This week we learned about families and the children talked about who is in their family. We made a chart by showing who is in our family, and counted how many people are in our family. We talked about how families are similar and different. We also talked about how what makes us happy and what we are thankful for. Most of the children said that they are thankful for their mommy, daddy, and families.

We made a portrait of our family and named the people in our family, we made turkeys, and we finished up our big turkey that is displayed in the window.

We made a list of Kk words, practiced writing Kk, and we did letter patterning with magnetic pattern blocks I read the story, "A Pocket Full of Kisses" and the children had to recall the details in the story verbally and then we read a sight word book together with the words ride and on.

We learned how to subitize different numbers using ten frames and the children had to try not to count the dots using their fingers, we played a Match It! game where they had to count the number of objects and find the number to complete the puzzle, we practiced writing different numbers using a dry erase marker and dry erase board, and we played Family Bingo.

We made applesauce this week by helping me cut up apples using a plastic spoon and then the children learned about different measuring tools that we use to measure the sugar, water, and cinnamon. They were able to take turns measuring and pouring them into the crockpot. When the apples were done cooking, they were able to see me stir and mash the apples so that it looked like applesauce. They certainly had fun making the applesauce and they told me at the Thanksgiving Feast that the applesauce was delicious! Speaking of the Thanksgiving Feast, it was a huge success and the children seemed to like all of the food that was made!

Our theme for next week is: Thanksgiving.

Please make sure that your child has winter jacket, gloves or mittens, and hat to keep them warm for when we play outside. It's definitely cold and even though, the center has extras but we have to be mindful of other classrooms because they may need it as well.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me!

This week, we went around the world and learned about different countries such as Japan, Australia, Italy, Ireland, Egypt, and made a quick stop at France. We made a flag of Italy, Japan, and Egypt. We came up with words that started with Ii such as Ireland, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, etc. We learned how to say Hello in different languages such as Bonjour, Guten Tag, Ni hao, Kalimera to name a few. We also learned how to count in Japanese and Spanish. We practiced writing the letter Ii, countries, and the number 8 eight.

We picked a number, counted the pepperoni, Egyptian bingo, patterned by making the Irish flag by using unifix cubes, we did an Australian Count and Clip game. The children learned about the time differences between the countries because not every one is up at the same time. For example, in Japan they are just going to bed while we are just getting ready to go to school. The children also learned that the seasons are different because in Australia, its their Spring and our Fall.

We looked for countries on the map with my help so that the children know where each country we are learning about is located. We talked about how to be kind to others who are from another country and how to help them because they are not familiar with our country. The children all agreed that we should help them so that they have a good experience in our country. I played music from different countries as well so that the children can hear the differences between the instruments and sounds.

Our theme next week is Theme Week.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me!

-Ms. Michelle

This week's theme is Halloween! The children were so excited because they wanted to share what they will be for Halloween so we talked about it. We discussed how to be safe while trick or treating, using our manners, and staying close to our mommies and daddies. The children told me how excited they are about our Halloween celebration because of the treats they will have. It will be so exciting! Thank you to our PreK 2 parents for their contribution and it is appreciated!

We have been working on number recognition, letter recognition, and sight word recognition, We practiced writing Hh, 7 seven, and sight words. We learned how to count by 2's and we learned what numbers are even/odd. We made a list of Hh words and it was a big list! I was impressed by how many words the children knew. We played a Halloween Bingo game, Spider Web letter match, and we practiced writing Halloween words.

We did a Creepy Crawler math game where they had to do patterning, count the number of spiders and find the number card, learning to count using their fingers, figuring out what number comes next, and verbally counting as high as they could. I have been using the 100 Days of School chart to help them with their number recognition. I also did some simple addition with the children this week.

The children have been working on their fine motor skills by cutting paper, zipping up their jackets, using tweezers to lift small items, etc I carved the top of the pumpkin so that they can look and feel inside the pumpkin. They also made a Haunted House, Mummy, and candy corn in Art. It was a fun week because they seemed to love this theme.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me!

-Ms. Michelle

This week's theme is Numbers and we have been working very hard on number recognition by practice writing numbers, verbally recognizing numbers that I point to, etc. We played Less Than, Greater Than game, match the numbers cards to the numbers on the number line, find the missing numbers, and verbally counting as high as we can.

We practiced writing the names of number words, matched the number words to the numbers, practice writing the letter Gg, retell Five Little Pumpkins in our own words by drawing a picture and verbally telling the story. We talked about where we can find pumpkins and how we would pick out the pumpkin we think is the best.

In Art, the children were given a number and the name of the number to write down on cut up paper and glue them onto the black construction paper. This activity helps the children not only recognize the number, the name of the number, but they get to practice writing the number over and over. This is a great way to help recognize the number and its name while doing something fun. We also made big pumpkins for our window. Its sort of like the 5 Little Pumpkins finger play that we all know and love. We did One Hundred Angry Ants Art project that is based of the book that I read during circle time.

Our theme for next week is Halloween.

Please make sure your child has warm clothes in their cubbies in case of accidents and they have warm outerwear such as winter jacket, gloves, hat, and or scarf to keep them warm while playing outside.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me!

This week's theme is Nursery Rhymes. We talked about different nursery rhymes we learned from our moms. dads, teachers, and even grandparents. One of the children brought in a book for me to read and the children enjoyed listening to the different nursery rhymes. We did different fingerplays such as Itsy, Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Little Star, and Teddy Bear. We had so much fun reciting the fingerplays while using our hands.

We have been practicing writing letters, words, and numbers. We made a word list and tried to figure out what words start with the letter that I say, and we have been listening to different stories and I will ask the children questions to see what they remember what I read. We practiced writing names of nursery rhymes and we did sequencing.

We learned how to count the dots on dominoes and then we looked for the number card. We counted the number of "pumpkin seeds" using small marshmallows, we did a Mary Had a Little Lamb count and clip activity, and we counted the number of spiders in the Spiders Ten Frame Activity. We have been working on number recognition going up to 13 using our calendar. This helps the children with number recognition.

We painted pumpkins and we did a Hickory Dickory Dock art project. We watched short videos on Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Itsy, Bitsy Spider, and the Pumpkin Life Cycle. The children have been singing songs and doing the fingerplays that we did throughout the week. They seemed to enjoy learning new nursery rhymes,

If you are interested in bringing something in for our Halloween Celebration, I have a sign up sheet at my Parent Board. Our Halloween Celebration is on October 31, 2022. I will send out a reminder the Friday before our Halloween Celebration.

Our theme next week: Numbers.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me.

This week's theme is Community Helpers/Fire Safety where we talked about the different community helpers, what they do, and how to be safe in the event of a fire. We also talked about what to do in the event of an emergency where we would call 911 and I asked the children, "Do we call 911 if it's not an emergency and they said, "No!" We learned how to Stop, Drop, and Roll and how to get out of the building if a fire were to happen. We practiced as if we were doing a fire drill. This is a good time for you to talk with your children about how to get out of the house in the event of a fire and where to go for safety. It's also good for your children to learn their addresses, parents' phone numbers, etc in case they get lost and the police need to return them to you. We touched base on that as well.

We did many activities this week. In Art, we made a fire truck, police car, and the children drew their own pictures of a community helper they would like to be when they grow up. We played Match the Community Helper Game, practiced writing Community Helper names, we played a Firefighter Letter Sounding game, practiced writing letters, and we wrote down fire safety rules.

We did Fire Safety patterning, Count and Graph Community Helpers, Community Helper Sorting game, Simple Addition, and practiced writing numbers going up to 20. We've also been talking about feelings and what to do if someone isn't being kind to them. I feel it's important for the children to express how they feel so that they can express how they feel in a good way. We know it's not good to keep anything bottled up so I give the children scenarios on what to do if they were in the situation and how to express how they feel.

Thank you to Matthew for telling us about what you do. The PreK 2 class enjoyed learning about your job and seeing the video of the helicopter! The children were talking about it the rest of the day! You did a great job at the presentation.

It was a fun week learning about Community Helpers, what they do, and learning how to be safe in the event of a fire. The children seemed interested and they were telling me what they want to do when they grow up! Hopefully, they will become future Community Helpers.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me.

-Ms. Michelle

This week's theme is a fun one because it's Pirates Week! The children got to dress up in pirate clothes and we also talked about how we need to be safe with the plastic hook and only use 1 pirate patch because we can't see if we use both patches on our eyes. We made a treasure map where X marks the spot! Some of the children made different maps using different places such as going from home to school, from home to the ice cream shop, from school to grandparents house, etc. It was pretty neat to see they had different ideas which is something that I encourage them to do. We made parrots and a ship.

I have been having them practice writing numbers going up to 20 because some children struggle with writing numbers. It's laminated and dotted which is helpful because they can visually see how the numbers are written and they can erase if they make a mistake. They played different math games where they can count the number of pirate items and use the clothes pin to clip the numbers, they counted the number of apple seeds by using the number cards, they played pirate bingo, and they practiced putting the numbers in order by using the number line for reference. I've been focusing on number recognition and their fine motor skills which is going to help prepare them for Kindergarten.

We've been working on letter recognition by matching the uppercase letters to lowercase, finding the missing letters. using magnetic letters to spell pirate words. The children also practiced writing different pirate words and they dictated, "If I were a pirate..." and they would tell me what they would do. We also do sight words and math words as well.

We did a science experiment where we predicted what would happen to the gold coin and penny when submerged in water. Some of the children predicted that the gold coin would float and the penny would sink and the other children predicted that they both would sink. When asked why did the gold coin floated and the penny sank, they said that the gold coin is lighter than the penny which is true. They experimented with other items in the classroom to see what sinks and floats while making predictions.

it was a fun theme and when asked what was their favorite part of Pirate Week, they said they liked dressing up as pirates and playing pirate bingo.

Our next theme is: Fire Safety/ Community Helpers.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me.

Happy Fall! Summer is officially over! We talked about Fall and what happens to the leaves on the trees. We picked up leaves for our sensory table and one of our friends brought in pine cones and acorns for us to observe and look at. We talked about the differences between the seasons: Summer and Fall. We did a science experiment where we got to see what happens to leaves when they change color by using paper towels and colored water.

We did a leaf letter matching game, Leaf Missing letter game, wrote Fall words, traced letters and numbers using orange rice, and we used magnetic letters to match the letters in Fall words. We verbally discussed what was same and different in the acorns that I had made. The children had to work in pairs and talk about what was the same and different between the acorns. We also practiced writing letters using a dry erase marker and dry erase board. This is a good way for the children to practice writing and they can erase if they make any mistakes.

We used dice to count out the number of leaves that came up on the dice, the children did apple patterning, counted out the number of acorns and wrote down the number, subtilized the number of acorns, and they had to figure out what number was missing. Some of the children took it one step further by verbally counting out loud and some used 1:1 correspondence to count. They use different ways to count which is a skill needed for Kindergarten.

We made leaf rubbings using real leaves, we did a Johnny Appleseed art project, and we built an apple tree using green craft sticks, red pom poms, and a toliet paper roll. We practiced our cutting skills this week as well. We watched a short video on how apple trees grow from seeds. It was a busy, but fun week we had learning about Fall. We discussed how we can be safe while playing in the leaves, we talked about how we feel when we see leaves on the ground, and we also talked about when to ask for help. Some children try to do things for themselves but learned that it is okay to ask for help if we are still struggling with a task.

Since Fall is here which means cold weather, please make sure your child is dressed according to the weather. I don't recommend sandals or crocs because their feet might get cold.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me!.

-Ms. Michelle

Our theme this week is Colors and Shapes. We talked about what colors and shapes we see outside, inside our classroom, at home, or wherever we are. We made a shape house made out of shapes: red triangle, yellow rectangle, blue square, and green circle. We talked about which of our friends' shape houses are same or different, and how they are the same or different. We made apple prints using real apples! It was messy but fun! The children seemed to enjoy it. We made a rainbow and used marshmallows as clouds. Some of the children squished their marshmallows and some didn't. It was a cute and unique art project they did this week.

We talked about what our favorite colors are and why its our favorite. We all agree that we all like different colors for different reasons but most of the children said that the colors were so pretty! We did an M&M experiment where we put M&M's in a circle and poured water over them to see what would happen. Did you know that if you leave the M&M's in water for a long time, the coating comes off and we get to see the chocolate! It was an interesting and fun experiment that we did.

We traced letters in rice, practiced writing letters using a dry erase marker and dry erase board, and practiced writing names of colors and shapes. We have been practicing writing our name using different utensils such as pencils, markers, crayons, etc. This is a great way for the children to get a feel of writing something that is skinny or fat.

We worked on putting numbers in order using legos that had numbers written on them, traced a red triangle using red bear counters, counting the dots on dominoes, creating pattern using pattern blocks, and we learned about 2D and 3D shapes. We discussed what different things we see that look 2D or 3D. For example, an orange is a circle which is a 2D shape and in 3D, its called a sphere. We learned new things this week! It was a fun week learning about colors and shapes.

Next week's theme is Fall. Speaking of next week's theme, Fall is coming up very soon and it will start to get colder, please make sure you child has warm clothes in their cubby and have them dressed according to the weather.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me!

-Ms. Michelle

It's Friendship week! We have been talking about friends, how to be kind, and how we can be helpful to our friends. Some of the children said, "If a friend falls down, you help them up, and ask if they are okay". "Be kind to our friends", "If someone drops a toy, you pick it up", which are some of their responses. We talked about kindness in the classroom and not talking to friends in a mean way or yell at them. We learned to recognize our friends' names by verbally saying the name on the name card and we pointed to the peer as we said their names out loud. We learned where our friends live (City) and we looked at the map to see if we can find where we live.

We drew pictures of our friends, made a friendship quilt, and we made a rainbow fish in Art. We measured how many apples we are in height and most of our friends are 9 apples tall!! When asked who is the tallest, they said, "Ms. Michelle because she is almost 14 apples tall! We played a frog jumping game where they had to get the frog to "jump" to the corresponding number that is on the frog. have been working on recognizing numbers up to 30, and trying to figure out what number comes before and after.

We practiced writing our friends' names by writing it down, stringing the letters on beads, and playing Friends Memory game that had the names of our friends. The children practiced how to be kind to others, let others take turns, and even helping friends by finishing puzzles or helping them clean up. We did some science experiments where they got to see what happens if you put soap into water with pepper- it scares the peeper away and we put oil and water together in a bottle to see what happens. We shake it up and it mixes but when it settles, they separate from each other! It was so interesting to see their eyes light up and they said, "Oooh!".

We had a fun and busy week with friends. We will be learning about Colors and Shapes next week.

Also, this week, we started with letter Aa and made a word list that had words that start with the letter. Each week, we will make a word list with the letter of the week. Our number of the week is zero and they will be learning what it looks like with tally marks, dice, number word, etc. Our sight words this week are: I and see.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me!