Monthly unit

Beginning school week 3

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Who works at your school?

This week we will be learning about who works at our school and their jobs.  We will also begin our look at our families.  We have all different kind of families as we will learn in the story Charlie Anderson.  It is a sweet story about a cat who lives in two different homes.

We will introduce the letters E and F along with our math study of sorting.

Music begins this week with Miss Alicia .

FANTASTIC NEWS ALERT!!!

We received the grant for the University Circle Initiative!!  Our first field trip will be Oct 5th to the Music Settlement and their outside classroom.  Last year it was amazing to see the children play and learn outside.  Of course this is for the afternoon students only.

Permission slips and a sign up genius will be sent out soon for families to sign up to be chaperones.  A permission slip has to be signed by a parent for your child to attend.

We look forward to participating in this program again this year and know it will be a worthwhile experience for all the students.

A big thanks to Martha Holden Jennings Foundation for the grant!!!

 

 

 

 

Do All Balls Bounce?

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This week we will be exploring whether or not all balls bounce.  If a ball is heavy does it bounce?  We will be using tubes and ramps to see if all balls roll and bounce.  We will be reading the book called Bounce and the Fairy Tale, The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  Challenge your child at home to find a ball that rolls.  See if you can roll the ball down many different ramps.  Create your own ramp using paper towel tubes or swim noodles.  Building with your child creates hours of fun.

Our letter of the week is Z and our math lesson is on subtraction and addition.  We will be finishing up our Mothers day Gifts that I know the children are excited to give to you.

A great big Thank you to everyone who honored the teachers last week for Teacher Appreciation week.  Truly it is our pleasure to work with your child.

 

BALLS!!

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Our study this month is BALLS.  We will investigate how they bounce, roll, size and our favorite.  The students will play with a variety of balls, paint with them, measure them and explore what in on the inside of them.  For math this week we will be measuring and the letters are review , Y, U, J, X, H, N

As we begin to wind down the school year we will try very hard to play outside each day.  It is prohibited for us to apply sun screen to your child at school without a medical statement from your doctor.  If sunscreen is a summer protocol for your family, please apply it to your child before they come to school each day.

If you attended the ice cream social and art show last Friday thank you for coming.  It was a huge success!!

PM Class ONLY:  Our last field trip will be back to the Music Settlement however this time we will be exploring outside and water. We advise you to wear boots as we may be getting WET!!

It is hard to believe that school will be ending soon.  Our last day of DAP is the same as the district June 8, 2017.  The children have learned so very much this year and we are super thrilled to have been witnesses to their success.

We would like to welcome Gwenn Kelly to the morning class and Victoria Smith.  The morning class is very busy and fun with 15 students!!

What is living and non living around us?

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What is Living and Non Living?
Learning about what is living and non living around us is so very exciting.  Last week we planted Zinnia’s in egg cartons and it will be interesting to see how much they have grown when we return to school.  We watched the video of the  The Caterpillar and the Polliwog by Jack Kent.    https://youtu.be/A3Wo15Sr4vA and wondered how caterpillars became butterflies.  We have caterpillar larva in the classroom to observe over the weeks to see how they turn into caterpillars and then become butterflies.  Did you know that moths sleep in cocoons and butterflies sleep within chrysalis’?

Life Stages

Although they have several differences, butterflies and moths go through the same life stages. The adult female lays eggs, which hatch into caterpillars. As caterpillars grow, they molt and shed their skin four to six times before transforming into pupae. The pupa is the final stage of development, during which metamorphosis takes place over a period of about two weeks, at the end of which an adult butterfly or moth emerges.

Chrysalis

The chrysalis is the pupal stage of butterfly development. Just before its final molt, a butterfly caterpillar spins a small disk of silk to attach itself to the underside of a leaf or twig. The caterpillar sheds its skin one last time as the pupa emerges. The outer surface of the pupa hardens into a protective shell, which often takes on a color and shape to help blend it into its surroundings.

Cocoon

Moth pupae don’t harden like butterfly pupae do, so to protect themselves during this final transformative stage, moth caterpillars spin cocoons of silk around themselves before the final molt. This silk hardens into a protective casing, allowing the pupa to go through metamorphosis relatively undisturbed. Some moth caterpillars, such as silkworms, spin cocoons entirely from silk, while others incorporate leaves, plant matter and even hair from their own bodies into the cocoons. Moths are not the only insects that build cocoons. Ants, fleas and wasps are a few of the other insect species whose development includes a pupal stage that must be protected by a cocoon.

This week we will be exploring things that are living and non living.  We will sort items in the sensory table, use clip cards to strengthen our fine motor and work on our art projects that will be on display during the ART SHOW on April 28th.

We will enjoy an Earth day Assembly on April 18th and honor our earth with an Earth Day Project.

The vocabulary for this week and next is living, habitat, grow, food and move.  Our math is patterning and the letter of the week is U.

Our final May field trip for the PM class through the University Circle Initiative is going back to the Music Settlement with a twist in what you think we may do.

May’s field trip is going to take place outside. Please encourage your students to wear boots and outerwear to be outside. There is a water pump included in the outdoor learning space so things may get a little wet.

Building study wk 3

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This week we will be visiting the Arctic and read Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester.  https://youtu.be6dMidnGLRGI

This week we will build igloo’s out of marshmallows, build structures out of marshmallows 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 build a pendulum and knock down buildings that the students have created.  This should be great fun and an opportunity to learn about 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!

Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly. ~Proverb

                                                                               

Building Study

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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.

https://youtu.be/Wt2cYpyQ7hc

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 fun

The end of the quarter is this Friday and it is a teacher work day and inservice.  Progress notes for the quarter will be sent home next Friday.

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 and pizza and drinks will be available more than likely downstairs.  Bring you kiddos and grandma and grandpa.  It should be a great day.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

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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 classes have new students joining in the new year.  Please welcome, Ben, Ben, Claudia, Calvin, Louisa, Natalie, 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.  happy-new-year-kids-7615021

Last week of school

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circle-of-childrenThis 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.

 

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

 

The Mitten

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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!!

words-to-xmas-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

 

 

Llama Llama Red Pajama!!

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The next two weeks we will return to our Clothing Unit and read Llama Llama Red Pajama.  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.

The last week before break we will focus on the Christmas.  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.

words-to-xmas-song  This is the second song to practice at home with your child.  The program is so fun and amazing for everyone.

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.img_0317