DECEMBER NEWS

Happy 1st day of December! We hope you enjoyed a restful Thanksgiving holiday and break with your friends and family. It's difficult to believe that we only have a little less than 3 weeks until our Winter Break. Following are some Pre-K highlights and important information for the month of December.

COLORS: This Friday, Pre-K will have a "Color Day" with many special color-related activities. Please check your child's folder for a note explaining what we would like for the children to wear on Friday for Color Day. Next week, we will visit the Lower School Art room to do some color activities with Mr. Cicetti, Lower School Art teacher.

HOLIDAY LIGHTS: During the next few weeks, we will spend time learning and discussing how holidays use candles and lights during their celebrations. We have a parent volunteer who is coming in to discuss Diwali. If you are interested in coming in to share how a holiday (Hanukkah, Christmas, Advent, etc.) you celebrate uses candles/lights, please contact us as soon as possible.

IMPORTANT DATES AND EVENTS:

Friday December 5th--Color Day
Thursday December 18th--Lower School Community Holiday Gathering @ 2:00.
*INFORMATION ON THIS EVENT WAS POSTED PREVIOUSLY ON THE BLOG. PLEASE BE SURE TO REVIEW IT AS WE NEED FOR THE MORNING CLASS TO COME TO SCHOOL FOR THE AFTERNOON SESSION ON THIS DAY.
Friday December 19th--No School--Winter Break begins!

EXTRA CLOTHES: PLEASE SEND IN A WARMER PAIR OF EXTRA CLOTHES FOR YOUR CHILD TO HAVE HERE AT SCHOOL. WHEN WE RECEIVE THEM, WE WILL SEND HOME THE SET OF EXTRA CLOTHES YOU BROUGHT IN TO SCHOOL ON THE FIRST DAY. THANKS!

P.E. SHOES: We will be sending home your child's P.E. shoes over Winter Break so that you can check them for size. Their little feet grow quickly! Please be sure to return a pair of P.E. shoes for them when we return from the Winter Break.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We wish you and your families a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday!

STAR OF THE WEEK--ANNA

Anna was our new "Star of the Week". We enjoyed hearing about Anna's favorite things and seeing her photos. Ask your child to tell you what Anna's favorite thing to eat is! Thank you for sharing, Anna!

ZERO THE HERO DAY!

We celebrated our 60th day of school today! Thank you to Anna, Davey, and their moms and dads for helping us to celebrate. We made winter wreaths and enjoyed Fudge-Striped cookies. Yum! Thank you for a great celebration!

NEW LEARNING CENTERS

We introduced our 2nd set of learning centers today. Below are photos of the various activities in this set of learning centers. Keep in mind that there are ways we individualize the learning centers to meet the various developmental needs and different skill levels of each student. What appears in the photo might not be the exact task your child does.

Sequencing Pictures To Tell A Story

Rhyming

3-Letter Word Puzzles

Identifying Beginning Consonant Sounds

Numerical Order and
One-to-One Correspondence

Numerical Order and
Number Recognition

Pattern Blocks

Copy the Design

Visual Discrimination

Patterning

Building Cube Structures

LOWER SCHOOL COMMUNITY HOLIDAY GATHERING

On Thursday December 18th, we need for the morning Pre-K class to come to school with the afternoon Pre-K class (11:45-3:10) in order to participate in our Lower School Community Holiday Gathering. This event is a time set aside for Lower School students and their families to get together and celebrate the various holidays being celebrated during this time of the year through music and stories. Lower School families are invited and encouraged to attend this event which will take place in the gymnasium at 2:00 (official time will be confirmed in a future notice). Following the program, children will be dismissed from their classroom and Winter break begins! Please mark your calendar for this event and remember to bring your child in the afternoon on this day. The Pre-K teachers will be outside to assist children in getting out of their cars beginning at 11:30.

IMPORTANT DATES/ANNOUNCEMENTS

IMPORTANT DATES/EVENTS:

Tuesday November 25th--Last day to donate items for the animal shelter

Wednesday 11/26-Friday 11/29--Thanksgiving Vacation

Friday December 5th--Color Day (More information will be forthcoming)

Thursday December 18th--Lower School Community Holiday Gathering

Friday December 19th-Sunday January 4th--Winter Break

Monday January 5th--School Resumes

OUR PRE-K STAGE DEBUT!

Thank you for attending today's Pre-K Music performance. We are very proud of our Pre-K musicians! BRAVO!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PARKER!

We enjoyed hearing Parker's birthday story, "Too Many Toys", and eating his birthday cupcakes. Thanks, Parker!

COLOR BOOKS WITH SECOND GRADE BUDDIES

Today, we did our seatwork with help from our second grade buddies. Each child completed a book called, "Colors I Can See". The Pre-K children drew the pictures and then the 2nd grade buddies wrote the words (labels) for the pictures. These books are on display on the bulletin board outside our classroom. Stop by and take a look!

BUILDING WITH ZOOBS IN THE CONSTRUCTION ZONE

Russell, Jack, and Parker building with zoobs!

COLORED SHAVING CREAM FUN!

Today's color-mixing activity involved squirting shaving cream into a plastic ziplock bag; squirting different colors of paint into the bag; zipping the bag closed; and then squeezing the bag to mix the colors. Carolyn's reaction to this activity was, "This is awesome!"

FREE CHOICE FUN!

Talia and Brooke building with "zoobs".

Ben put together a zoo animal puzzle.

Charlie, Davey, Maya, and Kyle mixing colors.

Jack building with "zoobs".

Davey and Carolyn building with K'Nex.

Max, Ryan, Anna, and Maya on the computers.

TEACHER DUTY CHANGES

Just a reminder that tomorrow (Wednesday) new teachers will be on duty for greeting the students at morning car pool drop-off and for supervising the children on the playground prior to the start of school. Mrs. Turnock (Kindergarten) will be greeting the students at their cars and Mrs. Korda (Kindergarten) and Ms. Garver (Music) will be on the playground. These teachers came to meet the Pre-K children yesterday in the classroom so their faces would be familiar to them.

REQUEST: A WARM SET OF EXTRA CLOTHES

As we are watching the snow fall today, we realize that many of you probably sent in summer clothing for your child's extra set of clothes to stay here at school. Please send in a warm set of extra clothes to have here at school through the winter. Remember, the extra set of clothes does not need to be dress code. We appreciate a full change of clothing (including socks and underwear), though shoes are not necessary. When you send in your child's warm set of extra clothes, we will send home the extra clothes we currently have here at school. Thanks so much!

STAR OF THE WEEK--MYA

We enjoyed learning more about our friend, Mya, today. Thank you for sharing your photos and telling us about your favorite things!

BUSY BUILDERS!

Ben, Ryan, and Davey building in the construction zone during Free Choice time.

COLOR ACTIVITIES

Hannah and Russell experimenting with the color mixing jars.

Hannah and Russell experimenting with mixing colored water.

Mya retelling the story of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" on the flannel board.