Preschool News    

      

Westhampton Preschool News

January 13, 2012

In the Classroom

Happy 2012, Preschool families!  We have been off to a great beginning in January. We are continuing with some of the routines we started in December, including thinking about the alphabet and the sounds letters make.  Some of the ways we are thinking about letters include:  reading ABC books (Goodnight Moon ABC has been at the listening center), singing the ABC song, looking for specific letters in our Morning Message, and practicing letters with the preschool Handwriting without Tears letter learning pages. We are incorporating lots of other language arts activities too, including listening for rhymes, reading and thinking about good stories, building vocabulary, and encouraging good oral language and listening skills.

Our theme this month is Chinese New Year. The beginning of the Chinese New Year is January 23.  We have turned the pretending area into a Chinese restaurant with menus and Chinese food.  There are many Chinese folk tales and books that we will be reading and revisiting this month, including Tikki Tikki Tembo, The Seven Chinese Sisters, The Story of Ping, My First Chinese New Year, and Ming Lo Moves the Mountain.  This year is the Year of the Dragon, so we are also reading stories about dragons this month.

Another topic this month is Martin Luther King, Jr.  We call him Dr. King in preschool, as it isn’t such a long name, although we have been talking about how most preschoolers also have three names. Because learning is very personal to preschoolers, it has been fun to remind them that most of them have three names too and to practice it with them. Important concepts about Dr. King that we are talking about in preschool include the fact that he was a great teacher, and that he believed we could work things out with love and words, which are principles that we try to teach every day in preschool.  Martin Luther King Day is also an opportunity to notice our similarities and differences. We are singing this song in preschool this month:

Freedom, freedom, let it ring!

“Let it ring,” said Dr. King.

Let us live in harmony,

Peace and love for you and me.

Freedom, freedom let it ring!

“Let it ring,” said Dr. King.

(To the tune of the ABC song)

In math, preschoolers are continuing to have fun and meaningful experiences with three-dimensional shapes, (blocks), matching similar shapes and quantities (puzzles, Perfection game, other math manipulatives, and pegboards), counting, and labeling shapes.  We are learning about patterns this month as well.

Snack news

Parents, thank you again for keeping our cooperative snack program working well. There are 3 snack announcements this month:

• We currently have a student who is sensitive to grapes, grape juice, and raisins, so please send in juice that does not have grape juice on the list of ingredients. Also, we will not be serving raisins any more this year.
• It’s time for a new batch of paper plates and cups.  Please send in one package each of SMALL paper plates and 5oz. paper cups this month or in February.
• We will not need juice in February.

Winter clothing

Please make sure your preschooler has mittens and a hat or hood every day, and snow pants and boots, as needed.  As I have written before, please put mittens in an accessible place (not in a backpack) and remind your preschooler where they are.  Label everything with your child’s name or initials.

Progress reports

Preschool progress reports will come home at the end of the month.  If you have any questions, thoughts, or concerns about your child’s progress report, please let me know.

Birthdays

There are lots of birthdays coming up in preschool!  We love to celebrate birthdays in our class. If you would like to send in a birthday treat, the school policy is that baked goods need to be store bought and peanut or nut free. Some birthday treats that have been hits in preschool are Italian Ice, popsicles, individual ice cream cups, and fruit salad with (or without) whipped cream. Please check with us ahead of time if you are bringing in a birthday treat.

Day Change?

We have a little unevenness in our enrollment right now. I am wondering if any families would like to trade days and have their student attend on Mondays, as that day has a smaller group size. Please let me know if you would be interested in changing your child to a Monday slot.

We have a new student in preschool. Welcome, Kenny!