Welcome, this is our first newsletter! We hope you are just as excited as we are to work together and witness this exciting developmental stage in your child’s life. Our learning through work and play will help the children build new skills daily, and we ask you to please encourage these skills at home.

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The children walked into our classroom happy and excited to explore all the beautiful and inviting materials. We have been busy learning about classroom rules and routine. Here are a few key sayings and phrases we use in the classroom: inside voices, walking feet, hands are for helping, cleanup your work, follow the leader in line and so much more! The children have done a wonderful job adjusting to our daily routine and our introductory lessons; sitting crossed legs at circle, raising a quiet hand for a turn to talk at circle, walking in a line, washing hands, carrying work to the table, pulling out a chair and pushing in a chair, carrying a work mat, and unrolling/rolling a work mat for work!

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Our theme for the month of September was “All about Me, My Family and Community”. It’s been a pleasure listening and learning about each and every family that makes up our classroom. Recently, the children helped make Our Family Tree on our classroom’s bulletin board. We can’t wait to continue to add leaves and family photos. We have enjoyed reading “Our Class is a Family” by Shannon Olsen, “Our Peaceful Classroom” by Aline D. Wolf and “Listening to My Body” by Gabi Garcia. The children were introduced to Art - makers and crayons, using a stencil. Culture/Geography - Land, Air, and Water, Family puzzles and family dolls to tell stories about their family. Language - Sandpaper Letters and Object Box (a), I SPY puzzle, Alphabet puzzles, and Emotion matching cards. Math -Sandpaper numbers, Spindle Box, Cards and Counters. Practical Life - Dry pouring 1-1, spooning, using tweezers to transfer from one bowl to another. Science - Looking at different shells. Sensorial - Pink Tower, Brown Staircase and Knob Cylinder.

 

Our Daily Schedule

9:00-10:15 Arrival/Bathroom/Circle Time/Work Time

10:15-10:30 Bathroom/Snack Time

10:30-11:15 Lower Playground Time

11:15-11:45 Bathroom /Circle Time/Story/Dismissal

 

Reminders:

• Back to School Night is on Wednesday, October 6th at 7pm via zoom; link to follow. We look forward to seeing you all

• 1 Family photo for classroom family tree

• Monday, Oct 11th Columbus Day, school closed

 

Our theme is: Our Five Senses and Parts of Our Body

 

Art:

Tracing strips (tracing a line with a marker using strip cards)

Scissor strips (cutting strips in a straight line)

 

Cultural Arts/Geography:

Seasons of the Year

Matching pictures to seasons

Community Helpers puzzle

Community Helpers Bingo game

 

Language:

Sandpaper Letters and Object Box (c) and (r)

What are Opposites?

School Supplies (develop vocabulary/oral communication)

Learning to sing a Poem about Apples

Sequence the Apple poem (for early reader)

 

Math:

Patterning with Apples

Counting with apples (1 to 10)

Number Rods with numerals (1 to 10) The child learns the names of numbers and their sequences. They learn to correctly associate between number and its quantity

Hanging Bead Stair (10-19) The child learns to understand the concept of quantity in a concrete way as they can feel it, count it, and see the quantity.

 

Practical Life:

Hanging clothes on a clothes-line

Setting up the table (learning self-care)

Sorting Fruits (develops concentration, hand-eye coordination)

Picking pom poms with a tweezer to make a worm on an apple (develops concentration, hand-eye coordination)

Transferring small apples with a tweezer from one bowl to another (develops concentration, hand-eye coordination)

Tasting red, yellow, and green apples (using our sense of Taste)

 

Science:

What are our five Senses? (Smell, Touch, Hear, Taste, Sight)

Five Senses picture sort

Labeling the parts of our body (Ankles, Arms, Chest, Elbows, Feet, Fingers, Hands, Head, Knees, Neck, Shoulders, Thighs, Thumbs, Toes,

Labeling the inside of our body (Heart, Lung, Kidney, Brain and Intestine)

Life cycle of an apple (Seed, Seedling, Tree, Buds, Flower blossoms, Apples growing)

Parts of an Apple (Stem, Leaf, Skin, Flesh, Core, seeds)

 

Sensorial:  

Smelling Bottles, (Bottles with different fruit fragrance, finding matching fragrances)

Sound Cylinder (auditory sense, soft to loud)

Color Tablets 1(primary colors red, yellow, and blue)

 

Books:

An Apples Life (Watch it Grow) by Nancy Dickmann

We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzeger