Self Portraits

Self-portraits

We have been working on our self-portraits this week. Prior to drawing our self-portraits, the children have been working on creating the many possibilities of lines. Lines are everywhere! Every stroke in a painting is a kind of line. Letters consist of curvy, diagonal, short, and long lines. The children explored and named each line they created. “It looks like a spring!” Lines are now becoming numerals, letters, drawings, and self-portraits in our classroom.

Thank You Mrs. Milliken!

 
We would like to thank Mrs. Milliken for coming into the classroom and reading Room on the Broom. The children enjoyed her company and would not stop talking about the book! Our doors are always open to having parents come in to read a book, cook, or share a talent. We would love to have your company!

ASQ’s

ASQ’s are due today! Please take the time to fill out the ASQ for your child. This project focuses on making sure your child is on track and identifying areas where additional support can be used to help them succeed. Information gathered from your answers will be used by us to enhance your child’s growth and learning.

In order to complete the required screening, go to:

https://www.asqonline.com/family/22f268

There is a prize for the classroom that has all ASQ’s done first. The children each get a Scholastic book and the teachers get a $100 gift card to buy materials for the classroom! Please help us get them done ASAP.

Scholastic Magazines

Next week, we will begin reading Scholastic Magazines. This will be another opportunity for your child to practice and build their literacy skills. During this activity, the children look for the title, read the title together, hunt for letters, read the pictures, and then read the complete magazine together. At the end of the day, the children can take it home, share it with you, and complete the activities in the back of the magazine at home as homework.

 Halloween Walk

The Halloween walk will take place on October 29th at 4pm. If your child does not come to school Thursday afternoon, we encourage you to bring child to the Halloween walk. If your planning on attending the Halloween walk, please make sure to sign your child out before going on the walk. Children who attend school all day, we ask that they do not wear their costumes to school. You can place their costume in their backpacks or a tote. Teachers will help children change into their costumes. Please keep all weapons and masks at home. Many children do not understand that there is a person behind the mask, and often get frightened. 

Important Dates

October 16th- Ages & Stages due

October 16^th- Families in the Studio 4:00-5:00

October 20th– Fire department visits the ECEC

October 29– Halloween walk at 4pm

November 6th– Optional Care request forms due

November 26-27-Thanksgiving break

Safe, Kind, & Responsible

Being Safe, Kind, & Responsible

One of our goals this year is to create a social moral classroom. Part of our unique constructivist education is that the teacher shares with children much of the responsibility and power to make rules. we like to refer to rules as agreements between the teachers and the children about how to organize and regulate the operation of the classroom, including interpersonal relationships. As constructivist educators, we believe rules made by the children are better accepted and more conscientiously followed than rules given ready-made by adults. We started to think about our agreements when we began conversations about what it means to be safe, kind, and responsible.

The children gave examples for each agreement and were written down to refer back when needed. When we see the children "breaking" an agreement, we ask, "Is it safe? Is it kind? Is it responsible?" If they answer, no to any of these questions, we brainstorm solutions to solve the problem. We also notice every time the children are following the agreements by acknowledging their actions and saying, "You are being safe(kind, responsible)!" Our favorite quote we hear the children saying during clean-up time is, "I'm being responsible and I didn't even make this mess!"

We encourage you to use the same language at home. If you would like to see how fast your child can clean at home, try using the phrase "Let's be responsible and clean-up!" We hope it works for you as it has been working in our classroom community.

Talking Table

The book Have you Filled a Bucket Today? By Carol McCloud helped us to develop common vocabulary about how to treat each other.  Very quickly the children were able to distinguish the difference between “bucket filling” actions and “bucket dipping” actions.  How to handle the “bucket dipping” was the question at hand.  I designated a small table with just two chairs in our classroom as a consistent place for children to discuss these incidences.  

We discussed that “The Talking Table” would be a place to talk about what happened, how we felt about it, and to figure out a solution to the problem.  The one who has been offended is invited to speak first and is encouraged to say how they feel.  “I don’t like it when…”

The offender then gets a chance to speak.  Very often they blurt out "I'm sorry." They are asked to explain what that means.  They are encouraged to think of it meaning that they will not do the offensive action again.  They are encouraged to think of that as a promise.  Often the child will explain that the incident was not intentional.  Together, we discuss how to prevent the situation from happening again.  “Are you o.k.?” or “What can I do to help?”

Then the offended child is asked to consider the apology or amends that the offender offers.  The children are asked to exchange something to show they are ready to try again (handshake, high-5, smile, or a hug).

Most children are using the talking table with an adult present and scaffolding the process, often including the invitation to go work it out. Some children are inviting the other child to “The Talking Table” on their own and the actual process is still executed with adult guidance.  A few are beginning to handle the whole process independently.  Developing very specific language for these social problem solving situations seems to have helped the children.  It has even been overheard in the midst of play where situations have been solved pre-empting more complicated mishaps.

Ms. Smith
Ms. Smith will be gone Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday next week. She will be presenting at a Constructive Teaching conference on documenting with children in New Jersey. Good luck Ms. Smith! In addition, we wanted to let you know Tuesday's are a late start for Ms. Smith. Because she does late stay on Tuesday's, her day will start at 8:30 a.m.

Planning Time
Co-teachers have planning time every Thursday afternoon from 2-5 p.m. We use this time to plan the lesson plans for the following week, review U of M-Dearborn student lesson plans, reflect on documentation to further support the children's learning and discuss your child's progress. While we are out of the classroom, Ms. Abby, Ms. Jennifer, and Mr. Sean are in the classroom as cooperating teachers. They are university students with experience at the ECEC and know the children very well. The children are also supported by our neighbors Mrs. McAuliffe, Mrs. Lamrock, Ms. Finkelstein, & Ms. Masserant who are certified teachers. Our planning room is down the hall and only a phone call away.

Upcoming Events and Reminders
 

• Plymouth Orchard & Cider Mill- We hope to see you tomorrow! 10685 Warren Rd.Plymouth, MI 48170 1:00-4:00 p.m.

• My Body is Mine- 'My Body is Mine' presentation is being presented next Wednesday, October 14th, 2015. Our classroom is scheduled at 10:30 a.m. Lia Simpson sent out an email with electronic permission slips to sign if you'd like for your child to attend. Some of you have already signed a hard copy. If your child does not attend at this time and you would like to come, you may meet us in the lobby before we go to presentation. Please sign ASAP.

• Families in the Art Studio- Friday, October 16 4:00-5:00
  p.m.

• Fire Department visit- Monday, October 12 & Tuesday, October 20 10:30 a.m.

• Halloween Walk- Families are welcome to donate treats that will be passed out during the walk. There is a collection box in the ECEC lobby. Thursday, October 29 4:00-5:00 p.m. No weapons or masks allowed.

• Ages and Stages- Please complete the screening by October 16, 2015.

Clap, Clap, Snap

CLAP, CLAP, SNAP

Recognizing, creating, and extending patterns was part of our math small group this week. The children were highly motivated to participate and invent their own patterns using body movements. Chants of AB, ABB and ABC patterns were heard through out the classroom.

In addition to patterns and sequencing concepts for small groups, the preschoolers made their first entries in their journals. We noticed the children needed support with pencil grip and provided them with short, golf pencils to force the use of pencil grip. Journals will be an on-going literacy activity to enhance prewriting and reading skills while teaching the children that their thoughts, feelings, and words can take physical form and can be shared with others.  Tornadoes, hurricanes, planets, and letter formations were a few favorites.

The children also participated in practicing the skill of using scissors. When we choose a skill for small groups, we consider practical skills where extra support is beneficial for the children. The children fed, “Starvin Marvin”(an empty, Parmesan container with eyes) small pieces of paper that could fit in his mouth. He has become a loved addition to our classroom!

Next week for small groups, we will continue to work on patterns, letter recognition, and putting on coats.

RAMPS & PATHWAYS

A new interest has emerged! We introduced slats and marbles to the children this week and it was a big hit! The children investigated how to get the marble down a slope and getting the marble from one slat to the other. That takes a lot of thinking for a 3 or 4 year old! We could see the children had some prior knowledge about gravity. They knew one side of the slat needed to be elevated to be able to get the marble from one end to the other. Others laid the slats flat and pushed with their hand. When it came to getting the marble from one slat to another slat, things got a little harder and lots of thinking happened. The perseverance the children had was exciting to watch. Connecting the ends of the slats, and laying one end on top of the other, were strategies used to keep the marble on slats. The strategies did not always work. Sometimes the marble was knocked out of its path, or it completely stopped at connected ends. Tunnels, walls, and gates were also built around the pathways. We are excited to see the evolution of this investigation as we continue to support the preschoolers on emerging interests! 

LUNCHES (you may skip this part if your child is half day)

As your child’s educators, we hold each part of our routine with equal high importance. Lunchtime is no exception. Our school policy highly encourages parents to pack their child a “high-quality nutritious lunch.” If you provide juice in your child’s lunch, it MUST be 100% fruit juice.  This means the Caprisun pouches and other high sugar drinks will not be served to your child if they are in their lunches. Milk and water are always offered at lunch. We are committed to ensure all children in our classroom grow up with healthy bodies and minds and believe that packing a healthy lunch will influence the course of their lives and the choices they make regarding their future well-being. Therefore, we would like to propose not packing high sugar snacks, or food in your child’s lunch (one small treat is okay).We took the time to take pictures of healthy lunches this week and wanted to share them with you in hopes to give you ideas of what a healthy lunch consists of. If you have any questions regarding lunches, please contact us ASAP. 

SNAPFISH

We are on the works of trying to solve viewing problems with Snapfish. It has come to our attention many of you cannot view the pictures on Snapfish. We are have difficulty loading pictures and are not sure if the website is the problem or the technology in our part. If you are still having this problem, please, please email us. We might need to find another way of sharing the classroom photos. Thank you for being patient about this matter. We will keep you updated.

THANK YOU

We have noticed many of you encouraging your child to sign-in. Thank you for making the time to make this part of your drop-off routine! To practice the pencil grip, encourage your child to sign in with a golf pencil. We also want to thank Khristos’ family for bringing the Greek dolls for our classroom museum of family artifacts. There is still plenty of room to add more!

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Family Gathering- Plymouth Orchards & Cider Mill 10/10/15 1-4:00pm
• Families in the Art Studio Event 10/16/15 4:00-5:00pm. Come and share the schools art studio with your child!