What have we been doing?

Sunday February 12th-good morning!  brrrr!  What a lot of fun Valentine 
activities we've been enjoying. Tomorrow is Pink Day--the boys are SO 
excited!  ha! Many of them have already told me they won't wear pink because 
it's for girls-where do they get this stuff?:))  Valentine's parties will be 
on Tuesday in both classes.  You should have all received class lists for 
Valentine's and the sign-up sheets are still on the classroom door. 

The morning class has met "Mat Man"--you might hear about him or "Bat" man--
we'll have lots of opportunities to play with the wood pieces and build 
Matman.  We also spent lots of time this week exploring the wood pieces in 
our "Handwriting Without Tears" program.  There are big lines, little lines, 
big curves and  little curves.  We did the hokey pokey with our pieces to 
develop some familiarity with them. 

We continue to practice counting, numeral recognition to 5 and recognizing 
our names in print.  

The afternoon class has worked hard as well--we learned about the letter "H" 
this week, and this week will be "I" day.  We've been playing the number 
hokey pokey at circle to practice numeral recognition, and we also reviewed 
the lifter sounds. These are very hard.  

I am very pleased with the progress both groups are making in puttin on their 
outside clothing-not that we actually need them! boo!  But, the independence 
is improving daily.  Every time you can allow your child to get into his/her 
own jacket, the better.  

Enjoy the rest of this freezing cold Sunday and have a great week!
Robin


Sunday February 5th--good morning! Everyone should have received their 
child's progress reports and/or IEP's by now, and if you have any questions 
at all about these, please give me a call or shoot me an e-mail.  I'd be 
happy to sit down with anyone for either a conference with just me, or if 
you'd like a team progress update, we can schedule that as well.

It's hard to believe, but I will be in touch in the next week or 2 with IEP 
parents to discuss summer program.  All ESY meetings must be held prior to 
April vacation, so I will be contacting you soon. 

The other item that is currently on the agenda is preparing for next year's 
role models.  I will be placing a blurb in the school notices in the next 
couple of weeks, but if you know anyone who is interested in having their 
child considered for next year's program, please give them my name, e-mail, 
phone number, etc. and have them contact me.

Afternoon parents, if you haven't already registered your child for 
Kindergatrten in September, please do so.  Even if we have had (or will have) 
placement meetings, the office still needs to have an idea of the numbers. 

It's hard to believe there's only 3 weeks until our next vacation.  We'll be 
working very hard during this time on our number skills, color and shape 
review, HWT--we're on letter "G" already this week, and LIPS--we learned 
the "lifters" this week.  This is a pretty tricky sound to make.  There are 
front lifters (lift tongue behind the front teeth to make "L" sound, and the 
back lifter (lift back of tongue to make "R" sound.) We've been doing lots 
and lots of tongue exercises and Mrs. Dana is very impressed with the 
progress. 

Speaking of Mrs. Dana,she continues to work on rhyming with the afternoon 
class, as well as sequencing.  Our goal is not only for the students to 
visually sequence pictures in the correct order, but to put some appropriate 
language to the cards.  We practice "telling the story" to each other. 

HWT practice is going well--we've practiced letters to "F" and numbers 1, 2, 
and 3.  The children are getting the hang of "wet, dry, try" and they love, 
love, love to work in their books.  Matman has made an appearance in the 
morning class, and we have been having fun singing the song and building him 
with wood pieces.  This gives us an opportunity to practice and discuss body 
parts and where they are on our bodies, and also to start to think about how 
to draw a person's body.  The goal is to eventually have those arms and legs 
come out of the body, not the head!

Learning our telephone numbers is going well-slowly, but well.  

Notes will be going home this week with names for Valentine's and there will 
be sign up sheets on the classroom door for party snacks.  

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday--Go Pats!--and have a great week!
Robin


Sunday January 29-good morning.  Well, I hope everyone is recovered from all 
the illnesses and I'm happy to see everyone back from vacation as well!  We 
had a crazy week again trying to catch up from the week before.  I am just 
about done with assessing and progress reports/IEP's should be ready to go by 
Thursday at the latest.

Thursday was a fun "blue" day, and we will be doing some more "blue" 
activities on Monday.  Both classes were able to get outside and play this 
week, and I was very proud of them as they worked hard to get into their own 
snowsuits!  Please label your child's clothing if you can!

The morning class will continue to explore winter activities and will be 
counting winter items, painting snowmen at the easel, and matching mittens. 
We will continue to practice counting and numeral recognition to 5 every day!

In the afternoon class, we have also been working hard on numeral 
recognition, but we're practicing to 20, yikes!  Mrs. Dana has been doing 
many sequencing activities with us and also rhyming-there's a lot to learn in 
preschool right now! We're even adding in our telephone numbers this week as 
well!

In our 2nd Step lesson this week, we learned about strong feelings and some 
strategies to "calm down" from them.  We're learning about taking "belly 
breathes" and this week we will practice counting to 10 to see if that helps 
as well. 

Matman is improving with everyone!  We drew him together at circle and I'm 
starting to see more and more people with bodies and correct positioning on 
limbs! We also used scarves to practice making "Magic C".  Those curves can 
be tricky sometimes.  

In our LIPS lesson, we reviewed the sounds we've learned so far: lip poppers 
(p,b), tip tappers (t,d), skinny air (s,z), fat air (sh, zh), lip coolers 
(f,v), tongue coolers (th), tongue scrapers (c,g), and nose sounds (m, n, 
ng). Our next sound will be a "lifter"--lifting the front of your tongue 
makes the "l" sound and lifting the back of your tongue makes the "r" sound--
NOT EASY!!!!!  

We have a busy week ahead!  Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and have a great 
week!
Robin



Sunday January 22--brrr again!  So, between vacations, illnesses, days off, 
last week wasn't the mmost productive week we've ever had in preschool!  Oh 
well-back at it this week.  We will continue assessing for report cards 
during the week and will continue to practice numeral recognition.  Any 
practice you can do with your child at home is a great help.  I'd really like 
to see the afternoon class master numerals 1-10 in and out of order.  The 
morning class is practice with numeral recognition and counting items to 5.

Our HWT practice with letters continues--we are getting the hang of the "wet, 
dry, try" method of making letters on our slates and we've even practiced 
numbers 1 and 2!  The morning class is going to meet "matman" this week!  
This is part of the HWT program of making people with our wood pieces and 
practicing body part awareness at the same time.   I'm sure you've all seen 
the "mr. potato head" people your children draw with arms and legs coming out 
of the head.  This is very normal and "Matman" will help us learn to add 
bodies and put the arms and legs in the appropriate places.  I hope!

In our LIPS lesson this week, we learned about a "fat air" sound.  We 
compared and contrasted between this sound and the "skinny air" sound.  When 
making a "fat air" sound, our lips are rounded, making a fatter space for the 
air to come out of--thus making the "sh" sound.  When we turn on our voices 
to make it noisy, it becomes the "zh" sound, like in the middle of measure.

The afternoon children are doing a great job with their last names, and I 
think it might be time for a new "trick" next week!  Stay tuned!

Thanks to everyone who donated to the theme basket-I believe they'll be 
displayed this week in the hallway upstairs.

Keep in mind our outside days--TUESDAY for AFTERNOON and THURSDAY for 
MORNING. The children will be very happy to learn that I dragged out the 
sleds Friday and the Kindergarteners packed down our sliding trail too!

We are collecting tissue boxes for our Valentine holders, so if you have 1 or 
2, we'd love to have them.  Thanks

Have a great Sunday and a great rest of the week!
Robin

��Sunday January 15-brrrrrrrrrr! I will apologize first thing for the weird 

things this site has been doing-it's not me.  So, we had a short week last 

week and another one this week.  Oh well.  We'll just keep plugging along!



Now that there's snow, please don't forget snow  clothes--TUESDAY for 

afternoon students, and THURSDAY for morning students.  I will use my 

judgement concerning the temperature and/or the iciness outside.  

Tuesday 

will be White Day for both classes, as we missed it on Thursday.  The 

afternoon class will continue with our letter exploration--C day on Wednesday 

with Carter!  

Mrs. Anderson, Mrs. Dana and I will be doing some assessing 

in the next 2 weeks for progress reports.  We work very hard at imbedding the 

assessments into the daily activities as much as possibie, but the children 

beg me to come work 1 on 1 on the "big kid" work!  They love it!

We will 

begin practicing numeral recognition to 15, and then 20 in the afternoon 

class, and we are still working on 1-5 in the morning class. 

��Sunday 

January 8, 2012--good morning, and I'm sure everyone is as happy as 
I 
am 

that the "first" week back to school is over.  There were many yawns 
and 


slow moving children (and teachers!), but there was a lot of 


excite��me��nt as 
well.  The chidlren were very excited to discuss their 


Christmas surprises 
and gifts and we had many great conversations. 

We 


started our introduction 
to letters with the afternoon class and it was a 


lot of fun!  Annie brought 
in "an amazing amount" of "A" items to share-3 or 


4 is fine!:)) We also glued 
animals on our "A's" and we now have a new 
area 

in our center ti��me��--the 
exploration station!  In this area, the 

children 
can explore stamps, punches, 
stencils, pictures, books, letter 

wheels, etc. 
after they finish their letter 
center.  It's lots of fun and 

really supports 
the different levels of 
learning that are present in the 

group.  

We also 
learned all about "wet, 
dry, try" and made the letter "A" 

with clay, magna 
doodle boards and slates!  



Sunday January 1, 2012--
good 
morning and HAPPY 
NEW YEAR!!It feels like we 

just said that, and it 

definitely feels like 
we've just barely co��me ��back to 

school-boy, it 

flies. 

I hope everyone 
has had a wonderful, restful vacation 
and is 

looking forward 
to getting 
back to the routine tomorrow.  I know I 
am.  We 

have lots of 
exciting 
activities planned for January and we're going 
to 
be 
very busy in 
the 
preschool.

As I have been telling the children for a 
��
few ��
weeks now, the 
afternoon class 
will begin our introduction to 
letters 
this 
week.  At the 
preschool level, I 
focus on recognition of the 
uppercase 

letters (for now) 
and the beginning 
letter sound.  We will 
explore a 
variety 
of multi-sensory 
craft projects for 
our letters, 
glueing 
so��me��thing on each 
letter of the 
alphabet. We will also 

incorporate 
our HWT curriculum and 
learn to make the 
letters with our wood 

pieces, 
clay, magna-doodle boards 
and chalk boards 
with the "WET, DRY, 
TRY" ��

me��thod of practicing.  We continue 
to use the 
language of HWT 
as we use 
wet 
sponges to create the lines and 
curves of our 
letters on 
our chalk 
boards 
(slates),   then we wil use a dry 
piece of 
towel to 
retrace the 
letter, 
making it disappear.  Finally, we 
will "try" 
it 
ourselves with a 
piece of 
chalk! This is a process that will 
be 

reinforced and practiced 
through the 
entire alphabet by Mrs. Anderson 


and/or myself. 

Although we 
have not learned all of our LIPS sounds yet, 


when we learn a new 
letter 
na��me��, we will practice the sound of it as 

well.  


When you receive 
your m0nthly calendar, you will notice the 

children's na��me��s 

with a 
letter on various days of the month.  This�� 

me��ans that it is that 


child's turn to bring a�� few ��items to school 
that 
day that start with that 


letter.  These should be small items that 
can be 
managed by the child, and 


that the child is familiar with so 
he/she can 
share at circle.  Have fun 


scouring your house with your child 
to find 4-5 
items to discuss at school. 
I 

will also put the 
children's "days" on the 
calendar on this website and 
will 

try to 
re��me��mber to send ho��me ��a 
reminder note the day 
before. 

We will 
also 
begin practicing how to form 
our nu��me��rals with 
our wood pieces, 

clay,geo 
boards, shaving cream and 
chalk this month as 
well.  Phew-lots 
of 
work 
coming up!

Mrs. Dana plans to 
begin a unit on 
sequencing with 
the 4 year 
olds.  We will 
practice 
identifying things that 
co��me 
��first, next, last, etc. 
and we will 
also 
practice adding the 

appropriate language to describe the 
stories we 
tell.  


A number of the 

children are interested in, and 
practicing so��me ��rhyming--
we 
will 

start to place more emphasis on rhyming as 
well this month. 

In 
our fine 

motor lessons with Mrs. Anderson, when we are 
not working on 

letter 

formation, we will continue to practice hand strength 
activities and 



pincer grasps.  I have so��me ��very good "cutters" in the 
aftenoon class, 


and we 
will continue to practice cutting and using our 
fingers by 

pinching, 

squeeznig, lacing, etc.  

The morning class will have 
lots and 

lots of fun 
exploring snow, snow��me��n, 
mittens and all kinds of 
winter 

clothing.  
Hopefully we'll have so��me ��real 
snow to play in as well.  


We will 
continue to practice recognizing our first 
na��me��s in print, 

and many 
of 
us are ready to try creating our na��me ��without 
having to 

match the 

letters.  Counting practice continues--most of the 
children are 

getting 

pretty good at counting to 5 and recognizing these 
nu��me��rals 

as well.  

Matching, sorting activities will continue and we might 
even 

explore so��me ��

patterns as well.  

If it ever snows, we will have 

outside days 1 ti��me �
�each 
week.  The morning 
children will have 

outside play on THURSDAY, and 
the 
afternoon class will 
have outside play 

on TUESDAY.  This is dependent 
on the 
temperature (must be 
at least 20 

degrees) and also on the 
preparedness of 
the children.  In other 
words, if 

your child co��me��s to 
school without outdoor 
clothing on our 


designated day, the entire class 
must stay inside and that 
is really unfair 


to those who are prepared. If 
you don't want your child to 
play outside, 

you 
should really reconsider 
sending him/her to school that 
day.

If your 

child wears boots to school, 
please, please have him/her change 
into 
shoes 

in the hallway before coming 
into the classroom.  The wet floor 
is very 


slippery and dangerous.  The 
boots can remain under the bench.  
Thanks for 


your cooperation with this.  


I will begin assessing in both 
classes this 

month for our next report card 

and look forward to�� me��eting with 
any 

of you who are interested in a 

parent/teacher conference.  Just give�� me 

��
a call or shoot�� me ��an e-
mail.  

Finally, be sure to label your 

child's hats, 
mittens, boots, 
snowpants, 
etc.and extra mittens in the 

backpack are never a 
bad idea!  


Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and have a 

great week!  I can't 
wait to see 

everyone tomorrow!

Robin




Sunday 

December 18th-good morning-
brrrr!   I 
guess I shouldn't complain, 
because 

it's been pretty warm for 
most of the 
month.  

This week is going to be so 

much fun in both classes!  
Tomorrow is 
Gold Day 
in both classes and I'm 

sure we can add plenty of gold 
glitter to 
the floor, 
chairs, etc. for our 

poor custodian.  On Tuesday, the 
afternoon 
class will be 
making small 

graham cracker gingerbread houses.  
There is a 
sign up sheet on 
the door 

for supplies for the houses, as well as 
sign up 
sheets for the 
parties. If 

you can't stop by, give�� me ��a call and 
I'll 
give you so��me ��ideas 


about what we could use.

On Wednesday, the 

afternoon class will be asked 

to co��me ��to school in their 
p.j.'s in 

preparation for a ride on the 

Polar Express.  Mrs. Dana and Mrs. 
Anderson 

will join us in reading the 

story, acting out the story, creating 
yoga poses 

for different parts of 

the story and finally, singing so��me ��songs 
from 
the CD 
and drinking 

hot cocoa!  It is a lot of fun for all of us!

Finally, 
Thursday 
is party 

day.  The morning class is going to attend the 1st 
grade 
dress 
rehearsal 

for their concert and then return to the classroom for 

treats! 
Again, I 

try to keep our parties as low key as possible. 

The 
afternoon 
class will 

enjoy our favorite songs, music and move��me��nt 

activities before we 


also have a special treat and celebration.  

A 
reminder--I will not have 

the 
children exchange gifts, as this can 

so��me��ti��me��s be a very 

difficult, 
disappointing experience.  I will have 
a 
little so��me��thing 

for all of the 
children to open, and if you really 
want to 
do 

so��me��thing, just get a gift 
for the class.  This is ABSOLUTELY 
not 

required 
and I do not want anyone to 
feel obligated.  If you have any 


questions about 
this, feel free to give�� me ��
a call or shoot�� me ��an 

e-
mail.  

Enjoy your Sunday and try not to get too 
stressed!  This coming 


from�� me��?  
Pretty funny!

Have a great week!
Robin



Sunday December 

11, 
2011-first the bad news, and then the good news.  I 

tested positive 

for 
strep throat on Friday, but the antibiotics are working 

wonders and I 

feel 
much better!  Keep an eye on your little ones--I don't 

know if I 

started 
it, or if it ca��me ��from one of them, but we obviously don't 



have ti��me �
�for "sick" right now do we?!?  

So, hopefully we'll have a 

full, 

productive week this week!  Tomorrow is 
silver day in both classes 

and it 

should be very sparkly!  The morning class 
will be making 

their "reindeer 

food" and bringing it ho��me ��to sprinkle on 


the ....grass?  Fortunately, 
those 
reindeer are magical and are sure to 

find 
it!  We will be�� 
me��asuring and 
counting as we follow the 

recipe.  

Mrs. Anderson and I 
will be working on 
first na��me ��writing 

so��me ��more in the 
afternoon 
class.  So��me ��of the children 
are 

forgetting to start their letters 
at 
the top and others are trying to 
mix 

in lower case letters-augh!  This is 

why I do not teach lowercase 
letters-

the children need to have mastery of 
the 
uppercase letters first 
before 

they get confused with the lowercase.  
There's 
plenty of ti��me ��for 


that!

We'll have sign-up sheets up for 
holiday parties (Thurs Dec. 22) by 


the end 
of the week.  There will be 2 
sign-ups for the afternoon class, one 


for our 
gingerbread houses that we 
will be making on Tues (20th) and the 


other for 
the party.  All morning 
students are invited to attend school on 


Thurs. for 
party day!

The 
children will NOT exchange gifts.  We will 
have 
a 
special snack and do 
our 
very best to keep things as low key (yeah 

right!) 
as possible!  

Happy 
birthday Laura!
Enjoy the rest of your 
chilly 
Sunday 
and have a great week!

Robin

Sunday December 4,2011--and 
the 
countdown 
begins!  When the children 
(4's) 
arrive tomorrow, they will 
see 
their 
countdown chains hanging from 
the 
ceiling (I guess Santa was 
here 
over the 
weekend!), and we will take a 
loop 
off each day and count 
the 
days left--
exciting for them, stressful 
for�� me��!  ha

I can not 
say 
enough about how well 
the 4's are doing with 
recognizing 
uppercase 
letters 
in their na��me��s.  With 
our HWT pieces, we 
have discussed how 

to make 
all the letters in the 
alphabet.  We have talked 
about whether we 

have 
those letters in our first 
na��me��s, where they are, 
and how 
many.  Now 

we're even finding them in our 
last na��me��s!  During 

December we will 
review 
these and focus on the sa��me ��
process with the 

numbers 1-10!  


We continue to work on those tricky 
diagnonals that are 
in 
many letters (A, 

K, M, N, R, V, W, X, Y, and Z)  and 
also in 
triangles, 
(and now stars!).  

When you see your child attempting 
letters 
with this 
diagonal line, remind 

him/her to "slide" it down to the 
corner-
just like a 
slide! These take a 
VERY 
long ti��me ��to master.

We will 
be 
having lots of 
fun with our 
gingerbread unit this month-counting, 

sorting, 
patterning, 
tracing, 
cutting, cooking, everything we can think of!


Our new 
LIPS sound 
this week 
is the skinny air sound (s,z)--when you 
make the 
space 
between 
your teeth 
and lips very skinny, your tongue can't 
get out, but 
the 
skinny 
sound 
can!  Mrs. Dana cues the children 
to "pull"  this long, 
skinny 
sound 
out 
of their mouths.  We've now been 
exposed to the following 
sound 
pairs: 
lip 
poppers (p,b), tip tappers 
(t,d), lip coolers (f,v), tongue 

coolers 
(th,th 
voiced), tongue scrapers 
(k,g) and skinny air (s,z). At this 

stage 
of our 
develop��me��nt, I am 
NOT assigning letter na��me��s to these sounds, 



this is just a ti��me 
��to learn what our mouths do to make the sounds.  
So��me �
�of 

the 
children are beginning to make the connection to the 
letter 
na��me��s, 
but I 

am not teaching it yet. 

The morning children 
will be 
having a 

little "Rudolph" fun this week and we 
will even be making 
so��me �

�reindeer 
treats to sprinkle on the lawn. Our 
counting practice 
continues 

with a 
variety of fun Christmas manipulatives-we 
are becoming 
more 

consistent 
counting to 5!  We have also been working very 
hard on 

ga��me��s 
and activities 
that help us recognize our na��me��s in print.  



I know the 
weather has been 
maddeningly inconsistent, but we would 

really, 
really like 
to get outside 
whenever we can squeeze in a�� few ��

minutes.  It is 
VERY cold 
in the mornings--
please, please be sure your 

child is dressed 
appropriately 
to go outside.  
Warm jackets, hats, mittens 

are really 
important! If your 
child has started 
wearing boots to school, 

it's really 
important that 
he/she has shoes to 
change into--it is very 

hard to 
participate in our 
gross motor activities 
(such as yoga with Mrs. 

Anderson) 
with big clunky 
boots on!  Thanks for your 
understanding on this 

issue. 

Enjoy the rest of 
your Sunday and have a great 
week!
Robin 






Sunday November 27, 2011--good 
morning and Happy 
Thanksgiving!  I hope 


everyone has been enjoying this 
extra long holiday 
break-I know I had a 


wonderful ti��me ��with my own 
children who were here to 
visit-I was a 

very happy 
mommy!

I've�� me��t with 
a�� few ��of you quickly to 
discuss 

progress reports/IEP's, but 
please 
re��me��mber to give�� me ��a call if 

you 
want to schedule a parent/teacher 

conference.  

So, I am looking 

forward to 
a full week, so we can get down 
to work before 
the December 

craziness 
begins.  We will continue to practice 
our last na��me��s 
in 

the afternoon class, 
and continue our counting 
practice as well.  We will 


be reviewing all of the 
wood pieces, shapes, and 
letters we've learned how 

to 
make with our HWT 
program, and also begin to 
practice making numbers as 

well 
(re��me��mber, my 
focus is not to be making 
these letters with 

pencil and paper, 
but with the 
pieces, clay, or any 
other manipulatives.) 



The morning class will continue 
working on 
recognizimg our first 

na��me��s in 
print and becoming more familiar 
with the 
individual 

letters in them.  
Nu��me��ral recognition and counting are 
focal 
points 

in this class as well. 

Our sensory table is full of scrap 
paper and 


scissors, and that is a favorite 
area of the classroom.  The 
children have 


the opportunity to practice 
handling scissors, and explore 
cutting.  Many 


of the 3 yr olds are just 
learning how to get the scissors in 
one hand and 


make snips in the paper.  
So��me ��are beginning to cut all the way 


across 
the paper, and this is a great 
ti��me ��for practicing.

The 

afternoon 

children are all pretty independent cutters, and have been 


practicing how to 

trace around so��me��thing and then cut it out. 

Learning how to 
hold the 
paper 
in the other hand and move the paper 

instead of our arms, is 
tricky! 
When 
the children are cutting, I remind 

them to keep their thumbs "on 
top" 
and 
help them pull their elbows back in 

closer to the body-they're 
getting 

better and better all the ti��me��. 



Enjoy the remainder of your Sunday--
looking 
forward to seeing all the 


children tomorrow!

Have a great week!

Robin




Sunday November 20,2011--

good morning!  Tomorrow is Brown Day for 
both 

classes-brown like 

Thanksgiving Turkeys!>!  This is another short 
week, and I 

truly can't 

believe it's Thanksgiving already.  It  feels like 
the year has 

just 

started!  

The afternoon class was introduced to their 
last na��me��s 

this 
week and were 
actually "tricked" for a minute there!  
They did a 

great job 
of finding the 
letters in their last na��me��s to make 
their 

silly turkey 
headbands and loved 
practicing the new sound we learned-


tongue scrapers to 
say "gobble gobble!"

In the morning class, we've been 


practicing colors and 
working hard on 
sorting and counting sets to 5. 


They're definitely getting 
better!

Re��me��mber, Wednesday is an early 


release day, so there is no 
afternoon 
session. I hope everyone has a 


wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoys 
the long 
weekend!
Enjoy your week.
Robin






Sunday November 13, 2011--good 
morning, and I hope everyone enjoyed 
their 


Friday off. I was busy working on 
getting the horse out of my 
throat-I 
think 

he might finally be on his way 
out!  phew!

Well, the 
afternoon 
class 
started using their center cards this 
week, and 
what a 
great job 
they did.  
At center ti��me��, they each have a 
picture 

schedule, and 
they are becoming 
more and more independent finding 
their 
own 
centers and  
transitioning to 
the next without adult cueing.  It's 

aweso��me ��to 

watch how quickly they 
have figured it out and how 
quickly they 
more from 

center to center on 
their own. 

Thursday was a 
fun Gray Day, and 
no, I 
didn't think of any gray 
snacks 
either!  The 
morning class has been 
having 
lots of fun with squirrel 

activities-we 
even learned a squirrel pose 
with 
Mrs. Anderson!  Ask  your 

child to 
sing "Gray Squirrel" for you!  We've 

been doing a lot of color 

practice 
and also sorting.  The children are 

getting pretty good at sorting 

by one 
attribute.  We've done color and this 

week we've been sorting by 
shape 
as 
well.  We will learn about triangles 

this week!

The afternoon 
class 
practiced triangles last week.  These are 

VERY difficult 
to draw 
because 
they have those diagonal lines in them.  
Many 
children aren't 
able 
to 
draw diagonals until they are almost 5.  
We'll keep 
practicing!

We've 
had 
a lot of fun with our scarecrow 
activities and even 
made a book tht 

will 
start circulating this week!  
This week we will explore 
turkey 

activities 
in both classes-Thanksgiving's 
getting close.  

I've been 

working 
frantically on progress reports and 
grading IEP's--these 
will go 

ho��me 
��this week.  Please feel free to 
call�� me ��if you are interested in 



scheduling a parent/teacher 
conference.  

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!



Robin


Sunday November 6, 
2011-good morning!  I hope everyone 
re��me��mbered 
to 
turn 
back their 
clocks. Well, after another crazy 
week, I am definitely 

looking 
forward to 
a normal week this week.  We did 
enjoy our belated 

Halloween 
parties and 
enjoyed celebrating Carter's and 
Annie's birthdays as 

well!

This week in 
our HWT lesson, we learned about 
diagonal lines and 

talked about 
all of 
the letters that have diagonals in 
them.  We  will also 

practice 
triangles 
at the sa��me ��ti��me��. The 
4 yr olds have been very, 
very 
interested 
in 
identifying the letters in 
their na��me��s and are doing 
a great 
job 
of telling ��
me ��whether 
the letters are at the beginning, 
middle or end 
of 
their na��me��s. We 

will continue to review all of the 
lines and 
curves 
throughout November 
and 
December, and will begin to start 
exploring 
letters, 
one at a 
ti��me��, after the 
holidays. 

This week, we 
will 
learn about Tongue 

Scrapers in our LIPS lessons--these are 
very tricky 
for 
our age.  Pulling 

your tongue back (scraping) will make 
the "k" and "g" 

sound.  You may 
notice 
your child making a "t" sound in these 
words-very 

common. 

Now 
that the 
afternoon class has learned the routine for center 

ti��me��, we 
will 
begin to 
use our own "center cards" starting tomorrow.  

Each child 
will have 
his/her 
own card (schedule) for centers.  There will 

be 
pictures to depict 
each 
center and the children will learn how to 


identify the center, go to the 

appropriate area, and move to the next upon 


completion.  These schedules are 

a wonderful way to build independence and 


it's always amazing to�� me ��how 

quickly the children get the hang of 

it.  
I am a firm believer in fading 

verbal cues as quickly as possible to 

teach 
children to figure out what to do 

next, on their own. I have these 


schedules at the sign-in area, at circle 

ti��me��, in the bathroom, you 


na��me ��it.  Just a tip-they're great to use at ho��me ��

too!

Enjoy 

your 
extra long Sunday and have a great week!
Robin



Sunday 
October 30th-

holy 
cow! I guess I've got my work cut out for�� me ��this 
morning-


blah!  Any 
way, what a busy week we had.  Both classes absolutely 
loved the 


obstacle 
course in the gym-and everyone did really well with it 
too.  


Climbing, 
crawling, swinging, balancing--all our favorite things to do! 
The 


Fire 
Prevention (or "perfection", depending on who you talk to!:)) was 


fun, 
even 
though it was rainy.  We learned to "get low and go!" and also 



to "stop, 
drop, and roll". Going inside the fire truck was soooo cool and 



so��me ��of 
the children even walked through the ambulance to see what 

that was 

like as 
well.  The hats were a huge hit of course!

The children 

are all 
excited for 
Halloween tomorrow and can all wear their 


costu��me��s to school.  
The 
morning class will WATCH the parade tomorrow 

morning-
-well, if we can 
see 
over the snow banks!haha!  Our party will be 

as low key 
as a school 
party 
can be-just kids and just a special 

assort��me��nt of snacks. 
The 
afternoon 
class will probably parade 

through the school before our party 
in 
the 
classroom.

In our LIPS lesson 

this week, we reviewed the following 
sounds 
that we've 
been introduced to 

so far: lip poppers (p,b), tip tappers 
(t,d), 
lip coolers 
(f,v) and tongue 

coolers (th).  Mrs. Dana will be 
spending lots 
and lots of 
ti��me 

��working on tongue coolers, as she has noticed 
that that 
is a difficult 


sound for the entire afternoon group!  

In our 
Second Step 
curriculum, we 

have talked abuot the following feelings: 
happy, 
sad, angry, 
scared, and 

disgusted (this one was very fun to talk 
about!).  
We have been 
learning 

to look at people's faces, bodies and what is 

happening around 
them to get 

an idea about how they are feeling.  This takes 

quite a bit of 
practice 
at 
this age, as we are still very egocentric and 

learning to take 
the 

perspective of another person takes ti��me��. 

IN HWT, we 
are planning 


to learn about diagonal lines--many 4 year olds are 
not yet 
able to make 


diagonal lines and this is why you might see their "A's" 
in 
their 

na��me��s 
leaning on the side.  Very develop��me��ntally appropriate.  



Well, 
I really 
didn't think I'd have to talk about boots yet, but here 

goes.  
If 
your 
child wears boots to school, please, please be sure he/she 

has SHOES, 

not 
slippers to change in to.  We will change out of boots in 

the hall  on 

the 
bench and leave boots under the bench to minimize the wet 

floor in the 


classroom.  It's never too early to encourage your child to 

try to do the 


boots and shoes him/herself. I don't think this snow is 

going to last long, 


so I hope we won't be needing snowsuits yet.

Finally, 

Tuesday November 1st 

is picture retake day.  Please be sure to let ��
me 

��know if your child  
needs a 
retake, or if you missed the first one, and 


you want to get 
pictures taken 
now.  

Ok, I've avoided shoveling long 

enough--Happy 
Birthday to Evan! and 
lets hope 
we all at least have power 

today while we 
dig out!

Have a great 
week!
Robin


Sunday Octobe 23rd-

brrrr!  Good 
morning! What a wonderful apple 
picking field 
trip we had in 

the afternoon 
class!  The children filled 2 
huge bags of 
apples, 1 for the 

class, and 1 
for Mr. Fillion!  We've already 
been cooking 
our apples in 

the classroom 
and they're almost gone!  The 
applesauce was 
delicious and  

whipped cream 
was a perfect compli��me��nt for 
our "Apple Crumble 


Bumble" dessert!  It was 
very simple-we crushed graham 
crackers, sugar, 


cinnamon and�� me��lted 
butter and put it over the apples like 
you would 

make 
apple crisp.  
Everyone in the school could s��me��ll it cooking 
in 

our class-
yummmmm!


We've also started talking about pumpkins and I'm 
sure 

you saw the pumpkin 

sequence project co��me ��ho��me ��this week.  The 

children 
have learned the 

following terms: seed, sprout, vine, flower, 

pumpkin and 
jack-o-lantern!  

We've also had lots of fun singing/saying 

the "5 Little 
Pumpkins Sitting on 
a 
Gate" poem.  When the children have 

finished their 
work, they have 

opportunities to visit the flannel board 

and act out the 
story on their own 

or make up their own story!  

This 

week is another busy 
week.  On Tuesday, 
we will have an opportunity to 


visit Mrs. Moulton's 
spooky spider obstacle 
course in the gym-it's a big 

hit 
in both classes 
every year!  Don't forget 
to ask your child about it.  

On 
Wednesday, both 
classes will visit the 
firefighters for fire 
prevention 
week 
activities--
please don't forget your 
permission slips. We 
will NOT be 
going 
in the 
simulation trailor with the 3 
yr olds, just the 
4's.  
Thursday is not 
only 
BLACK DAY in both classes, but 
it is also the 
school 
wide evacuation 
drill. 
The morning class will 
participate with the 
entire 
school, and the 
afternoon 
preschool and 
Kindergarten classes will 
practice 
as well, just on a 
much 
smaller scale!  
Make sure your child has 
a warm 
coat, and appropriate 
shoes 
to walk 
downtown that day.  

There is 
a sign-
up sheet in the classroom for 

Halloween parties which will 
take 
place on 
Monday October 31st. Thanks to 

Carter, Elizabeth and Kaitlyn, 
we 
are all 
set with paper goods for the 

party, so the rest is up to you! Keep 

in mind 
that I keep our parties VERY 

short and LOW KEY. They are 
generally 
just a 
special snack ti��me��.  
Anything 
more is just too 
overwhelming for the 

children--oh yeah, and�� 
me��!:))) I am a 
big fan 
of "less is more" at 
this age.

Enjoy your 
beautiful fall Sunday--
have a 
great week!
Robin


Sunday October 16th-good 
afternoon! Well, 
everything 
went well at our house 

and we're ho��me ��and 
recuperating.  I'll 

definitely be at school 
tomorrow!:))

I heard nothing 
but great reports 
about 
last week-yeah! I 
thought new black 
and white sign-
in crayons would 
trick 
the 4 yr olds-no 
such luck!  The 
patterns the 4 yr 
olds made for 
the 
bulletin board look 
aweso��me��!  I guess 
we'll have to 
try so��me 
��trickier 
patterns 
soon.  

We are very excited to take a field 
trip to 
the apple 
orchard 
tomorrow 
afternoon.  Looking forward to lots of 

delicious apple 
cooking 
activities.

I'm looking forward to getting back to 

school and back 
to our 
routine!  See 
you tomorrow!

Enjoy the remainder 
of 
this sunny fall 
Sunday!

Robin 

Sunday October 9, 2011-good morning! I 
hope 
everyone is 
enjoying 
this 
wonderful fall (sum��me��r!) long 
weekend!

Red 
day was lots of 
fun 
for both classes and we all enjoyed 
exploring a 
variety 
of red things 
and 
activities.  Orange Day will be on 
Thursday of this 
week 
for both 

classes.  

Our square exploration went 
really well and the 
children will be 

surprised to 
see a new shape on the 
rug when they return 
on Tuesday!  
shhhh-
it's a circle!

Circles have 
curves and this week the 
afternoon class 
learned 
about "big 
curves" 
and "little curves" with our HWT 
program.  We 
learned 
that we could 
make 
the following letters: C, S, O, G, 
and Q, and 
then we 
checked to see who 

had any of these letters in their 
na��me��s. 
It's exciting to 
see how 
the 
children are really tuning into 
their 
na��me��s and the individual 

letters that 
make up their na��me��s.  

Speaking of na��me��s, watch out 
for another 
surprise when 
they arrive on 

Tuesday!  We'll find out quite 
quickly if the 
students are 
actually 

recognizing their na��me��s in 
print, or the color of 
their sign-in 

crayon. 
Maybe I'll actually trick 
them this ti��me��!:))

Our 
calendar 
has apples and 
pumpkins on it and 
we are learning that they are 
in 
a 
pattern! We say we 
know it's a pattern 
because we say the "sa��me ��thing 

over 
and over and 
over!"  The 
afternoon class will be making their own 


apple/pumpkin patterns 
on 
Tuesday-they'll be on the bulletin board for 


everyone to see!  

In our 

2nd Step lesson this week we learned abut "angry" 

and discussed that 


different things make different people angry and people 

get angry in 


different ways.  So��me ��people are quiet and so��me 
��people are 

loud!  That 
was an 
interesting discussion!

We learned 
about "lip coolers" 

in our LIPS 
lesson--f and v sounds.  If you 
put your 
teeth on your lower 
lip 
and then 
let a stream of air co��me ��out 

and "cool" your lip, 
you'll be making 
the 
sound correctly.  This is a tough 

sound for many 4 
yr olds to make.  


The 
children in the afternoon class 
already know that 
I will not be in school 


this week-my husband is having 
back surgery in 
Boston tomorrow.  So, if they 


tell you that Mr. Fillion 
broke his back, 
they're close!  They've promised 

to 
be good listeners for 
Mrs. Lamontagne 
and know I'll be checking for a 

good 
report!  I'm not 
worried-they're 
really settling into a hard working 

group.

Enjoy the rest 
of this 
spectacular weekend and re��me��mber I am 
always 
available 
by e-
mail 
for any questions or concerns.


Have a great 
week!
Robin



 morning!  

Well, another busy week has flown by in the 

preschool.  
Picture Day went 

well, and I well let you know when retake day 
is 
for those 
who missed it 

or would like to try again! haha!  

Both 
classes practices 
squares this 

week and we talked a lot about the 4 
sides 
being the sa��me��.  
We'll 

have fun with "Jack and Jill" this week in the 

morning class, and we 
will 

also start so��me ��fun apple activities, now that 

it's officially fall.  




Tuesday will be RED DAY for both classes and we 
will explore all the 
cool 


collage items and sharing items the children 
bring to school.  

Now 
that 
we 
are very comfortable with big and little 
lines (HWT) in the 

afternoon 
class, 
we will introduce big and little curves 
this week. I 
wonder 
who has 
letters 
with curves in their na��me��s?  We 
continue to 
practice tracing 

our first na��me��s 
every day and they are 
looking 
better and better all 
the 
ti��me��. I have also 
been showing the 

children their na��me��s in 
a variety of 
formats to be sure 
they really 

recognize the na��me ��and 
not just the color of 
the card it's on.  
Very 

tricky!  

In our LIPS 
lesson this week, we learned about Tip Tappers--
the 

tip of our 
tongue taps 
the top of our mouth (inside). We will review the 


lip poppers and 
tip 
tappers before we move on. 

We're doing lots and lots 


of counting, both 
rote counting and counting sets 
to 10. Our October 


calendar pieces will be 
in a pattern, so we'll start 
thinking about 
patterns 

as well.

Stay dry 
and enjoy your week!
Robin 


September 25, 
2011-good 

morning-another 
sticky one!  It was another 
productive week in 
preschool 

this week.  
Welco��me ��to our new morning friend, 
Evan!  


The afternoon 

students 
have really settled into their schedule and are 

working very hard.  

They 
are learning the routine and are becoming more 
and 
more independent 

every 
day!  

We explored "big" and "little" lines 
in our HWT lessons this 

week.  
We 
learned that we can make the following 
letters with these pieces: 

L, F, 
E, I, 
H, and T. It was fun to see who 
had these letters in their 

na��me��s 
and we 
practiced our cutting 
skills to make a bunch of these 
lines 
to 
practice at 
ho��me��.  Other 
than learning to write our own 
na��me��s, we 
are NOT 
yet learning 
about 
writing these letters on paper-
just exploring 
with 
pieces, playdoh, 
paper 
pieces, etc.  

We 
reviewed "lip poppers" and 
will 
learn a new sound this 
week-"tip tappers". 

In this sound, the tip of 
your 
tongue taps the top of 
your mouth and makes 

the "t" and "d" sounds. 


This 
week's nursery 
rhy��me ��for the morning 
class will be "Mary Had a 
Little 
Lamb"-
we 
have lots of counting and color 
recognition activities 
planned!

Both 

classes are working hard to recognize 
our own na��me��s in 
print and 
we're 

getting better every day. We will 
also have a big surprise 
of a 
huge shape on 

the rug!  Ask your child what 
shape it is! (shhhh-it's a 

square):))

Don't 
forget, Thursday is picture 
day--order forms will be 
going 
ho��me ��
tomorrow 
morning-don't forget to 
return them! There is 
always a 
retake day 
later in 
the fall, and I'll let 
you know as soon as I 
know.


Finally, I'm looking for 
full sized containers 
of REAL playdoh for 
the 

aftenoon class-1 per student--
for our HWT 
centers.  I'm hoping to 
keep 

the "play" playdoh for "play" and 
have 
separate "work" playdoh 
for "work."  

Any donations would be greatly 

appreciated!

Enjoy the rest 
of your Sunday 
and have a great week!
Robin 





September 18, 2011--Good 
morning! It's 
looking like it's going to be a 


beautiful fall week.  Yeah!


We had a lot 
of fun this past week, getting to 

know each other and 
learning 
our way 
around the classroom.  The afternoon 

class has 
begun "centers" and 
has done 
a nice job of learning to remain at 

their 
designated center until it 
is 
ti��me ��to change.  They've been 

practicing 
finding their own na��me��s 
around 
the classroom and 

participating in the 
activities.

Mrs. Dana and 
Mrs. Anderson have been 

with us on Mon, Wed, and 
Thurs and they 
are also 
involved in our centers.  

Mrs. Anderson does a gross 
motor center on 

Wednesdays, and a fine motor 

center on Thursday.  Mrs. Dana 
alternates 

between articulation practice 

and language in her centers.  


This has been 
a very busy week, as we have 

begun to explore our Handwriting 

Without Tears 
curriculum as well as 

Second Step and LIPS.  Be sure to check 

out 
my "links" section to learn 

more about these curriculas.  We learned 


about "lip poppers" this week--if 

you pop your lips together without your 


voice, it will make the "p" 
sound, 
but it you make a "noisy popper" with your 


voice on, it will make 
the "b" 
sound. 

We learned 2 new songs this 

week: "Where Do You Start 
Your 
Letters?" The 
answer is, AT THE TOP!  We also 

learned "Pick Up A 
Crayon" 
to practice how to 
hold our writing utensils.  

The children are 
already 
singing these songs on 
their own!

The morning 

class has also 
been 
enjoying their week and learning how to be at 
school.  

We are 
getting more 
and more independent at our daily arrival 
routine and 


sitting and 
participating at circle ti��me��. Mrs. Dana co��me��s on 

Monday 
and 

Thursday with "Tyler" her turtle puppet.  Tyler enjoys talking 
to 
the 


children and having them repeat back to him the silly things he 
says.  
We've 


already started to move our bodies and mouths and practice 
sounds.  The 



children are very excited to see him!  Mrs. Anderson ca��me 
��this week 
with 
her 

bag of fun things for our gross motor group on 
Wednesdays.  We 
are 
going to 

learn a variety of yoga poses and 
incorporate tons of 
language in 
the process!


Our "Twinkle Twinkle Little 
Star" activities were 
lots of fun, 
and this 
week 
we will 
practice "Hickory Dickory Dock".


Thursday is YELLOW 
day in 
both classes.  
We try to wear the color and the 

morning children 
will be 
asked to bring 
in items that can be glued onto a 

color collage.  
I'm going 
to try 
so��me��thing a little different with 
the 
afternoon group-
instead of 

collage items, I'd like them to bring in an 
item 
from ho��me �
�that can 
be 
discussed and explored-these items will 
go back ho��me��. 
There 
will 
be notes 
going ho��me ��this week as 
reminders.  Color days are always 


so much fun!


School pictures are on the 
29th-I'd like all the children to 

attend on that 

day, so we can get a 
group photo!

Re��me��mber, you can 
e-
mail�� me ��at any ti��me ��
with 
questions or concerns.  This is 

also a great 
way to let�� me ��know if 
your 
child will be absent.  This 
year, we 
are 
requesting a note after your 
child 
has been absent. 

The 
cafeteria has 
requested that we set up 
accounts for 
all of the children 

who buy milk.  
Mrs. Lamontagne worked on 
this on 
Friday.  Those students 
who 
have siblings 
in the building will 
just be added 
to the family lunch 
account 
and those 
who do not have 
siblings, now have 
their own accounts.  
This should 
make it 
easier for you 
and us.  Just drop 
off a check and 
you'll be infor��me��d 

when the 
account is getting low.  

Enjoy 
the 
beautiful Sunday we're 
supposed to 
have and have a great week!
Robin




September 11, 2011

Good 
morning! What 
a great first week we had-it feels 

like we never left!  
ha!  
Returning 
students got right to work on their 
sign 
in routines and did a 

great job.  
New students are learning quickly 
as 
well.  We have been 
learning 
about 
sitting "criss cross applesauce" at 
circe 
ti��me ��and the 
afternoon 
class 
has been learning about raising 
their hands so 
a teacher 
can see who 
needs 
help or wants a turn to 
contribute.  We also 
learned a 
very 
important sign-
"toilet" and the 
students are already using it 
when 
they 
need to go to the 
bathroom!  I'm 
very proud of them!

This week 
the 

morning class will begin talking about 
so��me ��favorite nursery 

rhy��me��s-

"Twinkle, Twinkle" and we will 
also�� me��et Mrs. Dana's 
friend "Tyler" 
when 
she 
brings him to circle 
ti��me ��(he's a puppet, by 
the way!).  Mrs. Dana 

works 
with the entire 
morning group on speech and 
language activities and 


so��me��ti��me��s 
she and Tyler even bring 
so��me ��treats!  Mrs. Anderson will 
also be 


joining us at circle ti��me 
��this week for so��me ��gross motor 

activities--it's 

going to be so 
much fun.

First up in the afternoon, we 

will be learning the 
correct way 
to trace our 
first na��me��s, making 
sure 
to start all of the 
letters at 
the top.  We will 
also be practicing 

recognizing our na��me��s in 

print.  Any practice you can do 
at ho��me 
��with 
this would be great!  


We will 
learn 2 important songs this week--
"Where Do 
You Start Your 
Letters? 
At The 
Top!"  and "Pick up  Crayon".  
This songs 
support our 
Handwriting 
Without 
Tears curriculum and are fun 
reminders for 
letter 
formation and 
pencil 
grip.  

Getting used to the 
more structured 

afternoon session will take so��me ��
ti��me��, so 
we 
will still be 
trying to 
get outside as often as possible-when 
the weather 

cooperates!


Feel free to 
e-mail or give�� me ��a call if you have 
any 
questions or 
concerns, 
and 
here's to a great second week!

Have a great 

Sunday
Robin



September 4, 2011


Good morning!  I hope everyone is 
enjoying 
this last 
blast of sum��me��r 
before 
we start school on 
Tuesday!  We had a great 

turn out at the picnic 
on 
Wednesday night-it was 
great to see everyone!  
And 
the food was 
aweso��me��!

I will be 
checking in here every weekend 
to�� me��ntion 
the 
highlights of the 

prior week and also the upcoming 
week.  This is an 

important place to 
check 
for special days, items we need 
for the room or 

curriculum 
information.

I check my e-mail several 
ti��me��s each day, even on 


weekends, and that is a 
great mode of 
communication.  

During September, 

we 
will try to get outside as often as 
the weather permits. 
Please 

re��me��mber 
sunscreen, bug spray and safe 
shoes.  As the weather gets 


colder, we will 
have scheduled days for 
outside play, but for now, we'll go 


when the going's 
good!:))

If you have 
any last minute questions, feel 
free 
to e-mail�� me ��at 


rfillion@nbcs.k12.nh.us any ti��me��.

I 
can't wait to 
see everyone on 
Tuesday!

Robin

����