A Peek Into Our Day


 
Week of January 18

This week we will learn about the Letter Kk and our theme is Kindness. We will learn about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and our lessons will be inspired by his quote, "The time is always right to do what is right." 

I will continue assessing counting, number and lowercase letter identification. We will draw our January self portraits and color our January Month book coloring assessment. A few centers will change on Wednesday as we begin the next seven table cycle. The Sensory Bins will have shaving cream and toy cars. The children will drive the cars and make tracks through the shaving cream snow. Letter cookie cutters will be added to the play dough table.

Last week, the children completed a journal activity after reading The Snowy Day. They drew their favorite activity to do in the snow and then we spelled one word of their journal response. I was impressed at the children's recognition of sounds in the words as I sounded them out for them. Their writing is more legible and their ability to write the letters from memory without demonstration from me has improved.

While the children has no problem getting back to academics, they had a bit of a struggle transitioning back to the routine of the classroom. After any long break, it is hard to adjust. Many reminders were given regarding behavior and expectations. Hopefully, the children will have an easier time this week.

Monday: No school today

Tuesday: We learned about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We learned that he is a hero who stood up for what is right. I read the book Courageous People Who Changed the World by Kyle Kershner. We discussed ways that we can be heroes for what is right in school, on the playground, or at home. We brainstormed heroes in our lives. The childen drew one person who they consider to be a hero.

Wednesday: We completed our K Pictionary page and practiced writing the letter Kk. K can be very tricky for the children to write. Eye hand coordination is key for writing K. Sometimes the children have difficulty placing the little lines in the correct position. The children would benefit from practicing writing Kk at home.

Thursday: We read the book The Caring Me I Want to Be by Mary DiPalermo. We discussed how we would like to be treated and how we should treat others. 

We learned how to properly write the number four.
The rhyme is:  Down halfway,   Then turn right,   A tall straight stick and the number four is in sight.

A letter with instructions for Valentines is in the folders today. Thank you for your patience with this as I was awaiting confirmation of a new student. You will see 21 names on the list. We will welcome our new student in a few weeks, but she will be here in Valentine's Day and I wanted to be sure she felt welcome and received valentines. Sending Valentines is optional. It is a great way to practice letters and encourage reading as we mail them in class.

Friday: We read What Does It Mean to Be Kind? by Rana DiOrio. The children drew pictures of one way that they can show kindness to others.

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Week of January 11

W is for Winter and Welcome Back!!! We are so happy to be back in EC4A together. Thank you for all of your support last week. The children came to every Zoom prepared with the necessary materials. They did a fantastic job! I chose familiar activities and worksheets so the children would be comfortable with the lessons. I love that being virtual allowed you to observe your child in the school environment and see which activities they enjoy or shy away from. For the most part, the children behaved as they do in school. I was impressed with how comfortable they were.

The seats and centers were changed for January. Our kitchen area is now a Hot Chocolate Station. There is also a snowman made of boxes wrapped in white paper and decorated. The children can build the snowman by stacking and unstacking the boxes. Arctic animals and an igloo were added to the dollhouse table. The children can build snowmen in the play dough. After they mold the snowballs, they can add buttons and small craft sticks to complete the snowmen. And the best center of the month ..... snow in the sensory bins! Using Insta-snow powder and water, we will create snow in the sensory bins. The snow will feel like actual snow minus the cold. I added a few spoons and bowls to enhance the play.

I did not assess letters during December. I will begin assessing letters, numbers, and how high the children can count later in the week (up to 100). The counting may take two weeks as we do a few children each day.

Monday: We revisited matching by using dot markers to decorate mittens. We will begin a Mitten color book this week. We are practicing reading color sight words. It will take a few days to color our books.

If you did not return your child's white bag, please so so tomorrow. We will be using our workbooks and red notebooks. I would like to see the children's work from virtual week as well.

We had Spanish with Ms. Koval and Music with Mrs. Wagner.

The children did a great job today. They were excited to find their new seats and play with their friends. They were very talkative! They had a lot to share and seemed very happy to be back.

Tuesday: We learned about igloos and watched a YouTube video on how they are made. The children then cut an igloo shape and glued ice block shapes to the form.

We have been comparing cold and hot. We brainstormed ideas of how a snowman could melt. The children then made a melted snowmen by mixing shaving cream and Elmer's glue. They spread the mixture onto paper and added a paper hat, carrot nose, and scarf.

The children may have mentioned that the January editions of the Clifford magazine have not arrived. Usually, they arrive before Chrsitmas break. I received an email that there are shipping delays (as with every company currently). We completed Thursday's arctic animal lesson today in hopes that the magazines arrive this week. If not, we will complete the online activities together and read the online issue.

We watched a YouTube video about arctic animals. We learned facts about ten animals in the video. Then we glued a polar bear, bird, seal onto a paper. We covered the animals to show how they stay warm, cotton ball fur, feathers, foam blubbler.

Wednesday: Happy Birthday, Brandon!

We completed out W pictionary page for our binders.

Our iPad center area has been changed temporarily to a Chromebook area. We are testing these and determining if they would be a better fit in preparing the children for the 1:1 Chromebook technology in the older grades. They are touchscreen so they is similar to the iPads. The keyboard folds back to create a tablet look and feel. The children access the apps through the SJB Symbaloo page as they would have done if they attended Computer class this year. They are a bit heavier so I am requiring the children to sit at the tables and not sit in the scoop rockers until they are comfortable with the Chromebooks.

Thursday: We read the story Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. Afterwards, the children recalled all of the fun things that Peter did on his walk in the snow. Then the children drew a picture of their favorite thing to do in the snow. Individually, the children sat with me during center time and sounded out the words.

So far the children have been doing a great job counting. A few children have made the 100 Club! Most reached 39. When they reached 40, they skipped 40 and said 50. For the four year old report card, the children are expected to count to 20. Counting to 100 is a five year old/ kindergarten skill.

Friday: 11:35 dismissal today. Please send an extra morning snack for your child. If your child is staying for Eagles Club, please send in a lunch and Eagles Club snack as usual.

We practice writing the number three properly.
The rhyme is: Around a tree,
                     Around a tree,
                     This is the number known as three.

Have a wonderful weekend! There is no school on Monday.

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Week of January 4

SJB is virtual this week. We will return to the classroom on Monday, January 11th.

Please visit the EC4A Distance Learning Tab for materials needed for Zoom Lessons and assignments. Also, check to see the theme of the day for what to wear!

On Tuesday, January 5th, my husband is having surgery. I will not hold Zooms that day, but Ms. Koval will continue to do so. I will add the link to my video lesson.

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Week of December 14

By now you have all read the emails from Dr. De Angelo, our superintendent, and Mr. Hart. Our school will be completely virtual during the week of January 4th through 8th. This includes the Early Childhood classes who will meet with Mr. Hart on Monday to discuss our virtual schedule. We have a plan in place in the event that we go virtual for an extended period of time. However, since this is only for one week, the school is trying to keep consistency and continue their current hybrid/ Zoom schedule. We will meet to determine how we fit into the current model taking into consideration that our students may have siblings who are virtual and parents who are working.

I will send the papers and a schedule for the week of January 4th by the end of the week so that you will have everthing you need. 

This week we will celebrate Christmas and the Letter Cc. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, will be typcial work days. Thursday and Friday will be have fun Christmas activites. This class gets VERY excited when we have special activities. They also struggle when our routine is disrupted. The simple change of dressing down on Thursday and Friday along with the awareness that Christmas is soon approaching will cause my creatures of habit to spin out of control. 

Monday: We were busy, busy, busy like little elves today! We practiced creating our own patterns again today. The children did much better than previous assessments. They colored Christmas bulbs in a pattern, using three colors. 

We also introduced the concept of measuring. I demonstrated how to measure using a ruler. We compared lengths of different items on the tables. The children then cut a Christmas tree into strips. First, we shuffled the strips. Then the children measured the strips and arranged them in order by length on red paper.

We enjoyed Spanish and Music today. 

Tuesday: I will be sending home a white paper bag with the materials that the children will need to use the week of January 4th, when SJB is virtual. Please keep this in a safe place away from the children as they may be tempted to color pages or draw in their books. All work and books should be returned to school in the same bag on January 11th. I will add assignments and directions to my Distance Learning tab. I will email the Zoom information over break. It is also available on the Zoom Directory on the main SJB page.

During the week of January 4th, I will Zoom in two groups everyday (10 children in each group). The first group will be at 9:00 to 10:00 and the second group will be 10:00 to 11:00. I will send a Sign Up Genius to sign up for the time slots. If you need a specific time, please let me know this week before I send the Sign Up Genius to everyone. If you are unable to Zoom with us, you will still be able to complete the projects. I will add pictures and directions to the Distance Learning tab. 

I will be watching the weather report during the day. I may send home rest bags in case school is closed due to snow. Just return the bag if school is open, no need to wash the blankets until the weekend. 

During our weather discussion this morning, the topic of boots came up. I do not mind if the children wear boots on rainy or snowy days, if they are comfortable wearing them all day. I tend to wear my rain boots all day. If they prefer to change into sneakers, they may do so and will be encouraged to as much as they can by themselves.

Today the children did a great job completing all of their C activities for the week in case school is closed for a day or two. They also loved making Reindeer Food. Please be sure to check the bottom of the schoolbag for the food.

Thank you so very much for the Christmas gifts!!! You are all so generous! I will send thank you notes soon, but I wanted to acknowledge your kindness now.

Wednesday: THANK YOU!!!! Thank you for your generosity in donating items for our Christmas celebrations. Please send in all items by today so I can prepare for our activities.

We created candy canes by using a pipe cleaner and pony beads. The children had to really concentrate to keep the red and white pattern going. They could choose an ABAB pattern, AABBAABB pattern, or AABAAB pattern.

Just a reminder that school begins at 7:35. If your child arrives after that time, they are marked late. The staff at the door keep the doors open when they see families in the parking lot as a courtesy, but your child is still marked late on Power School. The office has reminded all teachers to be consistent with this now that we are in T2 so that one family member doesn't not get marked tardy while other family members are not. The office will alert teachers when we can excuse tardiness for circumstances such as weather or traffic concerns.

I sent the rest sheets and bags home today. You do not have to return them tomorrow. The children were very excited about the snow and were not able to settle themselves for rest time today. I expect the excitement to increase tomorrow since we have special activities planned and a dress down day. We will have quiet time, but I most likely will not use the mats.

Thursday: Happy Birthday to Emma and Ryan! We can't wait to celebrate your birthday when we retuen to school.

Enjoy your Snow Day and be safe everyone!

Friday: Students may dress down today and wear Christmas themed clothing and accessories or Santa Hats or pajamas.

We will have a special snack for morning snack donated from our Sign Up Genius request.

We will play Christmas Bingo. Thank you families who signed up to donate a prize for Bingo.

Chick-Fil-A lunch was rescheduled to today. Please send in lunch, if you did not order.

In the afternoon, the entire school will be watching movies and decorating ornaments. We will make a Gingerbread ornament. We will watch the movie while resting on our mats. Usually, the childen are too excited to rest on special days. Since no one will be able to sleep, we will have quiet movie time. Please keep rest bags at home.

Have a wonderful and healthy holiday. We look forward to seeing our friends on Zoom during the week of January 4th. And finally seeing each other in person On January 11th. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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Week of December 7

Last week we discussed Advent and made several Christmas crafts. This week we turn our lessons of the Holiday season to the birth of Jesus. We will focus on the Letter Bb and Baby Jesus.

Our centers will continue throughout the month of December. This will allow each table to have two opportunities to play and explore in the areas. My friends are really enjoying the Christmas themed centers.

Please be sure that your child has his or her sweatshirt everyday. It is required for the Winter Uniform and the temperature in our classroom can vary. Please remember to send napkins and spoons in your child's lunchbox/ Eagles Club snack.

I will keep the gray snack/ lunch towels in school until the weather improves and we can use them again.

Last week, I asked Mrs. Golebiowski to send notes home to students who were close to running out of glue sticks. I asked everyone to send in 6 gluesticks for January, however, a few students are already on their last glue stick. We are working on control when applying glue to paper, especially small pieces as in the Gingerbread shape project last weeek. I clean up excessive amounts of glue from the table each day. Since we do most of the our art projects as a whole group project this year, some children have the table covered in glue before I arrive at their table. This is where following directions are key. I complete a project with the children and demonstrate where, how, and the correct amonut of glue to add to the paper.

This week I will send home a few assessment forms from Trimester 1. I typically assess in a variety of manners to accomodate all learning styles. Many assessments are through hands on games or activities. For example, the children will create patterns with unifix cubes or manipulatives. The will verbally identify the pattern each day on the calendar. I also had the children create patterns by coloring circles on a handout to also have documentation of the skill in addition to my checklists. 

Monday: St. Nick visited our class over the weekend! We left letters on the table Friday afternoon and the letters were replace with a stocking bag of treats. This year, St. Nick felt it was safer to leave the slippers at home and leave treats on our tables, rather than in our shoes. Pictures are on the Photo Tab.

We completed another surprise for our parents this morning. I hope to have the Christmas gifts for the parents completed so we can send them home this week. 

The first names of our Zipper Club members were added to the poster Friday afternoon and the children were happy to see them this morning. I was impressed at the number of students who were added the first round. The other children are very close! A few struggle with the zipper and I will add them when they are confident. A couple students are hesitant to try to zip by themselves. The Zipper Club is a great motivation for children to be independent with this self help skill. As parents we always want to help or may be in a rush and tend to do things for our children. I am guilty as well and my daughter just turned 18! These self help skills encourage the independance needed for school.

We enjoyed Spanish and Music class today.

Tuesday: We listened to a reading The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie dePaolo on YouTube. While listening, the children cut six red petals and two green leaves. I do have the book, but I chose to show the retelling so I could walk around and observe the children cutting. The children have the cutting skills, but tend to rush and therefore do not always cut on the line. I attached the pieces with a brad. I had to explain to the children that the gifts for Baby Jesus was a symbolic gesture in the book. The villagers were presenting gifts to a statue of Baby Jesus and that he was not present.

We had a very productive day. During Center Time, the children decorated a gift bag and completed their cards for Christmas gifts for their parents. I did not expect to complete them all in one day, but my friends were very focused. They loved making gifts for you. The children will bring home their parent Christmas gifts tomorrow.

We completed our Clifford magazine about hibernation. The children enjoyed completing the game to locate the hibernating animals. Don't forget to play the games online with your child when they bring home a new magazine. There is a section with all games on the Scholastic website. Children can play previous games from the Fall or even last year to practice letters, patterns, or other concepts.

An email regarding instructions to order the Chick-Fil-A Lunch was sent today. I also received confirmation of our Bingo plans for next week. While I had these on our Imortant Dates, I was awaiting confirmation to finalize our plans. The children have been practicing songs to "sing for our parents". Usually at our Christmas party, we perform a few songs for our families. As we rehearse, I realize we may have to do a combination of prerecorded videos and live on Zoom. Since parents cannot be in attendance, I will send Zoom invitations to our Chick-Fil-A lunch and morning snack. This will provide an opportunity to see your child at the party and we will sing one or two songs. Hopefully, you can join one of both of the Zooms!

Wednesday: Our Religion book lesson this week continues with Creation. We learned that God gave us light. While we have been reading books about Jesus being born on Christmas this week, we will complete our Religion book page on Christmas next Wednesday.

We completed our B Pictionary drawing page this afternoon.

Mrs. Golebiowski was not in school today. We had help at bathroom time from the Kindergarten paras.

Thursday: We read two stories about Jesus being born and completed two projects to reinforce the lesson. We read What Star is This? by Joseph Slate. This book followed the star's mission to find where Jesus was born. The shepherds and Wise Men saw this special star and followed it. When they arrived, the wise men presented gifts to the newborn. The children completed a journal writing activity where they drew a gift they would bring to Baby Jesus. At Center Time, I help the children individually to sound out and write the word.

This afternoon, we read The First Night by B. G. Hennessy. The children then completed a multi step project which required the children to listen attentively and follow directions. The children colored Mary, Joseph, Jesus, and a star. These were tricky to cut out, so I encouraged them to cut as close to the line as possible. Many children attempted to cut on the line! Using craft sticks, they assembled a stable and glued the shapes and hay to it. Most did a fabulous job. Some became frustrated with the cutting, glue, or the fact that they were not listening and missed steps. These will dry overnight and be sent home tomorrow.

Friday: Today is a half day. Dismissal is 11:35. For those who are staying for Eagles Club, we will have lunch and afternoon snack as usual. We will not have rest time, but quiet coloring time and lots of playtime.

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Week of November 30

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a relaxing break. 

We kept the snack towels in school as we did not use them the week before Thanksgiving break.

Thanksgiving photos are on the Photo Tab. The children were told to "Strike a Pose" and show off their turkey headbands and dress down clothes.

This week we will begin to discuss Advent and Christmas. Our Letter of the Week is G and we will have fun with Gingerbread Men. The classroom is now decorated for Advent and Christmas and our centers refelct our new theme as well. There is a small Christmas tree in the Kitchen Area and the children will have fun decorating the tree and pretending to bake Gingerbread cookies. The Dollhouse table has a Little People Nativity set for the children. The children will make Christmas cookies at the play dough table with yellow play dough and Christmas cookie cutters. The sensory bins are ready for Santa's elves. The children will wrap presents (wooden blocks). 

Monday: Today is the last day of November, but we have changed seats a day early. One project we are working on this week is our Christmas gifts to our parents. Shhhhh, we are keeping it a secret.

We completed a candy cane project which required the children to follow many directions. The project itself was quite simple and only involved gluing. I precut all the pieces. The children had to listen for the color (the stripes of the candy cane were in a rainbow pattern) and the location of where to glue it. The end products looked fabulous! The children were very proud of their candy canes and wanted to bring them home, but I need to decorate our bare bulletin boards for the holiday season.

We enjoyed Spanish class with Ms. Koval and Music class with Mrs. Wagner today. The children did a great job overall today. They were ready to learn and stepped in the classroom as if they did not just have Thanksgiving break. They were excited about their new seats and the new centers, and of course seeing their friends again. All the children wore their masks, which I assumed would have been difficult after being home on break. I moved a few mats around at rest time to separate a few of my talkers. Most children slept today as they were exhausted. We watched an episode of Paw Patrol during lunch and finished it during the last few minutes of rest.

Tuesday: We read Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett. We discussed the plot and answered the qquestions: Who?, What?, Where? and How? Throughout the week we will read various Gingerbread stories and will compare and contrast the stories.

Due to food/ cooking restrictions, we cannot decorate Gingerbread cookies this year. Instead we decorated paper Gingerbread houses this afternoon. 

Today I watched closely as the children put on their coats and attempted to zip them. Several children are on their way to becoming members of the Zipper Club. I usually wait to begin the Zipper Club when the children begin wearing their winter coats, which are a bit more difficult to fix inside out sleeves and have thicker zippers. The children did a great job and I told them I would be watching everyday this week. On Friday, I will add the first group of names to the Zipper Club poster.

Wednesday: In Religion class, we learned about Advent. This week is the first week of Advent. We completed our Religion book page and created our own paper Advent wreaths. The wreaths will hang in the classroom as a reminder that we are preparing for Christmas. 

Our Gingerbread story of the day was Gingerbread Kid Goes to School by Joan Holub.

Thursday: Today we read the Ninjabread Man. The children have been doing a great job naming the characters, setting, plot, and comparing the three Gingerbread stories. We also read Gingerbread Mouse this afternoon which was very different fron the others. The previous three books had a gingerbread cookie which came alive and teased the other characters into catching it. Gingerbread Mouse centers around a mouse who lived in a gingerbread house. The children successfully compared and contrasted the book to the others.

We also completed a gingerbread project to review shapes and following directions. The children were provided an envelope with shapes inside. I named the shape for the children to locate and then instructed them as to where to glue it on the gingerbread drawing. After the children glued their shapes, I glued mine so the children could check the answers. The projects had to dry overnight so they will be sent home tomorrow.

We had a special lesson today. Emma and Ryan's mom, Kelly, led the children in a lesson about kindness to others over Zoom. She began reading the book Have You Filled Your Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud. Their older brother, Patrick, helped to read the book and their sister, Katelyn, also joined in the Zoom. The book encourages positive behavior in words and actions. When you treat others in a kind and caring way, you are filling their buckets. When you make poor choices when interacting with others, you are dipping into their buckets. Each child was provided with a plastic bucket. Then the children wrote messages to each other to fill each other's buckets. Kelly had words on the screen for the children to copy. The children really loved the activity. They enjoyed sharing words of kindness with each other.

Friday: One of my favorite gingerbread activities could not be done this year. We usually end Gingerbread Week by decorating gingerbread cookies. However, the Gingerbread Baby steals our cookies every year and send us on a scavenger hunt throughout the school to try to capture him and reclaim our cookies. This morning, we searched for gingerbread cut outs in the classroom. I hid twenty throughout the classroom so each child had the opportunity to catch a gingerbread man. I read clues as to where the shape was hidden and then pulled a child's name from a basket to choose the child who would search for the shape.

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Week of November 16

This week we will focus on the Letter Tt and Thanksgiving. On Friday, we will have a Thanksgiving snack together. Thank you to those who volunteered an item for our morning snack. Please send in the donations before Thursday. The children may dress down and do not have to wear their uniforms. Also, we will have Show and Tell that day. The children are to bring in an item that they would pack if they were a Pilgrim traveling on the Mayflower. Send in an item that would be considered a necessity for traveling to a new world. Please do not send in the item until Friday.

Last week when writing the letter M, I noticed that many children were writing W's instead. M can be a tricky letter to write properly, if children are not in the habit of writing letters from top to bottom. The children are taught to begin writing from top to bottom. While you do not see the difference with most letters, letters such as M, N, W, S, C will be written incorrectly if the children begin at the bottom.

As you can imagine, we are going through cleaning supplies very quickly. When we compiled the supply list in July, we did not realize that we would have seven tables in the classroom. If anyone is able to donate a container of sanitizing wipes such as Clorox Wipes for the tables , it would be greatly appreciated. 

Monday: Today a home project was sent home in the folders. The children are to decorate a Christmas stocking to be hung outside our classroom for December. Have fun with this special project.

We enjoyed Spanish and Music today.

Tuesday: Please see the Advent Service project Sign Up on my main page. Thank you in advance for your generosity. 

Today we learned about the chores that Pilgrim children were assigned. The children then completed a journal writing activity where they finished the sentence prompt: If I was a Pilgrim, I would __________. The children had to recall one chore from the story I read.

Wednesday: Thank you for your generosity for our Adopt a Family Service Project.

Wednesdays are typically our Religion and Pictionary Letter of the Week lessons.
This week we will have a Religion lesson on Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday's lesson is our Thanksgiving page from our Religion book, which was planned for next week until the calendar change.

Thursday: The children did a great job completing two art projects today. We have been discussing the First Thanksgiving and the trip on the Mayflower. The children created a cornucopia by coloring small pcitures of food, cutting on the line, and gluing the pictures. The second project was a turkey headband to wear tomorrow during our Thanksgiving snack. The children had to follow directions to glue the pieces in the correct place.

Friday: Today we will have a special morning Thanksgiving snack. The children may dress down today. Please have your child wear appropriate shoes for playing outside. Remember to send in an item for Show and Tell. The item should be an item that would be necessary for the trip on the Mayflower.

I hope your family has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Stay safe and enjoy your time with your family. School is closed next week. School resumes on November 30th.

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Week of November 9

Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to meet with me for conferences last week. I know it was not ideal being on Zoom, but I enjoyed discussing your child's progress with you.

Over the weekend I sent three Sign Up Geniuses. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to donate an item for our Thanksgiving Snack or classroom needs. The one sign up was for Guest Readers. Every year, we invite families to come in and read to the class at the end of the day. Unfortunately, we cannot have volunteers in the classroom at this time. I have decided to try guest readers over Zoom. I allotted 20 minutes, but depending on the book you choose to read, it may end sooner. On Tuesdays, Guest Reader will take place at the end of the day. This time may work for those who have children who stay for Eagles Club or the other parent is picking up at dismissal. On Wednesdays, Guest Reader will take place at the beginning of rest time. On Thursdays, Guest Reader will take place while the children are eating lunch. The sign up is through December and then I will determine what times worked best. Parents, grandparents, and siblings are welcome to read.

The week we will focus on the letter Mm and learn about My Plate and nutrition. The children will learn about the food groups and the importance of building a balanced meal. We also will be assessing letter identification and beginning a few Thanksgiving crafts.

Our centers have changed for the remainder of the month. We now have brown playdough so the children can create turkeys. In the playdough bins, I added feathers and also letter cards so the childen can manipulate the playdough into uppercase letters. The children will be washing toy dishes in the sensory bins. The wheelbarrows and pumpkins have been removed from the kitchen area and the table and chairs have returned. The Disney characters are in the block area for more imaginative play. I added the dinosaurs to the dollhouse table.

Monday: Happy Birthday, Christian!

It has been a bit chilly and damp in the mornings to have snack outside. We will continue to have lunch outside when the weather permits. However, on Mondays we eat lunch inside since we have Music immediately afterwards.

We had Spanish and Music specials today.

Tuesday: We learned the different food groups today and began a special My Plate poster. We watched a SCISHOW Kids video on YouTube about the food groups. We also began a turkey project that will take a few days to complete. We painted a paper plate and a paper bowl brown to form the body of the turkey.

The children have really enjoyed learning about the food groups. We learned that a balanced meal will have several food groups represented. They have been asking me how many food groups are in their snacks and lunches. The grains can be confusing and they forget that cheese is in the dairy group.

Wednesday: Happy Birthday, Weston!

We learned how to use a tracer. We traced a feather cut out to make feathers for our turkey project. We traced and cut feathers in six different colors. This is an excellent fine motor skill that relies on eye hand coordination. Tomorrow we will begin to assemble our turkeys.

We had our first Guest Reader on Zoom this afternoon. Avery's Dad and big sister, Addison, read to a book to our class in the beginning of rest time. The children sat at the tables during the story and then went to their mats. It went very well and the children were very excited for this special activity. We have spots open on the Sign Up Genius. Please allow this week for families to sign up. After Friday, you may sign up for a second slot, if your schedule permits.

Thursday: We continued our My Plate poster. We added food stickers to the appropriate food group. We also completed our turkey project by gluing all of the pieces together.

I have finished assessing identification of uppercase letters and am beginning to assess lowercase letters.

We finally dresses Mrs. Potato Head!!!! We voted today on a class reward. Friday during rest time we will watch a show! The children may bring in a stuffed animal for this special occasion. However, there are rules so we do not spread germs. The stuffed animal must fit in the schoolbag. It will come out for rest and stay on your child's mat the entire time. We may not touch other friend's stuffed animals.

        

Friday: Happy Birthday, Cooper!

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Week of November 2

I hope the children had an enjoyable Halloween. If you did not see the pictures on the Photos Tab to the left, please take a look. Our class was leading the parade and I was unable to video it. I was glad we were able to have the parade. We had cheers from the fourth grade students as they watched from their windows and the classes upstairs waved down to us. 

On Friday, we learned about catapults. I shared a video of a pumpkin chunkin event and how the catapult launched the pumpkins across a field. We then used an orange unifix cube to represent a pumpkin and a catapult created with craft sticks and rubber bands. The children experimented with the amount of pressure to apply to the craft stick to launch the "pumpkin" from the bottle cap/ basket. The children brainstormed other objects that could be launched with their catapults at home.

Due to the weather last week, we did not eat snack or lunch outside. I did not send home the gray towels to be washed this past weekend.

This week we will focus on the Letter Ll and our theme is Learning Colors and Shapes. We will learn about the color wheel (primary and secondary colors) and how to draw shapes. We changed seats on Monday for the month of November.

Conferences are this week. I will send the Zoom ID and password on Tuesday.

There are half days on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week. Dismissal is 11:35 and there is no Eagles Club available. We eat lunch at 11:30 everyday so the children will be hungry at dismissal. If you have a far distance to drive, bring a snack for the car ride home. Please email me if someone not on your pick up list will be picking up at dismissal this week. All students are dimissed from the sidewalk by the playground, regardless of where you choose to park. If you park in the front and are a Milltown Rider, then you must park out front and walk out back to get your child from me.

Monday: Today began Winter Uniform. The children should continue to wear the school t-shirt with sweatpants and a sweatshirt everyday to school. Please be sure that your child's name is written in the sweatshirt in case they take it off during the day. Also, be sure that your child has the appropriate outerwear as we hope to go outside for recess everyday.

We had Spanish and Music today.

Tuesday: I will not be in school today. However, I can be reached by email if necessary. 

The children will go on a Nature Walk/ Scavenger Hunt around school. Each child will have a clipboard and a sheet with items to find. The class will walk around together and as a team search for the items.

Wednesday: Happy Birthday, Eliana!

11:35 dismissal today- No lunch or aftercare. Please pack morning snack in the lunchbox so it is easy to carry outside.

We read Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh. This book is one of three in a series where mice are hiding from a cat. The mice find a pile of shapes to hide in. After the cat leaves, the mice use the shapes to create objects such as a house (square and triangle roof). We then made our own shapes creations. Each child was given a piece of black paper and several shapes were given to each table. The children were able to create anything they wished.They glued together robots, animals, trains, people, castles and houses. They were very creative.

Tomorrow, we will learn about the color wheel. To prepare, we painted primary colors on a paper plate that I drew lines on to create a color wheel. I drew lines like a pizza and the children had to paint within the slices. 

Thursday: 11:35 dismissal today- No lunch or aftercare. Please pack morning snack in the lunchbox so it is easy to carry outside.

Today we read Mouse Paint. In this book, the mice come across red, yellow, and blue paint. When the paint spills, they realize that other colors are formed when the paint mixes. We learned that red, yellow, and blue are primary colors that can be mixed to form secondary colors. We mixed paint to create orange, green, and purple for our color wheel.

Friday: 11:35 dismissal today- No lunch or aftercare. Please pack morning snack in the lunchbox so it is easy to carry outside.


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Week of October 26

This week we will focus on the Letter Ss, Scarecrows, and Saints. It will be a busy week as we celebrate Halloween as well. S is a very tricky letter for the children to write. They would benefit from extra practice at home this week. When writing an S we say, "Little curve, little curve". Remind your child to start at the top. We will read a few fun scarecrow stories and create a scarecrow craft. We will read about St. Francis and St. John the Beloved and the children will present their Saint projects throughout the week.

Our centers have changed. Pumpkins were removed from the pumpkin patch/ kitchen area. The wheelbarrows remained and decorative leaves were added so the children can collect leaves and make leaf piles. In the sensory bins, the children will stuff scarecrows using crinkled paper and baby clothes. I have added the Superhero and Princess figures back in the dollhouse since they were a hit a few weeks ago. Our seats at the tables will change next weekend and we will have new seats for November.

Thank you to everyone who volunteered to donate snacks, prizes, or tablewear on the Sign Up Genius. Thank you for helping to make our small Halloween celebrations a success! You may send in your donations early, if you have them.

Just a reminder that school begins at 7:35. If you arrive after this time, you will need to go to the front office for a late pass. The teachers on duty have been generously waiting for late arrivals, but they do need to return to their classes for first period at 7:40. When the children are late, they get upset that they do not have enough play time with the morning tray activities. 

Monday: We read Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert. The children painted a leaf shape with glue and then sprinkled colored sand over the glue. A few friends shared their Saint project. The projects will be displayed on our Religion bulletin board for November.

We enjoyed Music today. Ms. Koval was not in school. We did not have Spanish class, but since it may be rainy later in the week there is a possibility of having Spanish class on one of our indoor recess days.

Tuesday: We created a Scarecrow by cutting and gluing. The cutting activity for this craft was a bit challenging. The children tend to cut without focusing on the task and sometimes cut parts that should not be cut. I used this activity as a practice for this skill. I always have a model when completing crafts and I also complete a sample with the children. I directed the children to watch me cut the overalls. I showed them how to go around the outside of the shape so the straps of the overalls would be intact. Several children cut along the line, but did not go around the edge of the straps causing the straps to be cut off. There are also a few scarecrows without hands for the same reason. The children like to cut, however, they need to slow down and stay focused.

Wednesday: In Religion, we have begun talking about the wonderful things that God has created. Today we learned that water is important for our survival and a necessary tool in keeping us clean and healthy. Over the next few weeks we will learn about things that God created for us.

Thursday: Students may replace their uniform top with their Spirit Rally t-shirts today. We will have a special morning snack, provided by parents who signed up on the Sign Up Genius. Mr. Hart will call Bingo over Zoom on the SmartBoard for our building.

The students looked great in the Spirit Rally shirts. I have added pictures to the Photos Tab. The children are pictured with the friends at their tables. They enjoyed Bingo. I showed the children the Zoom screen on the Smart Board so they could see the Bingo pictures. We played Halloween picture Bingo and cover all so that finding rows would not confuse them. Thank you so much for the prizes and treats for snack. It helped to make the day special for them. Being inside all day was difficult and the excitement of Halloween. We tried to keep them busy and active with exercises and movement activities, but behavior was not the best. Only a few children were able to rest due to the chatter and movement during rest time.

Friday: Students may wear their Halloween costumes to school. Please have your child wear the school uniform underneath the costume so we can remove the costume if they become warm or uncomfortable and for rest time. We will have a special morning snack, provided by parents who signed up on the Sign Up Genius. We will go to the Hall for Fall pictures. We had hoped to parade around the Main building afterwards so the classes could look out the windows to watch the parade. I don't think the weather will cooperate.

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Week of October 19

*** Please check your child's uniform sweatshirt. A couple have been mixed up. Please return to school if you have one that is not yours. I also have one without a name, please let me know if you are missing it. Children are instructed to place coats and sweatshirts inside the schoolbag when removing them.

Halloween has arrived in EC4A! This week we will begin our celebration of Halloween with the Letter Hh and a few Halloween crafts and activities. Our pumpkin centers will continue so that each group/ table has the opportunity to enjoy them. In Math, we will work with puzzles. Puzzles are a great fine motor and cognitive skills activity. We will work with wooden puzzles. We will also work with Halloween puzzles. The children will follow a diagram to create Halloween pictures using unifix cubes, interlocking blocks.

Monday: Welcome, Jack, to EC4A! Jack returns to SJB today and his friends have been anxiously awaiting his arrival. Our new students have been excited to meet him. We now have 20 students, 13 boys and 7 girls. 

During center time, the children painted a paper plate to prepare for an activity tomorrow for the book, Go Away, Big Green Monster, by Ed Emberley.

We will have Spanish and Music Special classes today. The children were disappointed to miss them last week due to the day off school.

Tuesday: Happy Birthday, Dominic!

Today we read the book, Go Away, Big Green Monster. We then created paper plate green monsters. I tried something new today. Typically, I create a craft with the children so they can hear the directions and have the visual to follow along. Today, I hung up the finished product and had the children follow the model to complete the activity. They had to glue the facial features in the same places as my sample. I did this so the children could work on their observation skills and learn to pay attention to details. We played a game last week called, "Where's the pumpkin?". I had the children cover their eyes and then I placed the pumpkin somewhere in the classroom. They had to observe where the pumpkin was and then using their "telling" words to describe where it was. They first answered, "over there". As I asked more questions, they quickly caught on. I hid the pumpkin on the top shelf of Jack's cubby since it was empty last week. One child responded that the pumpkin was on top of the cubby. When I tapped the top another child said, "No, on the shelf." I looked at the bottom shelf and another child clarified that it was the top shelf. Learning to be more descriptive in their language with improve their communication skills as well as help them to be great writer later in school.

From the office: An email was also sent this morning.

10/20/2020

EC3, EC4 and Kindergarten TEC Parents,

There will be NO Eagles Club for EC3, EC4 and Kindergarten, Wednesday, November 4 - Friday, November 6.  The early childhood building is being used for Parent/Teacher conference zoom meetings. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Thank you.

Wednesday: We completed our first journal writing activity. The children drew what they were going to be dress up as for Halloween. I then worked with each child (this will take a few days) to sound out the name of his or her costume. At this point of the year, the children may only be able to hear the beginning and ending sounds. Vowels are difficult to distinguish. As the children become more comfortable with this activity, the will begin to hear sounds in the middle of the words. This is also great letter recognition practice when writing the word.

I did not work Eagles Club today. Miss Angela, who usually assists us, and Miss Marilyn had our group. I left school today at 2:00 to attend my daughter's field hockey game. It was the first game of the season and it was Senior Night so I had to arrive early for the ceremony before the game. Typically Senior Night is the last home game, but they wanted to celebrate it early in case the season is cut short. 

Thank you to everyone who volunteered to donate an item for our Halloween celebrations. Thank you for all of your support!

Thursday: We watched a video of the book, The Ghost Dinner, by Jacques Duquennoy. In the book, a group of ghosts have a dinner party. They turn the color of everything that they eat. For example, they orange when they eat pumpkin soup. The children then completed an activity where they had to color ghosts based on the food suggestions by the ghosts.

This afternoon, we had a STEAM activity. The children have been singing "Five Little Pumpkins". The children had to design and construct a gate/ stucture using various blocks to hold five pumpkins. I purchased a large bag of pumpkin candies that I use every year for this activity, but then realized I could not use it since the candies were not individually packaged. I knew the candies would be tempting not to eat! We completed the activity using five unifix cubes.

We also created a Five Little Pumpkin scene. The children were given craft sticks and a bag of five pumpkin stickers; foam bats, ghosts, moon: and witch papers. The children had freedom to design the scene however they pleased.

We BOOed KB this morning. Our building has the tradition of BOOing each other on the days leading up to Halloween. EC4A always starts the fun, therefore, we are BOOed last. The teachers prepare a bag of treats to leave outside the classroom door. As we have done in the past, the treats are always individually factory packaged. We tiptoed down the hallway, I knocked on the door, and we all yelled BOO very loudly. The children quickly walked down the hallway back to our classroom. Once we returned to the classroom, my friends cheered and laughed! They are very excited about getting BOOed next week. 

Friday: Today is Halloween Dress Down Day for the four year old classes. Students may wear Halloween themed or Halloween color clothing (not costumes). Be sure that shoes are playground appropriate.


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Week of October 12

I hope everyone enjoyed the three day weekend. I defintely needed to catch up on some sleep! Things have been going well in EC4A, but I am definitely exhausted each day. My friends have a lot of energy and enthusiasm! There is also a lot of cleaning to be done each day. Thank you to everyone who sent in sanitizing spray and extra wipes last week. We are going through them quickly.

During the last month, I have been impressed at how quickly and easily the children have transitioned back to school. They are happy to be back in a routine and among friends. Their name writing is coming along nicely and their fine motor skills are improving. They are learning patience. Many of our friends were home the last six months or in a camp with a smaller goup. With 19 (soon to be 20) friends, we need to remember to take turns when speaking. We need to be patient when waiting for a teacher's assistance. At snack and lunch, they are learning to wait patiently as I help everyone open their food containers or fill water bottles. It would be helpful if you could include napkins in the lunch box and Eagles Club snacks and send in two water bottles.

This week we will learn about pumpkins and the Letter Pp. Our pumpkin activities will carry over to next week as well when our theme will be Halloween. We will learn how a pumpkin grows and be able to name the parts of a pumpkin.
We will also be reviewing and assessing patterns.

I have four students who need to complete their Spirit Rally t-shirts this week. 

Monday: No school today

Tuesday: In the folders today, you will find the October Monthly Letter and Number Assessment report. I assessed Uppercase Letters for all students. If the students were struggling with the lowercase letters, then I stopped and only assessed the letters in their first name. The assessment required the children to name the letter to which I pointed. The children were comfortable with this and attempted to guess even if they were unsure. For October, I assessed numbers 0 through 10. Please keep this report to compare to the November report. I am expecting that the children retain identification of the letters from month to month and continue to add more. For example, if a child identified 10 uppercase letters in October, I would hope that he or she remembers those same 10 and could identify 4 more letters in November.

Today we introduced the Letter P and continued to have fun with our fire safety centers. We are on a seven day rotation with centers so that each table can enjoy the theme's activities. On Thursday, our centers will change to our Pumpkin/ Halloween theme.

Wednesday: In Religion today, our paper reviewed making the Sign of the Cross. We have been praying everyday and the children say it beautifully. Please practice making the Sign of the Cross properly with your child. We also have been learning the Hail Mary since October is the month of the Rosary. The children are picking this prayer up very quickly.

School pictures are in the folders today.

Thursday: Our centers changed today to enhance our pumpkin theme. The children loved playing in the kitchen area/ fire station, but now it will be a pumpkin patch. I removed the toy fire extinguishers, walkie talkies, and fire tools. I also removed the table and chairs to make room for the wheel barrows and pumpkins. In the sensory bins, the children will be hammering wooden golf tees into a pumpkin. This is a great fine motor activity which also practices hand eye coordination. Using a toy hammer, the children will push the tees into the pumpkin and remove them with the hammer or their fingers. I added toy cars to the dollhouse and block area for imaginative play.

I cut open one of the pumpkins to share with the children the parts of a pumpkin. We then created our own pumpkin models by gluing together the parts and adding labels.

Friday: We learned about how a pumpkin grows. We compared a pumpkin to an apple (growing on a vine vs growing on a tree, yellow flower vs pink flower). We learned the term sequence. We glued the steps in a pumpkin's life cycle to practice our sequencing skills.

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Week of October 5

We will learn about Fire Safety and the Letter Ff. I forgot to mention that we had our first fire drill last Monday. I taught the children that when they hear me blow my whistle they must immediately stop, look, and listen. This is the protocol for all teachers in the school. The whistle signifies that there is an important message to be relayed, most likely regarding an emergency or need to exit the building. I gave several examples to the children such as a fire drill or a storm outside and we need to take shelter. This week we will learn the responsiblities of a fire fighter.

Thank you to everyone who has sent in donations that were requested on the Sign Up Genius. The children have enjoyed using the sidewalk chalk and running around popping bubbles. 

If you are able to find disinfectant spray, such as Lysol Spray, we are in need of some for the classroom. We had five bottles donated at the beginning fo the year, and I am quickly going through that supply.

Next week, we will learn about pumpkins. We will need a few small/ medium pumpkins for activities if you are able to donate one to the classroom.

Monday: We introduced the Letter F. I shared flashcards of F words for our Letter of the Week board. We pin punched the shape of Ff and practiced writing Ff on our white boards.

We had three specials today: Spanish, Music, and our first Gym Class of the year. Fr. Joe also visited us to bless our class pet for the feast of St. Francis.

This year is the 10th Anniversary of the opening of the Early Childhood Building. Each child was given a "10" cookie to take come to celebrate the occasion.

Tuesday: We read Fighting Fires by Seymour Simon. This book introduced the different types of fire engines such as ladder trucks, pumper trucks, tiller trucks, quint trucks, fire boats, and special planes that fight fires. We created a Dalmation dog craft using a paper plate. This was the first time we glued paper to a plate so the children quickly realized that they needed to use more glue for the paper to stick. 

Our Clifford Magazine was about fire fighters. Don't forget to access the online activities for the magazine on the Scholastic website. I sent a flyer with the password a few weeks ago. Let me know if you need the flyer.

We began sponge painting the Spirit Rally/ Field Day t-shirts today. I will do a few children each day. I will send the shirts home with each child as we complete them. We used fabric paint and it says to wait until 72 hours to wash the shirt. However, you will not need to wash them as the children have not worn them yet. I did prewash the shirts before painting. I believe the first time that the children will wear the shirts will be October 29th, but I will confirm soon. If you did not send in a t-shirt, please do soon this week. The number on the back is their class number from the class list in alphabetical order by last name.

Wednesday: We have two very special birthdays today! Happy Birthday, Mia and Sophia!

We finally dressed Mr. Potato Head completely which means we earned a class reward! We voted this morning and we will have Pajama Day this Friday, October 9th. I told the children they may wear pajamas or any comfy sweatpants, if they prefer. Girls should wear leggings under their nightgowns. No slippers, please. They may wear any shoes that are comfortable when playing.

         

I sent home the children's spare shoes from the cubbies on Monday. You may keep them at home. We have limited space in the cubbies this year and the children have been doing a fantastic job with the bathroom.

Thursday: Today we learned about the equipment that firefighters use. We colored and cut out fire safety cards to play a game. I gave clues about the equipment and the children held up the correct card/ answer. They enjoyed hearing the bell if they were correct or the buzzer if they were incorrect.

Don't forget that tomorrow is our special EC4A Pajama Day!

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Week of September 28

This week we will focus on the Letter Aa and our theme of Apples. We will learn about the life cycle of apples and be the parts of an apple. We will also learn about Johnny Appleseed in Music class and in EC4A. We will not be able to taste test apples and apple cider in school, but consider having apples for snack this week or weekend. 

A few centers have changed to enhance our theme. Our sensory bins will have farm toys and plastic apples. The children will also build apple trees using toilet paper rolls and craft sticks, trying to keep the apples in the tree by balancing pom poms on the craft sticks. A basket of toy apples has been added to the kitchen area. Last week I shared new toys with the children. Last year's class gifted me with new animals and Disney characters for our classroom. The children played with them on their morning trays. This week, I have added the superheroes and princesses to the dollhouse and animals to the block area.

Reminders for the week:
      - School pictures are on Wednesday. The children may dress down for
        picture day.

      - We are no longer staggering arrival. The doors open at 7:20 and close at
        7:35. If you arrive after 7:35, you must go to the Main office to obtain a
        late pass and then walk your child to our building.

      - Please send healthy snacks and lunches for your child. Be careful of sugar
        counts in snacks.

Monday: Today we introduced the Letter Aa. We pin punched the shape of Aa using a push pin and a cardboard box. This skill is challenging for the children in the beginning of the year as they are still strenghtning their fine motor skills.

We had Spanish and Music Specials today.

Tuesday: Happy Birthday, Avery! We learned about the life cycle of apples. We also created an apple by gluing tissue paper to an apple shape. The children could choose to either lay the tissue paper down or scrunch the tissue paper. Our Clifford magazine also featured apples. Don't forget you may log into the Scholastic website to access the games and videos at home.

I began assessing identification of uppercase letters today. I assess the letters and numbers monthly. I will send home a report once I have all the assessments completed. I bring the children over to work with me one at a time during centers. The children do not know it is an asessement. I keep it stress free. I am not concerned with the number correct each month. I am looking for retention from month to month and that they are adding more letters each month. If a child identified 8 letters in October, the goal would be to retain those 8 and identify a few more in November.

There is rain in the forecast for Picture Day tomorrow. Our class is scheduled for 8:45 in the Hall. For tomorrow, you may need to send in an umbrella and/ or rain coat. Children are permitted to dress down in regular clothes for the picture. Normally we do not allow umbrellas, however, we want the children to have perfect hair for their pictures!

Wednesday: Picture Day! All children will be photographed for the yearbook, even if you do not wish to purchase school pictures.

Mrs. Newcomb, our Art Teacher, will visit our class today for an Art lesson. They created fall trees by ripping paper and drawing the tree with a brown crayon. These will dry overnight and will be sent home on Thursday.

Thursday: White t-shirt is due today. We will decorate them next week.

Today we learned about Johnny Appleseed and created an apple by cutting and gluing the parts. The children added labels to the parts of the apples. We worked on our sounds and letter recognition to find the correct label. This activity was completed during Group Time after lunch. This is the time when the para is on her lunch break. Therfore, the children are learning to follow the directions of the teacher without another teacher walking around reminding the children to listen attentively. Learning to work independently is an important skill for the four year old class in preparation for Kindergarten. The sugary snacks in lunch makes it a bit more difficult to concentrate. Please be aware of the sugar counts in snacks and lunches. 

Friday: We finished our discussion of apples by naming foods that have apples as ingredients such as apple sauce and apple juice. We then created an apple pie craft. The children colored the pie plate and then cut and glued apple slices and pie crust.

Monday will be a very busy day in EC4A. We have our two specials, Spanish and Music. We will also meet Mrs. Schock for a special Gym period during our lunch recess. Fr. Joe will also visit us to bless our class pet, Firework. I also learned today that the children may bring in a picture of their pet for Fr. Joe to bless. We cannot have our Blessing of the Pets in person this year.

Thank you to everyone who sent in a white shirt for their child to decorate. I will stencil the numbers on the back this weekend. I explained to the children that I can only paint a few shirts each day next week because I need to do this project one on one since we will be using fabric paint. They are very excited to make their own shirts!

Have a wonderful weekend!
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Week of September 21

This week our theme will be All About Me. All of our weekly themes can be found at the Year at a Glance tab on the left. We will read books about being unique and special. The children are continuing to meet my expectations in the classroom. We are still taking a little long to gather our belongings and line up to have snack and lunch outside or use the bathroom. Hopefully, this will improve so we can go outside for learning activities.

We will continue to practice writing our names. I am sending home in the folder a blank name tracing sheet. Feel free to make copies and practice at home.

The students will also be sorting by shapes as I continue to assess shape recognition. Next week, we will begin the Letter of the Week with the letter A.

Arrival and Dismissal has been going very well. I believe a letter is going to be sent home to address the staggering of drop off and pick up. Kindergarten has been coming into the building quickly so your child may begin entering the building earlier. The doors open at 7:20. Please continue to social distance when bringing your child to the building. The children are not required to wear their star nametag into school.

Monday: Our book today was Designed by God So I Must Be Special. This book focuses on our senses and why they are valuable to us. The children created a self portrait by coloring a child shape. They loved adding the gems, shapes, and buttons to their initials last week so we will be adding similar items to our self portraits as well. The initials are hanging from the ceiling in the classroom.

We have our two specials, Spanish and Music, today.

Mr. Delfin, our Guidance Counselor, visited our class this morning to introduce himself and explain his role. The children recognize him from morning drop off, but we wanted them to understand how he helps in the school. He discussed feelings, played a game using the characters from the movie, Inside Out, and danced with the children to If You're Happy and You Know It. He explained that he is available if the children were sad, scared, or just having a bad day and needed someone to talk to.

Tuesday: I will update this evening, after Eagles Club. I apologize that I did not have time to update during the day. Mrs. Golebiowski and Ms. Koval were absent today. Mrs. Tharan, Miss Beth, and Miss Marilyn all popped in throughout the day to assist with bathroom, snack, and lunch.

My morning lesson focused on how we are all different and unique. I showed the children rocks in various size, shapes, textures, and colors. I explained that God created all of the rocks. Each one is special and amazing even though they are all different. Each child will choose a rock that is special to them. We will write their names on the rock and add fingerprints. These rocks will decorate our Prayer Table this year.

During Center Time, we sorted mini foam shape erasers. As they sorted using the tweezers again (strengthening those hand muscles), I assessed their shape recognition. This week I added rectangle and diamond since I did not assess these shapes last week. 

We read the book When I Grow Up by Al Yankovic. The boy in the story is telling his class during Show and Tell about all the awesome jobs he would like to have we he grows up. Some were typical occupations like chef and teacher and some very strange like a snail trainer or tarantula barber. Ask your child to tell one some of the silly jobs. We then followed directions to draw our face, cut out our head and leg shapes, and then glue all the pieces together. Some pieces I precut since they were a bit tricky. The body parts were photocopied on various shades of skin color paper. The children chose the skin color closest to their own so they did not need to color the skin. However, my friends LOVE the skin color crayons that I gave them and a few insisted on coloring the skin anyway. I love their enthusiasm and their attention to details!

Thank you for attending the Back to School Night Zooms. I appreciate that you took time out of your busy day. And thank you for sending in all the wonderful donations!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday: We read the book, I LIke Me!, by Nancy Carlson. This book encourages being proud and happy with yourself. The children completed a hand held mirror craft, like the one in the book.

I allowed the children to use water color paints for the first time today. Some friends will have the opportunity to do this activity tomorrow. We completed a page in our name books where the children paint the letters of their name. They used the thin brush to paint inside each letter. This was great letter recognition and fine motor skill practice.

Miss Beth, who works in Eagles Club with the first grade, was our substitute today.

Thursday: Today we practiced writing our name and pre-writing skill lines in our red notebooks. As I expected, the children were thrilled to have a new book. They do a great job tracing my lines. I wrote in a highlighter which allowed them to be able to see their lines clearly. Some friends were very hesitant to attempt to write their name by themselves. Others proudly wrote the name all in capital letters even though they traced their name with lowercase letters. We completed our name books today. I will assemble them over the weekend and send them home on Monday. Please practice name writing at home.

Friday: I have really enjoyed watching the children present the items in the All About Me bags. All students stood or sat on the bench in the front of the classroom. Some were quiet and quick. Others could have talked for an hour! Some enjoyed walking around to the other tables to show their pictures or items. I instructed them to walk to the tables and hold the item the same way that I hold a book that I am reading to the class. 

Today we read Only One You which is a sweet story about a family of fish. The parents are telling their child how special he is and how he can do anything his heart desires. We painted a fish using liquid watercolor paint.

Please remember to wash rest blankets, crib sheets, and gray snack towels and return them to school on Monday. Please send the rest blankets and sheets in a bag.

Picture Day is September 30th!!! All students are photgraphed for the yearbook, therefore their pictures will be taken even if you do not intend to purchase.

Next week, we will begin having a Letter of the Week and our theme will be apples. Sadly, we cannot have our apple taste testing as planned. Have a wonderful weekend!

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Week of September 14

We had a fantastic first week of school! The children quickly settled in to their new environment and being back to school. We will continue with our theme, "Welcome to SJB". We will also practice writing our names the "Big Kid" way. We will transition to writing our first names with an uppercase letter and the other letters lowercase. Last week, I encouraged the children to write as many letters in their names that they could. I would like them be confident in writing their names, even if they can only write their initial. They do not gain confidence or improve if I am writing it for them. I told them that they will learn the other letters as we continue to practice.

We will practice sorting by color this week and I am assessing recognition of colors and shapes. In the fours, we ask the child to identify the color/ shape/ letter by name as opposed to locating and pointing to the correct answer.

A few reminders:
     - Remember to wash the rest towels/ sheets and gray outdoor sitting towels
       over the weekend and return to school each Monday. It is helpful if the rest
       blankets are in a separate bag, not the schoolbag.

     - We have snack and (sometimes lunch) outside everyday. Please be sure
       that all food, including morning snack, is in the lunch box. It is easier for
       the children to carry the lunchbox outside, rather than two or three
       morning snacks. Eagles Club snack should be kept separate from the lunch
       box and be in the front pocket of the schoolbag.

     - Please send everything your child needs for lunch, including napkins, forks,
       spoons, filled water bottle. We will refill the water as needed throughout
       the day.

I have added a few pictures of our projects to the Photos Tab to the left. Also, scroll down to see the picture of our fish, Rainbow, if you missed it on Friday.

Monday: We will read The Pigeon Has to Go to School by Mo Willems and follow directions to complete a craft. This craft requires the children to listen closely as well as follow along as I complete a sample.

We will also have our first Specials today. Every Monday we have Spanish class with Ms. Koval and Music class with Mrs. Wagner. Mrs. Wagner has provided each student with a bag of instruments which we keep in the classroom. At this time, these are the only two specials that we will have. On the other days, Ms. Koval comes to our room and assist with lunch recess outside and sometimes plans an activity for the children. This allows me time to clean the toys and classroom in the middle of the day. After Eagles Club, I clean toys and the classroom again.

Mrs. Golebiowski was not in school today and we were unable to find a substitute. The children did a great job and were very patient with me. Mrs. Tharan came over several times and helped with bathroom time. I was not comfortable taking the children out by myself at this early stage of the year. It is difficult for one person since the children are still learning the rules and boundaries. I also would be unable to take the children to the bathroom and monitor the children outside. 

Tuesday: We introduced our Good Deed tree today. Each child has an apple on a tree decoration which is hanging on the wall. The cut out/ shape will change each month. When we notice the children doing a good deed or showing kindness to others, they earn a sticker on their shape. The good deed tree is for individual accomplishments. For class rewards for good behavior, the children earn a piece to Mr. Potato Head. We have a Mr. Potato Head in our classroom and the class earns a piece when the entire group is on task and participating. 
                                   
We also read The Rainbow Fish which aided us in our discussion of sharing and kindness.

We are reviewing sorting this week in Math. We are sorting mini star erasers by color. Next week, we will sort by shape.

This afternoon we completed our Clifford Magazine. We read the magazine together in class, watch the online videos, and play the games on the Smart Board. There is a letter in the folder providing you with our class code so your child can also complete these activities at home.

Miss Marilyn, our Eagles Club Director for the Early Childhood Building, was the substitute for Mrs. Golebiowski today.

Wednesday: Today we traced our first names. I printed out a sheet with their names written on it so they could trace the letters. We also have been discussing initials. Some children were confused by this concept. I like to use different prompts when giving directions or lining up. I said, "If your name begins with an E, please line up." Several children lined up and responded my name starts with an E, however, they have E's in the middle of their names. We will be completing a name book to help us learn how to write our names the big kid way. I am not expecting perfection, but hoping to have the children transition from writing in all capital letters to upper/lowercase combination since this is a hard habit to break.

We completed a journal drawing activity for our binders. The children had to draw one thing they liked about SJB and then dictate their response to a teacher. I love looking at these binders in May to see how their writing and drawing has progressed over the school year. It was also nice to hear that many of the children enjoy the center areas. I had to make many changes to the way we typically do center time this year so I was thrilled to hear that they are loving the areas.

Please remember to write names on all belongings. I instruct the children to place sweatshirts in their schoolbag when they remove them because they tend to slide out of the cubby and land on the floor.

Thursday: We read the book Lucy's Mask by Lisa Thompson. Lucy loves to wear masks and play dress up. One day her mom gives her a special mask and tells her that this mask will help save people which makes Lucy feel like a superhero. We then discussed our feelings about mask and germs. The children completed a journal drawing activity where the children drew their feelings.

We sorted colored mini star erasers by color. We reviewed how to sort and as expected they completed the activity easily. Children have no difficulty sorting by color, but when we sort by shape or type there can be some confusion. To maximize our learning, the children used oversized tweezers to pick up the erasers. I told them they were strengthening their hand muscles so they could become better writers.

The children created a crayon box craft as a group. We are working on following directions during group activities. They are very excited to be with their friends and may have not been in a large group setting since March. We completed this together. The crayons had the letters of their name written on them. The children had to put their names in order and glue the crayons on the box. 

Please send in a plain white t-shirt for your child by October 1st. Mrs. Schock our Gym teacher organizes our Spirit Rallies and Field Day. Each class (EC through 2nd grade) is assigned a different color. We will decorate these shirts in class.

Friday: We had fun decorating our initials. A few friends began this activity yesterday. I cut out a large letter for each child and glued it onto a piece of construction paper. The children added small foam shapes, buttons, or gems to their initial using a glue sponge. This is something I found on online and had wanted to do last year. This is the perfect year to try it! Each child has a small plastic container containing a sponge saturated in Elmer's glue. They push the shape or paper onto the sponge to apply the glue. It is recommended to spray the sponges with a water/ Listerine mixture once a week to keep it moisturized and sanitized. It will be an experiment to see how they hold up, but the kids loved using them. They still had a bit of glue on their fingers, but it was definitely less messy.

The children are doing a great job. I am pleased with their progress so far. We have tried a variety of fine motor activities and they have been successful. It is obvious that you all kept up with activities over the summer and the children retained these skills. Thank you!

Have a wonderful weekend! Enjoy the Fall weather! Next week, our theme is All About Me. Remember to send in your child's All ABout Me bag on their assigned day. The children will show their items and then place their bags immediately back into their schoolbags to keep the items germ free. If you choose to send in the bag early, we will keep it in the schoolbag until it is time to use it.

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Week of September 8
 
Our theme for the first two weeks of school is "Welcome to EC4A and SJB". We will have fun introducing our new friends to the routine and rules of the classroom. We will assess the fine motor skills of the students as we complete several fun art projects.

I will read books from three different authors as we welcome the students. The first will be James Dean and his Pete the Cat series.    

Monday: Happy Labor Day! 6:30 'Twas the Night Before Preschool Zoom

Tuesday: First Day of School! The children did a fantastic job today! They were very excited and very polite. They are learning the rules, learning to be patient and wait their turn, and asking lots of questions. We read the story Pete the Cat, Rocking in My School Shoes and colored a special Pete the Cat First Day of School paper. I took several pictures of the children playing and will upload them to the Photos Tab once I receive notification from the office of picture permission granted. We also practiced cutting on a line. Each child had two stips of paper with straight and diagonal lines on which to cut. Everyone used proper scissor grip, and most cut on the line perfectly. Great job!

We introduced how our center areas work and explained that they are in that center for the whole time. They children did a great job staying in their areas. I was truly impressed at how they followed directions! They are excited to see which center they have tomorrow and I told them to check the chart when they arrive each morning to see. I keep it a secret so they have something to look forward to when they arrive each day. They check their jobs and center areas on the charts each morning.

Please remember to send in a water bottle everyday. Children should continue to wear their star nametag into school. They did a great job wearing their masks when instructed to do so. I was so proud of them for walking into school like big kids!

Wednesday: Please have your child practice putting on their mask by themselves. Since the masks touch their faces, I am concerned about spreading germs if I need to assist with several masks on the playground when we are preparing to return to the classroom.

Your child may have mentioned that we have been eating morning snack outside. I ordered the children a grey hand towel to sit on when we are on the blacktop for snack or outdoor learning. They arrived Tuesday afternoon. I will send these home with the children on Fridays to be washed with their rest sheets and blankets. Please be sure to return the towels and rest blankets on Mondays.

We completed Lesson One of our Religion book. Each lesson has a tear out sheet for the children to complete in school along with a family newsletter. Today you will receive two letters, one for the unit and one for the lesson.

We decorated a cover for our binders and completed the first activity. These binders are a portfolio of your child's progress throughout the year. The children drew a self portrait. They will draw one in January and one on May to assess their growth during the year.

Thursday: Today we read Pete the Cat and his Groovy Buttons. I wore a yellow shirt with felt buttons, like Pete, and as I read the story, my buttons were lost as well. The children glued their own Pete the Cat and added his yellow shirt. Then they placed numbered button stickers on the shirt. They had to put the four numbers in correct order. These will decorate our classroom. We will send them home soon for you to enjoy.

We also read the book Germs vs. Soap by Didi Dragon. The book is a humorous look at germs and how important it is to use soap when washing hands. Most four year olds pump soap from the dispenser and then immediately run their hands under water. I demonstrated how to properly wash hands and then we did a Science experiment. I filled bowls with water on the tables. I added pepper to the water. The pepper represented germs and how they can remain on skin when you only wash with water. Then I poured a drop of dish soap into the water and we observed the pepper scatter. Hopefully, this will help the children remember how to wash their hands effectively. We also discussed the appropriate amount of hand sanitizer to use. Some of my friends think more is better when sanitizing their hands. 

It is amazing how quickly the children are settling in their new routines. They are quickly becoming friends and are comfortable in their new surroundings. I love their enthusiasm!

Friday: Today we read The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Dewalt. We discussed how each crayon was feeling and that it is okay to have those feelings. Sometimes you need to let the other person know that you do not like the way he or she is treating you. Each child chose a color crayon to decorate. They did a great job cutting and following directions to create the crayon craft.

We also did a page in our special Learning Without Tears workbook. This is our handwriting curriculum. The page today was following directions, which is very important for learning.

Our fish has a name!!!! The children had many great choices for his name and we had the final vote this morning. Welcome, Rainbow, to EC4A!!!!!!

         

The friends' names that are in the box were absent or chose not to vote.