Monday, January 4, 2010
Happy B-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r Year! Wow! Did we ever start this new year back
on a cold one!
The cold weather did not hamper our preschoolers as we got right back in the
swing of things. We had our usual morning routine with backpacks, Question
of the Day, prayer, calendar (new month!), weather and tally. The kiddies
were like old pros! They didn't miss a beat. We threw in a new added bonus
to our morning...Pom-Pom Pals!
The children were asked to pull a colored pom-pom out of a bag. After each
child had a turn, we matched up colored pom-poms, thus, the children became
Pom-Pom Pals! We used the pals to complete fun skill games together. The
children worked together on the following activities: number/number word
recognition, color match, New Year ball drop, pattern/shape fun, lacing and
mitten/number match. We will continue throughout the week so each child has
the opportunity to participate in each activity with their Pals. This gives
the children the opportunity to not only shapren skills, but to cooperate and
engage in a type of "peer tutoring". The children did a wonderful job and
were very good with one another.
Our wee ones also had free play, a spirited game of BINGO, snack, snuggle
with a book and God's Time. During God's Time we discussed New Year
resolutions. The children came up with some good ones: help Mommy around the
house, listen to the teacher (my personal fave!), clean up toys, be kind to
brothers and sisters and to be more quiet when Mommy is on the phone. We
also read "The Christmas Story" one more time to discuss the three Kings'
visit.
Because of the chill, we did not go outside for recess, but we had be-boppin'
fun dancing to "Bubble Gum" and the "Freeze Dance". We used an inflatable
snowman to make the "Freeze Dance" even more interesting! WE had to
keep "Snowy" bouncing high until we heard the word, "Freeze"! Big fun!
Please check folders for calendars and letters. The gym sneaker magent is
for your firdge to help remind you that gym class is on Wednesdays.
Stay warm. We will see you on Wednesday!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Ho, Ho, WHOA! You are never going to believe who visited us today! He was
none other than the big man himself...Santa! Santa came to do a last minute
check of his "Naughty" and "Nice" list. Luckily, all the preschoolers seem
to be firmly on the "Nice" list. Whew! Hopefully they will stay there for
the next few days! The children sang for Santa the tunes from the Christmas
show, and Santa seemed most impressed...especially with the spirited version
of "Frosty the Snowman"!
We celebrated Jesus' birthday with cupcakes, treats and "The Little Drummer
Boy". We also finished up last minute decorating and crafts. All their
fabulous holiday creations are in their folders for you to enjoy. There are
little gifts from Mrs. Piel and me, as well.
Before the day was through, we put together some yummy reindeer food for the
kiddies to sprinkle on their lawns the night of Christmas Eve. We may get
some rain that night, so in addition to Rudolph's shiny nose, the reindeer
will be guided by the sparkling sugars in the food we made!
The children also had some "Frosty" fun with our parachute and inflatable
Frosty the Snowman. We danced and bounced Frosty to the beat of the music
and movement of the parachute. It was holly-jolly fun!
Have an enjoyable holiday vacation and a beautiful Christmas day. We look
forward to seeing you in the new year! We have many fun things planned for
January, so get your rest now!
Warmest wishes,
Mrs. Mullen and Mrs. Piel
Monday, December 21, 2009
No Preschool classes today due to a two hour school delay.
Happy first day of winter!
Friday, December 18, 2009
Well, what a performance! The children did a wonderful job at the Christmas
extravaganza! Now we are ready for a comfy-cozy day.
We wore our comfy clothes and slippers today for a day for fun and
relaxation. Mrs. C. came in and made yummy ice cream with the kids. And I
do mean yummy! The kiddies gobbled their creations all up!
The preschoolers also enjoyed a day of play and painting with a smackering of
hot chocolate, popcorn and the Frosty movie.
It was a terrific day and we look forward to an even better week next week as
we prepare for the birthday of Jesus and a visit from a certain someone from
the North Pole.
Enjoy your weekend and ....SNOW!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Brrrrrrrrrrrrr! Yowza! If this cold weather doesn't inspire us to sing,
sing, sing tonight, I don't know what will! Please be at O'Brien Hall no
later than 6:45 p.m. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.
We had a lot of cool fun today with letter I. We had fun looking at the
letter I pictures that were brought in by the children and also EATING letter
I...ice cream!
The preschool helped in the making of vanilla ice cream. We measured milk,
heavy cream, sugar and vanilla then placed them in a baggie. First, we
passed around ice for the children to touch and feel the coldness and
wetness. We then added the ice and salt to a bigger bag, then placed the
sealed ingredients in the bigger bag. We needed to rock that bag back and
forth......
Don't worry, I had back-up ice cream ready! We enjoyed a wee bit of ice
cream at snack time. Yum!
Our preschoolers also played a little trick on Mrs. Piel. During
our "Weather Song" we always pretend to throw snowballs at Mrs. Piel. Well,
this time we had round, styrofoam balls hidden by our feet, and when the time
was right during the song, we tossed our snowballs at Mrs. Piel! She was
very surprised and started tossing the balls back at us! Big Fun!
The preschoolers enjoyed getting comfy-cozy on the rug for a reading of
everyone's favorite Christmas classic, "T'was the Night Before Christmas".
The children were very attentive to the story and seemed to enjoy the
thoughts of catching good 'ol St. Nick visiting their homes!
Towards the end of the day, we worked on a manger project and got chilly-
willy with the "Freeze Dance"!
We look forward to see your wee show-stoppers tonight. Please be sure the
kidddies use the potty before coming to O'Brien Hall. We will see you by
6:45 p.m. Take a little rest and eat a yummy dinner, too.
See you tonight!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Well, it's beginning to look alot like Christmas! We are certainly getting
in the swing of the holiday season. The children are very excited and ready
to fa-la-la...as they should be!
After our morning routine of name tag identification, prayer, salute to the
flag, calendar and weather check, we took a wee stroll to O'Brien Hall for
one more practice on the stage for the Christmas extravaganza. The mini-
carolers are quite ready for the performance, and can't wait for you to see
and hear their early Christmas gift to you. The children mangaged not one,
but two hat changes during the rehearsal! Too, too talented!
The children enjoyed some relaxation after the rehearsal. This preview to
comfy-cozy day included hot chocolate, popcorn and viewing of Frosty the
Snowman. On Thursday we will have the official comfy-cozy day with Christmas
Bingo and games. We want to be loose and relaxed for the night of the big
show. The children may wear comfortable clothing, bathrobes, slippers, bring
stuffed animals, etc.
We enjoyed creating beautiful Christmas ornaments, painting gingerbread men
and playing with our friends today. The children also visited the
kindergarten to practice a Christmas show tune. It was fun visiting with
the "big" kids!
I will send home a performance chart on Thursday so you may see where your
child will be standing on the stage. This way you can decide the best place
for you to sit on the night of the show.
Enjoy your Wednesday!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Oh, my! Only 10 days left until Christmas Eve! We can hardly wait! The
excitement is surely in the air, and the children are feeling very eager for
the big day!
We still got down to preschool business despite the holly-jolly feelings all
around. We prayed, checked the calendar and weather, counted our 9 reindeer
(don't forget about Rudolph!), and answered the Question of the Day..."Do you
like insects?" (Letter I week!) A very interesting result came forth. The
answers for the question were: "Yes" (8) and "No" (10). Looking at the names
though, there were way more boys who voted "Yes" and the majority of the
girls voted "No". Interesting!
The children took yet another nice trip to O'Brien Hall for a quick rehearsal
on stage. They are becoming seasoned stage vets! It won't be long until we
hear from Broadway. I'm sure of it!
After rehearsal and a yummy snack, hunt for letter I on snack packs and a
snuggle with a book on the rug, our preschoolers enjoyed a nice break outside
in this crisp air. We returned to the classroom and enjoyed some free play
using blocks to create an igloo, some computer coloring time, puzzles,
crayons, and decorating a Christmas tree for the show.
During God's Time, the children listened nicely to the storybook, "What Is
Christmas?" We learned that Christmas is not just about lit trees and
presents, (and they are fun, too!) but it is mostly about that first
Christmas morning in Bethlehem when Baby Jesus was born. We certainly enjoy
all the goodies that go along with Christmas celebrations, but it is nice to
also be reminded of the "reason for the season"!
Gym Day is Wednesday! Christmas Show is Thursday at 7:00 p.m.! Busy elves
are we!
Enjoy your day!
Friday, Decmeber 11, 2009
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Wow! We had a little preview of winter's chilly blast
today. Yikes! Our teeth were chattering, but we made the brave trek across
the parking lot to O'Brien Hall for the Christmas show practice. Our singing
and dancing warmed us up quickly! We are doing a wonderful job rehearsing
for the big night. We hope you have as much fun seeing your children perform
as we have had getting ready! The wee performers are told that this is a
gift that they are giving to you...from the heart!
The children continued with letter H fun today. We had quite a number of
kiddies bring in letter H items. We had a hanger, a "hole", doll hair, a
horse, the letter H in print, pictures of hammers and heads and a toy
helicopter. Great job, yet again! The children also wasted no time finding
letter H's on their snack bags during snack time. If one could not be found,
the children constructed H's from their snack food. Have you ever seen a
potato chip letter H? Well, you should have seen the one made in preschool
today! Very creative (crunchy and delicious, too)!
Our preschoolers listened to Margaret Wise Brown's story, "Christmas in the
Barn". It is a lovely story of animals getting wind of visitors coming to
visit becuase of no rooms left at the inn. The barn may have been rustic for
the new family, but it was filled with love and wonder at the arrival of the
baby. The children knew right away that the newborn wee one in the story was
none other than Baby Jesus!
We enjoyed free play and center time activities. The little artists began
their work on Christmas presents for you. Shhhhh. We can not tell you what
they are, but I am sure you will treasure them! The little elves also made
birthday hats for baby Jesus (letter H) and enjoyed painting, puzzles,
puppets, kitchen play and building.
Please consider attending the St. Bernadette Parish Christmas celebration and
concert on Sunday, December 13th at 4:00 p.m. It will no doubt be a
beautiful entry into the third week of Advent, and prepare you for the
approaching Christmas excitement.
Enjoy your weekend!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Only one week until the big Christmas extravaganza! The children were busy
little elves today making their hats for the performance. Wait until you see
them singing and dancing! It will surely put you in a very jolly mood for
the Christmas season.
We continue to complete our morning jobs very well. The preschoolers are
identifying their names in print and finding their alphabet letters very
quickly on the ABC rug. We pray, check weather, mark the calendar and salute
the flag like old pros!
Letter H was highlighted today with a reminder of Santa's favorite
phrase "Ho! Ho! Ho!" We also checked in on the letter H items some of our
preschool friends brought from home. Later in the day we played a game of
hide-and-seek with letter H. Poor letter H wasn't hidden for long as the
preschoolers found their hiding spots lickety-split!
During free play and center times we created hats for the Christmas show,
painted Happy Birthday hats for Baby Jesus and made hand-print Santas. The
children also built houses with blocks, put puzzles together, played in the
kitchen, colored and used legos. Busy little elves!
We listened to "The Christmas Story" during God's Time and learned of the
very first Christmas morning...Jesus' birthday. We passed around our manger,
too.
Please check folders for important info regarding the Christmas show and
Comfy-Cozy Day" next week. Big fun!
Enjoy your weekend!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
We are very excited about having only 15 days until Christmas Eve! Did I say
we were very excited?! Not only are we anxiously awaiting the birthday of
baby Jesus and the arrival of the big man in red, but we can not wait to
perform for you at the Christmas show on December 17th. You will surely be
in the Christmas spirit after you witness such talent and joy! Please check
your child's folder for an important letter regarding info for the next week
of school.
We could hardly wait for Mrs. Wallace to come and take us for another fun-
filled morning at gym class. A wee elf told me that the children impressed
Mrs. Wallace with their tossing skills! Great job!
Before Mrs. Wallace took the children for class, we had a nice review of
number 8, letter H and its sound. How convenient that Santa has 8 reindeer
(pre-Rudolph!) and his favorite phrase begins with the letter H sound: Ho-Ho-
Ho! One of our preschool friends brought in many letter H items: a horse, a
heart, a hippo and a picture of the Cat in the Hat. Holy cow! That's alot
of H words! We also played hide-and-seek with the letter H. The children
had to (h)ide their eyes with their (h)ands and put their (h)eads down. The
letter H was printed onto a (h)eart and (h)idden around the room. When H was
spotted by a pre-k buddy, that buddy had to say "Ho-Ho-Ho!" Not only are we
good at tossing, but it appears that our eyes are awfully good at spying
letter H's, too!
During free play/center time the children played with each other, colored,
pretended to be puppies, put puzzles together and completed hats for the
Christmas show. We also asked for original responses to the questions: "What
is your Christmas from Santa" and "What is your Christmas wish for Baby
Jesus?" We have some lovely responses as the children thought what a newborn
baby could use. The responses will be displayed on our outside wall along
with their hand-print Santas.
God's Time was ushered in with the playing of a peaceful version of "Silent
Night" and the story, "Guess Who's Coming to Our House?" Barn animals
prepare their home for the arrival of special visitors. We find out at the
end of the story that those visitors are Mary, Joseph and the newborn baby
Jesus. We discussed the differences between our houses and the houses that
barn animals live in each day.
The children had a wonderful Christmas show practice and are getting the hang
of prop and costume changes very well! Radio City Music Hall, here we
come!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Ho! Ho! Ho! Letter H is in the house!
We are very excited for the Christmas holidays and all the fa-la-la-la-fun
that goes with them! We practiced for our Christmas show with great heart and
cheer. We introduced some props for the show. What a coinicidence! They
begin with the letter H! The pint-sized carolers will be donning two
different kinds of festive HATS for the performance. The children are not
only talented performers, but they are creative costume designers, too! Wait
until you are dazzled by not only the sounds of the Christmas show, but the
sights, as well!
The children had other letter H fun with an adorable hand-print Santa. They
played and practiced skills during free play and center times. We also
enjoyed snack, snuggle with books and counting fun with number 8.
Our children were peaceful during the reading of "Mary Had a Baby, Amen!".
We discussed our Christmas wishes, too!
Please remember sneakers on Wednesday for gym class!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Run, run as fast as you can! You can't catch me! I'm the Gingerbread Man!
The preschoolers had delicious fun today with gingerbread men (and ladies!).
Not only did we read the storybook, "The Gingerbread Man" about that
energetic and naughty cookie, but we acted out the story, too. Mrs. Piel
played the part of the Gingerbread Man, while the kiddies took on the roles
of the little old couple, cow, horse and deep river. We even used our play
oven and wooden gingerbread cut-out as props. The sly fox was portrayed by
our stuffed animal friend, Fox in Sox. Although the Gingerbread Man ended up
as a tasty dessert for the clever fox, we had fun running through the story
and trying to keep up with him!
Our adventures with gingerbread did not end there. The pint-sized
confectionary artists decorated gingerbread cookies with vanilla icing,
raisins, chocolate chips and red/green sprinkles. Do not fear, each child
cleaned his/her hands before we started and had their own supplies. If they
took a sample or two, it was with their own goodies and utensils!
The preschoolers also had opportunities during free play and center times to
count Christmas bows, place buttons on large gingerbread paper cut-outs,
finish their Advent wreaths and use glitter and glue to complete snowflakes
just in time for this 65 degree weather!
What a beautiful day it was! This warm weather may be the calm before the
storm...snowstorm, perhaps?! We did go outside for the good old stretch of
the legs and fresh air. The children also practiced for the Christmas show
with extra vim and vigor. Show date is December 17th at 7:00 p.m. with
arrival time of no later than 6:45 p.m. Get those camera batteries checked
and ready to go because you will want to catch this performance for posterity!
Thank you for all the letter G pictures. We enjoyed putting them up on the
board. We appreciate your interest and participation in activities!
Enjoy your week. Remeber that we do not have school on Tuesday due to the
feast of the Immaculate Conception. We will see you on Thursday, December
10th.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
It was our turn to welcome in December! How exciting!
Today we were as busy as Santa's elves on Christmas Eve! The preschoolers,
as always, did a wonderful job with their morning jobs: backpacks, Name Wall,
Question of the Day, ABC rug. We handed out new classroom job titles,
prayed, saluted the flag, checked the calendar and weather.
Just before Mrs. Wallace came to take the wee ones out for gym class, we
reviewed our letter of the week, met our newest Alphabet Buddy and had number
fun counting with 7. The children also were able to sneak a little free play
in there, too!
After gym, we enjoyed snack and our latest adventure: Snack Time Challenge!
The challenge this week was to find the letter G printed on a snack item, or
in a storybook. The mini-detectives were also asked to count out seven of
their snack pieces or find seven of something around the room. Each
participant earned a sticker for their good work. I am happy to say we had
stickers for everyone!
We took a trek to O'Brien Hall for our very first Christmas show practice on
the stage. It went very well. I am sure you will enjoy receiving such a
wonderful (and jammin'!) Christmas gift from your pint-sized carolers!
After returning from our practice, we settled in for a deliciously good
story, "The Gingerbread Pirates" by Kristin Kladstrap. It was a fun story
and the kiddies gobbled it up!
We will see you on Friday!
December 1, 2009
Welcome, December! Our preschoolers were more than happy to greet the new
month, December, today due to that very special, kid-friendliest holiday of
all...Christmas!
We will count down the days until Christmas with our green/red paper chain
links. Each day closer to Christmas will mean one link goes "bye-bye". Each
child will have the opportunity to break a link off the chain. We also
discussed Advent and made very beautiful Advent wreaths to help us remember
and prepare for the birth of Baby Jesus.
The preschoolers enjoyed getting back in the swing after a nice Thanksgiving
break. We had no troubles doing our morning routine and were given new
classroom jobs.
Our wee ones sang the ABCs so nicely, then greeted our new letter of the
week, G. We had some fun talking about gingerbread cookies and listening to
Jan Brett's storybook, "Gingerbread Baby". We enjoyed reading about the
clever Gingerbread Baby, and the even more clever, Matti! We passed around a
baggie of ginger, cloves, cinnamon and alspice for the children to sniff and
imagine cookies baking. We will be making our own gingerbread men (and
ladies!) on Thursday. Yum!
During free play/center time the children had opportunities to create Advent
wreaths and glittery, glistening snowflakes. If the children did not get the
chance to finish the products, they will do so on Thursday. The Advent
wreaths will be outside our wall for the children to "light" each week.
Our wee show-stoppers practiced for the Christmas show this morning on the
big stage! What the mini-performers lack in singing, they surely make up for
in dance moves! You will enjoy the show, no doubt about it! It is our
Christmas gift to you!
We enjoyed some fresh air outside, snack and snuggle with a book on the ABC
rug. Please check for December calendars in folders!
Enjoy your Tuesday!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Welcome back! We hope you had a yummy and relaxing Thanksgiving day. Well,
now we are ready to really get in the holiday spirit with none other than the
grandest holiday for wee ones...CHRISTMAS!
We introduced the Advent calendar today and made a beautiful one for each
child. The wreaths are a reminder to prepare for the coming birth of our
Savior. The wreaths remind us to prepare our hearts for Baby Jesus. We also
made a "Countdown to Christmas" paper chain. The children were either on the
red team or the green team. We constructed the chain, one link at a time,
using a red-green-red-green pattern. As we near Christmas Eve, we will break
a link from the chain each day. The child whose turn it is to break the link
off of the chain will think of a good deed we can all try to do that day for
Baby Jesus.
Today also held the excitement of a new letter! We used our ABC arcs to find
letter G. We noted that it is the seventh letter of the alphabet. We
pretended that our pointer finger was Santa's sleigh, and each letter was a
rooftop. We landed our "sleighs" on the "rooftops" as we recited the names
of the letters. The children also identified picture cards with the letter G
beginning sound: grapes, gate, gum, garden, goose and goat. The
preschoolers were told that letter G also has a soft sound, as in the word
gingerbread. We'll be working with gingerbread all week. In fact, the
Question of the Day asked, "Do you like gingerbread?" We had a landslide
victory for "Yes"! Yum!
During free play/center time, the children made their Advent wreaths and
created gorgeous snowflakes with glue(G) and glitter(G). The glistening
snowflakes will be hanging from our ceiling throughout the Christmas season.
No two are alike!
We practiced for our Christmas show and enjoyed snack and snuggle with a book
on the ABC rug.
Please check your child's folder for the December pre-k calendar.
Gym class is Wednesday! Sneakers!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Well, we plucked the last feather off of our Countdown-to-Thanksgiving
Turkey...and you know what that means! Thanksgiving is tomorrow! Gobble,
gobble!
We had an early start to the holiday with our own Thanksgiving feast. I
dressed as a pilgrim lady and invited the pilgrim's new Native American
friends (our preschoolers!) to a delicious feast to thank them for the help
they gave when we landed in the new country, America. I thanked them for the
help they gave teaching the pilgrims to fish, hunt and plant crops, like
corn. We are so grateful to have such good friends!
The children also had gym class today, which is always a treat! We are
grateful for Mrs. Wallace, for sure!
Before we settled in for the Thanksgiving prayer service, I read "This is the
Turkey" written Abby Levine. It is a fun story about a family's Thanksgiving
dinner which takes a wee bit of an unexpected turn when the roasted turkey
slips off the tray and lands right in the fish aquarium. Yuk! The family
makes the best of the situation by enjoying the rest of the dinner, playing
games and eating yummy desserts. Turkey or not, we can enjoy the company of
family and friends any day!
Thank you to the parents and family members for attending our prayer
service. We enjoy your participation and welcoming you into the wonderful
world of preschool!
Have a wonderful Turkey Day! We look forward to seeing you next week. Enjoy!
Go Eagles!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Good morning, or as the pilgrims used to say, "Good morrow." We enoyed a
lovely Thanksgiving feast today. As a representative of the pilgrim
families, I extended an invitation for a feast of Thanksgiving to the Native
American Chieftess, Mrs. Piel, and her tribe. The other pilgrims and I
wanted to thank our new friends for all the help they gave us over the past
year as we started new life in a new land, America. The Native Americans
helped the pilgrim families learn to fish, plant crops,and helped in the
building of their new homes as well.
The Native Americans came to the feast wearing beautiful necklaces(strings of
beads and pasta) and colorful feathered-bands. We all thanked God for our
food, then sat down to a wonderful meal of turkey, mashed potatoes (a very
popular dish!), corn, cranberry sauce, stuffing, popcorn, turkey cookies and
pumpkin pie. Yum! I have to say that this crew was the heartiest of eaters
we've seen in a few years!
After our feast, we were blessed to have our parents, some grandparents,
brothers and sisters and care-takers join us for a prayer service. It was
nice to gather as a preschool family to thank God for the many blessings of
childhood. We thanked God for all things good in our lives, including
family, friends, and even little things like lollipops and hot chocolate.
We happily look forward to the rest of the school year together, and await
the new discoveries around the corner!
Enjoy this beautiful holiday with your families. We are excited for the
start of the season of Advent and the preparations for birthday of baby Jesus
upon our return to school!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Monday, November 23, 2009
It is nice to be back with the crew! I missed everyone on Friday!
We had a very busy and productive day today. As we always do, we took care
of backpacks, answered the Question of the Day, wrote our names on the name
wall found our name tags and sat on our ABC letter.
During circle time we discussed the pilgrims and why they came to a new land,
America. The book, "Pilgrims of Plymouth" contains photos of period dressed
in pilgrim attire working, playing and praying as the pilgrims once did. We
saw pilgrim people building homes from wood and hay (much different from our
homes!), working on the farms, doing chores and playing games. We learned
that the pilgrim children did not go to school, rather, they helped thier
families make a new life in America by pitching in to help with chores, such
as gathering water, tending to the animals, working on the farm. The pilgrim
children also had fun playing with marbles and bubbles. Who doesn't like a
good game of marbles?!
I reminded the kiddies that I will be dressed as a pilgrim lady on
Wednesday. Mrs. Piel and the children are going to pretend to be the Native
Americans that helped the pilgrim people learn to work the land, fish and
build homes. As hte redident pilgrim, I will invite the tribe to a feast,
our first Thanksgiving! Mrs. Piel and I are providing the bounty, so no need
to send in a snack. A Thanksgiving prayer service will be held at 11:15 a.m.
if you are able to join us.
During center/free play, the children had the opportunities to color
Thanksgiving-themed pictures, make a special Thanksgiving gift for you and
create a colorful feathered headband. The wee ones also built with blocks,
played with Rescue Heroes and puppets, used their imaginations in the kitchen
and doll houses and worked on some puzzles.
After snack and snuggle with a book, we played "Pass the Pilgrim" and passed
the pilgrim around the circle. When it was our turn, we said, "I thank God
for..." The hcildren ahd many things to thank God for, and you'd be happy to
know that Moms and Dads were on the tops of many lists! I told the children
that I was very thankful to God for all the preschoolers and for our beloved
Mrs. Piel!
At the end of the day we practiced for our show and bust a move or two to a
favorite Christmas tune. Wait until you see them sing and dance! No gift
for Christmas will be better!
We plan to have gym on Wednesday, so please remember sneakers!
Enjoy your Tuesday!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Could it be that we only have a week until the big turkey day?! We took some
time this morning practicing a wee turkey poem for you. We also made some
beautiful Native American head bands that we will wear the day of the
Thanksgiving feast. I am dressing as a Pilgrim woman that day and will
invite our preschoolers to join us for a feast to give thanks for all our
blessings. Mrs. Piel and I are providing the meal for the preschoolers, so
no snack is necessary unless you feel your wee pilgrim may not wish to
partake of the bounty. You may send in a juice box. We hope you can join us
at the end of the day for a little prayer service (11:15 a.m.).
The preschoolers enjoyed the company of a wee friend who came to visit the
classroom for a bit. Our little friend was able to participate in the free
play time and join in as we sang the fan favorite, "Bubble Gum" and used our
colorful parachute with the "Freeze Dance" song. We had fun meeting and
playing with a new buddy!
The children also enjoyed snack, snuggle with a book on the rug and a nice
stretch of the legs outside during recess. We practiced for the Christmas
show...you will be dazzled!
Shhhhhhh....the children made you a very lovely Thanksgiving gift. We can't
tell you what it is, but it is "hand-made" and colorful! You will receive it
next week and l-o-v-e it for sure!
Thanks to one of our preschool friends, we have a new book for our library.
It is the story of a boy who is disappointed with the pet his parents gave
him for his birthday, but in the end finds how special and wonderful that pet
is...a goldfish! Glub! Glub! Thank you for the new book! We loved it!
Let's hope our Eagles can get back on track! We know you can do it! Go
Eagles!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Well, Sr. John Marie has taken our Letter F week a bit to the extreme with a
FIRE DRILL! Yes, we had a fire drill today at 11;00 a.m. Not to fear,
though. Our wee ones did a very good job stopping what they were doing in
class and moving to the door for a speedy exit. What made this fire drill
even more exciting was our new exit route. Instead of taking a right out the
doors, we now take a left and head over to the church parking lot to gather
with the entire school. Even that change did not throw our preschoolers for
a loop. They followed the new plan without a hitch. Sr. John Marie was very
pleased with the entire school population's efforts...even the wee Mother's
Morning Out crew got an A+ for their swift exit!
Aside from our fire drill, we had fun with yet another adventure of Froggy.
This time, we read the story, "Froggy's Sleepover". The children caught on
quickly to the repeated dialogue of the mommy frog ("Froggy!") and Froggy's
response, ("What?!"). They acted out those lines with real amphibian
bravado. The story was floppy fun! I don't know about the preschoolers, but
when the story was over, I had a craving for chocolate fly cookies! Yum!
The children enjoyed yet another gym class. This week they went on a turkey
hunt! Our pint-sized pilgrims had to find some cleverly hidden turkeys.
They succeeded, much to the turkeys dismay!
We enjoyed a snack, snuggle with a book and a good old game of "I Spy" with
our red fox friend. The children and the red fox took turns looking around
the room for something that had the color red. The other children had three
chances to guess the red object. We had some very good red choices: part of
the flag, a red heart, the red of a decorated turkey's neck, stop sign...
During free play, the children enjoyed each other's company playing,
pretending, building and coloring. We listened to the lovely book, "In
November" by Cynthia Rylant. We were reminded of all the wonders of the
month of November and the coming winter season. The illustrations of the
book by Jill Kastner are as beautiful as the text. It is a peaceful read and
one that I recommend as we enter the busyness of the holiday season.
Thank you for all the wonderful new outfits for Freddie the Weather Frog.
His wardrobe is ever-expanding with creative, colorful, eclectic garments
which are surely to be the envy of all classroom weather frogs everywhere!
The preschoolers practiced for the Christmas spectacular with their usual
energy and enthusiasm. We also plucked a feather off of our "Countdown to
Thanksgiving" turkey. We are getting closer and closer to the big day!
Please check your child's folder for a list of important upcoming events. We
are having a little prayer service on Wednesday, November 25th at 11:15 a.m.
If you are able to join us, please do! Mrs. Piel and I will be serving a
Thanksgiving feast that day to our preschoolers, so you do not have to pack a
snack for them unless you feel that they won't wish to sample any of our
bounty. I may even have to wear a pilgrim outfit that day! What does thou
think of that?
Enjoy your Thursday!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Pre-k is seeing red...and that's a good thing! This week we are highlighting
the color red. We had fun with a red feather and picking out the red clothes
and red items around the room. Not to be out done, we also checked in with
letter F!
The preschoolers sang the ABC song and then a very smart cookie picked out
letter F on our ABC chart. We solved clues to picture cards whose names
began with the F sound: fox, fork, feather, five, fish, football and fan.
The preschoolers even got to handle some fairy dust during free play/center
time! OK, the dust was just some white flour mixed with red sprinkles, but
in our pre-k world it can be fairy dust! The children used thier fingers or
popsicle stick to make shapes in the fairy dust box. It was fun, fun, fun!
Our friends watched a short little movie based on the book, "Rainbow Fish".
We learned that Rainbow Fish was a much happier fish when he had friends to
play with him. Rainbow Fish was able to make friends when he stopped being
selfish and learned to share, particularly when he gave his beautiful rainbow
scales to other fish. He may have lost his rainbow scales, but he gained so
much more...friends! We then made our own rainbow fish. We covered a fish
shape with glue then placed it in a brown bag filled with colored paper. We
shook and shook the bag, counting to 10, then pulled our beautiful fish out
of the bag! Our very own rainbow fish!
During free play and center time, the children also made lovely "Thankful
Turkeys". Our friends glued the turkey together and chose 4 colored feathers
to place on their turkeys. Each feather has the name of a person or thing
that we thank God for on this Thanksgiving. You will receive the turkeys
next Tuesday for your enjoyment. They will be hanging in the classroom if
you'd like to see them before then. Not only are the turkeys beautiful, but
they look good enough to eat! Yikes!
The children enjoyed snack, snuggle with a book and outdoor recess. We
practiced for the Christmas show, too. We don't have too many singers
emerging yet, but we sure do have a lot of fantastic dancers! The Christams
show will be a wonderful evening, no doubt! Please check your child's folder
for a letter concerning important upcoming events and dates.
Enjoy your Wednesday! See you on Thursday!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Today we welcomed a day filled with reds and ffffffs and turkeys! Wow! What
a combo!
The children were very capable of putting away backpacks, finding name tags,
answering the Question of the Day (Do you like french fries? The vote was a
resounding "YES!"), and tracing/printing names on the wall. The children are
following the morning sequence of events very well and taking part in them so
nicely.
We prayed, saluted the flag, checked the calendar and weather. Freddie the
Weather Frog has gotten some nice new duds from the creative fingers of our
preschoolers, so we picked out a lovely Thanksgiving-themed ensemble for him
to wear today. He looked fabulous!
Speaking of Freddie the Frog, we read the story, "Froggie Eats Out" about
another amphibian friend. Froggie was excited to go to a fancy restaurant
with his parents, until he found out that the fancy restaurant is no place to
have much fun or order a hamburger with flies, no less. All turns out well
for Froggie and his parents as they decide to flop,flop,flop over to the fast
food restaurant for some Froggie-friendly food. Since we introduced letter F
today, this was a fun read!
The children identified picture cards with letter F sound words after hearing
clues for: fox, feather, football, fork, five, fish, fin and fan. We also
used a red feather to identify kiddies who wore the color red, our color of
the week.
During free play and center time, the children had the opportunities to count
with turkey friends, make a shape-inspired turkey, feed a frog flies
according to the number on his tummy and practice sinking and floating with
classroom objects in our water table. The preschoolers also played with
their favorite toys and activities: puzzles, Rescue Heroes, kitchen fun,
coloring, puppetry, legos and blocks.
Our friends enjoyed snack and a refreshing stretch of the legs (and lungs!)
outside. We practiced a bit for our Christmas extravaganza. You will be
delighted by the gift of song and poem you will receive from our wee ones!
Gym day is Wednesday...SNEAKERS!
Enjoy your Tuesday!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Well, even though it rained again today, we kept it sunny in the classroom
with our color yellow! We incorporated our color and number of the week (5)
with the song, "5 Little Ducks". Not only did we act out the song,
pretending to be Mother Duck, but we also used 5 yellow-colored felt ducks on
the felt board to demonstrate the ducks leaving one-by-one. Luckily in the
end, all of the 5 little ducks came back! Quack! Quack!
As we continue our travels through the alphabet, we have met A, B, C, and D.
This week we greeted letter E. The preschoolers had fun stomping around like
big elephants, We stomped in many ways: fast and slowly, dancing like an
elephant ballerina, acting like a hungry elephant searching for food. Our
pre-k elephants found a big bag of peanuts (pom-poms) to eat and picked out
only the yellow peanuts. Yum!
During free play/center time, the children played with all kinds of toys,
puzzles, colored Thanksgiving pictures and used their imaginations in the
kitchen. At the play doh table, the children created yummy food for
Thanksgiving. Mashed potatoes seemed to appear on everyone's plate! I know
they're my favorite! We also made a play doh birthday cake for one of our
preschoolers whose birthday was today. It even had candles on it...4 to be
exact!
The preschoolers had splishy-splashy fun with our water activity. The
children tested items to see which ones floated and which did not. They also
had fun just scooping and playing in the water. The water was tinted a
certain color. Ask your child what that color was today. Hmmmmmm!
After snack, a birthday treat and snuggle with a book on the rug, we read the
story, "Clifford's Thanksgiving Visit". It is the story of the famous big
red dog's trip to see his mommy on Thanksgiving day. We then passed around
our classroom mascot, a "stuffed" turkey named Tom. When we had the chance
to hold Tom, it was our turn to tell one another with whom we spend
Thanksgiving day. We found that some of our friends have Thanksgiving at
home, while others go visit family for the big turkey day. Either way, we
are grateful for the people we love, and happy to share such a special meal
together! We also colored a God's Time page (in the folder) and drew our
favorite Thanksgiving food. We served up everything from turkey and mashed
potatoes to pizza, lemons and candy! What a meal!
Near the end of the day, we were very brave and participated in a yellow food
taste test. The children were offered 4 yellow foods: pineapple, lemon,
Corn Pops cereal and bananas. You will see the results of the test in your
child's folder. By the looks of some of the faces on our wee ones, this was
the first time tasting lemons!
We ended with a practice of some of our Christmas show tunes, a fun
parachute/song game and our Guardian Angel prayer.
We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday! Have a good weekend!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Wow! The children were ready to go-go-go for gym! They enjoyed another
energetic day with Mrs. Wallace. The children are working on developing
those fine and gross motor skills, as well as following oral directions,
sequencing and having fun at the same time.
We changed our jobs today and rolled right into the morning routine. We are
now printing our names on the name board each morning. It not only will
prepare them for kindergarten, but will also help refine those small muscles
in the hands.
During free play/center time, the children had the opportunities to
manipulate toys, puzzles, kitchen "equipmnent", color Thanksgiving pages, and
play with file folder games. The preschoolers also painted on an EASEL for
letter E, colored a turkey and practiced a little problem-solving by thinking
of ways the turkeys could possibly elude the hungry pilgrims by finding good
hiding spots. You can read their ideas on our outside wall by Friday. They
are very clever!
The children have a turkey friend in their folder whose job it is to help
them arrange the letters of their names in order. You will see that the
letters of your child's name are printed on feathers. Mrs. Piel demonstrated
for the children how to arrange the letters to spell out their names and
create a beautiful feather display for the turkey. It is also can be used as
a fun counting activity. Just flip the feathers over and count (or pluck!).
We had a nice display of yellow today and a silly story about dogs written by
A. Cat. Too funny! In the end, A. Cat did see the beauty of dogs, but had
fun listing all the annoying habits of our furry friends!
The children are practicing nicely for the Christmas spectacular. It is
planned for December 17th at 7:oo p.m. in O'Brien Hall. Details about show
preparations will follow soon.
We sang for our E-A-G-L-E-S today (and for letter E!) to send the team some
spirit and good luck after the loss to the Cowboys. We'll get 'em next time!
See you on Friday!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
This mild November morning had the children bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for
a wonderful day of learning, fun and friends. We changed job duties and
started our day with prayer, flag, calendar check and weather forecast. We
sang our "Days of the Week" tune, and poor Mrs. Piel received snowballs, yet
again, soaring her way during the "snowy" portion of the weather song.
The children were introduced to the color yellow with a discussion of yellow
foods, including: lemons, bananas and pineapple. The children also dazzled
us with yellow clothing. We had many wonderful displays of yellow, from
socks, dresses, shirts, stripes and even a very fashionable scarf! Keep that
yellow coming!
We were treated to the number 5 with a Donovan McNabb football shirt (worn by
one of our very devoted pre-k Eagles fans!) and felt friend activity. After
demonstrating 5 with the felt board and felt shapes, each child was asked to
come up and pull out 5 felt friends and place them on the board, all the
while counting: 1-2-3-4-5. Not only did the children do a wonderful job
counting to 5 with the felt friends, but they also did a terrific job waiting
for their turns!
During free play/center activities, aside from the usual preschool fun of
puzzles, blocks, coloring, make-believe, etc., our preschoolers were able to
paint at the easels (letter E word) and have time playing a color
identification computer game with Mrs. Piel. During small group time with
me, we put together our turkey feather counting activity (sent home in
folders) and used our imaginations (and problem-solving skills!) to think of
ways Tom Turkey could hide from hungry pilgrims. You may read their answers
on our outside wall on Thursday. Looks like the pilgrims will need to find
something else for Thanksgiving dinner because these turkeys are hidden so
well! Looks like tofu-turkey for everyone!
After snack, snuggle with a book and outside for a stretch of the legs, we
practiced a couple of Christmas ditties for the Christmas spectacular
scheduled for December 17th. You will certainly enjoy the children as they
sing to wish Baby Jesus a happy birthday and call on Jolly Old St. Nick to
make a visit!
We ended our day with prayer, the Eagles' cheer and with the story, "The Best
Thanksgiving Ever" about a turkey family preparing for Thanksgiving dinner.
Have you ever wondered what a turkey might eat on Thanksgiving? Well, we
found out that the turkeys eat.....CORN!
See you on Thursday!
Monday, November 9, 2009
The preschoolers are moving right along and accomplishing morning jobs very
nicely. We added a new job today. After backpacks and Question of the Day,
the children find their name on the side wall and either trace over the
printed name with marker, or print their names themselves on the name cards.
By the end of the school year, not only will their hand muscles get a nice
little workout, but the children should be able to print their names, too!
After prayer, flag, calendar and weather check, we started to practice some
little ditties for the Christmas show. That's right! It's never too early
to start on those Christmas tunes! Fa-la-la!
The children were introduced to letter E, number 5 and the color yellow
today. We took a peek at picture cards that have /e/ sound at the beginning
of the words: escalator, elephant, elbow and egg. We also noted that our
beloved football team, (yes, still beloved even after their loss to the
Cowboys), the E-A-G-L-E-S, begins with the letter E. The Question of the Day
asked, Do you like to ride escalators? We had an overwhelming response of
YES. It appears that the escalator of choice is located at Target. I'd have
to agree!
During free play/center activities, the children played with table games and
file-folder games that enhanced visual discrimination, counting and
sequencing skills. In our journals, the children colored in their letter E
boxes and practiced scissor skills with a pie activity. The preschoolers
colored their favorite pieces of pie and then cut the piece of pie along the
dotted lines. It was the least messiest pie cutting I've ever seen! We had
pies of all flavors, including: rainbow, pink blueberry, pickle and chocolate
chip. YUM!
Fr. Kelly popped in for a visit during snacktime. We also snuggled with a
book and headed outside for some fresh air on this lovely day. Upon our
return back to the classroom, we read teh story, "This Thanksgiving Day- a
Counting Story". We counted up to 12 with the pilgrims and Native Americans
as they prepared for the first Thanksgiving feast.
Remember...gym day on Wednesday. Sneakers!
Friday, November 6, 2009
Happy Birthday, Mrs. Piel! We had a yummy time celebrating 2 birthdays
today! We were treated to some doughnuts, cookies and everybody's
favorite...ice cream! We made sure to listen to our tummies, though, to be
sure not to overdo it! The children surprised Mrs. Piel with beautiful hand-
made cards. They were made with love! We hope Mrs. Piel has a happy
birthday today!
We continue to engage the morning routine very well. The children are
unpacking backpacks, hanging jackets and sweaters, remembering and locating
their ABC rug letters and answering the Question of the Day. Today we
asked: "Do you like Thanksgiving dinner?" Unfortumately for our turkey
friends, the overwhelming response was YES (14), with only 2 hold outs.
We are working on naming our month, November, and counting the days we've had
so far. Next week we will start our Thanksgiving countdown! We prayed,
saluted the flag and checked the chilly weather condititons. Before we knew
it, it was time to head up to meet Sr. Miriam Elizabeth in the library!
The children listened to a fun story, "Duck at the Door" about a duck, Max,
who misses an opportunity to fly south with his flock and ends up staying the
winter with other animal friends (dogs, cats, birds) in a cozy house. We
listened as Max became familiar with homelife, as he has never lived in a
house before. It didn't take Max long to learn how to eat, sleep and use the
remote! It is a silly little story with a mini-lesson about the problems of
being selfish (new word!) and the importance of sharing.
If I may say so, Sr. Miriam Elizabeth was impressed with our preschoolers
memory of book knowledge. The children remembered the
phrases: "front "cover", "back cover" and "spine of the book". We learned
something new from Sr. Miriam Elizabeth today. Every book has a birthday!
If we look in the beginning of the book, we can see when the book was
published. "Duck at the Door" is two years old! We can't wait to visit Sr.
Miriam again in the library.
After a yummy snack time with all the birthday treats and snuggle with a
book, we went on a dinosaur bone hunt for the elusive brown dino fossils.
All along the hallway the children spied for the brown dinosaur bone that
displayed their names. When the bone was found, the children called
out, "Eureka!" We then headed to the gym for a nice stretch of the legs.
We hope you enjoy your weekend. Go Eagles, beat Dallas!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Happy Birthday, Mrs. Piel! We had a fun, fun, fun time wishing Mrs. Piel a
happy birthday. We enjoyed a birthday song, some chocolate chip cookies and
a wee cup of ice cream to mark the special day. Some children guessed Mrs.
Piel's age to be around 4 years, while one preschooler came closest with a
guess of 9! I'm just glad I didn't ask them how old they thought I was!
Today we started to learn a little turkey poem. You will enjoy hearing about
this "funny bird" when we have it down pat. The children also are doing a
wonderful job with the morning routine. We changed their letters on the rug,
and everyone is getting to know their new spot for circle time. We even have
some helpers offer assistance when a friend is having a little trouble
finding his/her letter. Very thoughtful! We offered our morning prayer,
marked the calendar, checked the weather and sang our little days-of-the-week
and weather ditties.
During center activities and free play, we highlighted the letter D and the
color brown. The children recognized colors by placing colored counters on
colored turkey feathers. We also "dug" for brown dinosaur bones that had our
names on them. The children had a squishy-good time creating dough from
flour, salt and water. We measured the ingredients with measuring cups and
mixed the dough oursleves. The children enjoyed using the dough as they
would play doh, with a reminder not to eat it. Yucky. One of our friends
also brought in two stuffed animal dogs that were colored brown and white for
Show-n-Tell. This same friend arrived in the morning and at dismissal with
her real, live brown dog, Chaucer. What a great treat to pet such a nice
doggie! Thank you!
During God's Time we listened to the story, "Thanksgiving is for Giving
Thanks" and we were reminded of some wonderful blessings we can all be
thankful for, including: our families, our friends, our pets, a rainy or
sunny day and yummy treats like hot chocolate and lollipops. The children
took a wee nature stroll on the front lawn to pick up some beautiful
reminders of the blessings of autumn, like leaves of all shapes and colors
and little brown acorns. We will continue with the theme of giving thanks
throughout this month.
We ended our day with two dances for the letter D: the Freeze Dance and the
Chicken Dance. Our preschoolers can surely bust a move!
Alas, the Phillies tried their best, but the Yankees came out on top. To
honor their efforts, we sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" one final time
before spring training starts again. Luckily, we do have the rest of the
Eagles'season to look forward to...especially when they play everyones'
favorite Dallas Cowboys! Go Eagles!
Enjoy your weekend!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Well, we are just trotting along here in November. The wee turkeys are doing
wonderfully with the morning routine and start of the day activitites.
We continued with our letter D dinosaur fun. The rare preschoolaraurus
accompanied the song, "Dorothy the Dinosaur" with maracas and bells, adding
their own stomping and roaring! Big Dino Fun!
The children listened to the story, "My Dinosaur" by Mark Alan Weatherby. It
is the story of a little girl and her imagination. We imagine right along
with her that the dinosaur friend comes to visit at night and takes her on an
exciting trip through the forest. The little girl has great fun with her
huge, green friend until the sun starts to rise, then it is back to her
home. We see her in the morning, and incredibly she has leaves in her hair.
Could the dinosaur visit really be just in her imagination, or......?
Mrs. Wallace and the children enjoyed an extended gym class. Mrs. Wallace
continues to be impressed by their listening skills and following
directions. Way to go!
After snack and snuggle with a book, we read the story, "Thanksgiving is for
Giving Thanks". The children then completed a journal entry describing what
they are thankful to God for in their lives. The children also colored
beautiful pictures to complement the journal entries.
The children also enjoyed free play and an introduction to the first poem
scheduled to be performed at the Christmas show. We have such a lovely show
planned to celebrate Jesus' birthday. We will practice for the show from
here on in, so don't be surprised if you hear Christmas tunes from your wee
caroler at anytime!
Go Phillies!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Happy November! The children were quick to spy the new calendar decor,
complete with turkeys! We welcomed November and spoke of that turkey-rific
holiday, Thanksgiving, that will be trotting our way this month.
We began our day with name tag identification, prayer, flag, calendar check
and weather report. The children were assigned new jobs for the week and
took to their new responsiblities very well.
Our circle time began with a rousing rendition of the Alphabet Song. We
followed up with an introduction to the letter D and the sound it makes. The
preschoolers helped point out pictures that begin with the letter D following
some dandy clues. We then discussed a special word that begins with D. This
word described an animal that lived a very long time ago. These animals were
large and had appetites for either meat or veggies. Yes, you've guessed it!
We spent our day with the DINOSAURS!
To start off our dino-fun, we acted out a little rhyme, "Five Little
Dinosaurs": Five little dinosaurs sitting in a swamp. The first one
said, "Let's stomp, stomp, stomp!" The second one said, "Time for lunch!."
The third one said, "Let's munch, munch, munch." The fourth one said, "Let's
stomp some more!" The fifth one said, "Let's all give a roar!" We had fun
with this rhyme. Try it at home!
Next, each mini-paleontologist chose a dinosaur from the dino bin. That
dinosaur was your preschooler's buddy for the day. The dinosaurs joined the
children on their pre-k center and play circuit. What fun! We were afraid
some dinosaurs might munch the crayons, but luckily no nibbles were taken!
During center and free time, the children (and dinos!) had the opportunities
to build a dino-land for their dinosaurs with blocks, play with puzzles,
paint "Dots on D's", use clothespins to "catch" mini-dinosaur counters by the
tails, (fine-motor skills) color and co-author dinosaur stories. Please
check your child's folder for his/her original dinosaur tale!
After a story, "My Dinosaur" by Mark Alan Weatherby, we enjoyed a snack,
snuggle with a book on the rug and some outdoor exercise. There was great
fun tossing leaves and watching the wind make them dance, as well as hop-
scotch and a game of tag or two.
To end the day, we played a dinosaur egg game. Each child was given a
dinosaur sticker to put on the back of their hands. The children then had to
peek through a collection of shaker eggs to find the egg that had the same
sticker attached to it. (visual discrimination) We have some pretty sharp
eyes in pre-k! We then used the shaker eggs to dance and shake to the
sone, "Dorothy the Dinosaur". We had fun stomping around and chomping like a
dinosaur.
As the dinos settled in, we prayed our Guardian Angel prayer. The children
were tossed a brown football and asked to tell us what they are thankful to
God for as we near the Thanksgiving holiday. Each child had a wonderful
thought, ranging from being thankful for Mommies and Daddies, to being
thankful for pizza and a favorite pet. Mrs. Piel and I are very thankful to
have all our precious preschoolers!
Please check your child's folder for our new November calendar. Also,
important information will be coming about our pre-k Christmas show in
December. We will be practicing the songs from here on in, so don't be
surprised if you hear a Christmas carol or two already! We look forward to a
wonderful holiday season!
See you Thursday! Go Phillies!
Monday, November 2, 2009
Welcome to November! Can you believe it is November already? The turkeys on
the farm are starting feel the stress of the coming holiday...Thanksgiving!
No stress here in pre-k as we introduce a new month, November, the letter D,
the number 4 and the color brown.
Letter D stomped on in with the dinosaurs. ROAR! We used our play dinosaurs
during center time/free play along with the blocks to create a dino-land.
The pint-sized paleontologists also used the tiny muscles in their hands to
pinch dinosaur counters with clothespins (4 in all) and deposit them into a
cup labled with their names. We discussed meat-eating dinosaurs verses plant-
eating dinosaurs. The children also learned a new word, "extinct" which
describes the state of the dinosaur today. Although real dinosuars are no
longer roaming the earth, we can have fun learning about them and recreating
their homes right here in our pre-k. We will be visiting dinosaurs all this
week.
The children had fun with Dot painting on the letter D and coloring a picture
of their favorite cookie dough in their journals. (Chocolate Chip cookie
dough was most popular. Yum!) We also used our ABC arcs to find the letter D
and note that letter D is the fourth letter of the alphabet. Our
preschoolers pointed to the first letters of their first names on the ABC
arcs, too. We have some very smart cookies in here! Hints for Letter D
words were given, and the children guessed the words beginning with D: doll,
dog, door, deer, duck and dime.
After snack and snuggle with a book, the children went outdoors for some
fresh air, stretch of the legs and leaf-tossing. The children were asked to
look around when they were outside and think of something they see or hear
that they would like to thank God for. When we returned, each had a chance
to say what it was that they were thankful to God for: pretty leaves,
clouds, trees, ground, friends, cool air, sun...and quite a number of
mommies. Even though mommies were not outside when we played, our mommies
are always with us in our hearts, so we happily accepted those responses!
We returned to the classroom to wrap up with our songs for the Phillies and
Eagles and a turkey ditty.
Gym day is Wednesday. The new November calendar is in your child's folder.
Thank you for a wonderful Halloween party on Friday. We couldn't have done
it without all your help and support!
Thursday, October 29, 2009 and Friday, October 30, 2009
Happy Halloween from the St. Bernadette "Pre-Ghoulers"!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Halloween is creeping closer each day! The children spotted on the calendar
our orange pumpkin and counted 3 days until the big bewitching day. Our
Halloween party is scheduled for Friday. We will parade to the rectory at
10:10 a.m., followed by a return to the classroom for our Halloween
festivities. All are welcome to attend...even the wee goblins at home!
Our 'pre-ghoulers" have been practicing a Halloween poem and song just for
your enjoyment. Be warned that at the end of the Halloween poem, you may
encounter a bit of fright. We just wanted you to know so that no one jumps
out of their seat!
Mrs. Wallace continued with fire safety lessons and 9-1-1 information during
gym class. The children returned with big smiles on their faces and feeling
refreshed. We had a spirited practice of our "Cotton-Eye Joe" dance. The
toe-tapping is coming along quite nicely.
After a snack and snuggle with a book, the children were met by their fifth
grade prayer partners. The children worked together to color storybook pages
of the life of St. Jeanne Jugan. St. Jeanne was recently cannonized a
saint. She is the foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor. St. Jeanne
offered help to those less fortumate, especially the elderly. The children
colored very well together and created some beautiful pages.
We ended the day with a little free play and wrap-up. It was a busy day, with
lots of different experiences for the children to encounter.
We look forward to seeing you on Friday! Mrs. P. and I will be dressed in
costume, too. The hints I gave the children as to who my character is
were: She is a girl who has a horse; she makes new friends, including a
friend who travels in space (He's a space ranger!) and another friend who
also likes horses and may know who to use a lasso. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Can
you guess? You will find out when the doors open up on Friday!
Yee-haw!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
EEEEEEEEKKKKK! The spiders have spun their webs in pre-k! To prepare for our
Halloween extravaganza, the preschoolers made creepy, crawly spiders to spook
you with. But don't worry. They only look spooky. They are actually very
friendly spiders. They wouldn't hurt a fly..well...
The children had a spook-er-if-ic day with our Halloween poems, songs and
crafts. During God's Time we discussed Halloween costumes and safety tips.
We know that God loves us and wishes us to be safe. We shared some wonderful
tips with each other. Some tips were: walk with your Mom or Dad and do not
run ahead, be careful that your costume fits so that you do not trip, make
sure you can see out of your mask if you wear one, check with Mom and Dad
before you gobble any candy. Great tips for a safe night!
Due to Mrs. Piel feeling a bit under the weather (Get well soon!) we had a
school mom help us during Free Play and some older school friends help with a
color/shape Bingo game and end-of-day activities. Mrs. Z enjoyed using play
doh with the children and creating all kinds of colorful (and delicious, I'm
sure) cookies. Mrs. Z brought in a book to read to the children
called, "Crocodile Beat". Not only was it a wonderful book, but we are
practicing the letter C this week and crocodile begins with C. What a
coincidence!
The children listened to clues to figuire words that have the beginning /C/
sound. We gave clues for the words: cat, crawl and car. The children used
their imaginations to pretend they were a cat, a crawling baby and a car
leaving the driveway to pick up some lunch. Yum! Let me tell you, that we
had quite a large order at the drive-through. Thank goodness we all had our
lunch money with us! We made it back safe-and-sound to the driveway and
enjoyed a yummy lunch.
We look forward to our Halloween party on Thursday. We will parade outside,
weather permitting, the rectory at 10:10 a.m. The party follows at 10:30
a.m. All are welcome!
I gave a clue to the children as to what character I will dress up as for
Halloween. Let's see if you can guess: She has a friend who is a cowboy and
a friend who is a space ranger. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
See you on Thursday. Yee-haw!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Can you believe that Halloween is just 5 days away?! Our kiddies are most
excited for the big day! The pre-k Halloween extravaganza is scheduled for
Friday, October 30th. We will parade to the rectory at 10:10 a.m. in costume
ready to scare up some fun! Our p-a-r-t-y commences at 10:30 a.m. with some
yummy treats and a few tricks, too! We hope you can join us. It will be a
SCREAM!
Here is my first hint as to what character I will dress as for Halloween:
She enjoys the outdoors, especially when she is whooping it up with her new
friends or riding her trusty horse. Yee-haw!
Today we introduced number 3 and met our next letter of the alphabet. Letter
C was completely carefree in our classroom. We clapped (3), compared a pre-k
friend with a cat (citing likes/differences), played a copy-cat game,
listened to Christams carols during snack, colored candles on a cake (1-3),
constructed a cool castle with blocks, danced to Cotton-Eye Joe, matched
colored circles, curled up on the carpet and listened to the story, "Splat
the Cat", and combined finger paint colors to create a new color. And if
that wasn't completely cool enough, we had Mrs. C. fill in for our Mrs. P.
who is under the weather. Get better, Mrs. P.!
After snack, we enjoyed God's Time, remebering that God created us, loves us
and wishes us to be safe and sound, especilally with Halloween and trick-or-
treating just around the corner.
We passed Green Bean, the green goblin, around the circle. When a child
received Green Bean, it was his or her turn to speak. (We are practicing
taking turns and listening to our friends when it is their turn to speak.)
The children were asked what safety tips they could offer the class to ensure
a safe halloween evening. Our responses were goblin-good! The children
responded: travel with Mom or Dad, wear something that lights up i.e. a glow
stick, so that you can be easily seen, wear a mask in a way that you are able
to see without trouble, do not use scissors without Mom or Dad, do not eat
all your candy at once, show Mom or Dad your candy, be careful if you have a
long costume so that you do not trip, keep your props to yourself, i.e. Darth
Vader's light sabre. We ended with the prayer to our Guardian Angel.
Please remember sneakers for gym day on Wednesday! I am sure Mrs. Wallace
will have some monstrously good activities for Halloween week!
Enjoy the rest of your Monday.
D
Friday, October 23, 2009
TGIF! We are inching closer and closer to the big day...Halloween!
Our preschool goblins did a boo-rific job with their morning routine. We are
soooooo good at putting our jackets and backpacks away, picking out our names
and finding our ABC letters, that it is scary!
We had a bit of a switcheroo day beginning with part 1 of the Safe Touch
program. It was an age-appropriate discussion of personal safety and
awareness of safe/non-safe people.
Friday is our library day! We had yet another wonderful visit to the second
floor to listen to a story read by none other than Sr. Miriam Elizabeth. The
story we enjoyed was about a bear out at night who is feeling scared. The
setting of the story was perfect for this Halloween season: the dark, eerie
woods. Bear is lucky, though, to have some kind woodland friends who go
looking for him in the night and find him. Whew! Bear did not have to be
scared anymore! It is so nice to have friends to help you.
We also discussed picking books out of the library with a gadget called
a "browser". The browser looks like a ruler but is used to keep a spot for a
book after we pull the book out to consider it. Sr. Miriam hopes we can soon
check out books and take them home. That would be great!
After some free play and snack, we took a trip to the gym with the
kindergarten to play some fun games. The children had a blast throwing balls
into the basketball net, playing with hoola hoops, tossing balls into
baskets, hopping on a hop-scotch pattern and more! It was a good time for
all!
The seventh grade are starting a school newspaper. Representatives of the
newspaper visited our classroom to ask some of our preschoolers questions
about Halloween and Thanksgiving. You will have to wait to read their
responses. I can tell you that the children did a wonderful job answering
questions and gave some very interesting responses. We can't wait to read
the paper and see our names in print!
Enjoy your weekend. We have a busy and (sppoookkky!)week coming up!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
We go "batty" over preschool! Our fine-winged friends, the little black
bats, swooped in for one more lesson. Please check your child's folder for a
min-book about bats. The preschoolers did a wonderful job coloring the
book. You will enjoy every word and picture!
Earlier in the day, our wee goblins opened their day with prayer, salute to
the flag, weather forecast and calendar check. They also are identifying
their names in print very well and are finding their ABC letters on the rug
lickety-split!
As indicated on the calendar, it was our Safe Touch lesson, part 1 this
morning. The children participated nicely in a very age-appropriate and
short discussion of safe people and respecting the life that God created for
us. Our discussions were mainly about being more aware of the safe people in
our lives, and our efforts to not engage people we do not know. Our
preschoolers did a good job of processing the information in their own little
way.
We practiced our pumpkin poem and special surprise song that we will happily
perform for you the day of our Halloween party. We are surely getting into
the Halloween "spirit" with fun activities at center time and free play.
The children and Mrs. Piel had fun piecing back together a silly, life-sized
monster, much like you would a puzzle. They also colored in our Halloween
coloring books, played with Rescue Heroes (safe people!), built with blocks,
played in the kitchen and engaged in a fun math activity with Mrs. Mullen
using black bats, black cats, a "Boo!" and a silly mosnter dance.
In groups of 2 or 3, the preschoolers came to the cafeteria to participate in
one-to-one counting fun. Inside an orange pumpkin there were black bats,
each numbered from 1-5, along with an extra bat with the word, "Boo!" on it.
The children each had black cats counters in front of them. The object of
the game was to take turns, pull out a black bat, then count off in black
cats the number selected. If a child pulled "Boo!", we all had to do a crazy
monster dance. Let me tell you, we have some serious monster mashers in this
crowd!
The children enjoyed snack, snuggle with a book and a nice stretch of the
legs. We colored our "Little Black Bats" book and prepared for our
dismissal. The kiddies prayed to our Guardian Angels and sang for the NL
Champs, the Phillies, as well as our beloved birds, the Eagles.
Next week we will have our Halloween party on Thursday. We hope you can join
us. I know it will be a real SCREAM! BOO!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Why don't bats like to live alone? Because they like to "hang out" with
their friends! Aren't Halloween jokes just a scream?!
The preschoolers revisted bat facts and finished up their bat stories. You
must take a peek at that when you can. The stories are hanging on our
outside classroom wall. Our wee goblins are fang-tastic authors!
Gym day was not only fun, and a heart-healthy day of exercise, but it was
also very educational. Mrs. Wallace used the time to incorporate fire safety
lessons into the gym routine. The children came back to class brimming with
information about stop-drop-and-rolling, as well as crawling on the ground to
avoid smoke and calling 9-1-1 in an emergency. Mrs. Wallace generously
allowed us the use of her special 9-1-1 phones to practice. Each child has
had a turn using the phone and will continue to do so during the rest of the
month of October.
Our preschoolers enjoyed their free play, but also had some scissor
instruction and practice. Prior to picking up the scissors, we made certain
to review scissor rules: no cutting without Mommy, Daddy or teachers; use
scissors on paper only...NOT HAIR; scissors stay at the table, we do not run
with them; keep scissors away from eyes. We used the scissors to follow a
line to a Halloween character at the top of the page. We will continue to
use scissors throughout the year, emphasizing correct handling and safety
rules.
Poem hands were in perfect form as we practiced our Halloween poem to be
presented to you the day of our Halloween party, along with a song. We can't
wait to enthrall you with our performance!
The children enjoyed snack, a yummy birthday treat and a snuggle with a
book. Later, during God's Time, we reviewed the story of Noah's ark. The
children did a good job remembering the details of the story. We further
discussed Noah's following God's directions and completing a job well done.
We went around the circle and talked about jobs we do to help out at home and
how important it is do do the best job we can. The children told of many
jobs that they do including: being quiet while Mommies and Daddies are on the
phone, helping in the garden, teaching a baby sister to walk, washing dishes,
sleeping when told to do so, cleaning around the house, reading stories and
listening to stories.
We introduced the word "vocabulary" to the children. We discussed that a
vocabulary is a collection of words that we learn and use to speak, and
eventaully read. These words help us label things in our world, as well as
help us communicate with one another. We also learned that our vocabularies
grow as we get older and learn more words. I held up Halloween-themed
pictures and the children told me the words for them. They gave me the
words: pumpkin, vampire, ghost, witch, black cat, monster, trick-or-treaters
and spider. Those words and pictures will be on display on our "word wall".
We will change the words as the seasons and holidays change.
The pre-k goblins continue to work with letter B. Our Alphabet Buddies for
letter B brought in their paper doll forms and questionnaires. As the first
letter of each child's name comes up during our "Letter of the Week" intro,
the children will get a paper doll shape to decorate as themselves. There
will also be a little questionnaire for Moms and Dads to complete with their
wee ones so we may get to know our buddies better. Letter B introduced us to
three classroom friends. We will compile the pictures and paper dolls into
an alphabet book for the children to look through. We can't wait to meet our
friends through the alphabet!
We prayed our Guardian Angel prayer to end the day. The Phillies have our
full support! We sang a spirited version of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" to
ensure the win! Go Phillies!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
What a beautiful autumn day to see... BLACK BATS AND SPIDERS! EEEEEEEKKKKK!
Yes, this week we are swooping in on our winged bat friends and our leggy
spider buddies. We are also highlighting the deep, dark color, black.
Perfect for the Halloween season!
The preschoolers started their day in the usual manner with a prayer to Jesus
and a blessing for our friends who may not be feeling well today.
We continued with our salute to the flag, calendar check, weather song and
forecast. The children are doing a wonderful job with the morning routine!
Next, I introduced the children to our friends, Billy, the black bat and
Spidey the black spider. We had fun shrieking with delight as
Spidey "danced' with us to the Raffi tune, "Spider on the Floor". Billy the
black bat also helped us learn some fun facts about bats. Did you know that
bats have wings, but are not birds. They are mammals. We also learned that
most bats in our neck of the woods eat insects and fruit. So unless we bare
an unfortumate resemblence to a cricket or spider, we are safe! Spidey
helped us find the black on our clothing, too.
Before our free play and center time activities, we reviewed the ABC chart
with a chant and pointed out the letter B. We made sure that Billy the Bat
got a shout out for having the /B/ sound in his name! Our preschoolers l-o-v-
e-d a special song that begins with the /B/ sound that they look forward to
performing for you the day of our Halloween party. SHHHH! The title is a
secret! Think /B/ sound! Our wee ones also looked at halloween inspired
pictures and were asked to tell me the words for the pictures: pumpkin,
witch, trick-or-treaters, ghost, spider, black cat, green monster, friendly
vampire. They did a fang-tastic job!
The children had the opportunities to build with blocks, create a bat finger
puppet, finish their pumpkins for our pumpkin patch, play in the kitchen,
complete puzzles and fashion a face for orange pumpkins with green triangle
shapes.
The children enjoyed a snack, a birthday treat, snuggle with a book and some
time outside for a stretch of the legs and fresh air. When we returned from
outside, the children gathered on the rug and were introduced to the bible.
We discussed that the bible is God's word and has many stories for us to
read. In those stories we learn about the teachings of God and ways in which
He wishes us to treat one another. We also looked into the bible to see the
section about the birth of Baby Jesus. We were very excited to know that
Jesus' birthday is on Christmas day! We will revisit the bible often.
Good-bye prayers were offered, as was our Phillies tune. I hope you were not
too frightened of the bats in the classroom!
See you on Thursday!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Booooo! It's letter B week and the color black! Booooo!
We started the day with our usual routine: name tag search, Question of the
Day(Have you ever seen a real bat? 6:Yes, 7:No), prayer, salute to the flag,
calendar check and weather forecast. We are old pros at the morning routine!
We reviewed the alphabet chart and introduced the letter B. Our little black
bat helped point out the letters on the chart and letter B words: blue,
black, bat, bubbles and "Boo". We found preschool friends whose names begin
with the letter b, three in all. We also featured the number 2. Did you
know that the letter B is the second letter of the alphabet? What a co-ink-a-
dink!
The color black appeared in the classroom in the form of a with's hat, a
black bat and numerous black items the children spied around the room. We
discussed black spiders and listened to an eerie song by Raffi about spiders
on the floor, then on our legs, on our stomachs, on our necks and on our
heads....EEEEKKKK! We'll be visiting the spider later in the week.
During our Center and Free Play times the children had the opportunities to
stamp out some scary number fun, create a face on a pumpkin using triangles,
one-to-one counting with numerals and Halloween counters, block building and
kitchen play. In our journals, we marked off the letter B on our ABC chart.
We also created stories about a bat and colored a bat black. Just like our
bat friends, the stories will be "hanging around" outside the classroom for
your enjoyment.
We enjoyed snack, a yummy birthday treat and a snuggle with a book. After
snack, we introduced the bible (B!) with the story of Noah's ark. We passed
around our children's bible and learned that the bible is God's word. We can
read many stories about God's teachings and about the life of Jesus. We will
revisit the bible this week.
To wrap up the day, I donned my favorite black witch's hat and put the
children to the task of finding something around the room that had the color
black. Those little leapin' lizards found something black faster than you
can say, "Black bats blow big bubbles!" The children found the color black
adorning frying pans, panther and gorilla toys, cassette cases, sneakers,
numbers on dice, boots and toy tires. Great Job!
In the remaining minutes we played a shape game with pumpkins and started to
review the sign language alphabet with letters A and B. We ended the day
with prayer.
Outside the classroom there is a sign-up posted for our Halloween party if
you are able to volunteer to bring in an item. Party details are in your
child's folder. Thank you in advance!
Please remember sneakers for Wednesday's gym class.
Go Phillies!
During Center Time and Free Play the children
Friday, October 16, 2009
Well, it may have been soggy today, but our spirits sure were not! We had a
wonderful experience this morning. Our preschoolers visited the library for
the first time this year!
We were invited by Sr. Miraim Elizabeth to visit the library and listen to a
story. Sr. Miriam read to us the story, "While You Were Sleeping". It is
the story of a little girl named Daisy who learns what animals do while she
sleeps. We listened as Sr. Miriam read about mice, owls, tigers, elephants
and more! The pictures were beautiful and we listened very nicely. Sr.
Miriam explained that we may start to take out books very soon. She taught
us the word "circulation". It means that we take a book out, bring it home
to read, then bring it back to the library for another child to take home.
We also learned to treat the books nicely and to wash our hands before
reading the book. We look forward to many happy days in the library!
Our pumpkin week wrapped up with the story, "The Tiniest Pumpkin", scooping
out a real pumpkin and tasting some yummy pumpkin pie. I used my tiny voice
to read the story, and the children used their tiny ears to listen to it.
Two brave souls stuck their hands inside the pumpkin to pull out seeds and
goo, while the rest of the clan used a very big spoon! The pie was a big hit
with only a couple of non-tasters. Yum!
The rest of the day we worked in our journals, finished our pumpkins and
played, played, played! The preschoolers alos enjoyed a birthday treat and
snuggle with a book on the ABC rug.
Enjoy your weekend and stay healthy!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
No school due to faculty inservice.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
I spy with my blue eyes something...orange! We had fun spotting orange
today. Whether it was a toy or decoration around the classroom, clothes on a
preschool friend, a big pumpkin or our snacks, we had our eyes tuned into
ORANGE!
We took a peek at our pre-carved classroom pumpkin. It is big, round and
orange. We compared it to a much smaller pumpkin. The preschoolers used
their eyes to see that both pumpkins were round, both were orange and both
had stems. Only the difference in size seemed to stand out. We then
practiced our pumpkin rhyme which you will see and hear on the day of our
Halloween party...along with a few other tricks and treats, too!
The preschoolers had a nice, long gym class today which featured a fire
safety theme. Mrs. Wallace incorporated fire safety lessons into fun gym
exercises and games. The children are experts at crawling low to avoid smoke
and stopping, dropping and rolling!
After snack we divided into groups to experience some neat activities. Of
course, free play was available, but the children were also able to use the
Smartboard and create a beautiful orange pumpkin.
Mrs. Piel demonstrated with paint that when the colors red and yellow are
combined, the oclor orange is created. The children mixed that orange paint
with some glue and "painted" a round plate. They then put on mosaic pieces
of orange paper to cover the plate. The pumpkin was given a jolly face with
black triangle eyes and a silly black grin. We will top the pumpkins off on
Friday with a stem and vines.
The preschoolers took a trip with me to the second floor to use the
Smartboard. We looked at a colorful little snippet of the "5 Little
Pumpkins" rhyme. We then used our fingers to create smile faces on the
Smartboard. It was very cool to see the children draw on the board with
their fingers. It was like magic! We will continue to use the Smartboard to
practice our name, create shapes and play math and ABC games. Big fun!
See you Friday!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere! It sure does look like Halloween around
here! We introduced our orange/pumpkin week with some real pumpkins! We
compared a small pumpkin with a big pumpkin. We noticed that both pumpkins
were the color orange, were round like a circle and had a stem at the top.
The only difference we could determine was the size!
A couple of wee ones came to school wearing the color orange. Some pre-k
friends even had pumpkins on their shirts! Way to get into the spirit!
Our children were active with various pumpkin activities throughout the
morning. The preschoolers practiced a pumpkin poem, then made orange pumpkin
puppets. First, the children were given a blob of red paint and a blob of
yellow paint on their round plates (pumpkins). The children mixed the two
colors with their paint brushes, and what do you think happened? Voila!
Orange paint! The children then used that orange paint to decorate the
pumpkin shape. Our pumpkins were still wet at the end of the day, so the
children will be able to bring them home next week.
Our little ones were also given the opportunity to build faces on pumpkins
using triangles and laminated pumpkin shapes. Counting to five was practiced
with pumpkin cards. The children listened to the "5 Little Pumpkins" rhyme
and watched as the pumpkins on the felt board rolled away.
We enjoyed snack, snuggle with a book on the ABC rug and a stretch of the
legs outside. After reading the story, "Happy Halloween, Biscuit!", we
looked at some pictures of a visit to a pumpkin patch that one of preschool
buddies brought in to share with us. We saw the beauty of the pumpkin patch
and remembered that God created all living things, like the pumpkins.
Our last pumpkin experience included peeking inside the top of our big
pumpkin and scooping out the seeds. We didn't have too many volunteers to
stick their hands inside the pumpkin, but everyone had a turn using a big
spoon to help scoop. Some brave souls even touched the pumpkin seeds and
accompanying "goo" after they were scooped out. Mrs. Piel offered a taste to
the kiddies of pumpkin from a can which is often used to make pumpkin pies
and various desserts. 100 percent pure pumpkin, no sugar, did not go over
well, but we were happy that some children gave it whirl!
We do not have school on Thursday due to a faculty inservice at Cardinal
O'Hara High School. We look forward to seeing you next week to scare up some
more fun for Halloween!
Just a reminder that our Halloween party is scheduled for Thursday, October
29th at 10:30 a.m. All are welcome to attend. The children are to come to
school at regular time in costume if they wish. Mrs. Piel and I will also be
in costume, so feel free to dress up, too! I will leave clues as to the
identity of my character starting next week. Yee-haw!
Have a good week, and we'll see you Tuesday!
Monday, October 12, 2009
In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue. In 2009 the Phillies are doin' fine!
We had Phillies Phever once again at St. Bernadette's. Fox 29's cameras were
focused on our enthusiastic Phillies fans from all grades, even our preschool
and Fr. Kelly got in on the fun! The pre-k had a special request from Fox 29
for an interview with one of our pre-k Phillies fans and to sing our
incomparable rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame". We did so with lots
of pep and spirit! We even snuck in the EAGLES cheer, too! Our interviewee
also did a fantastic job answering questions and may have a future in sports
broadcasting.
After the pep rally completed, we came back to the classroom to officially
start our day. We kept the Phillies spirit alive though with some fun center
activities. The children had the opportunities to create baseball balls and
bats out of play doh, construct a home for the Philly Phanatic using paper
cups and green, white and red pom-poms. We also used paper doll forms to
design our own baseball uniform. Some children stayed with the standard
Phillies uniform, while others chose to create a whole new look for the
Phils. Look for them in their folders.
The preschoolers practiced with crayon wipe-off boards making various types
of lines and tracing the letter A. We used the muscles in our hands to
follow dotted-lines and print letter A with a slant, slant, slide across.
Great job!
Letter A introduced the letter of the week. We read the story, "My 'A'
Book. We read about a little boy who collected items that began with the
letter A and placed them in a box. Items included: an alligator, arrows,
apples and a toy ax. An astronaut came along to help the little boy when his
box of "A" items began to burst. The astronaut even gave the boy a lift in
his rocket!
Our word of the day was "acorn". The preschoolers looked at numerous acorns
and were able to peek inside one to see the treat that the squirrels love to
collect and munch. We also introduced the color orange and made it our
mission during snuggle-with-a-book time to find something orange in the
storybook or a word that has the letter A. We have some serious eagle-eyed
preschoolers! The children enjoyed listening to the story, "Happy Halloween,
Biscuit" and hearing about Biscuit's adventures in the pumpkin patch and
prepping for trick-or-treating. Woof, woof!
During God's Time, one of our wee ones shared pictures of wondrous Niagra
Falls which she visited with her family over the weekend. We discussed how
God created great and small living things. Also during God's Time we
discussed doing acts of kindness, just as Jesus as asks us to do. We made
lovely get-well cards for our gym teacher's (Mrs. Wallce) daughter, Annie.
(Yes, we pointed out that Annie begins with our letter of the day!) We are
sure that our beautiful apple-inspired cards will bring her a smile!
Take a peek on the Fox 29 website to see if our pep rally is featured!
Gym Day is Wednesday. Go Phillies!
Friday, October 9, 2009
Although the Phillies did not secure a win last night, we intend to keep the
Phillies spirit alive and well! The pep rally yesterday at St. B was a huge
success, especially when it featured so many of our cheering students, and
one of our preschoolers dazzling everyone with her rendition of "Take Me Out
to the Ballgame'! Now, if that doesn't encourage our Fightin' Phils, nothing
will!
We had a nice morning, even though it started out ta bit damp and soggy. We
said our prayers, sang our morning tunes, checked the calendar and weather
and tallied our "Question of the Day" query: "Do you like apple pie?" The
responses were "sliced" in half! 9 said "yes", 9 said "no". It was up to
Mrs. Piel to break the tie and her response was....YES!
The children enjoyed free play, playing in our new kitchen, creating
delicious play doh recipes, building, puppeteering and putting puzzles
together. With Mrs. Piel the children completed their apple basket counting
project, and with me, the children "grew" beautiful handprint apple trees.
Lovely!
We enjoyed snack, snuggle with a book on the rug and the story, "Ten Apples
Up on Top". We discussed what the phrase "on top" meant and gave some
examples. The children then tried to balance apples on their heads, just as
the animals do in the book. Although we could not get 10 apples on top at
once, we did a terrific job balancing an apple on top of our heads.
We look forward to next week and our pumkin, orange and letter A activities!
You are welcome to dress in orange or bring anything in to the class that is
orange. Please let us know about any pumpkin adventures, too!
Go Phillies! Go Eagles!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Can you say, "PHILLIES FEVER?!" Forget about the swine flu, we have Phillies
Fever at St. Bernadette School! The pep rally was quite peppy and our
students, even our wee preschoolers and Mothers' Morning Out crew, joined in
on the fun. There were TV crews that captured much of the excitement on
film, so check out Channel 6 and 10 to see if you can recognize any smiling
faces. Our preschoolers enjoyed singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" with
the big kids. Even Fr. Kelly and Fr. Lucas were singing and cheering right
along with the children. Let's hope that our spirit and enthusiasm brings
those Fightin' Phils some good luck!
After the pep rally, it was back to preschool business. We sang, prayed,
checked weather and calendar. We had a nice free play time and then gathered
for an original puppet show presentaion. The children paired up with a buddy
and puppets and put on a lovely show using our puppet theater. The
preschoolers also practiced a fingerplay, "Apple Surprise" and used
instruments to keep the beat as we marched to some Halloween tunes. The
preschoolers dazzled with their rendition of the ABC song! Bravo!
We enjoyed snack and a snuggle on the ABC rug with books. Following snack,
we had some peaceful God's Time. We sat in a circle and passed around an
apple in a basket. When it was the child's turn, he/she picked the apple out
of the basket and told us of something that he/she is thankful to God for in
his/her life. We heard many children respond with Mom and Dad, brothers and
sisters, which was so lovely to hear. Some responses reflected gifts from
God beyond the family scope: a pet named Chaucer, a computer, a car, pears, a
sister completing her homework and a puppy. All responses came from the
heart!
The children had the opportunity to taste-test two apple products and
determine if they liked them or not. They stamped under the happy face
for "yes" and under the yucky face for "no". Our preschoolers were good
sports and tasted apple juice and apple sauce. Surprisingly, in both the
apple sauce and juice tests, all but 2 tasters were in favor of the apple-
licious offerings. Lip-smackin' good!
At the end of the day, we prayed to our Guradian Angels and tried as best we
could to put our own jackets and sweaters on all by ourselves. We are
working on that and will continue to do so. The preschoolers invited the
parents and caretakers in for a little treat. We recited our "Apple
Surprise" fingerplay and sang the Eagles' cheer! Since we already sang for
the Phillies during the morning pep rally, it was only fair to sing for the E-
A-G-L-E-S as we left for the week. Hopefully when we come back on Tuesday we
will have good reports on both Phillies' and Eagles' victories!
Enjoy your weekend!
P.S. Next week our theme will incorporate pumpkins and the color orange.
Your child is more than welcome to wear anything orange, bring in pictures of
pumpkins or share stories about trips to a pumpkin
patch.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Say CHEEEESE! We smiled as hard as we could today for pictures! What a
photogenic class we have. The kiddies cooperated beautifully with the
photographer. Great job!
Today our gym class was altered a bit due to Mrs. Wallace's absence. Please
keep Mrs. Wallace's daughter in your prayers as she recovers from surgery.
Mrs. Piel took on the job of gym teacher today with some apple-themed fun.
Half of the class went to gym, while the other half stayed with me and did
some pre-writing exercises with shaving cream. Shaving cream?! Yes, shaving
cream. We spread out some shaving cream and used our fingers to make strokes
and shapes in the cream. We used our fingers to go round and round in the
cream and noted that letters such as O, Q and part of C use a circle stroke.
We then touched the top and bumped the bottom of our cream in a straight
line. Letters such as H,L,I,T,R,P,N,E,F use a straight line or two in their
formation. We enjoyed the pre-writing fun and liked the soft feel of the
cream. We made sure not to eat the cream even though it looked so fluffy!
Mrs. Piel played "Red Apple, Green Apple" (a la "Red Light, Green Light") and
the children had some tossing practice into buckets. They also used the
parachute and foam "apples" to toss around. Big Fun!
We recited our ABC's, and each child went to the chart to pick out the
beginning letter of his/her name. Our word-of-the-day was "basket". We
looked at a basket and discussed what letter begins the word basket. Our
smart cookies knew it was the letter B. We also talked about what we use a
basket for, and we gathered much information on all the different things that
could go into a basket: food, clothes, apples, books, paper, "everything",
shirts, fruit. We then listened to a little rhyme about filling up our
baskets during God's Time. The children also started on a counting activity
gluing apples onto baskets and practicing our one-to-one counting skills.
The day ended with some free play, story and prayer. We listened to the
spooky story, "Ten Timid Ghosts". Woooooooooooooooooooooooo! The children
caught onto the pattern and rhythm of the story very quickly and helped
me "read" the story. It was ghostly fun!
Enjoy this lovely day. See you on Friday!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
SMILE! Today was Picture Day in pre-k! Before we headed upstairs to get our
picture taken, we took a peek at ourselves in the full-length mirror to
practice our smiles (and dance a pirouette or two). All the preschool
buddies went right over to the camera and cooperated very nicely with the
photographer. Some wee ones even asked to take MORE pictures! I am sure you
will be so happy with the results.
Another out-of-the-ordinary thing about our morning was the trip to O'Brien
Hall for a sneak peek at the Book Fair. Seventh grade buddies escorted us
over to O'Brien Hall, helped showed the children the books available and
wrote out wish lists. Our Family Night at the Book Fair is tonight from 6:30-
8:00 p.m. if you wish to take a peek yourselves.
We started our ABC's and Apples theme week with an apple fingerplay. We hope
to master it soon so we may perform it for you! The preschoolers made an
apple tree last week with apple prints. We used our tree this morning for a
fun, fall activity. We pretended to plant seeds to make our tree grow. We
acted out the growth from seed to apple tree including digging, watering,
blooming and picking. The children walked up to our tree and "picked" an
apple from the tree and placed it in a bucket. We also had some tossing
practice with foam apples into a bucket. Fun! Fun!
Later, the children enjoyed Free Play, a snack and finished up finger-painted
leaves. We also made a lovely "fruit salad" with our foam fruit and
parachute in place of a bowl. We played the Wiggles song, "Fruit Salad" and
had loads-o-fun tossing fruit to make a scrumptious treat.
At the end of the day we prayed our prayer to our Guardian Angels and
sang "Good-Bye" to one another. Since we had about half the children request
the Phillies tune and half request the Eagles' cheer, we decided to sing
both! How exciting to have two great teams to cheer for at this time of the
year!
Thank you for all the supplies you have sent in to keep our classroom as germ-
free as possible with so many wee ones. We appreciate the sanitizing wipes,
hand cleanser and tissues. We are practicing, practicing sneezing into our
elbows, washing our hands when we leave the bathroom and throwing our tissues
in the trash cans.
Enjoy the rest of this beautiful day!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Holy Smokes! We had a SURPRISE fire drill today, fire engines, firefighters
and all!
The preschoolers had just come back from the Book Fair and were getting down
to business. A group was in the cafeteria with Mrs. Piel making yummy apple-
dapples, while the other children were in the pre-k room with me doing what
preschoolers do best...playing, building, coloring, puppeteering, using the
bathroom when.......HONK! HONK! HONK! (It really does sound like a goose!)
The fire alarm rang out! As practiced, the preschoolers quickly stopped what
they were doing and lined up at the door for our swift exit. The children
did a fantastic job getting out quickly without too much concern.
The firefighters decided to test us to see if we would notice if one of our
own preschoolers was missing from the line. They held back a child in the
school (Our preschool friend cooperated nicely and was not afraid at all!).
We passed the test with flying colors as we quickly noted that one of our wee
ones was not in line. The firefighters were impressed with our little
preschooler for helping out so nicely with the test, and also with how we
quickly noticed she was not with the class! Good job, preschoolers! The
school on a whole did a fantastic job with the drill. What an exciting
morning!
After the drill, we discussed how well we did and how the firefighters were
present today in order to practice with us. We then enjoyed a snack, a
snuggle with a book and got back to the baking of our apple-dapples.
We listened to the story, "Apple Farmer Annie" written by Monica Wellington.
We discussed what the words "orchard" and "sort" mean. The children listened
as we heard about all the apple items Annie has to offer at her market stand:
loose apples to munch, apple pies, apple muffins, apple sauce and apple
cider. Earlier, our Question of the Day revealed that only one preschooler
is not terribly fond of apples.
After the story, we played "Hot Apple Sauce" a spin on "Hot Potato". We
passed around a real apple as we listened to music. When the music stopped
the children were asked to respond with a rhyming word for a word I gave.
They did a very good job thinking of words and helping one another out if a
friend got stuck. We will continue to practice rhyming words throughout the
month.
Please note that although Wednesday is Picture Day, Mrs. Wallace still
requires sneakers for participation in gym class. Please pack sneakers if
your child is not wearing them for pictures. The pictures are headshots
only, so no tooties will be visible in the picture. Thanks!
Hope you enjoyed the yummy apple-dapple!
Friday, October 2, 2009
Farewell to Fine-Feathered Farm Friends Week! We are closing the barn door
on our Farm Theme and welcoming a new theme over the next few weeks. We will
be introducing our Halloween and Autumn activities in October. Our first
week will be ABC's-n-Apples fun! Please check your child's folder for our
October calendar and reminders about Picture Day and Book Fair.
The kiddies picked out their names on the table and answered the "Question of
the Day": "Can you do the Chicken Dance?" Well, we had a tie today and we
needed Mrs. Repino's vote to determine a winner for most votes. "Yes":
10, "No":9. Well, you know what followed...we all did the CHICKEN DANCE!
Yes, your preschoolers will now be prepared for any wedding reception or
family party to get on the dance floor and quack, flap wings, lay an egg and
clap, clap, clap! Our little chickens had the most fun "swinging their
partners"!
We read the story, "Five Little Ducks" about a flock of naughty little ducks
who go "over the hill and far away", much to Mother Duck's quack-quack-
quacking. We then distributed nests (cups) and ducks (5 cotton balls) to
each child. We played Raffi's song, "Five Little Ducks", and as each duck
took off over the hill, we removed a duck until no little ducks were left.
We gave off a very big "QUACK! QUACK! QUACK!", and you know what? All of the
five little ducks came back!
We enjoyed the quacking so much, that we played a quack/numbers game. I held
up a number (1-5) and the children quacked for each numbered amount. We have
some smart duckies in this class!
During Free Play, the children sorted colored manipulatives from our straw
box, connected colored egg shells and placed them in a dozen carton, stamped
ducks (1-5) with Mrs. Piel during a counting activity (check folders for the
5 ducks) and completed their feathered friends, the owls. The children also
played with play doh, built with blocks and legos and played with the kitchen
and doll house.
After Free Play, the children enjoyed snack, cleaned their trash and snuggled
with a book. During God's Time we discussed our Guradian Angel. Today is
the feast of the Guardian Angel. We discussed that they are our "feathered-
friends" (wings!) are sent by God to be at our side to help to keep us safe
and make good choices. We talked about what name our Guradian Angels might
be if we could choose. The name Mary was popular with the girls, although
there were a few other suggestions: Daphne, Colette, Sprinkles, Riley and
Goochie. Some of the boys went BIG with the name GOD. We prayed our prayer
to our Guardian Angels and will continue to do so throughout the year.
At the end of the day we took some time to visit the gym for a stretch of the
legs. We played a game, "Feathered Friends". The children lined up on one
side of the gym. I called out an animal's name. If the animal was a bird
and had feathers, they flapped their wings and flew to the other side of the
gym and landed in their nests. If the animal was not a bird, the children
stayed put on the line. I tried my best to trick them, but our preschoolers
are too smart! They did not budge when I offered the names: elephant,
rhinoceros, snake, cow, pig and caterpillar. They did take flight when they
heard: duck, goose and chicken. Wise owls, this crew!
Thank you for following the new dismissal plan. We will work any kinks out.
Book Fair starts Monday, and Picture Day is Wednesday...still bring or wear
sneakers!
Enjoy your weekend! Go Phillies!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Welcome, October! We had the ceremonial moving of the month banner from
September to October and took down all the numbered days to make way for the
number "1". It is hard to belive, but we are now at the first day of
October. It is a busy, busy month, so keep your eyes peeled for upcoming
events. This coming week we have Picture Day and the Book Fair. A note is
in your child's folder to remind you. October calendars will come home next
Tuesday.
The children completed crafting owl puppets this morning and took some time
to swoop around the cafeteria with their owls to look for something to eat.
We made special considerations for the owls today since owls normally dine in
the evening. We woke the owls and allowed for an early dinner...an "early-
bird special", if you please. Turn the owl puppet over, and on the back of
the owl puppet you will find our "Little Owl" rhyme. We practiced the rhyme
using our puppets and our free arms as the branches of the trees on which the
owls may perch. Adorable!
We listened to the story, "I'm Not Scared!" by Jonathan Allen. It is the
story of Baby Owl out for a stroll in the woods with his favorite stuffed
animal, Owly. While on his walk, he encounters 3 woodland animals: a badger,
bear and bat. They are concerned that Baby Owl may be scared out in the
woods at night. Baby Owl assures the animals, (with some frustration), "I'm
not scared!" said Baby Owl. And it isn't my bedtime. I'm an owl, and owls
stay up all night!" Hopefully YOUR baby owls with not stay up all
night!
Our preschoolers are getting the morning routine down quite nicely. We
identify our name tags, pray, salute the flag, check the weather and mark
the calendar. This week we have practiced our days of the week and months of
the year songs. The weather song remains popular. I'm not sure if it is
because the children love the song or enjoy having the opportunity to toss
snowballs at Mrs. Piel!
The children participated whole-heartedly in Free Play and had the options to
sort colored manipulatives hidden in yellow "straw", play in the kitchen,
create works of art with play doh, build with legos, work the cash register,
and put puzzles together. We also started construction of an apple tree by
coloring green leaves on branches.
After snack, we discussed our Guardian Angels. Tomorrow is the feast of the
Guardian Angel. They are our friends in heaven sent by God to help protect
us. We recited our prayer to the Guardian Angel, and thought of names for
them. My angel's name is George. After God's Time we had a nice stretch of
the legs and breath of fresh air outside. The children also danced
the "Chicken Dance" and added painted red or yellow apples to our apple tree.
We used real apples to paint the tree. We noted that if you cut an apple
across the middle, you will see a beautiful star!
We sang for our National League Eastern Division Champs, the Phillies, with
our "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" tune. There were some requests for the
Eagles cheer, but since the Phillies did such a great job last night, we had
to devote our time to them! Don't worry Eagles fans, we'll get right back
to E-A-G-L-E-S next week!
Enjoy your weekend!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Well, we certainly made the most of the last day of September! We were
very busy little birds today!
We started off with our usual routine: prayer, flag, weather (Need you even
ask...yes, Mrs. Piel got pelted by snowballs once again!), calendar
and "Question of the Day": Have you ever fed ducks?" It seems that we have
slightly more duck-feeders than non-duck feeders. Everyone got a turn
holding the classroom duck and describing what he/she would feed a duck if
given the opportunity. The preschoolers did not get fooled by my suggestion
that ducks love hamburgers, spaghetti and pizza. Although one preschooler
suggested that ducks like macaroni and cheese...there's a comedian in every
bunch! Mostly, the food options included "duck food" and "bread crumbs".
Mrs. Wallace made everyone's day when she arrived to take them to gym class.
Mrs. Wallace continues to be pleased with how well the class participates in
activities. Woo! Woo! We even had a child visit in class today who loved
playing with the children and also had a wonderful time in gym class.
The children enjoyed their snacks and snuggles with books. During God's
TIme, we discussed the rosary and counted 10 beads. October is the month of
the rosary, so we will keep it in our discussions and activities. We pray
and learn to count to 10!
The children took a little excursion up one floor to a Smartboard classroom.
We looked at beautiful pictures of owls, and Mrs. Piel showed us a video of
owls flying through the air and landing on trees, in nests and on the
ground. I think the favorite owl was the snowy owl. It got the
most "OOOOOOOOOOHHHHH"s from the class when its picture was displayed. The
children they made it back down the steps and started finishing their owl
projects. We expect the feathers to be in place by Friday!
Due to the great importance of tonight's Phillies game, we sang "Take Me Out
to the Ballgame" to ensure that last win needed to clinch the National League
Eastern Division crown. Let's Go Phillies!
Next week we will have picture day on Wednesday. It will also be gym day, so
please make sure that your child has sneakers on or with them to change for
class. Thank you!
We will leave you with a little owl humor: What do you call an owl with a
sore throat? A bird that doesn't give a hoot!
Go Phillies!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Old MacDonald would love our preschool classroom! He would have so much fun
listening to us "Moooo", "Cluck", "Oink", "Quack" and "Ruff" that he would
think he was down on an actual farm! We used our maracas and bells to keep
the beat with the tune, "Old MacDonald". We not only used our instruments
with the next tune, "Skip to My Lou", but we did some impressive skipping,
too!
The children listened to the story, "Mrs. Wishy-Washy's Farm" by Joy Cowley.
We described certain words, such as barn, city, huddle and tub. They enjoyed
hearing about the adventures of the three animals in the story who came to
appreciate Mrs. Wishy-Washy's washing and scrubbing in the tub! The
preschoolers also had the chance to catch a cow before snack. That's always
fun!
Once again, the preschoolers the with prayers, the salute to the flag and
weather check, (Yes, Mrs. Piel got covered in snow...AGAIN!) we had a fun
free play period during which the children played with legos, blocks, our
farm, the kitchen, puzzles, trucks, coloring and Rescue Heroes. The children
also had the opportunity to pick out colored manipulatives from
our "haystack" and place them in the matching color cups.
We introduced the fire drill this morning. We read the story, "Clifford, the
Firehouse Dog" and discussed what a fire drill is and how we accomplish it.
We explained that the drill is just a practice to keep us safe in the event
we would need to leave our classroom quickly. We discussed how everyone in
the school, even the Mothers' Morning Out crew, needs to practice leaving the
school quickly. The children did a fantastic job getting up and out of the
classroom. We will no doubt have surprise drills as a school, so we need to
be prepared. We were very pleased with how the children followed
directions! We then took a break outside for a nice stretch of the legs and
fresh air onthis beautiful fall day.
The preschoolers started crafting friendly barn owl puppets and practiced a
little fingerplay, "Little Owl". The purple cows we painted with marbles
last week went home today, and the owl puppets will take the trip home on
Thursday.
Enjoy your Wednesday!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Fine-feathered Farm Friends Week went off with a flutter of activities.
First, we took care of business with the "Question of the Day" (Do you like
to eat eggs? 12 - Yes, 4 - No), then, the children picked a new ABC letter
out of the box to be their Circle Time letter. We prayed, saluted the flag
and checked the weather. Can you believe Mrs. Piel still did not see those
snowballs flying her way?
At Circle Time we discussed birds and their characteristics. We particularly
were mindful of two specific farm-feathered friends, the duck and goose. We
noted their physical and habitual similarities and differences. We learned
that they are both lucky to have water-proof feathers that not only help with
their wet activities, but also help to keep them warm when the water is a bit
chilly. We also noted that both the goose and duck have webbed feet to help
them swim, wings, beaks and can lay eggs and build nests. The children
noticed that the duck looked a bit smaller than the goose, and its neck was
not quite as long as the goose's neck.
We read the story, "The Cow Who Clucked" and learned a little poem about
another feathered friend, the owl. We began crafting an owl, starting with
the head, 2 eyes, beak, ears and body. When the owls are finished, you will
marvel at their beauty and wonder "Whoooooooooooo knew owls could be so
wondrous?!" We discussed how the owl dines late at night and can move its
neck all around to spy its potential dinner.
During our Center Time, the children were able to sift through the hay to
pull out colored animal counters. They placed each counter into the
corresponding colored cup. Our preschoolers also matched the halves of 12
colored eggs and placed them into the dozen count carton. Some children
began their journals with practice holding a pencil and tracing their names.
Before snack we had fun with the "Chicken Dance" and caught a flying
duck.
We enjoyed snack, snuggle with a book and an introduction to the rosary
during God's Time.
Please remember sneakers on Wednesday for gym class!
Friday, September 25, 2009
TGIF! We made it through Week 2! Time is flying! What a beautiful day it
turned out to be. It was perfect weather for our first mini-fire drill of
the season. We listened to the story, "Clifford the Firehouse Dog", then
discussed what a fire drill is, and its importance to our safety. We
discussed that a fire drill does not mean that there is an actual fire in the
school. We just practice getting out of the school lickety-split, and
quietly, in the event that we do need to scoot. The children were made aware
that the entire school, even the wee ones in Mothers' Morning Out, need to
practice fire drills. In fact, we are encouraged to also have a fire escape
plan at home, too.
The children did a fantastic job stopping their activity and lining up at the
door when they heard my "fire alarm" bell ring. We left the classroom
quickly and quietly. What good listeners! The school will conduct surprise
drills over the next few weeks, so we need to be prepared without being too
scared. (That rhymes!)
This morning we once again very skillfully hung our backpacks and jackets,
then found our names on the tables for "Question of the Day". We were asked
if we liked bacon (Sorry, piggy fans). 13 preschoolers voted "Yes", and 5
voted "No". Then it was onto the ABC rug for prayer, salute to the flag,
calendar, weather and question tally.
Our busy day progressed with an egg color match and free play. The children
also beautifully finished their fingerpainting which will be transformed into
lovely fall leaves for the classroom. We also put the finishing touches on
our three little pigs' houses of straw, sticks and bricks.
Later in the morning after snack, snuggle with a book and outdoor recess, the
children milked a cow. That's right, they milked a cow. Ok, so they didn't
actually milk a real cow, but they used a squeezing motion to "milk" a
plastic glove filled with water. It was squishy fun. Some of our preschool
friends were able to go up to the second floor and see a Smartboard in
action. We introduced the Smartboard with the story, "Oh, Crumps" about a
very tired farmer and his mixed-up day. The preschoolers who did not get a
chance to see the Smartboard, will do so on Monday. I hope to use the
Smartbaord often as if offers many activities to sharpen pre-reading, pre-
writing and emerging math skills.
Next week we will fly into the wonderful world of our fine-feathered
farm friends including: the chicken, rooster, duck and goose. Feathers, eggs
and a bit of splashing will be on the schedule for "nest" week.
It was nice to have some of our parents able to join us for the "Good-Bye"
song and E-A-G-L-E-S cheer. Hopefully, we will bring the Eagles some luck
this weekend with our singing!
Enjoy your weekend!
Thursday, Septemeber 24, 2009
Mother Goose on the Farm Week continued with the recitation of two new
rhymes. Our first rhyme was the ever-popular "Humpty Dumpty". Poor Humpty
had great fall after great fall each time we listened to the rhyme. We
decided to give Humpty a "break" and play a carnival game using Humpty's
image on a milk jug. The Humpty jug sat on a stool, and the children were
able to flex their muscles and sharpen their hand/eye coordination skills by
tossing a bean bag at the picture of Humpty attached to a quart-sized milk
jug. Since Humpty was now made of paper, no kings' horses nor no kings men
were called upon to put Humpty together again! Only giggles and fun were the
result!
The preschoolers also made Humpty Dumpty cookies, molding the dough into an
oval shape. The children used their fingers to mold Humpty and used raisins
for his eyes. Some Humpty cookies didn't even make it out of the classroom
without a taste-testing. MMMMM! Those oval Humpty Dumpty cookies sure
smelled good coming out of the oven. I hope they tasted just as
good!
Another rhyme visited was the silly one about a purple cow. We played a game
of "How Now Purple Cow?" as the children were asked to cover their eyes while
a purple cow was hidden. When given the signal (a loud MOOOOO!), the
preschoolers were told to scan the room for the rare purple cow. We have
some very impressive purple cow retrievers!
The preschoolers were also given the chance to paint a purple cow...not the
traditonal way, of course! We used purple paint, a cookie tray and some
MARBLES! Yes, we painted with marbles! Marbles were drenched in purple
paint, then set on a tray with a picture of a cow. The children tilted the
tray back and forth as the marble rolled and "painted" the cow. The purple
cows are drying on our line and will be available for home visits next week!
In our preschool classroom we continue to practice our prayers, salute the
flag, check the calendar and weather and put away our own backpacks. We are
also doing a very good job learning to identify our names using the morning
name tag search and sit "criss-cross, applesauce" on the rug.
During God's Time, our preschoolers listened to the story, "Everything
Grows". We then had a listen to the song, "Everything Grows" by Raffi. We
took turns and used our bells and maracas. We discussed the difference
between living and non-living things and how God created all living things.
Living things grow, just like babies, animals, and plants do.
The children had a nice visit to the gym for a stretch of the legs. It was a
good opportunity to begin the practice of lining up and staying in line as we
walk the halls. We will continue to practice this, especially as we prepare
for the inevitable school fire drill that will occur over the next few
weeks.
As always, the children had fun playing with the farmhouse, dollhouse, Rescue
Heroes, kitchen, play-doh, puzzles, blocks, puppets and trucks. We are busy
little bees!
At the end of the day we sang our "Good-Bye" song, then did a switch-er-oo.
Instead of singing the Phillies song, we started our E-A-G-L-E-S fight song.
We must give equal time to our beloved Eagles. We will alternate
between "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and the Eagles cheer until the baseball
season is over (and we have secured another World Championship). The
children had fun showing their Eagle wings and flapping away to the song!
Thank you for all the donations of tissues, sanitizers and soap. We
appreciate your thoughtfulness.
Enjoy your weekend!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Hooraaaay! Gym Day is finally here! The children had a treee-mendous time
with Mrs. Wallace in gym class today. The children were so excited when Mrs.
Wallace appeared at our preschool door to take the children to their very
first official gym class. Mrs. Wallace gave a very good report at the end of
the class. The children impressed Mrs. Wallace with their listening and
following of directions. Let's keep it up! Woo Woo!
We noted the beginning of the new season of FALL with the book "Fall Changes"
by Ellen B. Senisi. We enjoyed seeing in the book the beautiful real-life
pictures of the many changes that fall has to offer us. We look forward to
the changing of the leaves from green to reds, oranges and yellows. We will
also be on the lookout for our busy squirrel friends industriously collecting
treats for the cold winter ahead. The children began a leaf project with
Mrs. Piel that involved everyones' favorite...fingerpainting! The leaves
will be hanging from our pre-k ceiling next week.
Today the children chose an uppercase letter from a box to be their ABC rug
letter for Circle Time. Along with identifying their names at arrival time,
the children will now have a quick practice with identifying upper case
letters. The "Question of the Day" was: "Do you like to drink milk?" MOST
of the children voted "Yes" with a response of 15, while we had 3 dairy hold-
outs. Now, when I asked who liked chocolate-flavored milk, there was a
thunderous "YES". The response was not quite so enthusiastic when I asked if
anyone liked cauliflower-flavored milk!
We listened to the story of the three little pigs and their chinny-chin-
chins. The big bad wolf once again did not make out well at the end of the
story. We later started on replicas of the piggies' 3 houses using yellow
paper for the straw, toothpicks for sticks and red squares for
bricks.
Over the next few weeks we will be discussing fire prevention tips and
practice scooting from the room quickly and quietly during fire drills. The
entire school participates in the fire drills, so I would like the children
to be as comfortable as possible for the surprise drills we will likely have
over the next week or two.
During our God's Time we discussed the difference between living and non-
living things. We discussed that God created all living things. We passed
around a real mini-pumpkin and told one another what living thing we are
thankful for in our lives. You will be pleased to know that most kiddies
chose members of their family... and a pet or two!
We continue to become more independent putting our bookbags away, cleaning
our trash after snack and packing up our things at the end of the day. We
started a new song at the end of the day which we will alternate with "Take
Me Out to the Ballgame" for our Fightin' Phils. Can you guess what it
possibly could be?....................E-A-G-L-E-S!
See you on Friday!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Thank you to Mrs. Sheridan and Mrs. Farrell for organizing and hosting such a
lovely preschool party this past Friday night. It was so much fun to see the
children with moms, dads and siblings getting to know the rest of the St.
Bernadette preschool family. And that moon bounce was a big, bouncy hit! We
have such a lovely spirit here at St. Bernadette. Thank you for your support
and involvement!
We had the ceremonial moving of the pink four seasons arrow today as we
said, "Good-Bye!" to SUMMER and "Hello!" to a new season, AUTUMN! We are
going to start to pay special attention to the beautiful changes and
activities that abound during autumn including the colorful dance of falling
leaves and the determined focus of squirrels collecting food for their winter
pantries. We too will be very busy with autumn activities over the next few
weeks. This morning we started with some finger painting which will
result in some colorful fall leaves for the classroom.
This morning we introduced the American flag with a discussion of the three
colors (red, white and blue) and how we hold our right hand over our hearts
during the recitation of the pledge. Each child will have the opportunity to
be our flag holder. It is one of our most sought after jobs, along with bell
ringer and line leader! We sang about the seven days of the week, and once
again surprised Mrs. Piel with a snowball or two during the weather song. We
also introduced the practice of finding his/her name tag on the table at
arrival and placing it on the metal cabinet. The children noted how the
magnet on the back of the tag keeps it on the metal cabinet. (Smart
cookies!) They did a wonderful job recognizing their names!
Our theme this week is "Mother Goose on the Farm". The children had the
opportunity to sharpen their listening skills by sitting quietly on the ABC
rug as I read the rhymes "Little Bo-Peep" and "Baa Baa Black Sheep". The
preschoolers and I played a little game of hide-and-go-seek. We used our
imaginations and Mother Goose rhymes, of course! We pretended that I was Bo-
Peep and left the little sheep with the Momma sheep, Mrs. Piel, while I went
out to the meadow to pick some flowers. Wouldn't you know that when I
returned from the meadow just a minute or two later, all my sheep were lost?!
In order for the sheep to come out of hiding, I needed to recite "Little Bo-
Peep". When the children heard the line, "...wagging their tails behind
them", they knew to come out of hiding and become one big happy flock again!
The "sheep" followed directions very nicely, and Bo-Peep was happy to have
her wooly friends found.
We took a break outside on the grass for some fresh air and stretch of the
legs. Before the children played, we listened to the rhyme "Baa Baa Black
Sheep". While outside, the children threw three bags of wool (bean bags)
into the bin (bucket). We have some very accomplished wool-tossers in the
group! The children also enjoyed a snack and quiet time on the ABC rug
looking through books together.
We can not forget the absolute best part of preschool: we enjoyed playing
with toys, blocks, puzzles, coloring, doll house decorating, Rescue Heroes,
legos, puppets and kitchen fun.
Thank you for all donations of tissues, soap, wipes and sanitizer. We are so
grateful for your consideration of our wee ones.
See you on Thursday!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Thank you to the Hostess with the Mostest, Mrs. Sheridan, for inviting the
preschool children and their families for an evening of fun and friendship
this past Friday. We had the very best time and appreciated all the work
that went into oraganizing the event. As you now know, our St. Bernadette
preschool families ROCK! Thanks to all those who were able to attend, and to
all who brought so many yummy treats to share!
Today, we changed some job assignments and got right down to our preschool
biz. The "Question of the Day" was, "Have you ever milked a cow?"
Surprisingly, we have 4 future dairy farmers in our class! 4 voted "yes",
and 14 voted "no" to the question. We also made a simple graph of our
responses to the question, "Which is your favorite farm animal?" The
children, Mrs. Piel and I choose from 5 animals: horse, pig, sheep, cow and
chicken. The horse ran away with the votes receiving 11. The piggie had 1
vote. Our friends the sheep and cow each received 3, while the chicken laid
2 eggs. Simple graphing and counting farm-fun! Yee-haw!
This week we are focusing on the cow and pig. We discussed facts about each
animal and noted likes and differences in their appearances. Did you know
that pigs use mud as a sunscreen, are considered the fourth most intelligent
animal and will eat slop or mash ( a mish-mash of fruits, vegetables, water
and just about anything else!)that the farmers prepare for them? Cows prefer
hay, straw and grass. Cows can see colors and can produce up to 100 glasses
of milk a day. Here's one you may not know about our cow friends...a group
of 12 or more cows is called a "flink". So, since we have 18 pre-k cows, we
have a flink!
The children had opportunities during free play and centers to fill piggy
banks by rolling dice and placing the amount rolled into their "banks". The
kiddies also had real mini-pumpkins (even a white one!) and gourds to view.
If they chose to, they could try to replicate the pumpkins/gourds with play
doh. Blocks and Lincoln Logs were also available for the preschoolers to
construct their own farms or pens.
We practiced our prayers, enjoyed a snack and visited the great outdoors for
recess. After recess we listened to the story, "The Little Rabbit Who Liked
to Say MOO" by Jonathan Allen. We then played a game of "Holy Cow!" The
children were asked to cover their preschool peepers while Mrs. Piel hid a
cow. When they opened their eyes, the preschoolers shouted, "Holy Cow!" when
they spotted the cow. The children were then asked if the cow
was "on", "next to", "under" or "in" for some position word practice.
Please remember to wear sneakers on Wednesday for gym day!
Friday, September 18, 2009
Cowabunga! We made it through our first week of pre-k without a hitch! The
children are doing wonderfully. We are quickly getting used to the routine
and are cooperating nicely.
Today, the preschoolers listened to the story, "The Big Red Barn" by Margaret
Wise Brown. If you are familiar with Ms. Brown's other classic, "Goodnight
Moon", then you will enjoy "The Big Red Barn". What made this reading of the
book so special today was the presence of a BIG RED BARN in the classroom! A
former preschool family lent us a beautifully hand-crafted red barn for the
children to play with. We have an addition of a big green tractor, too!
The wee farmers had an opportunity to have an "apple" toss with bean bags and
buckets, play a farm animal memory game and imagine which farm animal they
would like to be if they could choose and why. It was interesting to hear
their answers. Next week we will make a simple graph with their responses
to see which farm animal was chosen the most. I will give you a hint
as to the winner...this farm animal "galloped away" with the victory. This
is not to say that other farm animals were not appreciated. We have some
very creative responses as to why a preschooler chose a particular animal.
We will have the results posted on our outside wall so you can view them at
dismissal.
Our preschoolers enjoyed snacks, celebrated a birthday, snuggled with books
and went outside for a stretch of the legs and some fresh air. The children
also took a trip to the gym and worked on their motor skills with a game of
egg/spoon relay. Big Fun!
Please come to the St. Bernadette Block party on Sunday from 12-4:00 p.m. if
you are able. It will be a great time for all!
Enjoy your weekend! Go Phillies! Go Eagles!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Can you believe it? We've completed the first week of pre-k! The wee
farmhands are doing their very best to get to know our routine, listen
carefully and play nicely. We are so very proud of each and every
preschooler!
Today, we came in and matched our colored shape tag with our backpack bin.
As the weeks go on, the children will be able to do this without a hitch! We
then enjoyed some free play during which I was made many delicious meals from
our well-stocked kitchen by our very accomplished chefs, and Mrs. Piel
supervised a most impressive building project (with one or two demolitions!)
using our classroom blocks. Other preschoolers used their imaginations and
played with puppets, created interesting play doh models and put together
some "mixed-up pets" with our new puzzle game.
We are slowly introducing the routine with prayers and songs. We are very
happy to sing "Hello" to one another and even happier to toss snowballs at
Mrs. Piel during the "Weather" song. Next week we will introduce the flag
and start to assign some classroom jobs.
The farmers were given a lovely surprise with the addition of a big red barn
to play with in the classroom. A former preschool family allowed us the use
of a wonderful wooden barn and a big plastic tractor. Thank you! We
couldn't introduce the big red barn without reading the story..."The Big Red
Barn" by Margaret Wise Brown. The children had the opportunity to take turns
and play with the barn. One of our preschoolers brought in pictures of a
trip to a horse farm and a farm book, so we enjoyed looking at the pictures
of real horses and listening to a story about Farmer Jed. Thank you!
Today we also enjoyed snack, snuggled with a book on the rug and had to
sample a very popular pre-k song...the "Freeze Dance". We can't help dancing
and freezing to this tune no matter what the weather may be! The
preschoolers also ended the day with our "Guardian Angel" prayer, "Good-Bye"
song and cheer for the Phillies.
Please enjoy your weekend. We look forward to seeing you for week @ of
preschool where we will meet up with some friends of Mother Goose who will
visit our farm.
Just a reminder that our St. Bernadette Family Block Party is on Sunday from
12-4:00 p.m. We hope you can join us for a fun day for
all!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Holy cow! The day flew by so quickly! Our wee farmhands were so busy
today. The little cowpokes had a nice surprise from a special visitor,
played with a new tractor and farm puzzle, and enjoyed some down time with
their new buddies.
We started off the day finding our backpack bins, identifying
our printed names on the table and answering the "Question of the Day" (Have
you ever visited a farm?) with a "Yes" or "No". As it turned out, there were
11 "Yes" votes and 7 "No" votes. We practiced our "Days of the Week"
and "Weather" tunes...poor Mrs. Piel always get snowballs tossed her way at
the end of the "Weather" song. We'll have to warn her to DUCK the next time!
The children were visited by everybody's favorite gym teacher, Mrs. Wallace!
Mrs. Wallace, and special friend Mr. Frog, came to visit us today and take a
trip to the gymnasium. Since the children did such a fantastic job walking
to the gym and listening to Mrs. Wallace, she decided that we could play a
parachute game. Farm animals were tossed into the flapping parachute and
were bouncing and flying all over the place. We can actually say that we saw
pigs FLY today! Please have the children wear sneakers every Wednesday for
gym class and keep jewelry to a minimum so that nothing gets snagged on
equipment. Mrs. Wallace and Mr. Frog enjoyed meeting the children, and we
enjoyed meeting them!
We then were quite ready for a yummy snack and snuggle with a book on the
rug. After that, we talked about the blessing of living creatures,
especially farm animals and thanked God for creating them for us. We
listened to the book "Farm Animals" by Wade Cooper and had a chance to quess
what farm animal was being described. The children also played with toys,
colored pictures, built with blocks, worked on puzzles and finished up their
dot-paint hen/egg pictures.
The children are doing a very good job helping with clean-up time and trying
their best to follow directions and enjoy one another. We had a FARM-TASTIC
day!
At the end of the day, we sang "Good-bye", cheered for the Phillies and
waited nicely at our tables for pick-up time. Thank you for following the
pick-up routine, entering through the front door and out the back. It helps
me keep track of who is coming and who is going.
Enjoy the rest of your day! The first Home and School Meeting is tonight at
7:00 in O'Brien Hall.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Welcome to the three year-old preschoolers! We had a farm-tastic start to
our "Down on the Farm" week.
The children did have a wonderful time playing with toys and playing together
as they became more comfortable with their new classroom. We got right down
to the business of preschool with some fun songs, a rhyme, building,
painnting, listening to a story, dancing, play doh molding, egg/color hunt
and scrambling eggs. Scrambling eggs?!
We started off our day after some play with a little bit of scrambled eggs.
We went to the henhouse, picked out some eggs (nerf balls) and brought them
to the frying pan (our parachute). A wee farmer helped me toss the eggs into
the frying pan while the other farm friends helped cook-up some delicious
eggs by flapping the parachute up and down. We tried our best to keep the
eggs in the pan, but some did escape! The children also enjoyed listening to
the story, "Dora's Eggs" about a chicken who comes to appreciate her own farm
babies, the newly hatched chicks.
Our preschoolers danced to some country tunes, including the ever-
popular, "Cotton-Eyed Joe". We also had a good time tossing snow balls at
Mrs. Piel during our weather song and painting a precious piggie.
After our prayer before meals, we enjoyed a snack together. It was then off
on an egg hunt! We picked a colored feather out of a bag, then took a tour
of the school hallway hunting for an egg that matched our colored feather.
On our journey, we saw the kindergarten room, first grade classroom and the
office. We met our school secretary, Mrs. Repino and the school nurse, Mrs.
Einhorn. The eagle-eyed preschoolers were very good at spotting the colored
eggs on the wall and matching their feathers with the coordinating colors.
While some children were on the egg hunt, Mrs. Piel had other kiddies
building farms, zoos, towers with paper cups. We had some very impressive
building going on in pre-k!
Our day ended with a prayer, "Good-Bye" song and a cheer for our beloved
Phillies. Whew! We can't wait to do it all again on
Thursday!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Welcome to Preschool...down on the farm ! Cow-a-bunga! What a great day we
had in pre-k today! The children did a fantastic job coming right into the
classroom and taking care of business. The children found their color/shape
team bin and unpacked lunch bags without a hitch. The wee farmers then had
some free play time to get to know one another and do what preschoolers do
best...play and have fun!
After clean-up and call to the ABC rug, the children were eager to start the
day with our "Hello" song. Jobs were assigned and our preschoolers seemed to
look forward to pitching in around here and completing their tasks. We
started off with our new prayer leader, flag holder, calendar checker and
weather reporter. The kiddies also enjoyed a rousing rendition of
the "Weather" song with our morning vistior, Fr. Kelly. We gave him fair
warning that there may be a snowball or two headed his way at the end of the
song. Fr. Kelly ducks down very well!
Speaking of "ducks"...the preschoolers enjoyed walking like ducks and
quacking like ducks. They even "quacked" Mrs. Piel and I up with their
performance of the song, "5 Little Ducks". We also participated in a name
recognition activity using name-cards and a cow, yes, a cow. Our
preschoolers waited until he/she saw his/her name, then lined up to catch a
cow. We've got some pretty talented cowhands amoung us!
During snacktime, we enjoyed a mini-cupcake to celebrate the belated birthday
of Jesus' mommy, Mary. Her birthday was last week. We discussed that Mary
is very special to us because she is the mother of Jesus and our mother in
heaven. After the snack, the children cleaned up their trash, then snuggled
on the rug with a book. We ventured outside for some fresh air and stretch
of the legs.
While Mrs. Piel showed small groups of children the bin area and "Question of
the Day" tags, I took another small group to participate in a counting
activity involving hens, dice and dot-paint. Only in preschool! We rolled
dice to see how many eggs our "hen" could lay for us. After we counted the
dots on the dice, we used dot-paints to represent the number of eggs our hen
produced. Whew! Some hens worked very hard and produced up to 11 eggs!
AS the day wound itself down, we prepared for dismissal by getting our
backpacks together, praying our "Guardian Angel" prayer, singing the "Good-
Bye" song and cheering the Phillies on with our rendition of "Take Me Out to
the Ballgame". It was an egg-ce-lent day in pre-k!
Please check folders for our September calendar and important pre-k news.
Remember gym day is Wednesday. Please have your child in sneakers. Mrs.
Wallace will visit us in the classroom this week.
Have a wonderful Tuesday!