Happy Monday!  We had a great day in preschool!

Check out what we did today!

We started the day working in small groups.  We webbed what we know about spiders.  We will use the web to compare with webs throughout the Project to see what we have learned.  

We drew a picture of a spider today too. We will also compare our pictures we drew today to an observational drawing of a spider we will do later on in the Project.  I am interested to see how the drawings change!  

We told a story about a time we saw a spider today.  It is important to engage children's prior knowledge about a topic to see what we can learn and which direction to take the learning throughout the project.

We also re-visited the story of David and Goliath.  We remembered that like David, with God, we can do ANYTHING!  We learned Philippians 4:13 as we echoed, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." 

We created at the art center today.  As the children engage in creative activities, they are using higher level thinking skills!

We continue to learn and practice positive social skills at school.  The children are learning to interact with one another in positive ways.  They are daily practicing conflict resolution. These social skills are life long skills that will benefit the children throughout their lives!

We look forward to our Harvest Parties tomorrow and Wednesday!  Thank you Gloria and Amanda for all of the work you have put into planning them!  

Weekly Newsletter October 29-November 2

     Wow!  It is hard to believe that it is already the end of October.  We have had a great year so far!  I enjoy spending time with your children, and I thank you for all of your support this year.  God is good!

     This week we will begin Phase One of a new Project: The Spider Project!  This week we will web what we know about spiders.  We will use this web to compare to Phase Two and Three webs throughout the Project to see what the children have learned.
     We will also do a spider drawing this week.  We will compare this spider drawing to an observational drawing of a spider we will do later in the Project.  The children will be able to see how much they have learned about spiders as we compare the drawings.
     Each child will dictate a story about spiders this week.  Through this activity, we engage the children's prior knowledge of spiders.  It is important to engage children's prior knowledge in order to see what the children know and which direction to take the learning throughout the Project.
     We are excited for our Harvest Parties on Tuesday and Wednesday from 10:00-11:00!  We will not dress up for the parties, but we will play fun games, do a fun craft, and enjoy a special snack!  Thank you Amanda and Gloria for working so hard to plan the wonderful parties!
     We will go on a spider hunt this week too!  We will hypothesize where to find spiders and look for them.  Through this activity, the children are learning about the world around them and taking an active role in their learning.
     During Jesus time this week, we will continue to learn the story of David and Goliath.  We will learn, "With God, I can do ANYTHING!"  We will learn Philippians 4:13 as well which states, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."
     Please keep our class in your prayers this week!  It is going to be a great week!

Looking Ahead:

• Tuesday, October 30th 10:00-11:00 Harvest Party
• Wednesday, October 31st P.E.
• Wednesday, October 31st Chapel
• Wednesday, October 31st 10:00-11:00 Harvest Party
• Wednesday, November 7th 7:00-7:55 Muffins with Mom

We had a good day in school!

Check out what we did today!

We danced to one of our new favorite songs.  You can dance at home to this song too!  Just click on the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw6z94wJsWI

Through this dance, the children are not only developing their large motor skills, but they are also learning to follow directions!

We practiced writing in our journals!  We worked on letter recognition too!  Each child practiced writing his/her name and other letters too. The children are developing fine motor skills and developing as writers!  

We played a rhyming game where the children were able to listen to a rhyme by saying it tino a plastic cup.

We continued to work on our painted pumpkin art work today too.  As the children complete this activity, they are learning that art is a process, developing fine motor skills, and expressing creativity.  

The children also created with plain paper, markers, scissors, tape, and glue.  Allowing the children to engage in creative thinking will help develop cognitive growth as creative thinking is a higher level thinking skill.  

As the children do puzzles, they are developing spatial relationship skills! 

During Jesus time, we acted out the story of David and Goliath.  We also shouted, "With God I can do ANYTHING!"  We also echoed Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who give me strength."

We had a fun day today!

Check out what we did!

We started the day observing the small pumpkins that started to mold.  The children were interested in the mold and had many theories as to why the pumpkins molded.  Through this investigation, the children exchanging scientific ideas and learning about about the physical world.

Allison helped order the numbers one to five as we sang the Five Little Pumpkins finger play during morning meeting.

We did a fun new dance!  You can do the dance at home with your children by clicking on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw6z94wJsWI

Through this dance, the children are developing their large motor skills and the ability to follow directions.

During Jesus time, we learned the story of David and Goliath.  We learned that with God, we can do anything!

During center time, we worked on our painted pumpkins.  The children are not only developing fine motor skills through this activity, but they are also developing creativity, and learning that art is a process.

We played rhyming games today too!  Each child was able to shout a rhyme into a plastic cup.  Rhyming is a foundational literacy skill! 

We had a fun day in preschool!

Check out what we did today! 

We started our day learning about David and Goliath.  We learned that with God, we can do anything! 

The children explored the leaves in the sensory table.  They enjoyed using the tweezers to find the hidden plastic animals and bugs.

The children enjoyed expressing their creativity as they made creations at the art table.  Creative thinking is a higher level thinking skill, and engaging in it allows for more cognitive growth!

We continued to work on our painted paper pumpkins.  Through this process, the children are not only refining their fine motor skills, but they are also developing creativity and learning that art is a process. 

We sorted the leaves in the classroom by dots and no dots.  Sorting is a foundational math skill!

We graphed the results.  As the children graphed, they practiced one to one correspondance, counting, and using words such as less, more, and equal. 

We also played a game where the children had to pick one thing that I did not list.  For example, I asked the children to find a number that was not a five or a four.  We played this game with colors too.  The purpose of this game is to practice number recognition, color recognition, and listening skills.