Daily+Notes

Week of: September 4-7

Notes for the week: ** Our theme is All About Me. Please send in family pictures to post in our cubbies! **


 * Fridays are Show and Tell. Please send in an item of your choice on Friday to tell about and share with the class. **


 * Ms. Wendy will be out Thursday and Friday for a pre-planned absence. Ms. Renee Outlaw will substitute. **

Week of: September 11-14

Notes for the week: We are continuing our All About Me theme. **If you haven’t already, please send in some family pictures for decorating our cubbies.** Skills for this theme: know your first, middle, and last name; know the names of all family members; recognize your name in print; arrange the letters of your name in the correct order; begin to identify the letters in your name. We are also working on greeting other people using eye contact, a clear voice, and a friendly face, as well as learning the rules and routines of our class. Ask your child: What do we do first in school? What comes after that? What happens last? What are the steps for washing our hands? What are the rules for center time? For outside time?

Week of: September 17-21

Notes for the week:

We are finishing up our All About Me theme this week and moving into a colors theme. **Tuesday night is GAB’s Open House, at 6:00**. All are encouraged to attend! Friday is Show and Tell. This week, please bring in something that is your favorite color.

Week of: September 24-28

Notes for the week: We are continuing our colors theme. Skills for this theme include: Identify 10 basic colors; identify 5 “special” colors such as silver, gold, teal, lavender, and navy; identify red, yellow, and blue as primary colors; know which colors mix together to make green, orange, and purple; use vocabulary to classify colors using words like “light,” “bright,” “dark,” “pale,” and “metallic;” know what happens to a color when you add black or white; match items of the same color; sequence colors from dark to light or light to dark. Social skills we are working on: No tattletaling! If someone does something you don’t like, look them in the eye and say, in a strong, clear voice, “I don’t like it when you do that!” or “Don’t do that to me again, please!” THEN if it happens again, seek help from the teacher.

Week of: October 1-5

Notes for the week: We have finished our Colors theme and are moving into an Apples theme. We will be counting apples, graphing apples, learning where apples come from and how they grow, reading fiction and nonfiction about apples, singing apple songs, pretending to pick apples and make apple pie, and even tasting and cooking them.

Friday, October 5th is a half day. Dismissal begins at 11:45 for walkers and car riders. If you are coming in to pick up your child, please pick up by 11:30. If we are not in the classroom, we will be finishing up our lunch in the cafeteria.

Ms. Wendy will be out on Friday. Ms. Rosie Muth will substitute.

Week of: Oct. 9-12

Notes for the week: This week we are learning about fire safety. We have a real firefighter AND a real fire truck coming to our school! We will learn not to touch matches and lighters; how and WHEN to call 9-1-1 (only in an emergency, and we will learn what that means); what to do if we hear the smoke alarm; how to stop, drop, and roll if our clothes catch fire; and how to safely exit our house and school if there is fire and smoke. We will also learn that firefighters are there to help, even if they look scary, and that we should NEVER hide inside the building if there is a fire. At home, please help by reviewing your address with your child, discussing and practicing your family’s escape plan and meeting place, and showing your child where your smoke detectors are and what they sound like. We may be little, but we are smart, and knowing these things could save our lives!

Week of: October 15-19

Notes for the week: This week we are talking about pumpkins! We will read books and sing songs about pumpkins, decorate pumpkin cookies, carve and cook a pumpkin, and play pumpkin games. We will learn how pumpkins grow, explore different types of pumpkins using our five senses, learn to identify and write the letter Pp, and make some creative pumpkin projects. Skills to work on this week: sorting and sequencing by size; drawing a circle, square, and triangle; cutting on a curved line; describing items verbally by physical attribute.

Happy Birthday to Angie this Friday. She will be 5 years old!

We will miss our friend Joshua, who moved, but are excited about meeting a new friend, M.J., in November!

Week of: October 22-26

Notes for the week: We have a busy week! Monday was our farm field trip; on Wednesday a police officer will stop by for a visit (but not to take us to jail, as one of our classmates wondered this morning); and on Friday we will go to New Bern to participate in the Parade of Preschoolers. Our theme is Halloween Fun. The most important take-away from this theme: Halloween is just for FUN. Ghosts, witches, vampires, and other scary things that we see at this time of year are NOT real. It’s all just for pretend, but isn’t it fun to //pretend// that we’re really scared? We will be reading “scary” stories, dressing in costumes, talking about Halloween traditions, and working on identifying and writing the letter Hh.


 * Detailed instructions for Friday to come: directions, parking, meeting place, etc. **

Week of: October 29-November 2

Notes for the week: This week we will finish our Halloween theme. We will carve a jack-o-lantern, read __The Monster at the End of this Book;__ __The Little Old Lady Who wasn’t Afraid of Anything__; and “The Terrible Tragadabas.” We will have an “orange party” on Halloween. Dress your child in orange that day. We will have an orange snack and do some fun orange activities. We will continue to practice identifying and writing the letter H: “Start at the top. Straight line down. Start at the top. Straight line down. Cross at the middle.” And h: Start at the top. Straight line down. Bounce. Over the hill.” On Friday we will celebrate **Ms. Wanda’s** birthday!

Week of: November 6-9

Notes for the week: It will be a very short week, since we didn’t come to school on Monday, Thursday is a half day, and there is no school on Friday. We will pack in as much learning as we can in two and a half days. We will begin talking about fall. Skills for this theme: tell things that happen in the fall; identify and write the letter Ff; notice seasonal changes; identify fall months, activities, and holidays; tell what kind of weather we have in the fall and how we should dress accordingly. We will have Show and Tell on **Thursday** morning. Bring in an item or a picture that represents something you like to do in the cool fall weather.

Week of: November 26-30

Notes for the week: Welcome Back! I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. This week we will be talking about the five senses. We will learn to explore things with our noses, eyes, ears, tongues, and skin. We will identify body parts associated with each sense and use vocabulary such as loud and soft; smooth, rough, and sticky; sour, sweet, bitter, and salty. And we will explore the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the coming Christmas season!


 * Save the Date: ** The Pre-K Christmas program will be on Friday, December 21st at 8:30 am. We hope you will join us!


 * No School for NCPre-K ** on Monday, December 3rd. **Parent conferences** (NCPre-K only) will be held that day. Parents of NCPre-K students, please sign up for a time on the sheet in the classroom. Thank you!

Week of: December 3-7

Notes for the week:

This week we are finishing up with the five senses, and moving into a Gingerbread Man theme. We will read and compare different versions of the story, make a Gingerbread Man craft, make and decorate digital Gingerbread Men, and bake a real Gingerbread Man. Skills for this theme: identify story elements such as setting and characters; retell story events in the correct sequence; act out a familiar story; identify similarities and differences. We will also work on the letter Mm for man!

Week of: December 10-14

Notes for the week: This week we are learning about December holidays. We will learn about holiday traditions in other lands, as well as learning traditions and symbols of Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. We will learn to play the Dreidel game, sing a Dutch Christmas song, and even make wooden shoes to put outside our classroom door. This Wednesday there will be a VERY special visitor to our class – I wonder who it could be?? We will also continue to practice for our Christmas play. Don’t forget – it’s Friday, December 21st at 8:30 am in the gym, followed by cookies and hot chocolate in the cafeteria. **Please let us know ASAP if your child will not be here that day.** Check your child’s folder for the lines that he or she will be responsible for learning.

Week of: December 17-21

Notes for the week: We are talking about Christmas this week! We will also finish up talking about holiday celebrations in other cultures. We will practice our songs and lines for our play, and we will read some fun stories about Christmas. We will also continue to practice rhyming, identifying shapes, hearing the first sounds in words, and identifying the letters we have talked about so far this year: Mm, Pp, Ss, Tt, Aa, Ff, and Hh.


 * Reminder: our Christmas play begins at 8:30 am on Friday. Please have your child here at school by 7:45, thanks! **

Week of: January 2-6

Notes for the week:

Happy New Year to all! I hope that everyone enjoyed your holiday. This week we will be getting back into the swing of things: reviewing our rules and routines, reading familiar stories and singing favorite songs, and reviewing letters, sounds, shapes, and numerals. We will also talk about the calendar, the New Year, and concepts of time such as days, weeks, months, and years. **This Friday for Show and Tell, please bring in something that you got for Christmas!**

Week of: Jan. 7-11

Notes for the week: During the month of January, we will be talking about cold weather. This week we will focus on snow. Next week will be mittens, as we read the classic story “The Mitten.” After that will we talk about arctic animals like penguins and polar bears, and then we will move into a shadows theme as Groundhog day approaches. Concepts discussed this week: weather-related vocabulary; weather patterns around the country; north and south (north is colder, south is warmer); what causes snow (and why doesn’t it snow more often where we live?); snow/winter-related activities; seasonal changes in winter. We will focus on the letter ‘w’ for winter, the color white, and circles. For Show-and-Tell this Friday, please bring something that relates to winter (be creative!).

Week of: Jan. 14-18

Notes for the week: We are continuing our discussions about cold weather, even though the real weather outside refuses to cooperate! This week we are focusing on the story “The Mitten.” We will explore what our hands feel like with mittens on; experiment with ice; make mitten projects; play mitten matching games; and sing songs and learn fingerplays about mittens and snow. We will retell the story “The Mitten” with puppets, and we will even act it out! We will review the letter Mm for mitten, and practice writing numerals 1-5; drawing squares, rectangles, and triangles; and drawing people.


 * There is no school on Friday (teacher workday) or Monday (Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday) **


 * Show and Tell will be on Thursday. Bring an item of your choice. **


 * Do you have any photographs of snow? We would love to see them! Please send in with your child; will return on Thursday. **

Week of: Jan. 22-25

Notes for the week: This week we are talking about polar bears and penguins to add to our continuing discussions about snow, winter, and cold weather. We will learn about animals who live in cold climates, and learn about the habits of these animals. We will also learn about Dr. Martin Luther King, and how he wanted all people to be friends and live in peace. This Friday is Storybook Land, from 5:30 to 8:00 pm. Come out and enjoy this fun, FREE event! **Tomorrow is Read My Shirt Day.** Wear a T-shirt with words on it!

In keeping with the theme of StorybookLand week, for **Show and Tell** on **Friday**, please bring a favorite book to show and share.

Week of: January 28-Feb. 1

Notes for the week: This week, we are talking about shadows. We will learn all about the groundhog, and the tradition of Groundhog’s day. Concepts for this theme: winter and spring weather patterns; what is a shadow? Dark and light; the movement of the sun; matching like items; copying/following movements and gestures. We will practice our letters and sounds with a new “shadowing” circle game, and our our numbers by counting items in our classroom and matching numerals to amounts. We will learn a poem about Mr. Groundhog, finish up some of our winter art projects, explore light and shadows, and practice our drawing and cutting skills.


 * STORYBOOK LAND is rescheduled to this Friday, Feb. 1, 5:30-8:00 pm!**

Week of: February 4-8

Notes for the week: This week, we will discuss dental health! We will learn about keeping our teeth clean by brushing, flossing, drinking water, eating healthy foods, and going to the dentist. We will talk about what a dentist does, and what to expect when you go for a dental check-up. We will focus on the letter Dd for dentist, take on dentists’ office roles in dramatic play, and complete teeth-related projects. Don’t forget, if you signed up for Muffins with Mom, it’s this Thursday at 9:00.

Week of: February 11-15

Notes for the week: This week we are talking about love, Valentine’s Day, and letter writing. We will have our ** Red Party ** and **Valentine Exchange** on **Wednesday, February 13**, during snacktime. Please dress your child in something red on that day! I have emailed a class name list; if your child chooses to bring in Valentines, please make sure he or she has one for everyone in the class. Also, to go along with letter-writing and the mail, I am asking each child’s parents to write him or her a letter. Address it to your child, c/o Wendy Mayton, Graham A. Barden Elementary, 200 Cedar Drive, Havelock 28532. Keep it a secret! We will have a mail call each day at the school office mailbox to see who received a letter! **Reminder: Friday, Feb. 15 is a half day. P/U in class at 11:30.**

Week of: February 18-22

Notes for the week:

This week we are excited to learn all about under the sea, we have lots of new and exciting things in our centers. Wednesday February 20, 2013 will be the Pre-K NC Aquarium program, the Aquarium will visit our school.


 * For Show and Tell on Friday, please bring something that relates to the ocean! **


 * Do you have any large toy sea creatures at home? We would love it if we could borrow them for our dramatic play center. Thanks! **

Week of: February 25-March 1

Notes for the week: We are continuing with our Under the Sea theme this week. We will work on sorting, classifying, and patterning, and the letter O for ocean, as well as the characteristics of various kinds of sea life. On Wednesday, we will have a special sensory storytime: the base library will be bringing their program to us! In honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday on Saturday, March 2, we will begin a Dr. Seuss theme on Friday, and will continue the theme next week. Bring in your favorite Dr. Seuss book for Show and Tell on Friday!

Week of: March 4-9

Notes for the week : We are celebrating Dr. Seuss this week. We will read many of his wonderful books, and do lots of fun Dr. Seuss-themed projects and activities. Since it was Dr. Seuss’s birthday on Saturday, we are playing “birthday party” in Dramatic Play. We will work on rhyming words this week. We will practice correctly identifying two words that rhyme, and creating rhyming pairs. We will be rhyming with real words and with nonsense words. Remember, Friday is a noon dismissal. Pick up in the classroom by 11:30. Thanks!

Week of: March 11-15

Notes for the week: This week we will be learning about Ireland, St. Patrick's Day, leprechauns, and the color green. Friday will be Green Day; everyone wear green and we will have some fun green-themed activities. Bring something green for Show and Tell on Friday.

Week of: March 18-22

Notes for the week: We are talking about rabbits and Easter from now until next Wednesday the 27th, which is the last day of school before spring break.We will learn about rabbits – what they do, how they move, what they eat, and where they live. We will learn to recognize the letter Rr and make its sound. We will read books and do projects about rabbits and Easter eggs. We will even have an Easter egg hunt on Wednesday the 27th. More information to come. We will say good-bye to our friend Kai this week as she moves to a new place, and welcome a new friend named Miracle.


 * Thursday, March 21 is picture day! We will take a class picture as well as individual ones.**

Week of: April 9-12

Notes for the week:

Welcome back, everyone! This week we are talking about spring. We will learn about changes to the weather and the natural environment. We will also talk about things that grow, and what they need to survive. We will practice our rhyming skills, and work on the positional terms top, bottom, middle, left, and right, and the letter “w” for **w**arm **w**eather. We will focus on the feeling “disappointed,” and discuss what kinds of things make us feel this way, and what to do when we have disappointed feelings.

Week of: April 15-19

Notes for the week:

This week we will learn about birds! We will read stories about birds and talk about different animal coverings (fur, feathers, scales, etc.). We will learn the names and habits of different types of birds. We will work on the letter Bb for bird. We will practice sequencing by size and writing numerals 0-10. We will focus on the feeling “shy.” What makes us feel shy? What can we do when we feel this way?

Week of: April 22-26

Notes for the week: April 22 is Earth Day, so this week, we will be discussing our Earth and ways to be on the “green team” to keep the earth beautiful and clean. We will learn about recycling, reducing waste, and reusing materials, as well as ways to conserve water and electricity. We will work on identifying, forming, and making the sound of the letter Ee for Earth, continue to practice writing numerals 0-10, and practice sorting items by shape and other attributes. Reminder: this week is our Relay for Life Spirit Week. Tuesday: crazy socks. Wednesday: backwards day. Thursday: dress up as a hero. Friday: hat day. Also, please send in loose change for the Kids can Change the World contest!

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