Announcements

The children have gotten off to a WONDERFUL start in preschool!  They are quickly learning our classroom routines, beginning to form new friendships and they have all been a joy to get to know these past few weeks!  Mrs. Tierney, Mrs. Petix and I are enjoying them so much!

Our language arts program in Pre K-4 is centered around a reading readiness program called The Happily Ever After Series.  In this series, there are 10 story units that will teach the children their letters, shapes, colors, beginning and ending sounds, how to recognize and follow print on a page and in a storybook and how to listen to and follow "marking" instructions on various activity pages.  At the end of each 2-3 week unit, your child's storybook and activity pages will be sent home, along with information about what was taught and some suggested activities to do at home with your child.

These lessons are designed to be completed together in class.  I model for the children what to do and then there is time for myself or the "computerized voice" to review the correct answers, depending on the type of lesson we are doing.  In the beginning, many children have the natural impulse to make random marks on their paper, or just "color" in anything/everything they see on a paper.  This will change as their listening skills and fine motor skills develop and they learn to make "meaningful marks" in the storybooks and on the activity sheets.  Their story comprehension will also improve as they become more "engaged learners".

Due to the variety of attendance schedules, there may be some pages that your child can complete at home with you if he/she is not in school on a day when a lesson is completed.  I will always try my best to make sure your child has the basic understanding of what to do before sending something home.  Please let me know if you ever have any questions regarding any of the activities.  The storybook and activity pages for Little Red Rididing Hood will be sent home within the next week.  Our Unit 2 story is The Three Bears and we will be starting that within the next week.

During the month of September, the children learned the song "I Know That God Loves Me".  This month, we will be singing "He's Got The Whole World in His Hands".  Young children love to sing and many of our songs have hand motions that accompany our singing.  Your children all have beautiful voices and are learning how much God loves them!!!

During October, we will practice counting to 10 and 20 and the children will begin learning how to recognize these numbers.  You may want to ask them about Jack Hartmann and the songs we sing and dance to (played on the smart board) each day that help us with our counting and number recognition.  We will also learn songs about the 4 basic shapes (square, rectangle, circle & triangle) and complete some coloring activities to reinforce these songs.  The children will sort leaves and "sequence" how an apple looks when eaten and how a pumpkin grows as well.  

This month the children will learn about texture, size, shape and color as we work with pumpkins, apples and leaves in our classroom.  We will read different stories, design artwork and have some "hands on fun" with these items during October.

We have a lot to look forward to in October.  Our preschool field trip to Cobble Creek Farm is comingnext Thursday, October 10th, our school Walkathon is on Saturday, October 26th and our Halloween celebration is on Thursday, October 31st at 11:00 am (more information will be sent home as the date gets closer).  

Thank you for all your support at home and for sharing your children with us this year!  Have a great month and enjoy this BEAUTIFUL time of year!!!