Gingerbread Unit - December 20-23

This week we will continue our Gingerbread Unit!
Books This Week:
The Gingerbread Girl, By Lisa Cmpbell Ernst
Small Groups:
Language - Students will talk about and sequence the steps involved in making a snowman.
Math - Students will use dot stickers to create a patterned path to help the gingerbread man find his gingerbread house.
Special Activities -
1) On Tuesday we will have our Gingerbread Family Party! The morning Class party begins at 10:45 am and the afternoon class party begins at 1:45 pm. We look forward to perfoming for you and enjoying gingerbread cookies toegether.
2) On Thursday we will watch Frosty the Snowman and have popcorn together.
Students will make a special holiday gift for their family members.
3) Students will share their Gingerbread Man adventure with the class.
Choice Time -
-Sensory Table- flour and gingerbread men
- Games table - I-pod touch gingerbread game
-Library- Books about winter
-Easel - students will rub crayons over big and small sand paper gingerbread men to create gingerbread man pictures.
-Dramatic Play - Gingerbread bakery; students will use cinnamon play dough and cookie cutters to make gingerbread cookies.
-Rug - Lite brights with gingerbread man cut outs.
**Art table - We will begin learning about a new letter each week! This week we will learn about the letter "G". Students will gingerbread men to decorate the letter "G" and save the picture to create an alphabet book.** Please look around your house with your child to find something that starts with the letter "G." Send it in this week for show and tell!
Songs, Word Play, and Letters
5 Little gingerbread men
Gingerbread, Gingerbread
Oh Do you know the gingerbread man?
The gingerbreads are here
5 Gingerbread cookies in the bakery shop
Come find your name on the gingerbread man
Extra Notes:
- We will not be sending home the Book Packs over the vacation.

Gingerbread Unit - December 13-17

This week we will continue our Gingerbread Unit!
Books This Week:
The Gingerbread Boy, By Richard Egielski
Small Groups:
Cooperative working - Students will work together to decorate and name a life size gingerbread man.
Language and Technology- Students will make use of the program I-Pod Touches to play a gingerbread cookie game.
Math - Students will make a gingerbread math book. They will develop one to one correspondence skills as they count gingerbread buttons and glue them into the book.
Art -
Students will make a special holiday gift for their family members.

Students will make a gingerbread bakery hat. They will use paper gingerbread men and paper candy to complete an ABAB pattern on the hat.
Choice Time:
-Sensory Table- pasta
- Games table - sorting big and small gingerbread men

-Library- Books about winter
-Easel - students will rub crayons over big and small sand paper gingerbread men to create gingerbread man pictures.
-Dramatic Play - Gingerbread bakery; students will use cinnamon play dough and cookie cutters to make gingerbread cookies.
-Rug - Lite brights with gingerbread man cut outs.
**Art table - We will begin learning about a new letter each week! This week we will learn about the letter "F". Students will glue feathers to decorate the letter "F" and save the picture to create an alphabet book.** Please look around your house with your child to find something that starts with the letter "F." Send it in this week for show and tell!
Songs, Word Play, and Letters
5 Little gingerbread men
Gingerbread, Gingerbread
Oh Do you know the gingerbread man?
The gingerbreads are here
5 Gingerbread cookies in the bakery shop

Come find your name on the gingerbread man

Extra Notes:

- Please remember to send your child to school with warm coats, hats and mittens as we will be going out for fresh air as much as possible! Thank you!

Gingerbread Unit - December 7-10

This week we will continue our Gingerbread Unit!
Books This Week:
The Gingerbread Man, By Jim Aylesworth
Small Groups:
Fine motor group - students will lace a gingerbread man and decorate him
Language - Students will make a Gingerbread book while learning prepositions. They will glue the gingerbread man in different positions relative to the fox!
Math - Students will play a game with big and small gingerbread men sorting them into the big and small gingerbread houses. They will also create their own pictures of big and small gingerbread men.
Art -
Students will make large construction paper gingerbread men for the hallway scene.
Students will make a stained glass ginerbread man for the window
Choice Time:
-Sensory Table- Color and shape buttons
- Games table - Gingerbread man color BINGO
-Library- Books about winter
-Easel - students can use water colors to paint gingerbread houses
-Dramatic Play - Students can create and fix toys in the tool shop
-Rug - Fliptrack mountain with trains and tracks
**Art table - We will begin learning about a new letter each week! This week we will learn about the letter "E". Students will glue elephants to decorate the letter "E" and save the picture to create an alphabet book.** Please look around your house with your child to find something that starts with the letter "E." Send it in this week for show and tell!
Songs, Word Play, and Letters
5 Little gingerbread men
Gingerbread, Gingerbread
Oh Do you know the gingerbread man?
The gingerbread are here
5 Gingerbread cookies in the bakery shop

Gingerbread Unit

This week we will begin our Gingerbread Unit! Throughout this unit students will engage in gingerbread-theme activities that develop skills across all learning domains. They will develop visual motor skills through creating gingerbread men, cooperative play skills while playing in the gingerbread bakery, fine motor skills through lacing gingerbreads, math skills through button shape sorting, and language skills through gingerbread lotto games.... and more. Historically, this has been favorite unit for both students and teachers!

Books This Week:
Gingerbread Baby, By Jan Brett

Small Groups:
Language- Students will play a lotto board game which includes many vocabulary words found in the stories read throughout the unit.

Visual Motor group - Students will make their own gingerbread baby for the class bulletin board

Gross Motor group - Students will develop gross motor skills, coordination and cooperative play skills as they ride tricycles in the hall, and go through an obstacle course

Art:

1) Students will work together to paint and decorate a large gingerbread house for the class bulletin board.

Choice Time:
-Sensory Table - Students will sort and string different colored shape buttons

-Library- Books about gingerbread and winter time

- Easel -Students will use water colors to paint a gingerbread man
-Dramatic Play - Students will pretend they work in a toy factory and use the tool shop to make toys.

-Rug toy -students can talk about travelling over the holidays as they play with the aiplanes and airports on the rug

- Art table - The letter of the week is "D". Students will use dot markers and dot stickers to decorate the letter "D." Please feel free to look around the house with your child and send something in that starts with the letter "D" for show and tell.
Songs, Word Play, and Letters
The Gingerbreads are Here

Gingerbread Gingerbread

5 Gingerbread Cookies

Gingerbread Shape Song

Oh Do you Know the Gingerbread Man?

Special Notes:

- I hope that everyone had a nice Thanksgiving Vacation! Welcome back.

- There will be no school Monday December 6th due to staff development.

Pinata Party!

Today we celebrated the end of our Friends Unit with a pinata party!
We made goodie bags, carried our stuffed animals out to the playground and puled the pinata strings. We watched the toys fall to the ground and collected them our goodie bags. Lastly, we played with our stuffed animal friends on the swings and slides!

Friends Unit-Week 4

Books This Week:
Hooray A Pinata! By Elisa Kleven
Dandelion, By Don Freeman

Thank You Thanksgiving, By David Milgrim

Small Groups:
-Art - Students will make and decorate a bag for the pinata party!
-Language - Students will read the story Thanks for Thanksgiving By Julie markes and talk about what they are grateful for. They will then make a special Thanksgiving card to share with someone special.
Choice Time:
-Sensory Table- modeling sand, construction trucks, cars and roads for driving.

-Writing- making stationary and sending letters to friends
-Library- Books about friendship

- Easel -Students will paint pinata pictures with bright paint colors
-Dramatic Play - Grocery store with various roles. Students will create shopping lists and play the roles of cashier, bagger, and shopper.

- Blue Table - Play dough and pizza toppings
- Art table - Students will color and decorate turkeys.
Songs, Word Play, and Letters
Hello Mr. Turkey How are You?

Turkey Trot

We Eat Turkey

Alphabet Action Song
Looby Loo

Special Notes:

- Please send your child's favorite stuffed animal to school on Tuesday for the Pinata party!

-Wednesday November 24th is a half day of school. The morning session will run as a normal day and there will be no afternoon session. There will be no school on Thursday November 25th and Friday November 26th.

Friends Unit - Week 3

Books This Week:
Hooray A Pinata! By Elisa Kleven
Dandelion, By Don Freeman
Small Groups:
-Art - Students will make a Pinata with their small group. They will decorate it and decide on a name together.
-Language - Students will talk about the Pinata Party we will have next week! They will think of their favorite stuffed animals and make invitations to invite them to the party.
-Letters -Students will make OPEN and CLOSED signs for the grocery store. They will match the letters and glue them to the sign.
Choice Time:
-Sensory Table- modeling sand and construction trucks

-Writing- making stationary and sending letters to friends
- Manipulatives table - Paper Mache Pinatas
-Library- Books about friendship
--Dramatic Play - Grocery store with various roles. Students will create shopping lists and play the roles of cashier, bagger, and shopper.
-Rug - Cars and car tracks on the rug

**Art table - We will begin learning about a new letter each week! This week we will learn about the letter "C". Students will use toy cars and paint to decorate the letter "C" and save the picture to create an alphabet book.** Please look around your house with your child to find something that starts with the letter "C." Send it in this week for show and tell!
Songs, Word Play, and Letters

Pizza, Pizza Pie
Alphabet Action Song

5 Little Ducks

I'm a nut

Down By the Bay

Head Shoulders Knees and Toes

Making Pizza!

Last week we made pizzas like the Little Red Hen did in the story! We kneaded and pounded the dough, then we stretched it out, spread some tomato sauce on, and sprinkled the cheese. We baked it on the oven for 15 minutes, and the delicious smell reached our classroom. We took the pizzas home and shared them with our families!

Unit 2- Week 2

Books This Week:
The Little Red Hen, Retold By Philemon Sturges
A Letter to Amy, By Ezra Jack Keats
Small Groups:
-Math- Students will assemble fruit and vegetable puzzles. They will also use letter tiles to create their names.
-Language - Students will talk about the items and sort items in the grocery store.
-Letters -Students will play alphabet bingo and name memory.
Choice Time:
-Sensory Table- sand and molds
-Writing- making stationary and sending letters to friends
- Math and manipulatives - letter tiles and car color boards
-Library- Books about friendship
-Easel - Chalk coloring
-Dramatic Play - Grocery store
-Rug - Role playing with people and pretend playgrounds
**Art table - We will begin learning about a new letter each week! This week we will learn about the letter "B". Students will use beans to decorate the letter "B" and save the picture to create an alphabet book.** Please look around your house with your child to find something that starts with the letter "B." Send it in this week for show and tell!
Songs, Word Play, and Letters
5 Juicy Apples
Eentsy weentsy spider
If your name starts with...
Down by the Bay
Ten Little Fingers
Come on and Join into the game
Alphabet Action Song

Unit 2 -Friends

In Unit 2, children will be talking about friendship, how to be a good friend, and ways to resolve conflicts with friends. Through the story time books, children hear about the importance of being who you are, helping friends, enjoying special times together, and getting along. In addition to listening to stories, children will learn to idenify rhyming works and beginning letters and sounds in words, as they build vocabulary and comprehension skills. They will also participate in a variety of music, poetry, math, science, and art activities.
Theme Concepts:
-A friend is someone we like and want to spend time with. Friends like to do things together. They enjoy each other's company.
-We can have more than one good friend, and we might like to do some things with one friend and other things with other friends.
-Friends usually share with and help one another.
-Friends may have arguments and get mad at one another. Usually, friends work out their problems and continue to be friends.
-We can make new friends and also keep old friends.

Books This Week:
The Little Red Hen, Retold By Philemon Sturges

A Letter to Amy, By Ezra Jack Keats

Small Groups:
-Math- Students will develop counting skills while playing a dinosaur game.
-Science - Students will follow directions and make a real homemade pizza. They will engage in this multi-sensory activity while seeing, hearing, smelling feeling and tasting the pizza.
-Writing -Students will make a page for the Friendship class book. They will draw a picture of something they like to play with their friends.

Choice Time:
-Sensory Table- washing dishes with soapy water
-Writing- making stationary and sending letters to friends

- Math and manipulatives - stringing large beads
-Library- Books about friendship
-Easel - Painting pictures of pizza and decorating with "pizza toppings"

-Dramatic Play - Pizza party with friends!

-Rug - Role playing with poeple and doll houses

**Art table - We will begin learning about a new letter each week! This week we will learn about the letter "A". Students will make apple prints on the letter "A" and save the picture to create an alphabet book.** Please look around your house with your child to find something that starts with the letter "A." Send it in this week for show and tell!

Songs, Word Play, and Letters
5 Juicy Apples

Eentsy weentsy spider

If your name starts with...

Down by the Bay

Ten Little Fingers

Come on and Join into the game

Alphabet Action Song

No School November 2nd

Due to a staff development day for teachers, students will not have school on Tuesday November 2nd! Please bring the Book Packs back on Wednesday! Thank you!

Pumpkins!!

This week we will learn about the Fall season as we explore pumpkins and leaves! Students will enjoy reading new books, taking a nature walk and completing various Fall projects!



Books This Week:
It's Pumpkin Time
Big Pumpkin
There Was an Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything
Small Groups:
-Fine motor - Students will decorate and lace a pumpkin
-Science - Students will enjoy a nature walk. We will collect leaves, acorns and sticks and use them to complete a Fall collage.
-Language and visual motor-Students will talk about the parts of a scarecrow and assemble the parts independently.
Math - Students will construct a 5 Little Pumpkins song board to use during music time.
Choice Time:
-Dramatic Play- Students will play dress up with various costumes and pretend to go trick or treating.
-Sensory Table- Pretend grass, creepy crawly bugs and magnifying glasses
-Writing- Students will draw pictures of their favorite dress up costumes
- Math and manipulatives - Jack-o-Lantern file folder game
-Library- Books about Fall and pumpkins
- Art table- Jack-o-Lantern pictures, spider webs and ghosts, and pumpkin patches
-Easel - water colors and Fall pictures
Songs, Word Play, and Letters
Way Down Yonder in the Pumpkin Patch
The Pumpkins are Here
5 Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate
3 Little Apples
APPLE

Parlee Farm!