October 2015 Newsletter

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PRE-­‐K MAY/JUNE NEWSLETTER Literacy
Books
From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons
Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert
Planting a Rainbow y Lois Ehlert
Nature Upclose: A Dandelion's Life by John
Himmelman
One Child, One Seed: A South African
Counting Book by Kathryn Cave
The Reason For a Flower by Ruth Heller
Seeds by Ken Robbins
The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
Flower Garden by Eve Bunting
One Bean by Anne Rockwell
How a Seed Grows by Helene Jordan
Oh Say Can You Seed by Bonnie Worth
If I Ran the Circus – Dr. Seuss
Clifford at the Circus – N. Bridwell
Circus Shapes – Murphy
Mirette on the High Wire – Mc Cully
Harolds Circus – Crockett Johnson
Circus by Roxie Munro
Assorted Nursery Rhyme Anthologies
My Body – Patty Carratello
Inside your Outside – Tish rabe
Me and My Amazing Body – Joan Sweeny
Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman
On Mother's Lap by Ann Herbert Scott and
Glo Coalson
Mother's Day by Anne Rockwell and Lizzy
Rockwell
Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too? by
Eric Carle
Just Me and My Mom (A Little Critter Book)
by Mercer Mayer
I Love You, Mom by Iris Hiskey
Thank you for joining us on our trips
to The Queens Botanical Garden
and Fort Totten! We really
appreciate how you support our
learning!
We will be addressing our listening,
speaking, and writing skills through books and
activities focused on Mother Goose Rhymes and
the Circus.
Why Use Nursery Rhymes?
· They are familiar to many children
· They have rhythm and rhyme
· They can be sung to familiar tunes
· Oral language precedes written text
· They are great for phonemic awareness
· They have short, simple, rhyming text that is easy
to memorize
Oral language precedes written text
· Concepts can be taught about print in the
context of familiar materials
· Nursery Rhymes teach story structure and
elements:
Some of the concepts we reinforced or
introduced with various rhymes included:
Hickory, Dickory, Dock ~ time, opposites/position
words (up/down)
Jack Be Nimble ~ position words (over); Letter J
Little Boy Blue ~ position words (under);
Color: blue
Humpty Dumpty ~ opposites/position words
(on/off Letter H, D, E; Color: white
Jack and Jill ~ Letter J; opposites/position words
(up/down/after)
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star ~ Space and positional
words (above/in)
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep ~ Color: black; Letter B;
Counting to 3
Hey Diddle, Diddle ~ Letter D; position words
(over)
Little Miss Muffet ~ position words (on); Spiders;
Letter M; Color: black
Mrs. Corin
Mrs. Savoth
Math
We focused on math by counting
flowers and seeds on the flannel board. We
grouped imanipulatives in order to add and
decompose numbers. The smart board is
being incorporated to support this skill. We
used dice to help us count and recognize
numbers. We are sorting plants and seeds as
well. We will continue our seeds and
planting unit as we work on math problems
through the Common Core.
Task Description: Students explore the
concept of addition and subtraction
combining and dividing seeds in a pot.
Students pretend to be busy gardeners,
adding seeds to the pot to plant and grow,
or hungry birds, swooping down from high
above to subtract seeds from the pot to
eat.
Standards: PK.OA.1 Demonstrates an
understanding of addition and subtraction
by using objects, fingers, and responding to
practical situations (e.g. if we have 3 apples
and add two more, how many do we have
all together?). PK.CC.4 Count to answer
“how many?” questions about as many as
10 things arranged in a line, a rectangular
array, or a circle, or as many as 5 things in a
scattered configuration; given a number
from 1-10, count out that many objects.
Social Studies
We are learning about the Florist in our
neighborhood. We redecorated our gingerbread
house and transformed it into a Flower Shop! We
are taking turns being the florist and the
customer. Using the cash register and making
change as well as taking orders over the phone,
writing orders, wrapping and arranging flowers
are some of the skills we are practicing. A word
wall that we can access decorates the house as
well as pictures we cut from magazine and drew.
Science
Our plants and seeds study include:
Mother’s Day Tea
We are getting ready to
prepare for the Mother’s Day
Tea. We are creating some
surprises for you! We hope to
see you on May 7th! We will be
reading many books about
mothers and speak about
unconditional love.
Identify the parts of a plant
Identify various plants and flowers
Recognize what plants need in order to
live and grow.
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Discuss the job of a gardener.
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Understand the life cycle
We are planting seeds and sprouting beans.
We will record our observations and relate our
experiences through discussion, journaling and
responding to literature.
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