Pre K Fun This Week

Dear Parents,

We hope you have all had a great week. It has been another wonderful, fun week

full of curiosity and learning in Pre K! This week, the kids finished off a wonderful

piece of art, made their very own habitat story cards, got active as ever in

gymnastics, and so much more. We also want to give a special birthday shoutout to

our very own Eldana! The kids all had a wonderful time celebrating with her today,

and it was a great chance for everyone to show appreciation and love, and of course

eat some yummy cake. We want to once again wish Eldana a very happy birthday!

Large Group

It was another successful week for the Pre K class in large group! The kids got to

read some fun new books during circle time, which they really enjoyed.

Additionally, the class helpers continue to keep things running smoothly and

efficiently with kindness and tact! The kids also shared more insightful

observations about the world around them during the morning circle time, which

has become one of the highlights of large group time. There was also lots of

singing, and enjoying time with friends!

Cooperative game

This week, the kids got a chance to try out yet another new and exciting

cooperative game! We love these sessions because it’s a great chance for kids to

demonstrate their hand-eye coordination and other gross motor skills, teamwork

and sportsmanship, and so much more than what might meet the eye with these

games. In this session, we set up 2 hula hoops on one side of the room and 2 hula

hoops on the opposite side of the room. In the 2 hula hoops on the further end of

the room, we placed various small plastic balls. The game idea was that kids are

going to transfer the balls from one hula hoop to the other, but the catch is that in order to get from point A to B, they can’t walk or even run! They have to jump or

hop! Once we explained the activity, the fun began. Each kid got a chance to go

once, or more if they wanted to in different combinations of students for the

pairs. The kids were incredibly focused and engaged with this game and most

importantly, had so much fun doing this. We look forward to doing this or another

similar game in our next session for this activity.

Literacy

This week in literacy, the kids got even more creative than usual, and that’s saying

something! During journal time, the kids got a chance to connect their entries with

one of their favorite things as a class- art! For the prompt that we put on the

board, we put a few small pictures that one might typically associate with art.

Then, we told the kids that for this week’s journal entry, we want them to show us

what they think our next canvas in art should be about! Given that they are

currently finalizing the yarn painting canvas, we figured it would be a great simple

yet organized way to gather some of their ideas and interests. As usual, we had a

wide range of innovative and boundary-pushing ideas. We look forward to seeing

how the class will be able to synthesize all these together through discussion for

our next canvas.

In the following literacy session, the kids wrapped up and finalized their habitat

stories, and commemorated their favorite part of the story with their own story

cards! First, we started off the activity by asking the kids what they remembered

about their habitat stories from the previous weeks. After that, we showed them

the materials which were a piece of white paper, and a bigger piece of hard colored

paper in a variety of colors to choose from. We explained that we wanted them to

draw their favorite moment from the habitat story they made in groups (this could

be the happy ending where all the animals become friends, the suspenseful moment

where the fate of one of them is still yet to be determined, or anything in

between) on the white paper. Then, they can choose the color they want for the

hard paper and glue their illustration onto it. Finally, when they’re finished with

that, they can call over the teacher and tell us what story highlight they chose to

capture so we can help them write a caption. In the end, there was a huge range of

exciting and creative story cards.

Gymnastics

This week as usual, gymnastics was dynamic, thrilling, and a challenge that the kids

blossomed into! First, the kids warmed up with various exercises, some familiar

from the previous session and some being new ones that they haven’t gotten a

chance to try out yet. Whether it was one they had done many times or one they

were just seeing, we are so proud of how the class gave each individual movement

their full attention and effort. Then, it was time for the main event! It was time to

try defying gravity and hanging upside down from our gymnastics bar with their

legs. Each kid got a chance to try this one by one after a very thorough

demonstration by our wonderful gymnastics teacher. They did an absolutely

fantastic job, and there was laughter, fun and cheering each other on abound!

Art/Clay

This week in art, the kids finished a canvas from before, started a new one, and

even worked on some clay! We recently changed our clay schedule from several

times a week to once a month, for various logistical and organizational reasons.

Since this change happened, the kids are even more excited to work on clay since

they don’t do it all the time! In this clay session, the kids worked on individual

projects based on their interests. Similarly to the journal session, we used this as

a chance to gather input about their inclinations and we saw that several kids made

a volcano out of clay. After some final class discussions, they decided that their

next canvas is going to be a volcano, which is very exciting. Once that was decided,

the kids got to work! In order to represent the smoke from a volcano, they wanted

to put down a good amount of black on the canvas first, which they did in this

week’s session. Next week, they are going to add fiery shades of red, orange and

yellow and also carve out the shape of the volcano. We can’t wait to see how it

turns out! Aside from that, the class also finished their primary color yarn painting

canvas from last week, making sure to add some more color to the middle part so

the white blank space isn’t overwhelming.

Our activities for next week will be:

Monday- Music and Movement

Tuesday- Literacy (zoophonics)

Wednesday- Math

Thursday- Library

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!

● On Thursday, please return Library Folder.

● On Art days, please make sure to send your child with an art appropriate

clothing!

Have a wonderful weekend!