2019 is off to a great start!

We have been in school for almost a month now and every day has been full of learning and fun!  Along with getting used to the routines and rules (like sitting in circle time, raising our hands, taking turns to speak, and not coughing and sneezing on each other), we have learned about letters Aa, Bb and Cc. 

We know that when we make a capital "A" we say "mountain slope, mountain slope, eeek".  You might need to ask your child to demonstrate that one.  We also know that letter Aa usually makes a short sound as in "apple, astronaut and animals"  We learned the sounds for letters B and C too.  We sing along with the Heidi Songs DVD to practice our letter sounds.  We practice writing the letters and we look for and SWAT (with flyswatters)  the letters up on the walls during circle time.  Sometimes I  try to fool them by showing the kids a picture that doesn't start with the letter of the week, but they are too smart to be fooled.  We've done the first 3 pages of our ABC book which when completed this spring will come home.

We have started counting out loud all the way to 100!  The kids love dancing to the music while we count.  They also have been counting objects in our centers and have started doing a couple of papers that let them practice seeing the numbers and counting/coloring objects with those numbers. 

The first day of school only a few of them could recognize their names which were written on frogs that had to jump into the pond, but now 3+ weeks in, most of them can tell which frog is theirs.  They also practice their name on laminated name strips and use dry erase markers to follow the dots.  At snack time each of them has a place mat with their name on it so they know where to sit. 

We've done several fun art projects and have been learning/reviewing how to hold scissors and how to use a glue stick and markers.  We've done water color painting, tempera paint, play dough and bingo markers and stamps.  I try to use materials that are washable and have them wear smocks when they are painting, so hopefully you won't have problems getting clothes clean. 

We do lots of singing.  Here are just a few of the songs that we've been working on:

1.  Brave song - sung to Bingo   "If you climb a tree even though it's high, then you are being brave. B-R-A-V-E repeated 3 X , then you are being BRAVE!

2.  The Autumn Song - sung to London Bridges   "Windy Breezes blow around, blow around, blow around, windy breezes blow around in the autumn.  Autumn leaves come tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down, autumn leaves come tumbling down in the autumn.  Take a rake and rake them up, rake them up, rake them up.  Take a rake and rake them up and jump right in."  (Scholastic songs)

3.  If you're happy and you know it

4.  Head, shoulders, knees and toes

5.  Days of the week song - start them with Sunday and listen to them sing.

SCIENCE -  With the change in the season we've been talking a lot about observing things around us.  We've used a magnifying glass to see up close a coconut (for letter C) which we later ate, a giant cucumber from Miss Cindy's garden and multi colored apples which we turned into an apple pie after peeling the apples.  

As you can see our classes are filled with funny, sweet and cute kiddos.  I feel lucky to spend several days a week with them.