Tuesday starts the wonderful month of November where we will shift our focus to fall and Thanksgiving!
Also our special snack we were going to make last Wednesday has been postponed to this Wednesday. Be on the look out for an update to hear how much fun your student has had.
Books we have been reading:
The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson
AlphaOops: H is for Halloween by Alethea Kontis
Little Cloud by Eric Carle
Class Needs:
- Baby wipes: If your child is in diaper please send in one container of baby wipes. We are starting to run low.
- Parent Volunteers: I am in need of parent volunteers for the winter show. Please let me know ASAP if you would like to help.
- Corn- I would like to have 12 ears of corn on Monday, November 14 to go along with our Thanksgiving unit. Please leave the husks on. Please e-mail if you would like to help with this.
- Potatoes- I would like to have 10 potatoes on Monday, November 14 to go along with our Thanksgiving unit. We will be eating and painting them. Please e-mail me if you can help out with this.
Important Dates:
Thanksgiving Treat- Friday, November 18 at 10:00am: Join your student for a Thanksgiving Treat in Mrs. Massey's class
Winter Show- Friday, December 16 at 9:00am: Join us for our winter show followed by our winter party
Polar Express Day- Wednesday, December 21: Send your child in their pajamas to enjoy Polar Express Day
Monday, October 31, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Thoughts from Ms. Still
Have your child pick up and carry a pumpkin (the large “Pumpkin Patch” displays at various community locations are great for this). Have your child put his or her pumpkin beside, behind, in front of, or under other objects. This helps to teach positional words and concepts that are so important for early learning. You can also work on size concepts, by having them pick up a big, medium, or small pumpkin. This is a great activity to work on using both hands, upper body strengthening, and can be organizing due to the heavy work aspect of carrying heavier pumpkins.
You can also play Pumpkin Bowling. Fill empty 1 or 2 liter bottles with sand or water – just enough to weigh them down a bit. Have your child ROLL several of the small decorative pumpkins at the bowling pins to try and knock them over. The practice skill is ROLLING, not throwing. Have them count how many pins they knock over each time to reinforce 1:1 correspondence. You can try having the child bowl turn their backs to the pins and try to roll under their legs for increased vestibular/sensory experience. You want them to get their head down to look at the pumpkins and come all the way up after they roll the pumpkin. Be sure to give them a big bear hug after they do this exercise a few times.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
A Fabulous Day!
Tomorrow (Thursday) at 1pm is our parent meeting to prepare for the holiday show. We will be meeting in the special education conference room. I hope to see you there. If you can't come and are interested in helping I will be sending out contact information after the meeting.
The Book Fair is coming! All children will have the opportunity to shop and they need volunteers! Please contact Mrs. Powell in the Media Center or Meredith Gartner to volunteer: megartner@aol.com. AND: if your household is anxiously awaiting the newest Wimpy Kid book consider pre-ordering it from the RNE Book Fair! The pre order price is $8.49 and books will be delivered to RNE on November 15. Forms and details can be found in the media center and on our school website.
Today the students also received cut out pumpkins. They glued the pumpkin on a sheet of paper. Then using their pincer fingers they decorated the pumpkin with green and orange pumpkin seeds. We have also been watching a video about the life cycle of a pumpkin. http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=134153&title=The_Life_Cycle_of_a_Pumpkin
Please make sure to always write a note/e-mail after your child has been absent! I appreciate phone calls, but I also need something in writing.
A fine motor activity
Snip drinking straws. Kids love to watch the small pieces of straw pop away as they cut. Use the small pieces of straw as beads and have your child string them onto yarn to make a necklace!
Snip small strips of sturdy paper such as cardstock or construction paper. Use the small pieces to create a mosaic art project.
A gross motor activity
Balloon Bopping: Have your child tap a medium sized balloon in the air. Try not to let it touch the floor!!!
Monday, October 24, 2011
Monday
Hi Everyone,
A couple of updates I want you to pay close attention to (they are numbered because it helps keep my brain organized)
1. On Wednesday, Ms. Susan is coming in to do a scavenger hunt and special snack. The snack is called ghost in the graveyard. It is made of chocolate pudding, chocolate graham crackers, and whipped cream. Please let me know if you want your child to have a modified snack (such as less food, vanilla instead of chocolate pudding, cinnamon graham cracker instead of chocolate graham cracker, no whipped cream, etc.)
2. Also on Wednesday, the afternoon group is going to have a picnic and nature walk to the Roswell area park. I will have my cell phone with me so if there is an emergency or you are checking your child out early please call!
On with the great learning that is occurring. Today we started cleaning out the insides of the pumpkin. We started with discussing the shape and color of the pumpkins. We then decided which pumpkin was taller and which one was shorter. Then using a scale the pumpkins were weighed, which lead to which one was heavier. The kids helped scrap out the goop and used their pincer fingers to help pluck out the seeds. The students then decided the inside of the pumpkin was gooey, not rough, on the inside. Overall it was a very enjoyable activity.
We will be having show and tell next Monday, October 31. Please be on the look out for a flyer with the information.
Additionally please DO NOT send your child in their costume to school on Monday, October 31. Also please DO NOT send Halloween candy as a snack!!!!!! Thanks for your understanding!
A couple of updates I want you to pay close attention to (they are numbered because it helps keep my brain organized)
1. On Wednesday, Ms. Susan is coming in to do a scavenger hunt and special snack. The snack is called ghost in the graveyard. It is made of chocolate pudding, chocolate graham crackers, and whipped cream. Please let me know if you want your child to have a modified snack (such as less food, vanilla instead of chocolate pudding, cinnamon graham cracker instead of chocolate graham cracker, no whipped cream, etc.)
2. Also on Wednesday, the afternoon group is going to have a picnic and nature walk to the Roswell area park. I will have my cell phone with me so if there is an emergency or you are checking your child out early please call!
On with the great learning that is occurring. Today we started cleaning out the insides of the pumpkin. We started with discussing the shape and color of the pumpkins. We then decided which pumpkin was taller and which one was shorter. Then using a scale the pumpkins were weighed, which lead to which one was heavier. The kids helped scrap out the goop and used their pincer fingers to help pluck out the seeds. The students then decided the inside of the pumpkin was gooey, not rough, on the inside. Overall it was a very enjoyable activity.
We will be having show and tell next Monday, October 31. Please be on the look out for a flyer with the information.
Additionally please DO NOT send your child in their costume to school on Monday, October 31. Also please DO NOT send Halloween candy as a snack!!!!!! Thanks for your understanding!
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Rainy Day
Today was a great day to talk about the rainy weather and how it is now cold outside. We are continuing our theme of farm and farm animals. This morning we read The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle and many of the students are starting to verbalize at the end of the phrasing the correct words. This is so wonderful to see.
Also in circle time we read The Old Lady Who was not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams. The students took turns being various props and helped act out the story. For instance in the story two shoes go "clomp clomp" and a student will act out the pair of shoes each time that comes up or someone will act out the "wiggle wiggle" of the pants. The kids love it and are getting very good at acting out their various parts.
Additionally today we made chickens out of circles and triangles to go along with our farm theme. Also the kids played duck, duck, goose to talk about animals.
A couple of house keeping things:
- The weather is changing! Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately everyday to play outside.
- There will be a meeting Thursday, October 27 at 1pm to start talking about our winter show in the special ed conference room. Please come and learn how you can be a part of it.
- Thanks for coming in for conferences! I appreciated the time we can talk face to face. If parents ever want additional meetings throughout the year please let me know.
Also in circle time we read The Old Lady Who was not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams. The students took turns being various props and helped act out the story. For instance in the story two shoes go "clomp clomp" and a student will act out the pair of shoes each time that comes up or someone will act out the "wiggle wiggle" of the pants. The kids love it and are getting very good at acting out their various parts.
Additionally today we made chickens out of circles and triangles to go along with our farm theme. Also the kids played duck, duck, goose to talk about animals.
A couple of house keeping things:
- The weather is changing! Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately everyday to play outside.
- There will be a meeting Thursday, October 27 at 1pm to start talking about our winter show in the special ed conference room. Please come and learn how you can be a part of it.
- Thanks for coming in for conferences! I appreciated the time we can talk face to face. If parents ever want additional meetings throughout the year please let me know.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Brooke's thoughts
FALL IS HERE!
The beautiful weather is a great time to get outside and model great language! Here are some great fall activities to practice great language (as well as all other developmental areas) and spark conversation with your child:
- Go to a pumpkin patch
o Ride the hay ride
o “We are picking a pumpkin”
o Discuss big and little
o Practice counting and colors
o What pumpkin do you like?
- Take a walk through the fallen leaves
o Practice colors
o Discuss big and little
o “The leaves are crunchy when we step on them”
o “ Leaves fall from trees”
o Make big piles and practice jumping
o Which leaf is your favorite?
- Look at all the scarecrows in down town Roswell or make your own scarecrow
o Practice identifying and naming body parts
o Practice identifying and naming clothing
o Talk about emotions: happy, sad, scary
o Talk about the scarecrows function
o If you make your own, “We are stuffing the scarecrow”, “Push the straw in”
This Month’s Vocabulary:
Spoon
Fork
Spider
Farmer
Pumpkin
Pig
Cow
Hen
All done
Sit Down
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Updates on the week
Hi Everyone,
All About Me is officially done, but we are rolling right into farm animals and healthy eating. We will start reading the Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle on Monday!
Today we practiced drawing our face! We took turns looking in the mirror and after being given a model of Mrs. Massey the kids went to town drawing their own faces. This is a great activity to do at home and while you do it make sure you takl about the different facial features and circles. Also we talked about how no one looks same and that is ok.
This afternoon kicked off our healthy eating by making hands with popcorn in carrots. We spent time discussing hot (popcorn) and cold (carrots). We used an old fashion pop corn maker where the kernels are put in and the kids see the kernels come spilling out after it is plugged in. So the popcorn was completely free of butter and salt. Then each student was given a glove. They put carrots into the finger spots and filled the rest of the glove with popcorn. They laughed and thought making the gloves was so much fun!
In art this week we practiced drawing a large orange circle and a small green square to make a pumpkin! Then students made faces on their pumpkins with black crayons.
In music Mr. David helped by pre-teaching some of the vocabulary with the animals we will be learning about next week. We talked about sounds the animals make and the kids got to make those sounds into the microphone. Some of your children become quite little hams when faced with a microphone (even if it is just pretend!)
Also just an FYI, but I will be out on Monday because I have jury duty summons. All non- emergencies please send a note and I will address everything as soon as I get back. Also thank you for everyone who returned their forms saying whether or not they were getting updates on the blogs and whether or not to add your spouse. I am at home updating the blog so I will not be able to input your spouse's e-mail addresses until I get back. I will let you know once I do so you can make sure they are also receiving the information.
Have a happy, healthy weekend!
All About Me is officially done, but we are rolling right into farm animals and healthy eating. We will start reading the Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle on Monday!
Today we practiced drawing our face! We took turns looking in the mirror and after being given a model of Mrs. Massey the kids went to town drawing their own faces. This is a great activity to do at home and while you do it make sure you takl about the different facial features and circles. Also we talked about how no one looks same and that is ok.
This afternoon kicked off our healthy eating by making hands with popcorn in carrots. We spent time discussing hot (popcorn) and cold (carrots). We used an old fashion pop corn maker where the kernels are put in and the kids see the kernels come spilling out after it is plugged in. So the popcorn was completely free of butter and salt. Then each student was given a glove. They put carrots into the finger spots and filled the rest of the glove with popcorn. They laughed and thought making the gloves was so much fun!
In art this week we practiced drawing a large orange circle and a small green square to make a pumpkin! Then students made faces on their pumpkins with black crayons.
In music Mr. David helped by pre-teaching some of the vocabulary with the animals we will be learning about next week. We talked about sounds the animals make and the kids got to make those sounds into the microphone. Some of your children become quite little hams when faced with a microphone (even if it is just pretend!)
Also just an FYI, but I will be out on Monday because I have jury duty summons. All non- emergencies please send a note and I will address everything as soon as I get back. Also thank you for everyone who returned their forms saying whether or not they were getting updates on the blogs and whether or not to add your spouse. I am at home updating the blog so I will not be able to input your spouse's e-mail addresses until I get back. I will let you know once I do so you can make sure they are also receiving the information.
Have a happy, healthy weekend!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)