Ms. Mikki's News- Dec. 15

News from Ms. Mikki December 15, 2017
December Learning targets: I can place 3 objects in order based on one characteristic (tall to short) I use my senses to investigate and make comparisons I notice changes in matter (melting, absorption, dissolving) I can sing my ABC’s	Literacy: Gingerbread Boy We read multiple version of The Gingerbread Boy story such as The Gingerbread Boy, The Gingerbread Baby and The Gingerbread Cowboy. We compared the stories by identifying the different characters and the different outcomes of each story.   5 Senses:  We finished up our 5 senses unit.  Along the way we shared our ideas of things we could see, hear, smell, taste and touch.
Math: My 5 Senses poem- counting and color recognition. 5 Little Gingerbread Men, jumping on the bed.  1 ran away, he was RED. 4 little Gingerbread Men, eating Jell-O.  1 ran away.  He was YELLOW 3 Little Gingerbread Men, acting mean.  1 ran away.  He was GREEN. 2 Little Gingerbread Men, falling down.  1 ran away.  He was BROWN. 1 Little Gingerbread Man, looking at you.  1 ran away.  He was BLUE.   We practiced ordering items by size (smallest to biggest) with our Gingerbread Men.  Most of us were successful with identifying small, medium, and large.  We all need a little more practice with putting them in order.  You can use different household objects to practice at home such as:  blocks, straws (cut them to various sizes), yarn or string, cardboard tubes (toilet paper, paper towel, wrapping paper), baby dolls and action figures, etc.	Science: We made gingerbread playdough!  We used all of our 5 senses to experiment with the ingredients.  Some of the BEST teaching moments are the ones they come up with on their own!  They turned the playdough center into a bakery.  As they played with their playdough, they made “gingerbread cookies”, cleared the art shelf off to use as the oven, and even asked to use the timer to keep track of “baking” time.   Next week we will watch what will happen if we leave a Gingerbread Man in a cup of water.  We’ll share our predictions and compare them to the outcome.
IMPORTANT INFO FOR PRE-K NEXT YEAR… If you are planning on attending preschool next year, you will need to fill out another application. Inclement Weather Policy:  If the district calls for a “Late Start” preschool will be cancelled for the day.	Dates to remember: December 18th & 19th: Class Christmas parties from 10:00-10:45.   December 20th-Jan. 3rd - No school for Winter Break Reminders: Please make sure your December tuition payment is made before we leave for Christmas Break!

News from Ms. Mikki December 1, 2017
Welcome back!  Everyone seemed to be excited to return to school.  They picked right back up where they left off which can often be hard to re-adjust after a break from school.     Speaking of excitement…...Ms. Jessie has some exciting news!  She and her husband Cory are expecting a little bundle of joy in June!  Let the countdown begin.   December is a very short, but busy month!  I‘ll be wrapping up several assessments over the next couple of weeks.  Make sure you are checking your child’s SeeSaw online portfolio.  I dont’ put every assessment on there, but I will put some of them on there.  You will receive your child’s progress report before we leave for Christmas Break.
December Learning targets: I can place 3 objects in order based on one characteristic (tall to short) I use my senses to investigate and make comparisons I notice changes in matter (melting, absorption, dissolving) I can sing my ABC’s	Literacy: My 5 Senses This week we read  My 5 Senses and Touch. We made a chart of things we could see and things we could touch. We shared words to describe different textures-  soft, scratchy, smooth, bumpy, fluffy, etc. We also discussed that there are some things that we can see, but we cant touch.  For example:  clouds, rainbows, the moon and stars.
Math: We set up a dice game in our math center.  The children rolled the dice with numbers on it and a dice with just the dots on it.  They were able to practice identifying the number on the dice and matching it to the posted number on the board, tag counting, and matching the number with the card that had the corresponding items on the card.   Baking cookies:  Remember that exciting news about Ms. Jessie?  Well, she is easily talked into making cookies in class.  So we measured, mixed and scooped out our dough and popped them in the oven.  And most importantly….we ate them.  They sure were delicious!	Science: I asked the students,” If you could touch a cloud, how do you think it would feel?”   They each were given a “cloud” (bath foam) to explore in their hands.   Feely bags-  They also explored different objects of various textures by reaching into a bag and feeling what was inside.  Ask them if they can remember what was in the bags (cotton balls, rock, Easter grass, balloon, pine cone, small plastic ball).
The Christmas Giving Tree-  We are collecting pudding and Jello-O cups to place under our Care To Learn Christmas tree.  You can send in your donations, or you can drop them off at the tree by the office.   IMPORTANT INFO FOR PRE-K NEXT YEAR… Applications for preschool enrollment will be available at Santa Bash.  If you are planning on attending preschool next year, you will need to fill out an application. Inclement Weather Policy:  If the district calls for a “Late Start” preschool will be cancelled for the day.	Dates to remember: December 6-7th - KidSight Vision Screening December 7th:  PAT/PreK Santa Bash 5:00-7:00-  FEMA shelter Monday, December 11th - Cox Care Mobile - contact the nurse for an appointment December 18th & 19th: Class Christmas parties from 10:00-10:45.   December 20th-Jan. 3rd - No school for Winter Break