This week we will be focusing on what materials go into buildings.  The dramatic play area will be set up as a construction site.  They will be able to use and look at real blue prints!! This week will be begin building our own boats and finish building our “own buildings and cities”.  The kids will have the opportunity to use real tools like hammers and screwdrivers to create and explore. The light table will have letter matching rocks.   Math this week we will be focusing on ten frames and counting to 20.

The kids (and teachers) are really enjoying this study.  We have all worked together to come up with a plan of what they want to learn about.  The kids have really been driving this unit and have pulled us in so many different directions that Mrs. Molly and I could not have imagined!!  It is such a pleasure to watch them get excited about what and how they are learning.

On Tuesday we have ZUMBA class !!! AM class 9:30 and PM class 1:15.  This is always a fun class to take and the kids have a great time.  Watch Seesaw for posts of your child having fun!!

PM class only:

We will be visiting the Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art (M.O.C.A.)

Cleveland’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) plays an urgent and exciting role in the city’s cultural landscape. As a non-collecting institution and the region’s only contemporary art museum, MOCA is ever-changing, introducing new exhibitions three times a year and creating fresh experiences for visitors each season. Since its founding in 1968, MOCA has presented the works of more than 2,000 artists to our region, often through artists’ first solo shows.

MOCA acts as both conduit and catalyst for anyone seeking creativity and inspiration.

For 45 years, MOCA, Northeast Ohio’s only contemporary art museum, has brought the art and ideas of our time to Cleveland and beyond. MOCA was the first in the region to exhibit the works of vanguard artists like Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Laurie Anderson, Roy Lichtenstein, and Christo; and they continue to bring the work of emerging and established regional, national, and international artists to our area.

– See more at: http://www.universitycircle.org/destinations/moca-cleveland#sthash.o0O408JN.dpuf

This week we will be visiting the Arctic and read Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester.

This week we will build igloo’s out of marshmallows and gumdrops, build structures out of marshmallows, gumdrops and toothpicks for STEM .

We will build structures out of the letters N, A, G, D, B, and K and also a map of our community out of shapes.  For science we will use a catapult and pendulum to knock down buildings what the students have created.  This should be great fun and an opportunity to learn about catapults and pendulums.  Our math this week includes identifying shapes.  I think that the students are really enjoying this unit and have had great fun building all different kinds of structures.

A great big thank you to all the PM families who went on our first Friday field trip to the Cleveland Art Museum.  It was super fun and the ice skating was a huge success!

This week our building study has us exploring machinery and construction sites as well as building our own buildings.

Our letter is O and math this week focuses on counting 0-20.

Art will include painting houses out of sponges, and making an octopus for the letter O.

The Sensory table will have sand, rocks and diggers in it.   Our housekeeping area will be turned into a construction site with tools, hard hats and trucks.

We will read the book Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker and watch Pete the Cat on the Smartboard.

Afternoon Class only:  Just a reminder of our all day field trip on Friday January 27th.  Bring a packed brown bag lunch (NO Peanut Butter).  Please have it labeled with your child’s name. Dress your child warmly as we will be ice skating in the afternoon.  Be at school on Friday by 10:00 AM.  This will be so much fun for everyone.

This week we will begin our Building Study Theme.  We will be looking and learning about the buildings in our community along with how they were built.  The students will be building houses from the story The 3 Little Pigs.  This You Tube video is the classic Disney version filled with amazing music.

They will also predict which house will blow down while using a hair dryer.  The students will reenact the roles of the three pigs while they play in the housekeeping area.

The letter of the week is K and math will incorporate graphing.  We will blow paint and use shaving creme and blocks to recreate brick and mortar.  This should be a fun week!!!

PM Class Only:  Our next family Field trip is this Saturday January 21st.  We are invited to The Cleveland History Center of the Western Reserve Historical  Society.  You will need to check in at the UCI table just to let them know what school district you are from, and pizza and drinks will be available more than likely downstairs.  Bring your kiddos and grandma and grandpa if you want.  It should be a great day.

WELCOME BACK!!

It is very hard to believe that we are now beginning a new year in DAP.  As we return to school we will be returning to our clothing unit to finish it out, create patterns and review all the letters we have covered since the fall; M, S, R, T, N, C, A, D, I, G, F.  Before school begins have your child find things around the house that begin with the letters that we will review and encourage them to make the letter sounds.  They will be prepared to review when we come back to school.  These activities coincide with the book we will read Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina.

Art this week will again enhance the clothing unit along with sensory activities.

Both AM and PM for both Mrs. Peggy and myself  have new students joining in the new year.  Please welcome, Ben, Ben, Claudia, Calvin, Louisa, Natalie, Ashley and Kamden.  As you know we have to keep a 50/50 ratio in the class at all times which is why we are adding so many new students.  We look forward  to an amazing beginning to our new year with new friends and new activities.

This will be the last week of school before our Winter Break.  Hard to believe the year is half over.  We are on break from December 19th and return to school on January 2, 2017.

This last week we will continue to practice our two songs, Snowflake and Little Snowman.  The children are very excited to sing them for you.  If you cannot attend the evening performance on Thursday Dec. 15th you are welcome to attend the dress rehearsal on Thursday at 10 AM.  For those PM families, if you want your child to practice you will need to bring them and take them home again.  School will remain the same in the PM.  This final week before break we will be stepping away from our clothing unit and finishing up our winter crafts.  Our story this last week is The Sneezey Snowman.  It is a cute story of how a snowman melts because he is cold and sneezing!!.  The students will have a chance to create a new way that their snowman melts.  Our letter is F and our math concept is patterning.

This week we will be reading The Mitten by Jan Brett.  We will retell the story through sequencing activities, creating mittens for art, rhyming, counting to 10 for math  and working on our art projects for the Holiday Concert.  We will continue to practice our songs, Snowflake and I’m a Little Snowman to the tune of I’m a Little Teapot.  Please practice the songs at home with your child so that they are ready for the big night!  Tickets are always in hot demand.  As soon as the invite to get tickets for the show is released, please turn in your request ASAP.  Each family generally gets 2 tickets per family.  It often is a standing room only event!!

On Thursday the words to “I’m a Little Snowman” was sent home in backpacks and below is the Little Snowflake song.

The afternoon class will listen Debbie Abela from the Early Learning Initiative on Monday about their upcoming visit to The Natural History Museum and learn about the Global Kitchen of which they will see and participate in on Thursday afternoon.  The students are all loving the monthly trips to the museums and have learned so much.    cmnh-global-kitchen-background-information

The next two weeks we will be starting  our Clothing Unit and read Llama Llama Red Pajama’s this week. The children will use play doh mats and create clothing items.  They will separate clothing items  and pretend to wash them in the washer and dry them in the dryer.  The children will hang up clothes on a clothes line and match socks. We will also be reviewing the letters C,D,R,A, and T.

The last week before break we will focus on the Winter Program  and will do holiday theme activities  We will practice our winter songs for the Winter Program on December 15th.  See the links below for your child to begin to practice the songs we have chosen to sing.

For the PM class we will be visiting the Cleveland Natural History Museum the first week of December which is where we went on our first family outing.  It will be a great time for the children to revisit the museum.

This week will be all about Thanksgiving and what it means to be thankful.  We will be discussing what we are thankful for and how to keep this in mind all the time and not just at Thanksgiving.  Our centers and art projects will all have a Thanksgiving theme.  The week will end with our annual Turkey Trot and we will be cooking this week making our own holiday dessert.  This week is always so nice to be with the kids because the pure honesty of what they are thankful for helps bring simplicity to our lives and makes the adults think as well.

Remember to sign up for a conference if have not already.

Here is the link to sign up

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0c4daca72ba4fe3-parent1

On Monday this week we will continue our Halloween theme finishing out our ghoulish, ghostly, and Boo-tiful centers.  We will finish out our day by frosting sugar cookies and decorating them to look like a Jack-o-Lanterns.

During gym class we will be bowling over ghosts, batting down some pumpkins (orange balloons), and a Halloween bean bag toss to finish it out.

The rest of the week we will be finishing our study of trees and what we can make from trees.  We will be making our own paper in the classroom.  Our dramatic play this week will be the post office in which they can “mail” letters written to each other on paper and other products made from trees. Our letter this week is C so in fine motor area this week we will be Cutting out Coupons and Cutting Catalogs and looking for items that begin with the letter C.

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!     GO TRIBE!!