Dear Parents,

Once again we want to wish you a healthy and safe 2021 and want to thank you for sharing your children with us. We’re very happy to have everyone back to school after winter recess and to have our class full of enthusiastic children. Over the past two weeks we learned more about the winter season and the effect on the weather (getting cold, snowy and ice) on the environment (winter days have fewer hours of sunlight), on humans (people wear layered clothing to keep warm) and on animals (they hibernate or migrate).

The children have had fun with activities, artwork, books and songs related to the winter season.

La Bafana came to visit! The children were so excited she left treats in boxes we had made in anticipation of her arrival. We read a book about Martin Luther King Jr. and how he worked to teach people to solve problems without fighting, to help one another and to share. We then had the children brainstorm ways of solving problems without arguing or fighting and created a list of rules for getting along in our classroom.

We also practiced writing and learned the sound of “w.” Each of the children came up with excellent words starting with the letter and we were very proud of them!

Our next unit will be an exciting one and always children’s favorite: “Dinosaurs”. We’re going to spend time learning facts about them, about their sizes (measuring their length!) and new words associated with them (“fossils”, “paleontologist” etc.) as well as reading books and making exciting activities.

Last week we resumed our enrichment program: Spanish, Music and Nature of Things

We wanted to share a wonderful observation! We noticed the children becoming more independent in their self-help skills. They are able to put on their jackets, gloves, mittens, hats and zipper up without the teacher’s help.

 

Kindest regards,

Eva and Helene

 

Our theme is: Winter - Dinosaurs

Art:

Winter and dinosaur collage

Snowflakes sponging paint

Model Magic snowman

Puffy paint dinosaurs using shaving cream, glue and paint

Making designs with color ice cubes

 

Cultural Arts/Geography:

World jigsaw map (matching Continents)

Puzzle Maps of: North America, U.S.A. and Africa

Dinosaurs that lived in North America and Africa

Discuss new President taking office on January 20th

 

Language:

Sounds of the week: [d] [e]

Metal Inset 2nd lesson: Trace the shapes and fill them up with colored lines

Cut and paste rhyming pictures

Art matching cards

Learn new words: Prehistory, Carnivore, Herbivore, Omnivore and Paleontologist

Connect the dots from A to Z to make a Triceratops (Herbivore) and a T. Rex (Carnivore)

Dinosaurs Three Part Cards to learn the names and beginning sounds of some dinosaurs

Dinosaurs Adjective List: Think of many words to describe a dinosaur

 

Books:

Dinosaurs by Anne McCord

The First Dinosaurs by Douglas Dixon

Giant Dinosaurs by Erna Rowe

First Big Book of Dinosaurs

How do Dinosaurs Say I Love You by Jane Yolen & Mark Teague

Dinosaurumpus! by Tony Mitton

How Dinosaurs Play with Their Friends by Jane Yolen

The Mitten by Jan Brett (make special project)

 

Math:

Stamping numbers from 1 to 20

Mystery Math

Snowflakes Symmetry (Explaining the meaning of symmetry in nature)

Matching numbers on the dinosaurs using numbered clothespins

Dinosaurs addition book

Learning about graphing - Graphing winter clothes: children count and compare

 

Practical Life:

Screwdriver and screw board

Transferring dry and wet ingredients with funnel

 

Science:

Experiment: Make Ice. Feel the water in its solid state. Show the children that water expands when it freezes. “Ice cubes fishing game”

Facts about dinosaurs: What is a dinosaur? What did dinosaurs live? What did dinosaurs

like to do? Were there any people, houses or cars? What did they eat? Etc.

Learn about Fossils. Fossils are the only physical evidence that dinosaurs existed

Make our own fossils

 

Sensorial:

Geometric solids: cone, pyramid, cylinder. Difference between cone and pyramid

Cut and build a cone and a pyramid

Build different shapes using small colored sticks and count how many sides

Curvilinear shapes from the Montessori Geometric Cabinet

Dinosaur floor puzzle