Thursday, December 4, 2014

Last Week's Learning! December 1st - 5th

LAST WEEK’s Highlights

Preschoolers returned from Thanksgiving break full of excitement for the Holiday Season.  Over break we were greeted with chilly temperatures and a blanket of snow as Jack Frost made his way to Richmond, Vermont.  December has finally reached us, and with that, so has the countdown for the beginning of Winter, December 21st!


METEOROLOGIST’S use SNOW GAUGES and one foot rulers and yard sticks to measure how much snow has fallen in our preschool classroom thus far!  











Mathematicians count, sort and create TRANSPARENT ICICLES using flower, sphere and and tri-beads. Scholars also notice that tri- beads  resemble the letter “T”, “Y”, fans, spokes on a car, an anchor and a triangle! Below Ethan uses “ceiling fan”beads and  “old black fan” beads to create a pattern on his icicle!  





Scholars create snow and ice sculptures using “SNOW-DOUGH”!

Ben re-enacts the Snowman song with his ICE-BLUE playdough. First there was a snowman who stood nice and tall - but then he started melting and melting and melting - and then there was a puddle and no snowman at all!






Ophelia and Henry work together as a team to construct an ice castle sculpture! Scholars use their imaginations to invent many different winter creations using “snow-dough.”




FIND the RHYME GAME
PA (Phonological awareness) is a broad term that includes the awareness of words, rhymes and syllables. Over the past several months your child has participated in numerous PA activities that promote foundational literacy skills and prepares them for future formal reading.
Throughout the month of December we will focus on several RHYME skills that include;
RECOGNITION: Involves the ability to recognize that two words rhyme (sound the same).
“Does catch rhyme with pitch?”
“Which of the following words rhyme… catch, patch, rich?”
COMPLETING: Involves the ability to complete or predict a rhyme word in a sentence.
“Jack and Jill went up the _____ (hill).”   
PRODUCTION: Involves producing a rhyme without any clues.
“What rhymes with blue?”  
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Today we read BEAR SNORES ON by Karma Wilson. In this rhythmic story BEAR wakes up from a long winter nap (HIBERNATION) and is greeted by many forest friends. After reading and discussing the book scholars played a literacy game, FIND the ANIMAL RHYME!
Attached are pictures of the animal characters found in the FICTION book, BEAR SNORES ON. Please assist your child by cutting out the animal pictures to create nine animal cards. After cards are cut, place the animal cards facing up on a flat surface. Parents can sing the following chant to the melody of “Here we go around the Mulberry Bush”:
“I know an animal that rhymes with (adult substitutes the initial sound, e.g., pair), rhymes with pair, rhymes with pair. I know an animal that rhymes with p air and the animal is a___________ (child finds the animal card BEAR and says BEAR!” Continue playing until all the cards have been identified! *Rhyme words can be silly words… (Mopher rhymes with gopher!:)
Enjoy the GIFT OF TIME while playing this literacy game with your child!


Next week PRESCHOOL DISCOVERIES
December 8-12
NEW VOCABULARY
Rhombus
Rhombus Collages
Using cut straws and Contact Paper Boards to  
Count, Sort and Create RHOMBUS Patterns
How many sides does a rhombus have?

What is your favorite shape?
Circle, Square, Triangle, Rectangle or Rhombus?

BENNY’S PENNIES
Writing and Illustrating a
PRESCHOOL CLASS BOOK!
If you had five shiny pennies what would you buy?
WINTER PAPER CHAINS
Predicting and Creating Patterns with Printed Paper and Watercolor Paper
Mitten Song
THUMBS IN THE THUMB PLACE FINGERS ALL TOGETHER,
THIS IS THE SONG WE SING IN MITTEN WEATHER,
BUNDLE UP YOUR FINGERS AND BUNDLE UP YOUR TOES,
AND DON’T FORGET TO WRAP A WARM SCARF AROUND YOUR NOSE!

To assist us with a special culinary holiday activity we are asking each scholar to donate 1,2, or 3 oranges! Please send oranges to school prior to Thursday, December 11! Thank you in advance for your donation!:)