Overview: The 2008-2009 school year is the second year of operation for the pre-kindergarten at Shady Side Academy Junior School! In our early childhood programs, we seek to “develop the path for the child, not the child for the path.” Our PK is a dynamic program which is responsive to each individual child. Each day in PK reflects a careful balance of child-initiated and teacher-initiated learning. Our program values spontaneous, open-ended, imaginative play combined with multi-sensory experiences and hands-on learning. Indoor experiences take place in classrooms with different learning areas for literacy, science, math, art, blocks, dramatic play and sand and water tables. For outdoor play, the offerings include playground equipment, grassy fields, paved paths for riding, a covered porch, gardens, sand and water play

Announcements for Parents:

Our building is nut-free.  Please consider this when packing lunches.

Please send Communication Notebooks to school daily.

Please empty Friday Folders when they are sent home and return them the following Monday.

NOTICE:Please keep 2 sets of changes of clothes in your child's cubbie!  All clothing should be labeled with your child's name. We don't have to remind you, the weather already has... it's getting COLDER.  Please be sure to switch the shorts and t-shirts out for warmer clothing.  Please keep sending those warm outdoor clothes, gloves and hats for our outside play time.

This Week in PK:

This school year is off to a fun and smooth start! We have learned all about ants, our basic shapes, the human body, fire safety, community helpers, measurement, mixing colors, and personal space/movement so far. Within the month of November we will be learning about transportation, sorting, attributes, gears, wheels/axles, tools, sculpture and using props. Our class performance is also on Friday, November 21st at 11:30AM

We are watching new friendships developing every day. This is a major focus for the beginning of the year. We want each student to feel that we think he/she is special and that we are glad that he/she came to school each day. We also want children to realize that there are friends who like them and want to play games that they will enjoy!

During Centers this week, children circulated at their own pace among the following teacher-directed choices: 

In the math center, we have been working on a list of transportation. The students then told us which forms of transportation that they have used and we made a bar graph out of the information. We have also been working on sorting this week by examining different counters shaped like vehicles and we sorted them into different groups.

In the literacy centers , we have been continuing lessons in our Jolly Phonics program. We have learned about the sounds /s/, /a/, /t/, /i/, /p, /n/, /c/, /e/, /h/, /r/, /m/ and /d/. We worked on our /h/ and /r/ pages and were introduced to the sound of /r/. In the Jolly Phonics program, children are systematically introduced to the sounds of our English language through a story, a movement, and a song. Follow up activities reinforce their learning. Jolly Phonics Sound Books will go home in your child's communication journals. We will add sounds/letters as we introduce them during our Jolly Phonics lessons. Please take it out regularly at home and have your child practice making the sounds of the letters. Keep practicing the sounds, motions and songs at home! We also learned the Nursery Rhyme “Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater” this week. During centers time, we worked on filling in the missing letters and words. We also worked on rhyming words and matching the words that rhyme. Additionally, we drew and dictated journal entries about transportation.

In the science centers this week, students have been introduced to transportation and ways to get around. We have been making our own vehicles and becoming familiar with some new toys in the block area (including vehicles, road blocks, a parking garage and a gas station). We have also been playing with some boats in the water table. Additionally, we played an interactive game called Count The Wheels. You can click here to play this game at home with your child.

We have Spanish class with Senora Vallejo every Friday.   We have learned to say hello and good day in Spanish. We also now know how to say the colors red, yellow, green, blue and black and the numbers 1 through 5. We also learned the word for large (grande) and small (pequeño) and have been singing The Itsy Bitsy Spider in Spanish!

In music, Mrs. Beck introduces new songs and adds creative twists to some familiar songs.  This week, the children enjoyed hearing a song with their names in it.

During art this week, Ms. Vaux came over to the PK building.  We painted spooky trees using sticks as painting tools instead of paint brushes. These pictures look fantastic, and are hanging on our walls for you to see

We did not have library this week. However, we have been reading a lot of fiction and non-fiction books about transportation this week.

In Gym we ran through a "Sport Wall obstacle course" to practice aiming balls at targets.

Next Week in Pre-k:

In the math center we will continue to learn about sorting.

In the literacy centers we will learn more about the letter /d/ and the sound that the letter makes and will learn about the letter /g/. We will continue to learn more about rhyming also.

In the science center we will continue to be learning more about transportation.

Links

www.scrubclub.org

www.starfall.com

www.dangerrangers.com

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