January 3-6

Beaumont/Alameda Pre-K Newsletter

For the Week of: Jan 3-6, 2012
Hello Pre-K Families! This week was another really fun one! The students were in high spirits being back to school and seeing all of their friends. Our focus this week was reviewing our three main rules: Be Safe, Be a Helper and Be a Friend. In addition we discussed what our hopes were for the New Year (2012). On Monday students drew pictures and told us what goals/wishes they have for the New Year. We hung the pictures outside the classroom for all to see! Throughout the week, students practiced using kind words with each other such as: “please can you pass me the marker”, “excuse me I was sitting there,” “can you please open this for me”, or “may I have more please.” On Tuesday we learned a new versus to the song “Make New Friends but Keep the Old.”
In the afternoon during our gym time, the school gym teacher Karen offered to play with our students. The students thoroughly enjoyed having her join us. Thank you again Karen and we look forward to seeing you next week! On Thursday the students made friendship necklaces. The necklaces were placed in a basket and randomly given to a student. Throughout this process, students were also practicing  giving and receiving something from a friend. They all seemed so happy to get a necklace and many said “oh I love it, thank you.” On Friday the students were paired up with a friend during group time and then were asked to make a card for that friend!
Lucy Lewis was chosen for person of the week. Through her poster we learned that she is four years old. She is 3’1’’ tall and has brown eyes and hair. When she grows up she would like to be a princess. Her favorite color is purple. If she could have three wishes they would be to fly higher, not to cry and to be a baby again. Lucy’s favorite foods are corn, almonds, cheese and mac and cheese.  Lucy likes food, drawing and playing eye spy. She does not like it when her sister yells at her and when she cries.
On Tuesday we celebrated Lola’s 5th Birthday! Happy Birthday Lola!!
On Thursday we celebrated Cannon’s 5th Birthday! Happy Birthday Cannon!
On Friday we celebrated Margaret’s 5th Birthday! Happy Birthday Margaret!

Thanks and Reminders

Thank you to Deacon and his family for providing fruits and vegetables for snack. They were yummy!
Next week our theme will be Animals in Winter, Hibernation, Adaptation and Migration.
The letter of the week will be Jj. The students may bring in something that begins with the letter Jj, something from nature or about our theme.
There will be NO SCHOOL on Monday January 16th, to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

The Week in Review
Monday: NO SCHOOL
Tuesday: Welcome back Pre-K! It was a great first day back after being gone for two weeks.  It was wonderful to see all the students! They seemed excited to visit with each other and be back at school. Throughout the day, students shared stories of what they did over the Winter break! It seems like everyone had fun with their families. We kicked off the day by celebrating Lola’s 5th Birthday! Happy Birthday Lola! During group time we reviewed our three main rules: Be Safe, Be a Friend and Be a Helper. We sang our letter Kk song and learned how to sign the letter Kk. We read a poem called Kangaroo Kisses. The poem has several words that begin with the letter Kk. We counted all the K’s we could find. We came up with 9 K’s in the poem.  Students who shared today were: Lola, who shared a key.  Kate shared her name, her sisters name Kendrick, and her mother’s name Karen. Cannon shared the kitchen area. Daphne shared her doll named Knanone. Davis shared a key chain. Henry shared a stuffed animal Kangaroo. Gabriel shared a key. Coco shared a picture of her cousin Kaolia, and Gus shared a kite he made.
Lucy was chosen for person of the week. For our special project, we made pages for her book. We also had a creation station open for all to make arts and crafts. The puppet theater was also available to play with. The kitchen area was open in the pretend area. In the afternoon we practiced some math problems.

Wednesday: Today was a another exciting day in Pre-K! We began our day by planting a new garden in the greenhouse. We will (cross your fingers) have radishes and beans soon! During circle time today we learned the song “Make New Friends.”  The students came up with a list of things that they could say or do to be a good friend. We also shared some New Year resolutions/goals that we have.  Some ideas we had were: “study fuzz, study the rainbow, go to Candy Land, do more magic shows, learn about eggs, drink more milk, learn to sew, always sleep, keep shoes tied, learn about mice, see who is tall, study dinosaur bones, go to Disney Land, learn about Hawaii, learn about Dr. Seuss, eat a lot and to read more books.”
Our special (optional) project was to draw a picture of our goals for the New Year. This afternoon, we took a trip to the gym to have a special lesson with the gym teacher, Karen. We played lots of fun games with her including the “Cookie” game and “Ship Wrecked.” Thank you, Karen! The following friends shared for the letter Kk today: Ella, who shared a Lego light-up Key chain. Deacon shared a Key to the Zoo. Beckett shared a Key to his old beach house. Charles shared a picture of his family (his sister Katherine) a Killer whale (Orca) and a Kangaroo.

Thursday: Today was a fabulous day, focused on friendship. We started off our morning by celebrating Cannon’s 5th birthday!  Thanks to his mom Usha for coming in and sharing some fun photos.  Happy Birthday, Cannon!  We read a wonderful book with real photos of a classroom and students called Friends at School.  Our special project was using all kinds of lovely beads to make a special friendship necklace After making them, we put each one in a basket to share with our friends; everyone received our special friendship gift.  At carpet time before lunch, we thought of kind words that you can say to a friend – “I like playing with you,” “You have a beautiful necklace,” and “I love your necklace!” are just a few examples of what we thought of.  We brought in a lot of creative things to share today for our letter of the week, ‘k.’ Chase shared big stuffed Hershey Kiss, a pretend Kitchen Knife, and some words he had written that start with the letter ‘k.’ Simone brought in her stuffed Kangaroo named Joey, and Hudson shared something from nature – a lovely branch from his Japanese Maple tree, and also a Kick ball.  Dominick showed us his Kaleidoscope and a zoo Key, and Vincent shared his adorable stuffed Kangaroo named Kanga.  On the carpet this afternoon before snack, we wrapped up our day of learning by solving addition problems that the teacher wrote on the white board for us.

Friday: Today we started our day off by sitting in a circle and rolling the ball to a friend and saying “good morning___.” We read Lucy’s person of the week book. During choice time the students were paired up and asked to make a card for that friend. We were unable to do the interviews because we had a fire drill in the middle of choice time. The fire drill is always a very important learning tool to practice and discuss. In the afternoon we celebrated Margaret’s 5th Birthday! Happy Birthday Margaret! In the gym, the middle school gym teacher Karen played some games with us using hoola hoops. The students thoroughly enjoyed this activity.  Students who shared today were: Lucy, who shared kettle corn. Beckett shared a kangaroo. Quincy shared kittens. Maggie shared a stuffed koala bear and Gilbert shared a kaleidoscope.

Have a great weekend!