Our Lively Week in Pre K!

Dear parents,

We hope that this blog finds you well. We had a fantastic week in Pre-K. This week, our class got to show off their best moves in Music and Movement, had a blast showcasing and presenting their habitat stories in Literacy, and were busy as ever finishing and continuing projects in art and so much more!

Music and Movement

This week, the students got their groove on in yet another lively, high-energy music and movement session. As has become our new routine, we did a warm-up to the “Hello from your Head to your Toes” song, which we memorized now! This time, we also included some dynamic stretching and jogging on-the-spot warm-up exercises which seemed to help get everyone into the zone. Then, it was time to dance! We did various movement songs like I Like to Move It, the Freeze Dance, The Floor Is Lava, The Walrus Action Song, and so much more! It’s always a fun time for our class to be able to express themselves through movement, and we love to see them making sure that all their friends are included both through dancing with them and reminding them of movements when there is a pause. We can’t wait for our next chance to enjoy the music and dancing together!

Literacy

Our class had a blast wrapping up and presenting their habitat stories to the class. We made sure to make some ready-to-go habitat story card templates, with a brief description of the animal, the habitat it lives in, space for a drawing, and some lines for the stories themselves. The students who hadn’t yet made a story card made them, and others who already brought their stories from home, made new ones.

Then, it was time for the exciting presentation! The whole class got a chance to share, re-enact, and roleplay certain parts for extra dramatic flair. For the students who were absent during last week’s habitat story card-making activity, they filled in the blanks of the template and drew a snapshot of their habitat story in the allotted area. Those who had one from last time, briefly reviewed what they made before sharing it with the class. We love how creative and engaged all were when it came to this assignment, and we will make sure to give more opportunities to the class for storytelling since this is an arena where they shine!

Maths

In math this week, our class consolidated some previous knowledge and demonstrated it, and also continued to get to know the topic of subtraction more! In the first math session, we had a similar number recognition activity to the one we did last week. Given that we are rapidly approaching the end of the year, it’s important during this time our students are given ample opportunities to showcase their acquired knowledge and skills.

In this session, we gave each child a number from 10-20. Then, we let them know that we want them to read the number and think about how many it is. Then, we went to each kid with either our classroom wood blocks or plastic flower counting materials and had them count out the numerical quantity that is represented by the number in front of them. The whole class did a fantastic job with this, and we’re very proud of them! One extra exciting thing about this session was that any time there was a repeating configuration of colors or a repeating shape, our students were able to recognize that this was a pattern and name the type of pattern. It’s truly a wonderful experience to be able to see our children connecting these concepts on their own accord without a teacher's prompting.

Gymnastics

Gymnastics was action-packed and full of fun this week! In this session, our class warmed up by doing various dynamic kinesthetic activities that got both their minds and bodies ready for action. Then, the first portion of the activity was an engaging scenario where the class got to put their balance to the test! Each child was given 2 paper plates, 2 small plastic balls, and a stick. Their challenge was to balance the paper plates on the stick, then balance the balls on the plates and walk across the balance beam they all made sure to give it their all and had a blast doing it! Overall, it was a challenging and energetic time in gymnastics this week and we look forward to our next session.

Art

It was an action-packed week for the PreK class in terms of art! Our creative masterminds finished one of their canvas projects and continued to make headway on another. Their voraciousness and tenacity in the art room is something else! First, the children put some small but crucial details on their yarn painting primary color canvas, and their thoughtful additions rounded the piece out! It went from good to great thanks to their creative vision. Next up, they continued to work on their volcano painting, which is turning out well so far!

In their first session, the class stippled on black paint for the base of the volcano painting, which is the smoke created by the heat and lava. They made sure to cover a good amount of the canvas, while also leaving room for the volcano itself and for the rest of the colorful explosion that was going to follow! Then, this week our students started to layer on various shades and hues of red, orange, and yellow to create the effect of the lava.

In letting our children guide their artistic creations, we are amazed to see how many innovative methodologies and strategies they can come up with! Next week, they are going to continue working on this canvas- this time on the actual structure of the volcano itself, which up until this time has been portioned off by tape to create a crisp line.

Our activities for next week will be:

Monday- Cooperative Game

Tuesday- Literacy (zoo phonics)

Wednesday- Math

Thursday- Innovation Center

Friday- Science

Our Specials

Tuesday- Ethiopian Center

Wednesday- Gymnastic

Thursday- Library

Friday- Art

Reminder

● Please don’t forget to send your child with a hat and sunscreen as it gets sunny after snack! The weather has been fluctuating lately, so if it is rainy please also send them with rain-appropriate clothing.

● We are still collecting recycled material for our innovation center, so if you can spare any, we would greatly appreciate it!

● On Thursdays, please return their Library Folder.

● On Art days, please make sure to send your child with art-appropriate clothing!

Have a wonderful weekend!