miss Bethany. They will learn about the different sights and sounds in the lunch room, as it is quite a different experience from eating lunch in our classroom. We will also be going to PE in the gym with Mr. Lawry. All of the teachers will go with the children to these specials, as it is our goal to teach the children about what it's like to move around the building to attend "big kid" things, and what it's like to listen to and learn from different teachers. All of this is in preparation for kindergarten, but, as we mentioned last newsletter, we're not leaning into "talking up" kindergarten yet. That will be for later in May, when we will begin peeking into the kindergarten rooms and learning how it is both different from and the same as preschool.
Thursday, Friday group:
The ThFr group continues to work on how to be in a group together. All of the children are getting better each day at working and playing together. Although I've heard parents refer to them as "Covid Babies," because of the early social isolation, this group of children has come really far in their social skills. I have been proud of their hard work. It gives me a lot of pleasure to watch them working and playing and interacting together. Sharing, listening to each other, transitioning, taking turns, and waiting are some of the many important skills this group has developed. We have been really pleased with their progress. They have fully enjoyed our folk tale focus and have thrown themselves into playing the stories and making the characters at the art table with gusto. This group of children, who will mostly remain in preschool next year, have another whole year working and playing together and solidifying all of the important school readiness skills.
