Dramatic Play - Family Theme

The curriculum we use in pre-k at Dike Newell School is called Tools of the Mind. There is a link that connects you to their informational website on the right side of this page.

An important part of the curriculum is dramatic play. Taking on pretend roles helps develop self regulation in kids in a really fun and engaging way. Our first dramatic play theme is "family" which kids inherently know a lot about. Our traditional centers (art, math, literacy, science, blocks, kitchen) have had an overlay of elements and props  that have "transformed" them (well, you have to use some imagination ...) into rooms in a house. (The art center has become the laundry room, the block center has become the garage, literacy has become the livingroom, etc.) The kids have been picking centers to play in and have started pretending to be family members in these rooms.The following is a slideshow of your kids taking on beginning roles of the mom, dad, the brother, sister, aunt, grandparent, cousin, etc.

Exploring centers in preschool

Hi Families!

Here's a slideshow from our beginning weeks of preschool, showing kids exploring the materials in our traditional centers ... Art, Literacy, Kitchen, Math, Blocks and Science.

More Pre-K particulars about drop off time...

The office has requested that I restate the procedure for morning drop off of pre-k students ...

The procedure for pre-k drop off is to park or walk to the large side parking lot, and enter through the covered side door between 8:15 and 8:30.  The front of the school is a bus drop off zone only, at the beginning and end of school. Do not park there.  If you come to school after 8:30, you will need to walk to the front of the building and get buzzed in through the door near the office. Stop by the office to say your child has arrived. Pre-k families will escort their students to the pre-k classroom.

Thanks a bunch for following our procedures to help keep kids safe.

Mrs. Bridgman 

Particulars for Pre-K Families

In Pre-K, on any given day, we are likely to use paint and glue and wonderfully messy materials, and play outside in the elements. Please consider having your child wear clothes daily that can withstand these activities. On Wednesdays, we go to PE in the gym, where Mrs. McCauley requests that we all wear sneakers. 

Wednesday mornings, Mrs. Peavey will be at the outer door to let you in. Adults dropping off the children should walk down the hallway and into our classroom with them, as on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Pre-K kids are not allowed to walk down the hall to our classroom unsupervised.

Any questions, problems or celebrations? We want to hear about them. I am at school for a bit of time before and after every pre-k school day.  My e-mail is abridgman@rsu1.org. If you choose to communicate by e-mail, and I don’t respond quickly, our school spam filter may have not recognized the importance of your message and bumped it into spam. Please let me know and we can fix that problem.

Thank you sooo much for the classroom donations of kleenex, paper cups and plates, and hand sanitizer. Your contributions help our classroom run smoother and cleaner, and are much appreciated.

Quite soon, I will be posting pictures of the kids working and playing during our school day here on the blog. Awaiting a few more permission slips before that happens. If you have not given permission for your child's picture to be on our blog (we never use names), I will respect that wish and be filtering which pictures we use accordingly.

 Thanks for a great start to our school year! Mrs. Bridgman

Bus Drill

All students at Dike Newell School are participating in bus evacuation drills this week, including Pre-K. "Why?" you ask, since our little ones are not on the bus to come to school. We will be going on one, maybe two, field trips this year, and it is required. So you may hear tell from your student that they went on a school bus this week. The whole truth will be that we practiced entering and exiting a school bus in our school parking lot, and had a chat with the friendly bus driver about bus safety rules. We also practice exiting out of the rear door of the bus, which is usually quite thrilling for the kids. 

First Day Went Well!

Dear Families,

I'm happy to report that the first day of preschool went very well! Your kids all participated in the activities, were kind to each other, and made good attempts at sharing. We walked in a line down the hall to recess quietly (the hall is our whisper zone -- we use pretend "whisper spray" to help us remember to whisper). Snack and creative art were favorites in our schedule.

I may not have mentioned to each family today, but pre-k does not have Late Start on Wednesdays as the upper grades do. We start at 8:30, the usual time, and end at 12:00, the usual time. 

Free fruits and veggies at snack time are available for all kids on our pre-k days at Dike Newell School. Yippee! We enjoyed crunchy apples today.

See you tomorrow!
Mrs. Bridgman

First Day of Dike Newell Pre-K is Tuesday, September 9th

Dear Pre-K families,

We're looking forward to officially starting our preschool year on Tuesday, September 9th. Families will bring their student into the building and into our classroom through the covered door that faces the large parking lot. Could you please send a small healthy snack with your child, until we find out the starting date of free fruits and veggies for snack provided through grant money? 

Thanks a bunch and see you soon!
Mrs. Bridgman and Mrs. Peavey