January 3-6
Irvington Pre-K Newsletter, January 3-6, 2012
Happy New Year and welcome back to school, Pre-K families! We hope you all had a restful and fun break! This week we talked about the New Year, and shared our goals and wishes for 2012. We also focused on remembering our rules and expectations, which turned out to be a bit unnecessary, we are happy to say! We had a very short week, due to Monday’s holiday and Wednesday’s boiler failure, but we still managed to have fun and learn some things! Next week we will be talking about animals in winter- hibernation/dormancy, migration, and adaptation. Our letter of the week will be L.
We are in need of parents to sign up again for snack. It is most likely that everyone will bring it twice in the school year, so if you have not signed up for a second week, please do so soon. We are good until February, at which point we need help. Thanks for all the assistance thus far, we really appreciate the support and cooperation! As always, we only ask for fruits and vegetables (popular items include grapes, cuties, apples, edamame, carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, bananas, etc).
Our letter of the week was K and we had some great shares. We talked about how it can be hard to tell if a word starts with a C or a K, and that it’s okay to guess incorrectly! We also noted that some words sound like they start with an N but also start with a K. Language can be tricky!
Our person of the week was Olivia! She guessed 4 years old, guesses to weigh ‘fifth’ pounds, and is 3 feet 11 inches. Her eyes are blue and her hair is brown, and she likes to eat macaroni, noodle soup, and smashed potatoes. When she grows up she wants to be a mom, and she wishes that she could catch a star and for a rocket-ship! Olivia likes “drawing pictures, mommy painting my fingernails, and going to our school park.” She does not like mud and “the soup I had last night.” Her favorite colors are yellow, pink, and turquoise, and she loved getting her pretty Person of the Week book. It was nice to get to know Olivia this week!
On Tuesday, we sang goodbye to December and 2011, and hello to January and 2012! We talked about how we will never ever see 2011 again, but we will see December again, as well as the days of the week, which was a new concept for most. We discussed how the seasons, months and days all repeat, but not the year. That is why New Year’s is special! We also made calendar pieces for January, which you can see all month on our calendar, and made person of the week pages for Olivia. We read New Year’s Day, Over and Under the Snow, and The Winter Visitors. For share, Netta brought in a Kirsten book (from the American Girl Dolls series) and showed us a few of her favorite pages. Phoebe shared “a really delicate Hello Kitty ornament,” and Brady showed us a King card from a deck his dad got for him. Lucia told us lots of great K words: king, kite, kangaroo, and kindergarten, and told us that “my mommy teached me K words.” Julian brought up the ‘silent K’ issue with his share, when he told us about knights and the boys that help the knights- we learned that it took a knight an hour to get dressed in all the armor! Tessa also gave us some more K words: kangaroo, key, kite, Kate, kick, and kitty!
Wednesday we had an unexpected day off due to issues with the boiler, so when we came back Thursday we had a lot to do! We celebrated Olivia’s five and a half year old birthday, as she has a summer birthday. We sang to her, she decorated a crown beautifully and thoroughly, and she received a lovely birthday book from all her friends. We looked at some of her adorable baby pictures as well, including an ultrasound! We talked more about the New Year, and read New Year’s Day and Katie Discovers Winter; also Ms. Nina from the public library came and read Epossumondus Plays Possum. The students love when she comes in to read stories, and we look forward to seeing her again! Thursday also turned into a mega-share day, as we had a few missed days to make up. Mary shared her 2012 bookmarks she made, and asked if coloring starts with a K- a great guess and another opportunity for us to talk about tricky K. Quinn shared some K words: ketchup, kitten, and kangaroo, and Lily showed us the key to her Nanny’s house. Paxton brought in a big rope with lots of knots in it, and with a little help showed us how to make a knot. Liam shared a book on Hawaii, pointing out a page with a sign reading “Kapu,” which means no, and he showed us his favorite page, featuring a blasting volcano. Olivia showed us a photo of her three cousins, one of whose name is Kenzie, and Willem shared a cute family photo with his mom, Kirsten. Darwin brought in a kazoo and gave us a wonderful rendition of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” while Dane shared a King playing card. We also did some of our K-bag! Whew, nice job pre-K!
Friday we talked about New Year’s resolutions and wishes. We read Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution and practiced making our own. Some memorable resolutions and wishes include helping people be a princess, going to the Lego store more, being a candy driver, helping dogs, taking a year off, to stop fighting so much, to not wear boots every day, to have fun, and to not wear my crown every day. We also read There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow, Olivia’s Person of the Week book, and a few other wintery books. We finished off the K bag, and talked about other goals and wishes for the New Year. At share time, Helen C. modeled her brand-new kitty-cat hat, which is very cute. Aidan brought in keys and a key chain, and Ben kindly wished all his classmates a Happy New Year! Odessa shared keepsakes from the beach- pretty seashells. Jaden brought in his Playmobile king, and told us he wanted to bring his brother Kellen in, but Kellen would miss soccer class. Helen Cruz-Uribe brought in a book of colors, Red as Dragon, and showed us her favorite page- a kite! Leo showed us a DVD of Free Willy, which stars Keiko the Killer Whale, and told us that Killer Whales “don’t hurt persons, they like persons,” which is good to know! Kate shared her 2012 bookmarks she colored in beautifully.
Thanks for a great week Pre-K families! Enjoy your weekend!
The Pre-K team
