On Thursday our Alphabet Friend Nellie got her eyes and name tag so she was ready to play in the classroom and hung out on the ceiling over our newspaper house painting table , explored number puzzles, used number blocks and cookie cutters in kinetic sand, made more handprints to work on our Coping Skill of counting while tracing our fingers, continued to find the letters of our names cut out of newspapers to work on spelling and recognizing our names in both upper and lower case. Our Golden Letter teacher and preschool friends, Grandpa Norm and Nessa were back in the morning!

We added paint to our cardboard box house and used it to deliver newspapers (read more below!).

We wrote number shapes in our journals today. The numbers one and zero (and ten) are often easy for preschoolers to make, but they get significantly more difficult! At preschool we are not looking for mastery, we are looking to begin making the shapes that will one day go together in numeral formation.There are a lot of little poems that can be used when writing number shapes. Here is the one we have at our school:

Our Clean Up song this week is A Neighborhood is a Friendly Place by Ms Ella Jenkins. In this song Ms Ella tells a little story and the children are learning to stop and freeze when the music stops…you can try it at home!

A few conversation starters:

Morning class: What did people stick in their mouth to make a funny face? Oranges! Gus brought yummy Cara Cara Navel oranges and Nilla wafers. Thank you, Gus!

Afternoon class: What kind of N chips did we eat? Nacho cheese Doritos! Heath brought them along with navel oranges and nutritious Nature fruit bars. Thank you, Heath!

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What do the numbers mean on your newspaper house?

Our addresses! Today we painted on newspaper cut into a house shape and added our house numbers.

Check at home to see if you can find the same numbers on your house (and if they are different than the project I apologize…I used the information on your child’s enrollment form). This is not something we expect young children to memorize -we are simply planting the seed and making connections between home and school.

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During Story Time we learned about compound words: newspaper and paperboy.

3 Color questions: Today we read The Paperboy by Dav Pilkey (also from our local library) and learned about a big kid who gets up early to roll newspapers and deliver them. During Circle Time we rolled newspapers and practiced throwing them to different “houses” in our classroom.

What color was the delivery boy’s newspaper bag? Red! What color were the rubber bands he used? Green!

What color rubber bands did you use? We had red yellow, blue in different sizes and used our rubber bands to practice delivering newspapers to the porch of our cardboard house.

On Tuesday we started adding newspaper to Nellie our Alphabet Friend, used number blocks and cookie cutters in kinetic sand, explored number puzzles, had the option of making handprints to work on our Coping Skill of counting while tracing our fingers, found the letters of our names cut out of newspapers to work on spelling and recognizing our names in both upper and lower case. We have a preschooler and a teacher who are the Golden Letter friends: Nessa and Grandpa Norm! Mr Micah (Ms Kristin’s son and former preschool volunteer) was back in the afternoon class today (you’ll see him in pictures below).

Our Clean Up song this week is A Neighborhood is a Friendly Place by Ms Ella Jenkins. In this song Ms Ella tells a little story and the children are learning to stop and freeze when the music stops…you can try it at home!

A few conversation starters:

Morning class: What color were the donuts today? White! Just like the snow outside and like in our story, Nessa brought us powdered donuts, cheese sticks and apple sauce. Thank you, Golden Letter friend, Nessa!

Afternoon class: What kind of dip did we have? Nutella! Cade also brought us apple slices and Nilla wafers. Thank you, Cade! Some friends tried broccoli for the first time by dipping it in Nutella! Hooray!

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Who helped deliver the newspapers in our story today?

During Story Time Ms Kristin showed a newspaper and then we read Curious George: Windy Delivery. In the morning class we had the fun surprise of finding a friend’s family in the newspaper!

Curious George helped his friend Bill. They had trouble because of the windy snowy weather...that is something we could relate to! This book is from our local library and has activities you can do at home. Here’s a reminder of our Wintery Weather All School Graph from last week:

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Did you blow anything off the table today?

We used our breath like wind as an extension of our Story Time book. At Circle Time, we predicted which items could move with only our breath and then tested our hypotheses. We went back to the table with straws and made our own wind to see which we could move with only our breath. Some things were easier than others.

On Thursday we played with more snow inside but it was quite icy, we added stars to the black paper we painted, used our new library cart and continued to learned a lot about Dr King (FUN FACT: Grandpa Norm taught in a school in Atlanta when one of Dr King’s daughters was a student there and he didn’t meet Dr King but he did meet Dr King’s dad, Martin Luther King Sr. Incredible!). In the morning class we had a Golden Letter friend Max H. In the afternoon class we Golden Letter teacher friend Grandma Mona. We wished our Golden Letter friends Malcolm and Max W well who are gone on a fun trip.

At Story Time Ms Kristin read Mae Among the Stars. This is the true story of Mae Jemison who always wanted to work as an astronaut and she did it! Notice how the earth is used for the letter O….perfect for our conversation of outer space.

Mary the M was ready to play today since she got all covered with mirrors. Friends took her around to see all the other mirrors in the room and practiced our Coping Skill with her. She came to snack time and peeked under the table. We talked about the fact that she is made with mirrors so if she gets stepped on or bent some mirrors could break. Tell a teacher so we can stick with our safety plan for broken glass. No one will be in trouble. So far she has not had any breaks and we like to pretend she is very happy to be in our classroom with the others.

We finished our All School Graph today on things about the wintery weather. I’m sorry for all you parents and grandparents and siblings who have slipped, had your vehicles stuck or were in “car accidents that were more like bumps and not crashes” over the last week, we heard all about it. Props to Ms Emily for being the only teacher who made a snow angel over the last week. Maybe the streets will be clear next week?

It was our last day to clean up to Frosty the Snowman. As usual, children could use wipes to clean surfaces or brooms to sweep. Everyone helped today…find out what your child did! It is a sweet time of team work. Next week we’ll have a new clean up song!

Here are more Conversation Starters to use with your child:

Morning friends: What part of our snack could melt? Ice cream! We also had celery and pretzels and made a spontaneous list of other things that can melt (clarifying that it is when a solid turns into a liquid).

Afternoon friends: What part of our snack could melt? Cheese on the mini pizzas from Malcolm! We also ate rocks today (be surpirsed!).…chocolate rocks from Owen which led to a conversation about Prairy where they are available for purchase. We left them on the floor for Grandma Mona to find hoping she’d think there was a bag of rocks on the ground!

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Who went in a rocket ship? Dr Mae Jemison. After adding stars to the black paper, we added pictures of Dr Mae in her rocket ship! Singing Twinkle Twinkle we changed the last line to, “...Twinkle, twinkle little star, Dr Mae you went so far.“ It was so sweet watching the children act out her rocket ship voyage that I got a little teary.

FYI: Dr Mae was not on the Apollo 11 where this audio is from, I just chose this because it sounds like our rocket counting. Mae Jemison went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992 and became the first African American woman in space.

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Here are some Big Body questions where all the answers are yes:

Since we did not play outside this week we are brought the active play inside:

Could you climb up the slide?

Could you make a train on the slide?

Could you throw dancing scarves off the loft? Could you throw them on people?

Could you put dancing scarves in the wind tunnel?

Could you put little balls in the wind tunnel? Could you reach in to get the stuck balls?

Could you run on the track? Could you play tag on the track?

Could you use scooters? Could you use more than one at a time?

Could you go down the slide with a friend? Could you lay down on each other if you both wanted it?

Could you yell but do it kind of quietly?

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Coping Skill: Smile in the mirror

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Remember to be impressed with your child’s mirror disco ball: every child independently cut their mirror sticker strip into pieces and transferred them to their cardboard circle. Pretty cool and exciting for me to see!

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On Wednesday we played with fresh snow inside, made snowmen and snowmoms (it’s M week, after all) in the Tub Table, cleaned up to Frosty the Snowman, made mini muffins with play dough, painted another huge paper black at the easel, used our new library cart and learned a lot about Dr King. In the morning class we had 2 Golden Letter friends, Millie and Max H. In the afternoon class we had Golden Letter friends Malcolm and Grandma Mona. Our Tiny Things table is full of wearable black and white things. Here’s a friend who requested a photo…notice the rings!

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Happy Birthday Dr King! We looked through a lot of photographs and drawings of Martin Luther King Jr seeing him as a leader, a pastor, a dad, a husband. We also had photos of three other leaders with M names: Maya Angelou, Malcolm X and Mae Jemison.

At Story Time Ms Kristin read The Story of Martin Luther King Jr and looked through other books about Dr King for reference. Our local library has a great collection of books and I will return them tomorrow!

Since we are not playing outside this week we are bringing the active play inside: there is a slide, Wind Tunnel, balance beam, balance boards, scooters and running track.

Once again we had Frosty the Snowman as our Clean Up song and as usual, children could use wipes to clean surfaces or brooms to sweep. Everyone helped today…find out what your child did! The room looks great and we have a lot of cleaning wipes as evidence!

Here are some Conversation Starters to use with your child:

Morning friends: Did you ever get extra marinara sauce? Millie brought everything to make our own mini pizzas including an instruction sheet. Grandma Bonnie and friends got them all baked and then we had extra toppings. What a fun treat! Thank you, Millie!

The morning class had a special visitor: Ms Kristin’s son Micah! He used to be a regular teacher friend pre-Covid and it was fun to have him back. He was a very good Snack Store worker.

Afternoon friends: Why did everyone get a candle today? For Dr King’s birthday (check your backpacks for the Dr King candle)! Annie and Jensen got their own birthday candles because it is their real birthday as well! We had cupcakes from Annie and ice cream from Jensen. Thank you friends!

Also, we read again today. In preschool we practice reading by repeating the word: I say, “The next word we’re reading is Martin” and then we all say “Martin” while I point at the letters. It is quite delightful and definitely counts as reading!

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What did you draw today? We used one of Dr King’s quotes as a prompt for drawing things that we think are or are not right for certain situations: The time is always right to do what is right. I’m not surprised that these children have a very clear sense of what is right. I didn’t get pictures of them all but here’s a sampling.

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Is there snow at your house? YES! We started our All School Graph today on things about the wintery weather. I’m sorry for all you moms and dads who have slipped over the last week, we heard all about it. By the afternoon class, we had to extend the “SNOW” column of the graph. We’ll see if we need to extend any more tomorrow!

We sang this Snow song with dancing scarves and once with nothing but our imagination.

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Coping Skill: Smile in the mirror

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We have a lot of mirrors in our classroom and are using mirror items in our projects.

Also, be impressed with your child’s mirror disco ball: every child independently cut their mirror sticker strip into pieces and transferred them to their cardboard circle. Pretty cool and exciting for me to see!

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Clean Up Time Song:

On Tuesday we played with snow inside, made snowmen and snowmoms (it’s M week, after all) in the Tub Table and with play dough, found the black and white Tiny Things, painted with black at the easel, used our new library cart and found more familiar and favorite things. The day went quickly and the children were all very engaged. In the morning class we had 2 Golden Letter friends, Millie and Max W. In the afternoon class we had Golden Letter friend Malcolm. In the morning class, Max was also a Birthday Celebration Friend!

The morning class covered one easel paper and the afternoon class covered another!

The morning class finished the task of getting all the jingle bells out of the Tub Table. Thank you! Then we added new scoops and snowman hats to use.

Since we are not playing outside this week we are bringing the active play inside: there is a slide (children were allowed to make a train with their bodies lining up on the slide…Ms Kristin was even the engine a few times), our scooters and running tracks.

Our Wind Tunnel was back which added a lot of great critical thinking and problem solving opportunities. The little balls often stay close to the fan, the big balls get stuck and the medium size get pushed out. If you have a chance to come in and try it out next time, do it!

At Story Time Ms Kristin read Twelve Hats for Lena about a little girl who makes a hat for each month. Lena is a real person and we could see her photograph at the end of the book. We used this to talk about it being a new year.

Children were allowed to used “fidget” toys during Story Time and we talked about the purpose of them (that sometimes for some people keeping their hands busy may help them focus on listening…our fidgets provide tactile, visual and quiet auditory input).

At Circle Time we talked more about the months of the year. Everyone got to take home their own Month of the Year wheel (a miniature version of the big spinning wheel at preschool). At home you can play a version of I Spy and sing the months of the year to the tune of “Bumpin’ Up and Down in my Little Red Wagon”: January, February………November, December, those are the months of the year.

Here are some Conversation Starters to use with your child:

Morning friends: Was there really old fashioned milk at Snack Time? Yes! Charlie brought milk in a glass bottle that he calls “old fashioned” milk. He also brought dried mango and mini muffins. Max W had his birthday today and brought cupcakes and melons! Thank you, friends!

Afternoon friends: Did you really have pizza at snack time? Yes! Malcolm brought us mini pizzas and mixed melons. Annie brought some marshmallows that were so big and flat that they looked like cookies. Thank you, friends!

Also, we read today. In preschool we practice reading by repeating the word: I say, “The next word we’re reading is marshmallow” and then we all say “marshmallow” while I point at the letters. It is quite delightful and definitely counts as reading!

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What color was the mirror at your snack spot? Black! We each had a mirror at our snack spots today to practice this week’s Coping Skill of smiling at ourselves. We could even watch ourselves eat and have sweet conversations with ourselves. I recommend trying it out at home!

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Did you need glue for the mirror project? This is a fun question because there are 2 answers! YES, we needed glue to stick the mirror papers on Mary the M Alphabet Friend but NO, we didn’t need glue for our mirror balls because they were stickers.

Also, be impressed with your child’s mirror disco ball: every child independently cut their mirror sticker strip into pieces and transferred them to their cardboard circle. Pretty cool and exciting for me to see!

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What song was playing during Clean Up Time?

Frosty the Snowman! Children could use wipes to clean surfaces or brooms to sweep. Everyone helped today…find out what your child did! The room looks great!