FRIDAY NEWSLETTER
Friday, October 15, 2010

I hope that everyone enjoyed their three day weekend! We all came back on Tuesday, ready to share how we spent our extra day off. Our friend Daniel brought in his pet hermit crab, Harry! Thank you Daniel for bringing him in and telling us a little about what Harry likes to eat and do all day! We also had another visitor this week, Julie. She is in 3rd grade. Julie helped us with a great Halloween pattern activity that she brought in to share! She was even so nice to read us a few of her own story books. We really enjoyed this.

This week, we introduced the letter S. We made a scarecrow and worked on identifying the letter S with a color by letter worksheet. We created an S with our bodies and even slithered back in from the playground, as we pretended to be a huge snake moving in the form of an S.

We introduced shapes this week and focused on squares. At our art center, we pasted different paper cut outs of shapes and let our creative juices run! Take a look at our shape creation board on our blog! To help us recognize a square better, we danced the Hockey Pokey using a red square, blue circle and green triangle instead of our body parts! This was a lot of fun and silly! We also created our black crows using circles and triangles! We did wonderful with the question of the week board! Next week, the question will be, “ Where did you see a circle?” Mrs. Nemeth did a fantastic job with the children making ghost wind socks at Art class. We always love all the amazing crafts she sets up for us! As usual, we were very busy learning, so it was nice to get some stretching in with yoga! Keep up the great work preschoolers!

Mrs. Gilberti

FRIDAY NEWSLETTER
Friday October 8, 2010


What a fantastic week! This week we worked on cutting skills, fine motor skills, listening skills, identifying numbers, writing, and letters. Phewy! We were working hard in preschool!

All of our centers were changed this week. The children always enjoy the change. We continued to practice our letter F sound. This is a tough one but we are doing our best! We even read Rainbow Fish and made our own little fish! Check out our photo on our blog! Mrs. Gifford helped us with the letter L this week too. We used leaf confetti and chalked lined L’s to help us create the letter L. They look so pretty! This week we also used puffy paints to help us make our squirrels. Speaking of squirrels, the sun finally came out and we went on a nature walk! We were scientists looking for leaves, tress, rocks, birds and squirrels! We then came in and made our own observation book! That’s right! We were authors and illustrators!! We even took all the beautiful fall colored leaves we collected and made a collage in the shape of an acorn. We all voted on this shape! Funny thing is, next week we will be introducing shapes!

Well, we will keep working hard on raising our hand and not calling out! Sometimes we just get too excited and can’t wait to answer the question! Have your children sing you our song about the months (to the tune of Frere Jacques)! They have been working so hard on this! The question of the week for next week is, “Where did you see the color black?”

Enjoy your weekend and don’t forget that Monday, October 11, is Columbus Day! We do not have school on this day!

Mrs. Gilberti

FRIDAY NEWSLETTER
Friday, October 1, 2010

Well, this week we enjoyed getting our hands messy with paint! We noticed all of the leaves changing colors and thought it would be a great idea to make our own leaves for our Autumn board! Our leaves look beautiful! We talked about seasons and even got to dress Freddy the Cat for Fall. Speaking of Fall, we worked on the letter F this week! I have been trying to trick the kids with letter jumbles and it just isn’t working.

Something wonderful happened this week! September has ended and we are now in October! Everyone knows that October is Michael’s birthday month because our month cupcakes are helping us learn not only the months but all of our friends birthdays! We have also been working on patterns with our Lego blocks! The children are doing great with their journals and some have even been working on entries at home and bringing them in! Great job preschoolers!

Please remember that all Scholastic on-line orders are due October 11, 2010. Also, the Question of the Week for next week is, “Where did you see the color brown?” Please enjoy your weekend and let’s hope for some sunshine!


Mrs. Gilberti

Friday, September 24, 2010

That time of year is here where we all get our kids primped and ready for picture day! Monday, September 27, is picture day! We are scheduled for photos at 8:30 am. Please remember to send in order forms and payment, if you are ordering photos, with your child.

This week, we continued to practice cutting and gluing skills. We reviewed letters A and B and introduced the letter C. All of the centers were changed this week. In our math center, the children all got to play and enjoy Candy Land. This helped them with turn taking, color recognition and counting. They all enjoyed it. In our sand and water center, the children enjoyed playing with measuring cups, spoons and corn kernels. A special thanks to Mrs. Payne for supplying our center with the corn! We also worked on fine motor skills by creating our own tissue paper corn. I tried to trick my little friends by hiding the letters A/B/C in a letter jumble, but as I was told by the class, “there is no way you can trick us!” The little detectives found each and every letter, capitals and lower case. Speaking of little detectives, we welcomed another friend this week to our pre-school class! We gave Evan a huge welcome! Everyone did great with the Question of the Week board, this week! Next week, the question will be, “Where did you see the color green?” Thank you for all your support from home with this. The children really are excited to come in during morning circle time and share what they discovered.

I hope that everyone gets a chance to get outside and enjoy the weather this weekend. This is a great time of year to get outside with your preschooler and go on a color hunt. With the leaves starting to change color, there is plenty for them to discover!

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Gilberti

FRIDAY NEWSLETTER
Friday, September 17, 2010

It was wonderful to see so many of you at Back To School Night. I hope you all enjoyed our room and had some of your questions and concerns answered. I am so grateful for all of the book donations, which were purchased for our classroom, at the PTA Book Fair. The children will enjoy them all! We thank you!

This week we continued to work on the letter A and introduced the letter B. We practiced forming these letters with Bendaroos and stencils, and continued to identify these letters and sounds in print and song. We also continued to practice color recognition. The weather finally cooperated and we got to play our Toss the Bean Bag game, outside with our colored bean bags and parachute. This game is always a hit with the kids! We also created our own paper teddy bears using buttons and pom poms.

All the centers were changed from last week. Thank you to all who have donated items and toys to our room. The children are enjoying playing market with the new cash register and shopping cart!! They also were thrilled to practice tracing apples on the new chalk board, in the art center. Mrs. Nemeth has continued to thrill our class with her creative crafts. They all look forward to visiting and working with her, in the Art room.

We continue to keep busy and enjoy learning through play. As you already know, 4 new friends will have an All About Me chart in their folder. Please return the chart by Monday, so your child can share a little about him/herself with friends. It’s been wonderful to see their faces light up when they realize that there are peers that enjoy the same things. We will continue with The Question of the Week board. Next week, the question will be, “Where did you see the color yellow?”

I have to comment on how well the children have adjusted to preschool. I have noticed such wonderful behaviors and positive support for one another. We even have earned our second popcorn!! We are well on our way to reaching our goal of 10 popcorns, a total of 100 tickets!

We have another important date to remember. Monday, September 27, will be picture day. Please fill out the form, which you will find in your child’s folder and return it before the 27th. Thank you again for all your donations and support at home with your child’s chart. I hope you all enjoy your weekend!

Mrs. Gilberti

FRIDAY NEWSLETTER
Friday, September 10, 2010

We have had a very busy week! This week, we focus on the colors red, yellow and green. We used apples and paint to stamp our colors onto black paper and match our color words to it. We also had an apple taste test! After graphing our favorite tasting apple, we learned that in our preschool room, yellow apples were preferred the most and green the least! Our letter of the week is, “A” and we all know what sound the letter “A” makes, as well as, that the word apple begins with “A”! We also did a great job with our, “Question of the Week” board! This weeks question was, “Where did you see the color red?” Our, “All About Me”, board looks great too! Every Friday, for the next 3 weeks, 4 friends will bring home a chart to fill out over the weekend and bring in on Monday to share. This is a great way for all of us to learn a bit about each other.

The big news is that preschool was the first class to be awarded a popcorn cut out for the schools C.O.R.R.E.C.T. board, located outside Mr. Magnuson’s office! We worked hard to show courage, optimism, respect, responsibility, empathy, citizenship and trustworthiness and because of that we reached our 1st goal of earning 10 tickets! Once we reach our goal for the year of 100 tickets, we will celebrate with a popcorn party!!! There will be more information on this at Back To School Night, on this school wide approach to reinforcing positive behaviors. Speaking of Back To School Night, it is scheduled, for preschool families to attend, on Tuesday, September 14th, at 6pm. If you cannot attend, please let me know in advance and I will send home a packet of information, about our program, home with your child.

Also, on Tuesday, September 14th, the PTA Scholastic Book Fair will be held in the library. If you would like your son/daughter to purchase books, please send in money, in an envelope and we will bring him/her down to the library. Only those children who bring money will be brought down to the library between 9:25-10:20 a.m. Parents can also purchase books from the Book Fair during Back To School Night. We would like to send a special thank you to all who have sent in wipes, tissues, and hand sanitizers for our classroom. Please continue to check out our blog for photos and special dates. Enjoy your weekend!

Mrs. Gilberti

FRIDAY NEWSLETTER

Friday, September 3, 2010

Welcome back !!! It is great to see everyone again. We are off to a great start! We have a few new faces that have joined our class. We welcome Jennifer, Robert and Lane to our preschool circle of friendship. We spent the past three days getting to know each other, talking about our summer experiences, reviewing rules and routines, getting to know staff and, of course, enjoying the centers. We have made a few changes to the room. The children are enjoying them all. The children were each given a folder to take home art work and notes. Please check them daily and be sure that your child brings it to class every day.

For the next three weeks, on Fridays, four students will be bringing home homework! An, “All about me”, chart will be sent home, for you and your child to work on. When returned, your child will share with his/her peers and then the chart will be displayed outside our room, on our bulletin board, for all to enjoy. While the weather is still nice, we will try to get some play time outside. Please remember the sunscreen and if you do not want your child drinking from the water fountain, please send in an extra water bottle.

I have been asked by a few parents what we could use in our classroom. We are always in need of hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes. We try to wipe down our tables and chairs every afternoon to help cut down on the spread of germs and illnesses. I thank you all for your donations to our room.

I am extremely excited for this new school year! Please remember that the children do not have school on Monday.

Enjoy your three day weekend!

Mrs. Gilberti