Friday News
September 25th, 2009

This week, we finished our theme of “Apples” and practiced a lot of tracing and writing upper and lowercase “A.” The children really enjoyed tracing the letters with their fingers in shaving cream! We painted apple shapes and made ABAB patterns with colors of apples.

We began clapping out the syllables in our names, and also in some funny words. The children are getting the hang of this quickly! We traced and practiced the number “1” and are counting sets of objects each day for practice.
I hope everyone enjoyed the picture books we sent home about making applesauce. I can’t wait for our next cooking project- hopefully in two weeks.

Next week, we will move onto a theme of “Trees” and “Leaves” and begin work writing letters “T” and “L.” We will also practice writing numbers “2” and “3.”

Thank you for all of the bottles and jars that were sent in for our instruments. We are all set to start making them!

Please remember to send back your form about the field trip- it will help us plan transportation so that we can get final information out to you.

Have a wonderful weekend!Mrs. Remaly

Applesauce!

The Preschoolers made applesauce today! We talked about how the apples looked, smelled, and tasted. We used mashers to mash the apples, and spoons to stir. We took turns and worked together! We all had a chance to taste apples and applesauce, and shared some with friends around the building. What a great day!

September 18th

Friday, September 18th, 2009
Friday News

Dear Parents,

It was so great to see everyone at Back-To-School Night on Tuesday! Thank you for coming to see our classroom.

This week we began talking more about apples and beginning to write the letter “A.” We will revisit letter “A” for more practice next week, while also introducing letter “T” for the fall trees we will soon be observing. We have continued to identify our name in print, and are starting to identify the beginning letter of each of our names. The children have been coloring pictures in the morning when they arrive, and haven’t tired of it yet! They loved digging in the macaroni in the sensory table and using playdough in the art center. We began to do some numeral recognition with a game at the math table called, “Peanuts in a Bag.” We are working only on numbers 1-3 for now, although we count higher each day. We did more yoga this week, and introduced the “Bear Hunt” and “Beanbag Dance” songs at music and movement time.

Next week, on Monday, we will be making homemade applesauce as a class. I am attaching the recipe we use- it’s very simple, but very fun! We will target turn-taking, counting skills, following directions in a sequence, and fine motor skills. We will explore cause and effect, and use our senses to make predictions and answer questions- including the best ones for cooking- smell and taste!

You can begin to send in any containers for instruments on Monday. Thank you for your help with this project.

I have attached a parent article on the “Development of the Preschool Child.” Enjoy.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs. Remaly

September 11th

Friday News
September 11, 2009

Dear Preschool Families,

What a busy and exciting time in preschool! Everyone is working so hard learning the classroom rules and expectations. We had the chance to pick classroom jobs, make our own placemats for snack, and decorate our kites for our behavior chart. In math we sorted objects by color and recreated pictures with pattern blocks. As a group, we graphed how we get to school each day and what our favorite color apple is. We count objects all day long, too! To encourage literacy, we are learning to recognize our name in print and identify the letter it starts with. The children worked on some silly story puzzles and we read together each day as a group. We loved visiting the playground last week, and hope to get out again soon! Writing practice started this week by making simple strokes and shapes so that we can begin to form letters in the next weeks ahead- I hope you enjoy seeing their work come home. Help your child remember how to hold their crayon and to always start writing a letter at the top! (we have a fun song they might want to sing with you for this!) Next week, we will be doing lots of fun projects with apples!

I hope to see everyone on Back to School Night on September 15th. I have some great information about our curriculum to share.
Have a wonderful weekend!Mrs. Remaly

Week of Sept 2nd

The preschoolers had a terrific week! They all adjusted well to a new classroom and our expectations. We introduced circle time and centers, and the children were able to choose from a variety of things to do. We made placemats for snack time and made a graph about how we got to school. We spent Friday enjoying some time outdoors and learning the playground rules. Next week, we will pick classroom jobs to help enhance our sense of helping and community. Our theme of Apples will begin, and we will introduce the letter "A" for tracing and writing. Look for the Friday newsletter to come home on the 11th. Have a great weekend!

Welcome!

Welcome to Preschool 2009! I hope everyone had a fantastic summer. If you did not receive my information packet that came home over the summer, please let me know as soon as possible. This will provide you with the information you need for your child for the first few days of school until we meet for Back to School Night. If you have any questions or concerns before that, feel free to call me, email me, or send a note in your child's folder.

I am looking forward to another wonderful year at OCS! Welcome back!