December 12-16

Irvington Pre-K Newsletter December 12-16, 2011

Hello, Pre-K Families! This was a high energy week of learning about the season of Winter. We talked briefly about what animals do in the winter, but mostly we focused on the changes we see around us and the thrill of the possibility of snow. Everyone also was very excited about the upcoming two week break.  It was a good week of small surprises too, like having Snowy light up our quiet reading corner, examining the frost on the play structure and bark chips, a visit from Nina the librarian, and the cookie decorating on Friday.

Reminder & Thanks

We will be on Winter Break from December 19, 2011 – January 2, 2012. Our first day back to school is Tuesday, January 3, 2012. Our letter of the week will be “K” and our theme will focus on New Year celebrations, remembering 2011, and friendship. Also, a big “thank you” to Dane and his family for the great snack this week! We loved the variety of fruits and veggies. We hope that you all enjoy your break, and wish you a very happy new year.

On Monday, we started our week off with new jobs and a new theme. This week we have two students sharing the job of Person of the Week; Aidan in the morning and Julian in the afternoon (see below for interview information). And for our project today, we made Person of the Week pages. Students have been very creative with the making of these pages. Each student draws a picture and dictates words as to why they like their friend, which is compiled into the Person of the Week book. We also read several great books about winter. We read Winter Wonderland, Snow, When Winter Comes, and the very popular The Snowy Day. During our afternoon circle, we started a chart of favorite wintertime activities that included:  drinking hot cocoa, skiing/sledding/snowboarding, building snowmen, having snowball fights and making snowflakes. There were many fun winter scene coloring sheets available too. During our share circle, Brady showed us a large silver jingle bell that he got “from the real Polar Express Train”, Lily shared a horseshoe that was covered in jewels, Lucia told us about a Go Fish game that has Julius the monkey on them, Helen Colletti shared the month of January from her Curious George Calendar, and Ben shared a small blue jingle bell that “can’t ring very well.”

On Tuesday, we had a special visit from Nina, the Multnomah County Youth Librarian, who read us many fun new books! Nina read There Was an Odd Princess Who Swallowed a Pea, Mustache, and Red Sled. The students did a fantastic job listening to all of these books. Today, we also focused more on snow and snowflakes. We learned that each snowflake is unique, has six sides, is formed from water, and can take on many different shapes. We also read The Snow Day, The Gingerbread Man Loose in School, The Story of Snow, and Snip, Snip Snow. These snow books were the inspiration for our project, which was making snowflakes! Some students made cut paper ones but we all made beautiful glitter snowflakes. Students made designs with glue on paper and then sprinkled glitter on top to create a very magical effect. During share, Netta brought in a wooden jar of strawberry jam from her play kitchen at home, Zachary shared a real glass jar that he said is, “really delicate”, Julian shared a 100 piece jigsaw puzzle that has Jupiter on the front, and Phoebe shared her last name Jacobs, which was written on a note card.

On Wednesday, we celebrated Julian’s ½ birthday and students made birthday pages, sang to him and Julian decorated his birthday crown. We read another book called Red Sled, Snow, There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow, and Snip, Snip Snow. Today we made cut out paper snowflakes. There was much enthusiasm for this project generated from Tuesday. Students cut shapes from folded pieces of tissue paper and made many beautiful snowflakes and lots of “snow” that we had to sweep up from the floor. During share, Willem shared a Jedi certificate he received after he trained to be a Jedi at Disneyland, Mary shared a jigsaw puzzle piece and a pair of snowflake “jammies” (covering both the winter theme and letter of the week), Dane shared a big jingle bell from his outside decorations, Darwin shared a “jingle stick”, Isa told us some of the things she likes to do in winter like sledding with her brother, but she hasn’t ever made a snowman. In the afternoon we also read a funny book called What Are You So Grumpy About?. We also had a fire drill in the morning and everyone was out of the building in less than 2 minutes. The Pre-K students did a tremendous job!

On Thursday, we talked a lot about snowmen/women/children. We read Snow Day, which is a wordless book that ‘tells’ a story of  a boy making a snowman that could happen again and again in its perfect story-circle. We read Making A Friend, and Snowballs both about making a snow person and the accessories one might need to dress their snowman. This segued into our project of making a snow person collage. Students arranged and glued pieces of paper onto construction paper to make their oen snow person. These super sweet friends will go home with the students on Friday. Enjoy! We also celebrated Leo’s ½ birthday with birthday pages, song and a crown. During share, Liam shared a very interesting colorful jungle toy that moves with a crank, Kate shared her a photo of her dad’s old cat Joker, Paxton shared some jumper cables which also is a weather appropriate share, Olivia shared a photo of her cousin Jewel, and Quinn shared a ball that he calls a “jump ball.” In the afternoon we also read  The 12 Days of Winter, and tried singing it to a familiar tune.

On Friday, we did a little celebrating with a snowman cookie decorating party! Each student got a snowman shaped cookie, frosting and some assorted toppings and made some lovely and yummy snow people. Morning friends took their cookies home to enjoy and full day and afternoon friends ate their cookies at snack, with some grapes. We read Snow Party, Snowy Blowy Winter, Waiting for Winter, and Here Comes Jack Frost. We also had a fun little impromptu dance party. We also read Aidan’s interview and Person of the Week book in the morning and Julian’s interview and Person of the Week book in the afternoon. It was great to learn more about our students. During share, Aidan shared his jingle bell bracelet, Odessa shared a jar and her winter jammies, Jaden told us his name starts with a “J” and Jack too, and his favorite part of winter is making snowflakes, Helen Cruz-Uribe shared her snowflake shirt “because it’s a winter thing”, and Leo shared a joke book with a funny joke.

Our morning Person of the Week was Aidan. We learned that he is 5 years old, has brown eyes, black hair, is “taller than a measure tape” and weighs about 47 pounds. His favorite color is purple, he likes to make snowmen, gingerbread, Lego’s, trains and going to Seattle where his cousin lives. He doesn’t like to eat oil by itself, cereal and stuitt(?) pudding. Some of his favorite foods are rice and beans, honey sandwiches, and vegetables and carrots. When he grows up Aidan said, “I might be a doctor.” If he could have 3 wishes, he would wish for Buzz Lightyear, a dump truck and front loader toy, and a bulldozer. Thanks, Aidan. We loved learning more about you!

Our afternoon Person of the Week was Julian. We learned that Julian is 5 ½ years old, has brown hair and blue eyes, and may only weigh about 6 pounds. His favorite colors are red and green. When Julian grows up, he wants to be a police officer. Some of his favorite foods are mac & cheese and chocolate & peanut butter ice cream.  If Julian could be granted a wish he wishes he could get a “dinosaur thing from Fred Meyer”. Julian really likes an indoor play structure and play mobiles but doesn’t like bullies. Great sharing, Julian!

Best wishes for a wonderful winter break!

Pre-K Team