We are off to a great start! This class is making friends and having a blast! The first few weeks of school we talk about our names, emotions, and rules at school. I love the way our Creative Curriculum brings nursery rhymes into the classroom during our first unit. The benefits of nursery rhymes in preschool are endless, below I have listed just a few.

1. Cognitive Development - The repetition of rhymes and stories helps with memory skills.

2. Speech Development - Language acquisition and speech development are improved , as the children repeat the rhymes the mouth and tongue muscles are developed.

3. Reading skills - The knowledge of nursery rhymes provide a excellent foundation for later literary works, they are a great introduction to stories as many contain a beginning, middle and end (sequencing)

4. Language skills - Rhymes help increase vocabulary, and introduce your child to poetry.

5. Math skills - Rhymes are full of patterns, numbers, and counting.

I used dramatic play as the children pretended to be Little Miss Muffet , Humpty Dumpty and Mary and her little lamb. Listed below are a couple of reasons why dramatic play is important.

1. Dramatic play builds comprehension skills by allowing children to act out familiar rhymes and stories.

2. Social skills are improved as children take turns and work together.

The highlight of our week was meeting Mary and her little lamb. We could not let Mary and her lamb in our classroom because it was against the rules to have a lamb at school. The children were thrilled to meet her and she let us pet her lamb. We were sad to see her leave, but we must follow the rules.

The next few weeks we will discuss when things happen at school, and people that work at our school. Learning is fun!

Memories light the corners of my mind, and what beautiful memories this class made. Even thought our time in the classroom was cut short due to COVID- 19 we persevered and learned at home. One of my special memories of this time was working with my fellow teachers as we helped each other reach out to the children at home. We made videos, read books , sent out packets, and we had zoom meetings with our students.

I want to thank our administrative team for helping us as we navigated through uncharted waters. It was a blessing to see the whole school come together during this difficult time. A special thank you to my parents for helping their children learn at home and for sending wonderful emails and pictures.

We could never have known that time would rewrite the end of the school year in a way that none of us had ever seen before. As we prepared to to say good-bye one last time we celebrated the end of the year in a way that was new to all of us.

The school took part in a special drive through good-bye. As the children picked up their belongings this good-bye was full of smiles, laughter and tears. All in all we did have a wonderful year. Enjoy these pictures of the smiles we left behind, smiles we gave to one another for the way we were.

May God bless you all,

Mrs. Diane

.

During this difficult time my coworkers and I have mailed curriculum plans, and made videos of ourselves reading to the children. It breaks my heart that I can’t be with the class, but my colleges and I remain upbeat and hopeful. Our parents are doing a wonderful job of teaching at home. The pictures they send of their children working on the curriculum brighten my day. Parents are the first teachers and now we are returning to their knowledge and care. Parents and teachers working together are important factors in the educational success of their children. Even in the classroom I could always tell the children that had parents who worked with them at home.

I must say the Reduce, Reuse , Recycle unit is a great way to learn at home. The children are learning first hand what items can be thrown away or used again. I know some parents already have recycling containers at their home. Paper , plastic and metal are a few things that we can recycle. In some areas glass is melted down and used again. It is very important for our earth that we all do our part.

Letters and numbers are discussed in the children’s packet with help from our parents. One computer lesson had the children looking for the letter R on the family computer. Learning will continue. The videos we send home help the children with language skills and phonics, and the children love seeing their teacher! Each child is a blessing and each child has a special gift. As parents and teachers we will continue to work together for the educational success of every child.

BOUNCING AND ROLLING

Our first topics were about balls that bounce and roll. One of our favorite balls that rolled was a bowling ball. We noticed that our bowling ball had three holes in it. I was amazed to watch the children as they put their fingers and thumb into the right hole. The class shouted for joy as the pins were knocked down. The children counted the pins that were knocked down and the pins that were left standing. We determined that the bowling ball did not bounce very well, but it was fun to watch it roll. This activity helped your child with counting skills and hand-eye coordination.

DEMONSTRATES POSITIVE APPROACHES TO LEARNING

One of our objectives for last week was - demonstrates positive approaches to learning . I put a small object in a box and then I moved the box back and forth. After I gave the class clues , they had to guess what was in the box. Everyone was thrilled to see that a ping pong ball was in the box! We practiced making the sound of letter P for ping pong and letter B for ball. Our listening skills were getting a work out.

MUSIC WITH BALLS

Mrs. Tipton must have heard that we were learning about balls. When the students arrived to the music classroom we found balls wrapped in velcro. Each child had to take a turn throwing four balls toward a musical banner. The banner was full of music notes. As the ball hit a note the children had to tell the class what note it was. Mrs. Tipton was by their side if anyone forgot what note their ball hit. This activity helped your child learn to read music.

We were thrilled to see the tooth fairy this month. We learned that we need to brush our teeth two times a day for two minutes. The class learned about food that is good for our teeth and food that is bad for our teeth. Each student was thrilled to help with the dental floss. Don’t forget to floss your teeth! A special thanks to Pediatric Dentistry of Texarkana.

Our Valentine Party was a hit! This class practiced name recognition as they passed out valentines. The hit of the party was the ballroom dancing! Costumes for the dance were provide by the home living center. It was very sweet to watch the class as they moved to the music. A special thank you to all the parents for helping with our snacks.

Grandparents Day was a blast! All of our primary classes went on the stage to sing for the grandparents. After we left the stage it was time for everyone to see our beautiful classroom. The children loved showing their work and telling the parents and grandparents about our centers.

We wrapped up the building unit by making buildings out of boxes. Each child had a great time as they pretended to be in various buildings. The beauty shop was a hit with the boys and girls and the automotive repair shop was just the place for a tune up. Anyone who was feeling sick was able to stop by the doctor’s office. letter P was for post office and it was the place to be for mailing those valentines. Your child’s imagination flourished as they took turns moving around our pretend city. Our next unit will have us bouncing for joy as we learn about balls.