Ms. Piper’s Class Newsletter 2-19-18

 

Hello, preschool families! We hope this message finds you well. This is the classroom update for the month of February.

 

What We’re Learning

Our current STEM Unit, Nursery Rhymes, continues for one more week. So far, the children have enjoyed reading different Nursery Rhymes (and listening for the rhyming words), playing a muffin sorting game, re-enacting “Jack be Nimble” and “Little Miss Muffet,” and playing with a muffin baking set. In the coming week, we will do a Design Challenge, developing ways to keep Humpty Dumpty (an egg) safe from falling off of a wall that we will build. Read Across America Week is Feb 26-Mar 3, and then our next STEM Unit, Roads, will go from Mar 5-Apr 13.

We have completed our PATHS Social Emotional Curriculum for the year, ending with the more complex feelings, like guilty and jealous. We will continue to review feelings for the rest of the year, and will continue to practice doing “turtle” as a calming technique.

In literacy, we are continuing to focus on identifying, writing, and naming the sounds of every letter in the alphabet, and will for the rest of the year. We practice writing our names daily, using lowercase letters except for the first letter. Some children are beginning to write their last names, as well. We talk about our last names frequently! We continue to discuss the features of books as well as the author and the illustrator. Some of the favorite books have been The Three Billy Goats Gruff and the various nursery rhyme books that we have in our reading center.

In math, the children have been learning to recognize, create, fix, and extend simple patterns. We incorporate this into multiple routines in our day—you can find and create patterns almost anywhere! We have also been practicing simple number combinations, playing games where the children have to quickly answer small addition and subtraction questions. We continue to work on identifying numerals 1-10, or 10-20+ for those who are ready.

 

Important Dates

 

·      Feb 22: Class Photos

·      Feb 21 and 22: Papa John’s Fundraiser

·      Mar 15: PBIS Reward: Dance Party in the Gym

·      Mar 26-30: Spring Break

Family Photos

Many of our families sent in family photos at the beginning of the year. We have them on a bulletin board for the children to look at and share with their classmates. If you have not sent in a family photo, please do! It is fine to send by email, we can print them here.

Classroom Wish List

We are ALWAYS in need of 5 oz. paper cups for snack. Thank you!

–Ms. Piper and Ms. Sherry