We have had an absolutely wonderful first week in Pre-K!   This week has been full of so many new and exciting things for these precious little ones.   We have almost mastered how to walk in the hallway, get our lunch trays independently, and wait our turn to speak at carpet time.   We have sung our ABC's, learned our classroom rules, painted, used glue-sticks, learned how to fold up our blankets after nap time, counted to ten backwards and forwards, listened to numerous read alouds, and engaged in some very exciting educational apps on our classroom Ipads.   I would say we have had a very busy week indeed!   

I am very excited about this year.   This year we will focus on the four C's:  creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration.  I can't wait to get started.   Hold on tight...its going to be a great ride in Pre-K! 

Below you will find a link that will take you to a slide-show.  I hope you enjoy!   

 http://www.photosnack.com/96EBEAD9E8C/ptpfbmim

Mrs. Weathers

Parents: 

Please make sure and check your child's EDMODO account on a daily basis.   Thank you!  

 If you are having technical issues, please email me and let me know.   

See you tomorrow! 

Mrs. Weathers

aweathers@jcsboe.org

WELCOME Pre-K Class of 2013-2014

You have found our classroom blog!    Don't forget Parent Orientation will be on August 13th at 7pm.    I would love to have 100% attendance.    See you soon!

More science and sensory activities!

This week has FLOWN by!   Time goes by fast when you are having fun!   On Monday, we learned how to read the weather forecast.   Many of the students noticed the days of the week at the top of the forecast because it looked very similar to our daily calendar!    We talked about the high and low temperatures for each day and what kind of clothing would be appropriate.  After looking at the seven day weather planner, each student drew a picture of the weather.   They did a great job of drawing the sun and clouds.   Some students even added the temperatures to their page.  I am very proud of them!   Below you will see a picture of the children showing off their personal weather forecast sheets! 

This week during our circle time, we practiced our songs for our upcoming Pre-K program.  I don't want to spoil any surprises, but you are in for a treat!   Below you will see a picture of us making paper mache globes.   We will be using the globes during one of our songs where the children sing about all of the continents.  Don't forget: The Pre-K program will be on Tuesday, May 21st at 9:30am in our classroom.   Bring your cameras!

We will finish our globes next week with blue and green paint.

This was a wonderful sensory experience for our children!  It was super gooey and sticky! They loved it!   

Abbie and Layna are working together on a math center.  Teamwork is key!  They are learning a very important skill called subitizing at this math center.

Caden is fine-tuning his handwriting skills.  He is ready for Kindergarten!

Jake and Alex are counting the beads.  How many can they get to the top?

A few reminders for next week: 

Monday- We will eat in the lunchroom with the "big kids".  

Tuesday- Sensory activities

Thursday- Fun Day! Please bring a change of clothes.  The children might get wet!   

See you on Monday! 

Love, Mrs. Weathers 

SCIENCE in Pre-K!

This week in Pre-K we have focused on the scientific process.    

First, we began by letting the students ask questions about insects.  This gave us good information on what the children already knew and helped me plan my lesson.  

Second, we spent some time activating schema.   Some children had many experiences with insects and shared them with the class, while others did not have much to fall back on.   We took a couple days to build schema before we moved on.   We researched insects online and sang songs to help us learn big vocabulary words such as: abdomen and thorax.  I have included a short video of the children singing the "Insect Body" song.   

Third, we allowed the children to construct a "hypothesis".    It was quite interesting to hear the children saying such a BIG word!   Next, we gave the children science journals and told them to draw a picture of what they thought the abdomen might look like.   Then, each child took a turn looking into the microscope and making observations.  Some of the things the children said when looking in the microscope were: "Wow!", "That is so cool!", "So amazing!", "I never imagined it would look like that!".    I encouraged them to try and compare to something that they had seen before.  Some children thought it resembled water droplets.  After viewing the abdomen, the children then drew what they "saw" in their science journal.   They compared their results with their hypothesis and shared their finding with the class. 

We continued the process above with the thorax, wing and antenna.

Please continue to build upon the things that we are doing in our classroom.  Maybe a trip to the public library to check out some books on insects, or a night out in the backyard catching some fireflies?   These children are full of curiosity! 

Until next time, 
Mrs. Weathers

Sharing science journals

Comparing our hypothesis with our observations

April 1

Look at Abbie go!   She is doing a fantastic job of creating a bar graph using her Froot Loops!   She is recording her data on her sheet like a big girl!   This activity was a combination of all kinds of skills we have been working on during the last 6 weeks. 

We had a guest speaker!   We love to have first graders come and read to us. 

March 18-21, 2013

What a fantastic week we had in Pre-K!   Below are some highlights from our week: 

-The students made bunnies after watching Peter Rabbit.  They used the rabbits to help re-tell the story.   They loved getting up in front of the class and re-telling the details from the short video.  If your little ones ask to watch this again, you can find the video on YouTube under "Golden Book- Peter Rabbit".  It is about 12 minutes long.   

 

-We had an Easter Egg hunt on Wednesday!  Parents, if you have any extra plastic eggs at home, we would love to have them in our classroom.   I have a list of literacy and math centers that use plastic eggs. 

-In math, we are working on ABAB patterns and AABAAB patterns.  

-Our story of the week focused on shapes in our environment.   Let your little ones find shapes while you are driving down the road..they are everywhere! 

-On Thursday, we took a trip to the Library.  We had SO much fun.   Our Pre-K class showed off their amazing skills.   The librarian pulled me aside and told me how impressed she was with our class...again!  Yes, I am beaming.   I love my little sweeties and I am so very proud of them!   The students listened to three stories and made a craft.   

I hope you all have a wonderful Spring Break.    After break, I have lots in store for our Pre-K class.   We will be doing a Challenge Based Learning Project.  I am excited to try this and I am confident that our young students will benefit from this project just as much as older students.   Our class has already been brainstorming.   After much discussion, I have seen that our students have a strong desire to learn about money and how it is used in everyday life.  

 More details to come on our CBL project.  

Love, Mrs. Weathers

Click on Read More to see more pictures. 

EASTER EGG HUNT!