Our butterflies finally arrived! We will be completing a butterfly observation journal over the next 3 weeks. We will also compare how honey bees and butterflies are the same and different. Keep your fingers crossed that the caterpillars go through their metamorphoses quickly so the students can see the whole process by the time school is out. We will continue to read books related to butterflies such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Painted Lady Butterflies, Gotta Go, Gotta Go!, Are you a Caterpillar and Ten Little Caterpillars. The letter of the week is Z. Please send in our Z pictures by Thursday.
Since we have been learning all about nature (plants, bees and butterflies) our focus will be nature centered we will spend a great deal of time outdoors. Please dress your child accordingly. Remember to put sunscreen on before they come to school. In addition, flip flop types of sandals are not ideal for running and gross motor activities on playground. You are welcomed to leave a pair of old/play running shoes at school for your child to change into when needed (please write their names somewhere on the shoe –inside of the tongue is a great place). As the weather begins to warm up we will visit Bixler Park and also travel over to Botany Pond to observe the baby ducks and turtles. I will post notices on the entry door and sign-in sheet to remind you of the days we will be traveling over. We are also asking for a wagon or two to take with us. We will also need gallons of water and small Dixie cups (any donation is welcomed). We also like to offer a small snack on our trips (graham crackers, animal crackers, and pretzel rods are always a hit), donations are welcomed as well. e will be extending our outdoor learning by taking our very 1st walk over to Hyde Park Farmers Market Music Concert in Harper’s Court on Thursday, June 1st (Morning Students Only- the concert is over at 11:15) We will have some sort of special music event for the afternoon class that day as well, but we will not be going off school grounds). We will need lots of volunteers to walk over with us and stay and enjoy the music concert featuring Junie B! Please be sure to sign the permission slip. We will be dismissing the students from Harper’s Court at 11:20 that day (you will also need to fill out a special form for this dismissal as well. FYI: In order to prepare for next year the Ray Pre-k program will be closing down for 3 days. We will be completing registration for new incoming students. Students who are returning for their 2nd year of preschool do not need to complete new registration forms. We will close down Thursday, June 15, Friday, June 16, and Monday, June 19th. We will have our good-bye picnic at Bixler Park on Tuesday, June 20th. Please continue to read the blog weekly to keep up to date on what’s happening. Have a wonderful week! Mandi Heiser
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This week we are happy to welcome Miss Maggie back! No one is happier to see her than me! I have spoken with the children about how to greet her when she comes back. She still has some soreness from her procedure, so we are asking the children to give a high five, handshake or first pound to greet her. Please be sure to remind your child of this at home as well. We will continue to learn about bees this week. We will label their body parts and create a list of the bee facts we have learned. Ask your child to tell you about bees! You will be surprised at how much they know. The letter of the week is X. Please send in your X pictures no later than Thursday. Ray School is celebrating the last 26 days of school with the ABC Challenge! Feel free to join in! 5/15 A Animal Day (Bring a stuffed animal to school day) or Alma Mater Day (College Gear) 5/16 B Bandana Day 5/17 C Crazy Sock Day 5/18 D Doodle Day (Get a Big Poster and Pass it around so everyone can add a doodle to the poster) Display it outside your door 5/19 E Exercise Day at 9am and 3PM school wide 5 minute exercises 5/22 F Fruit Day (Bring your favorite fruit for lunch) 5/23 G Game Day (Bring and play your favorite board game during lunch/recess time) 5/24 H Hat and Hula-Hoop Day 5/25 I Identical Day ( Dress Identical to Another Person) 5/26 J Joke Day (Students-Tell a joke in class Staff- Stick a funny joke in someone’s mailbox) 5/30 K Kicks Day (Wear your favorite KICKS-gym shoes, sandals, etc) 5/31 L Love day (Show your love with a handshake, hug, note, or with words) 6/1 M Music Day (Music can be played by your teacher at 3:20PM) 6/2 N Nice to your Neighbor Day (Be nice to your classmate, locker partner, teaching neighbor 6/5 O Opposite Day 6/6 P Pajama Day 6/7 Q Question Day 6/8 R Races at Recess Day 6/9 S Sticker Day 6/12 T Thank you Day (Write thank you notes to room parents, volunteers, retirees) 6/13 U USA Day (Wear red, white and blue) 6/14 V Voting Day 6/15 W Walk Day (Take a walk with your class) 6/16 X X & O Day (Play Tic-tac-toe) 6/19 Y Year End Cleaning Day (Clean Everything! Students take belongings home) 6/20 Z Zoom Out of School Day (Have a wonderful summer break) Have a great week! Mandi Heiser [email protected] Hello Parents,
This week will begin our study on honeybees. We will explore the importance of the honeybee to our environment. We will discuss how we would have no food to eat without honeybees. We will also discuss that many types of bees are now endangered and we will brainstorm what we can do to protect them. We will be reading the books Honey in Hive by Anne Rockwell, The Honey Makers by Gail Gibbons, Flight of the Honey Bee by Raymond Huber, Are you a Bee? By Judy Allen. We will be doing a honey taste test and diagramming the body parts of a honey bee. Our letter of the week is letter W. Please bring in your pictures by Thursday. Miss Maggie will return on May 22nd. We all are very excited to see her. If you are able to help us for the walk-a-thon on May 19th from 9:45-10:45 (AM) or 1:15-1:45 (PM) we would greatly appreciate your assistance. Thanks! Mandi Heiser Please consider volunteering to help us at the Walk-a-thon Friday, May 19 from 9:45-10:15 (AM class)
or 1:15-1:45 (PM class). We need adult helpers to make sure this event is fun and safe. Talk to Miss Heiser if you're interested. Dear Parents,
This week we will finish up learning about the life cycle of the plant. Depending on if our caterpillars arrive this week, we will begin to learn about the lifecycle of a butterfly. We will be reviewing the text we have read so far as well as creating a seed diagram so we can visualize the life cycle. At small groups we will be creating observational drawing of our plants. We will also be playing an ABC game where we will roll a dice and identify the letter either receptively, expressively or by letter sound. Our letter of the week will be R. Please send in your R pictures by Thursday. Miss Maggie is healing well. She is still recovering and will not be here this week. She appreciates everyone’s thoughts and prayers through this process. I have some other news to share, I will not be returning to Ray next school year. I will be moving to St. Louis at the end of June. Working at Ray has truly been the highlight of my career. Making this decision was a difficult one, but I know it is what is best for me. It will be tough to say good-bye, but I have wonderful memories of your children to cherish. Miss Maggie, Ms. Bethanie and Ms. Weinberg will still be at Ray in the 2017-2018 school year and I am sure a new wonderful teacher will be hired to take my place. Your child will be in good hands. Have a great week! Mandi Heiser Dear Parents,
Thank-you for being patient with my late post. It has been a busy time since Miss Maggie has been out. We now have a sub for the next 2 weeks, his name is Mr. C. We are lucky to have him and he is great with the kids. We are learning about planting for the next few weeks. We have been planting seeds in pots in the classroom and creating observational drawings documenting the plant growth. We also have a decomposition science project taking place in the science area. We are watching to see if plastic wrappers decompose, an apple will decompose or a paper cup will decompose. This brings the discussion about recycling and conservation into our classroom at a hands-on level students can understand. We will be reading Wonderful Worms by Linda Glaser, What Kind of Seeds Are These? By Heidi Bee Roemer, Underground by Denise Fleming and The Reason for a Flower by Ruth Heller. The letter of the week is P. Please send in your pictures no later than Thursday. In case you were unaware, CPS announced school will end for summer June 20th. If there are any more changes, we will let you know. Thank-you for your understanding! Mandi Heiser |
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May 2017
AuthorMandi Heiser is a Preschool teacher at William H. Ray Elementary in Hyde Park. Categories |