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I’m sure you received the e-mail regarding the situation at University of Chicago. Please know that the staff at Ray is doing everything possible to keep students safe while they are in our care. If you did keep your child home today, we look forward to seeing them on Tuesday! This week we will begin our unit on the Gingerbread Man. This unit will take us all the way until Winter break. We will read a variety of stories about the Gingerbread Man. This week, we will read the classic Gingerbread Man by Karen Lee Schmidt as well as the Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campbell Ernst and the Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett. We will complete a gingerbread man measurement activity as well as a letter identification activity. We will use the gingerbread man to discuss positional concepts Our letter of the week is H. Please send in a small picture of something that begins with the letter H by no later than Thursday. Our color of the week is white. Please send in a small picture of something white for our color collage. There is also a gingerbread homework assignment we are asking parents to complete with their child. PLEASE read the directions carefully when doing this assignment. We are asking families to help their child decorate a gingerbread man with objects according to their child’s age (4 button because the child is 4 years old, 3 pieces of macaroni because the child is 3 years old). This activities encourages one-to-one correspondence and gives a child valuable hands on experiences with small groups of numbers and through this activity students will associate number names and quantities. Please complete this activity and send it back to school. We will be hanging these gingerbread men on the board in the hallway. I hope you had a wonderful holiday! Have a great week! Mandi Heiser [email protected]
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Happy Thanksgiving!
This will be a short week! Tomorrow (Tuesday) is the parent child activity from 9:30-10:30. Every child should be accompanied by an adult. It is also pajama day, so feel free to have your child wear pajamas to the activity. There will be no student attendance Wednesday-Friday due to the Thanksgiving holiday. The letter of the week for the following week is H and the color is white. Please look for a small picture that begins with the letter H and a small picture of something white for our classroom collage. These are due December 4th. Have wonderful holiday! Mandi Heiser Hello!
This week we will be starting our unit about fall and Thanksgiving. We will simply be discussing what it means to be grateful. We will also discuss our Thanksgiving traditions. We will be reading the story Give Thanks for Each Day by Steve Metzger as well as Fall Leaves Fall by Zoe Hall. We will be working on identifying opposites using classroom literature as well as answering literacy related questions in small groups. We will also be continue to work on numeral identification as well as 1:1 correspondence. This week we are also beginning our math talks. Each week, we will investigate a number 1-5. These valuable conversations provide young learners opportunities for deeper understanding through communication. Individually or in groups, kids will discuss, defend their ideas and analyze the reasoning of others. This could look like counting out classroom objects, talking about how they came up with the number, voting on others answers to decide if they are correct or incorrect and exploring different ways to make each number. This incorporates adding and subtraction, classification, grouping and regrouping, comparison as well as many more important skills. This provides students with a hands on math knowledge that students will retain and build upon throughout the year. Please be sure to send in a small picture for something that is black as well as a picture of something that begins with the letter E. Be sure it is small and you write your child’s name on it! We are hoping for 100% participation on this activity this week! Please send both in by Thursday! We also are giving out a Thanksgiving family activity. Please be sure to be on the lookout for instructions on the shelf outside of the classroom. Please check the shelf each day for handouts! Remember parent teacher conferences are this Wednesday. There will be no student attendance on this day. A reminder sheet of the time you signed up for was sent home on Monday with your child. Please remember we only have 10 minutes to discuss your student. If you would like more time, please set up another time to meet with me. Don’t forget! November 18th is parent teacher conferences. No student attendance. November 24th is the second Parent/Child activity 9:30-10:30 in the school cafeteria (Regular classes are cancelled for this day). All children should attend the activity with an adult. November 25-27- No School due to Thanksgiving Break. Please send in Clorox wipes if possible! We want to keep the room nice and clean so no one gets sick before the holiday! Thanks! Mandi Heiser Hello!
It is sure to be a busy but short week this week! Don’t forget, no school Wednesday or Friday for students! Next Wednesday there will be parent teacher conferences! Please sign up if you have not already done so. Therefore, there will be no student attendance on the 18th. Conferences only are 10 minutes, so please do your best to be on time. Please be patient with us because we do our best to meet with all 40 families in a timely manner, but sometimes meetings run over. We really appreciate your patience! If you are unable to meet with me on the 18th, please set a time we can meet on another day. I am free to meet with parents from 11:20-12:00 or from 3:45-4:15. This week will continue learning about fall. We are exploring more about leaves, how families celebrate Thanksgiving and other fall traditions. We will be reading Why Do Leaves Change Color? By Betsy Maestro, Who Loves the Fall? By Bob Raczka and Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf and Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. There is a fun fall scavenger hunt outside the classroom on the shelf. Feel free to take it to work on with your child at home! Our color of the week is brown and our letter of the week is F. Please find a small brown picture or small picture of something that starts with the letter L to add to our classroom collages. Here is a great article about preschool. It provides some great insight into the preschool programs at Ray. https://www.naeyc.org/files/tyc/file/V5N3/Preschoolers%20Grow%20Their%20Brains.pdf Also I have a Donor’s Choose that will be expiring soon! Please share this and donate if possible! http://www.donorschoose.org/project/a-love-of-learning/1632913/?utm_source=dc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=proposal_expiring_first_notice&rf=email-system-2015-11-proposal_expiring_first_notice-teacher_1978434&utm_swu=9949 Due to all the illnesses, we are out of Clorox wipes. Please send some in if you can! Have a great week! Mandi Heiser [email protected] Happy Fall!
This week we are culminating our unit on pumpkins. At the end of a unit, we are sure to give students a place to output the knowledge they have gained about the theme. For this unit, students are making Mind Maps to share what they have learned about pumpkins. For Mind Maps, children are given a topic and instructed to think of pictures and important words that describe the topic. This graphic organizer helps children organize their thoughts through pictures and recalling comments. After we complete out Mind Maps, we will begin our unit on fall. We will explore characteristics of leaves such as color, shape and texture. We will learn about different types of trees and why leaves change color. We are reading the books Fall Leaves Fall by Zoe Hall, We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger and Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert. We will be working on identifying shapes and working on 1:1 correspondence 1-10 during small group activities. Our color of the week is pink, so please send in a pink picture for our collage. Our letter of the week is L, we are asking parents to find a small picture of something that starts with the letter L to add to our collage. We will be completing a hand writing without tears activity every week that corresponds with the letter. Watch for changing leaves with your children! It’s a great conversation starter! Also be sure to point out things that are pink and that start with the letter L! This is a great way to help students build their academic knowledge in the natural environment. Dates to Remember: November 11th-No School – Veteran’s Day November 13th- No School November 18th- Parent & Teacher Conferences- No School- Please keep an eye out for the sign-up sheet November 25-27- No School- Thanksgiving Break |
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May 2017
AuthorMandi Heiser is a Preschool teacher at William H. Ray Elementary in Hyde Park. Categories |