December in Pre-K

It's almost time for Winter Break and we can feel the excitement in the air! Although we haven't seen any snow, we are hoping it will come on Christmas Day. Only a week and two days into December, here are some of the things we have been learning about in Pre-K.

This week for Sound of the Week, Rose was in charge of sharing the /G/ sound with us. She brought in items from home such as a golf ball, glue, goggles, a goat, and a Go Fish game. After reviewing the items that Rose brought in, we brainstormed for other words that begin with the /G/ sound. Some of those words were good, gift, Google, grow, garden, garbage, goodies, girl, glasses, grapes, go, gate, ghost, gobble, guess, gorilla, guys, gone, galloping, guitar, goldfish, get, and giggle.

We read the AlphaTales book, Gorilla, Be Good!, and watched the Letter G Song video, from ABCmouse.com, on the big screen. For our /G/ sound activities, we made a gumball machine with the letter g, used glue, water, and Borax to create some gak, and constructed some cool structures with gummy bears. In addition to these activities, we use our handwriting skills to practice writing the letter g. We even practiced by writing on the backs of our friends! Most of us were tickled by it, but it was a lot of fun!



Sound of the Week with Rose!



Making gak and constructing gummy bear towers!

 

 

Gumball machines!       In keeping with our theme, Celebrations of light, we created some beautiful snowflakes and colored pictures of snowmen. We also decorated our own Menorahs and learned a little about the Dreidel game. We made our own candles in the Art Barn with Kate, and  even got to taste latkes (potato pancakes). They were very delicious!   We have read several books that talk about Winter and Light celebrations across the world.   Eating Latkes and applesauce!        Simple Gifts are gifts we can give to others without spending money on them. Some simple gifts Pre-K thought up were:   Making stuff for people - Leila Flying a kite - Bryce Hugs - Lucey Looking at a rainbow - Ibou Making presents - Rose Giving presents - Owen Simple Gifts     PK wishes for snow(flakes)!

 

It's almost Thanksgiving!

While making our Thankful Turkeys, we realized that we have a lot to be thankful for. Some of those things are: food, a home, our families, pajamas, friends, school, going to the Flea Market, snow, workbooks, water to drink, and losing a tooth, just to name a few. Our Thankful Turkeys are on the bulletin board in the hallway. Come down and see them if you have time.

Thankful Turkeys

We found out that there are lots of things we can do with apples (besides eat them)! We had a lot of fun exploring with apples last week. There was an apple taste test with three different kids of apples: Jonagold, Ambrosia, and Red Rome. We used lick and stick paper (it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be!) to chart the results of our taste test. We found that the Jonagold and Ambrosia apples were the most popular, and the Red Rome apple was liked the least.

Apple Taste Test

We also learned about the process that occurs when an apple is cut open, and after a while, begins to turn brown. This process is called oxidation, and it happens when oxygen is mixed with other chemicals in the apple. Even though the apple is brown, it is still okay to eat. 

Oxidation process

 



The apples were cut horizontally, not vertically as they are usually cut, and on the inside we saw that there was a star shape! We used these apple halves and some paint to make apple print patterns (ABC). They were fun to make!



Apple Print Patterns





 

After all we did with those apples, there was still one last thing...we placed the apples into a tub of water to see if they would sink or float. Most of us guessed that they would float and were correct. After experimenting with the apples, we went around the classroom to gather more objects. Some of the objects we thought would float actually sank, and vice versa. It was a very interesting activity.

Sink or float list

We learned a new concept in Math called Even and Odd. Using a set of math bear manipulatives, we imagined that the bears were having a dance. We paired them up, and saw that not all of the bears had a partner to dance with. Some bears were left all alone.

We learned that when all of the bears had a partner, the total number of bears was even. If there was a bear left all alone, the total number of bears was odd.

Even and odd

 

 

 

 

 

After pairing the bears, we just had to have a dance in Pre-K as well. We paired up to see if the number of students in our class was even or odd. Everyone had a partner, so we determined that the number six is even!

Pre-K is even!







Sound Sort with /T/ and /D/

 

For Sound of the Week, our friend Owen brought in items that begin with /C/ and /K/. We call these two sounds "cousins" because they like to share sounds. Owen brought in a piece of candy, a car, a crayon, a cat, a cape, a cone, Captain Hook, a cup, a coin, and a set of keys.

 

After reading the AlphaTales books, Copycats and Kangaroo Kazoo, We brainstormed an amazing list of words that begin with /C/ and /K/. Some of those words on our list were; cough, copy, cloud, canoe, camel, catch, corn, carrot, cave, camera, coo-coo clock, cousin, Carolina, cartwheel, cow, coloring, can't, cake, and costume. Also, keep, kite, kangaroo, kiwi, koala, kiss, kick, Katie T., Katie M., Keith, Kindergarten, katydid, king, Kaleigh, Kendall, kazoo, and Keno.

 

Sound of the Week with Owen

 

 

 Please take a look at the update on our Life Skills page!

 

A few photos...

Before the Halloween parade!

Pin the Stem on the Pumpkin game!

Mixing colors!

Sidewalk chalk with P,B,T, and D!

Mary Beth (our PE teacher, Amanda's mom) reading to the class!

October...

Sound of the Week

Last week's Sound of the Week was /T/. Our friend Leila brought in items from home such as a top, a train, a twig, a teapot, toilet paper, a tea bag, a toothbrush, a toad, a tiger, a tree, and a train track. After reviewing the items that Leila brought in, we read the book, When Tilly the Turtle Came to Tea. Then, we brainstormed other words that begin with the /T/ sound. These words were; tape, towel, table, today, tiny, toast, touch, turtle, tick tock, television, take, ten, turkey, Tuesday, take, tablecloth, Tilly, tag, and toaster. For our letter T activity, we made turtles. They were a lot of fun.

Sound of the Week with Leila!

 

This week's Sound of the Week is /D/. Our friend Lucey was delighted to share what she brought in to display on our Sound of the Week board. She brought in a dollar, a piece of driftwood, a dinosaur, Darth Vader, a dime, a dress, a dragon, a diaper, a dog, and a doll. After we had gone over all of the items that Lucey brought in, we read the book, Detective Dog and the Disappearing Doughnuts. We then brainstormed more words that begin with the /D/ sound. Our list included words such as door, disappear, doughnut, dessert, dinner, detective, dance, dark, dirty, dentist, doctor, daddy, dash, etc. For our letter /D/ project, we made ducks and gave them names that begin with the letter D.

Sound of the Week with Lucey!

 

 

 

Vocabulary

This week during Vocabulary time, we learned that consonant vowel consonant (CVC) words have an initial (beginning), medial (middle), and ending sound. When we put these letters and sounds together, we can come up with words. We first need to focus on initial sounds, so we did a little bit of letter substitution. We began with the word CAT and used different letters to replace the initial sound /C/. We came up with words such as SAT, FAT, RAT, PAT, BAT, and MAT. At times we will use letters to make nonsense words as well. One example could be DAT.

 

Math

In math we were introduced to the number line, focusing solely on positive numbers 1-10. By using the number line, we will learn skills such as counting and comparing numbers, simple addition and subtraction.

We were also introduced to the concept of ways to make 5. Through our rainbow number graph, we learned that there are a few different ways to add numbers together to equal five (i.e. 0+5, 1+4, and 2+3).




Apple Tree project



Field trip to Sharp's Waterford Farm

 

Silent Walk during Meeting for Worship
During Meeting for Worship this week, the entire Lower School went on a Silent Walk around the pond and through the woods around the Community Farm. After the Silent Walk, we gathered in a circle in front of Walbrooke for reflection, and as usual, we ended Meeting for Worship with the song Go Well and Safely.

 

 

 

Lucey and Owen during their Family Share!

 

 

 

Please visit the Life Skills page and the Technology page for updates.

Learning and Growing!

Over the last week and a half, we have been very busy!

We were introduced to the /B/ sound in Language Arts and were very excited when our friend Ibou brought in his items for the Sound of the Week board. Ibou brought in a book, a bumble bee, a bowl, a basketball, and a brush. As we were brainstorming for our word list, we came up with these words; bunny, bear, bell, broccoli, butterfly, back, brother, blue, bubble, bugs, because, balloon, bicycle, bath, butter, bench, bake, brownies, bacon, belt, etc. Even Rose's dad, Ben, made the list! We continue to think of words that begin with this sound as well as the /P/ sound.

We did a few activities surrounding our new letter sound. They included; Button names, B is for bear, having a /B/ scavenger hunt in the classroom, reading the book, Bubble Bear, and other fun activities.

After learning all about the /B/ sound, we reviewed the /P/ sound and had a sound sort with both letter sounds. We also had fun outside using sidewalk chalk to practice our handwriting skills, and practiced writing the letters in shaving cream as well. We thoroughly enjoyed that activity!



/P/ and /B/ Sound Sort

Writing with Sidewalk Chalk /P/ and /B/




Shaving cream handwriting

 

In math we were introduced to an activity called the Counting Jar. We will have Counting Jar every week, with a different number of objects each week. This activity gives us practice with one to one correspondence, tagging, counting with accuracy, and matching number symbols with the correct number of objects.

It was pretty rainy last week and a few of us had some questions about where rain came from. We talked a little about weather, and let Ms. Fizzle and the gang (yes, from The Magic School Bus!) take us on a journey. We learned about all types of weather and how it's "made". We will do an in-depth study on weather later in the school year.

The signs of Fall have begun to show and we could not help but notice! The leaves are changing colors and are falling all around, and the air is cooler. What better time to go on a leaf hunt and create our own leaf rubbings? That is exactly what we did! We went on a search for the perfect leaves and came back to the classroom to see if we could use them for an art project. We used crayons that were the colors of Fall (red, orange, yellow, brown) and created some pretty cool pieces.



Leaf hunt



Fall leaf rubbings

Community Day at SSFS was a lot of fun. We began the day with  a walk through the woods to the Meeting House to have Meeting for Worship. Our Senior Buddies met us  in our classroom to walked us over. After Meeting for Worship, we got a bus ride back to campus, ate our snack, and got busy in our PK-K garden!



Community Day

Other photos from Community Day can be viewed here: http://www.ssfs.org/gallery/index.aspx?LinkId=1438&ModuleId=29 


We had our first Family Share, celebrating the DeBacker family! Thank you all for coming in to share with us! We are looking forward to celebrating with each family!



Celebrating Ibou's birthday

Spirit Week pep rally

Sound of the Week, Nature Walk, and other things!

Sound of the Week

With our first Sound of the Week being /p/, our friend Bryce was very punctual about bringing his items in from home! He brought in such items as popcorn, paint, a picture, a pair of pants, Planters nuts, puzzle pieces, a plane, a police pilot, a pencil, peanut butter, juice pouches, and a few other items. Whew! What a perfect way to introduce our Language Arts curriculum!

As a class, we brainstormed more words that begin with the /p/ sound. Those words included pie, puppy, pot, pizza, pickles, pancake, prayer, please, potato, pumpkin, picnic, puppet, plate, push, pull, peaches, penny, peace, etc.

We also had a popsicle party, made pig puppets out of paper bags, played with play-dough brought in by our friends, were introduced to (AB) patterns during math time, watched a video on the letter P and it's sound, sang along to Pete the Cat, read The Pig's Picnic and other books that emphasize the /p/ sound. There were a couple of work pages that we completed as well. We hope the next sound we are introduced to is as exciting as the /p/ sound!!!


Nature Walk

We went on a nature walk this week, and it just so happened that we saw some plants, purple and pink flowers, pinecones, pine trees, and other things that begin with the /p/ sound. We were very excited! 

With magnifying glasses in hand, as a real scientist would have it, we took a stroll around our pond and through the woods to see what observations we could make about our school environment. We took pictures and recorded our observations when we returned to our classroom. These observations will be filed into the Science section of our portfolios.

Please take a look at some of the photos to see some other amazing things we have been working on in Pre-K.

AB Patterns

 

 

 

Pig Puppets

 

 

Color Scavenger Hunt

 

 

Nature Walk

 

 Curious George Day

 

 

On Curious George Day in PK, we watched clips, played games, read books, had fun with worksheets, and were even treated to Curious George fruit snacks! For more information on the official celebration of Curiosity Day, please go to the link below.

http://www.curiousgeorge.com/curiosity-day 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First week in PK!

Although our first week in PK was only three days, it was fantastic!  

 





We learned a lot in the first two weeks of school. A lot of guided discoveries and "getting to know yous". Lots of new faces and new places. So much we've learned...so much more to learn.

Academically, we delved right in. Here's what we did:

Math & Science

We gathered 20 small bears and seven large bears. We put all seven of the large bears on one side of the scale, and the small bears on the other side, adding them one by one. We discovered that there were less of the bigger bears, but since they were so big, we needed three times as many small bears to balance the scale.

We learned a new math game called, Bear Tracks, and got a chance to play with a partner. In this game, we rolled a number cube and moved our bears along the track according to the number we rolled. We also sorted the math bear manipulatives by size and color.

 

Art

We painted and created picture frames for a bulletin board outside our classroom door. We also used various materials to complete other art activities.

 

Community

We met in Clifton and were introduced to all of the Lower School faculty and staff. We learned all about our school; saw lots of different places, met new friends, and are learning about how to get along as a group.

 

We also met our Senior Buddies. We had so much fun with them, that when it was time for them to go to lunch, we were a little sad to see them go! We were relieved when we found out we would have other opportunities to spend time with them.