Field Trip to Shoal Cove Beach

Dear Families,

The weather looked chilly, but turned out to encourage adherence to the "ankle deep" rule at the beach today. Lots of sun with a brisk breeze (no bugs!) made for a nice day to be outside. Kids always seem to know what to do at the beach, don't they? Explore, collect, be silly, run, eat, get a little wet, wonder. They are naturals at it. The tide was low, there were crabs to capture and touch, we had snack. and played some rousing games of Head On! Lots of family members joined us which meant lots of eyes watching over the kids, most reassuring around the water. Another highlight not to be forgotten, was the bus ride there and back. Mr. Dave was our bus driver and a superstar in the hearts of our class.

Here is the group picture ...

Thanks for all the family support to make this trip happen!

We had a great visit from Mr. Kidwell yesterday. He talked with our class about backpacking and showed us some very cool equipment. He let us touch all the stuff with gentle hands, and even lent us the water filter pump to play with in our fishing center.

The kids all piled into the tent for this quick photo shot.

Z Party

Hi Families,

Maybe you have heard the excitement about our "Z" Party we had today in Pre-K? Roberta Jordan from Patten Free Library comes weekly with a lap full of iPads to use with fun learning apps. She introduces each new app and has them stored in folders designated with alphabet letters. This was her last week with us, which coincided with the last letter of the alphabet, so we planned a Z Party. The kids brainstormed ideas for the party ,,, zebras to decorate the tables, zucchini sticks and veggies with dip, pretZels, cheeZits, paper flowers to resemble zinnias and a thank you note to Ms Jordan. She authored and read us a book about our class titled Zweet Dreams. I'll include the link soon.

Anyhow, here we are celebrating today. What fun!

collaboration with KELT

Dear Pre-K Families,

We were visited this week by naturalist, Becky Kolak, from the Kennebec Estuary Land Trust. She talked with us about local birds and the attributes of their beaks and feet. She'll be back twice more, once for a follow up chat and bird craft, and then in May, she will take our class on a field trip to one of the local land trusts, paid for by KELT.

The kids were totally engaged in what she had to say ...

Hi Pre-K Families,

Interesting news from our classroom. We have been chosen to be the Tools of the Mind Twitter Classroom/Teacher of the month of April. (Kind of like a tongue twister, only not... Certainly a mouthful!)  It is a way for Tools teachers to get peeks inside Tools classrooms around the country. The Tools of the Mind curriculum is currently used nationally in 18 states with 40,000 to 50,000 students. So there are lots of great and new ideas out there.

Here is the address for the twitter page if you are interested.

https://twitter.com/tools_prekteach

Thanks for giving media permission to post your kids' pics on there. We never use the kids' names.

Mrs. Bridgman

More Pets and Vets dramatic play pictures

Dear Families,

The kids seem to be enjoying our new play theme, Pets and Vets. Their play plans (the pictures with the beginning writing) are really coming along as well. You'll see pictures of the kids doing what they plan to do in their chosen centers, and lines representing words of their messages. For some kids, you'll see letters for the sounds in words, too. If you have a chance to ask the kids to read you their plans, or tell you about the pictures they drew, it would be most appreciated.

the Pet Groomers today ...

the Dog Show center today (the judge is setting up a jump for the dogs ...)

the Humane Society ...

the Pet Bakery (they were soooo busy here today!) ...

the Vet Office (not so busy today - time to call and chat with friends)

The kids also went to a dress rehearsal of the DNS kindergarten concert in the cafeteria today. They used lots of great audience etiquette ... watching the performers, staying in their spots, and listening carefully. I was really proud of them.

Dear Families,

Arghhh. All of our picture slideshows have gone dark! I'm working on this with our technology department. It seems Google is shutting down Picasa, which is where the slideshows were created. Thanks for standing by until we come up with a work around.

Mrs. Bridgman

March 18
Wait - the slideshows are back! I am unable to explain their reappearance from my end. We'll take it though.

Theme Building for Pets and Vets

Hi Pre-K Families,

The kids are just starting our new play theme, Pets and Vets. Starting a new theme takes a bit of time. New props have to be made and added to our centers. We need to learn about the roles of folks that would usually be in each place, and what they would do and say. We read books to learn, and go on some virtual field trips with online eBooks that are helpful. We discuss and model situations that would normally happen at the different centers. 

So, we are developing five new centers to go along with Pets and Vets. The Vet Office, the Humane Society, the Pet Bakery, the Pet Groomers, and the Dog Show. The dramatic play area is still the kitchen, with the addition of a dog, cat and pretend aquarium. 

Here's a quick pic of a pet getting clipped, shampooed, be-ribboned, you name it, from the Pet Groomers today. More to come as we get into our theme!

Venger Collage

Dear Families,

One of our Tools of the Mind math activities is called Venger Drawing or Venger Collage. The kids look at a geometric shape on a piece of paper and brainstorm aloud with each other. "This triangle could be part of a ..." Then they proceed to make it into their idea with crayons or collage materials.

This activity helps us practice identifying shapes and making pictures by combining shapes, thus learning that a shape can be placed within another shape. In addition to understanding shapes, the Venger activity promotes creative thinking and asks children to pretend that the shape is something other than the shape. It also involves self regulation ... the child cannot create just any picture, but must incorporate a specific shape into her or his drawing, which requires monitoring of the picture he or she intends to make and planning the drawing or creation. (And did I mention that using glue and scissors and collage materials are really engaging activities for pre-k kids?)

The results of today's activity are proudly displayed on our bulletin board in the hallway.

Recent happenings in Pre-K

Big news. All of our students can get on their winter clothing (that is snow pants, boots, jackets, hats and mittens - phew!) independently. We made a batch of Kick the Can ice cream to celebrate this huge accomplishment. In the following slideshow, you'll see the kids rolling the cans on the rug with Mrs. Ricciardone to make it cool down and thicken. It was delicious!

Mrs. Vose came to read to us this past week, part of the Read to Me Challenge event. We brainstormed what to do to make her feel welcome in our classroom. Smile, listen, use inside voices, sit quietly and .... flowers! Pre-K kids were determined to give her some flowers, so we made a bunch of the coffee filter variety, and they were lovely.

Syringe Painting

Free choice time (the first 20 minutes of our morning when kids are arriving in the classroom), was really exciting today. Mrs. Ricciardone created a wicked fun project called syringe painting. The kids (two at a time) filled plastic syringes with a primary color paint, took aim, and squirted it at their papers. You can envision the significant backdrop behind the papers to catch the splatter ... Colorful results are drying overnight, but you can get a preview here.

Dear Families,

The Hospital theme continues to be engaging in many ways for our class. We have read some great books that help us connect to and enhance our understanding of people who work at hospitals. For Science Eyes, we looked very closely at many types of bandages, and drew what we thought was interesting. And in our familiar math game called Making Collections, we have new items to count like stethoscopes, teddy bears, and syringes. Your kids have patiently learned the rules about using our (somewhat fragile) rescue helicopter, and self regulate themselves nicely when using it.

New Dramatic Play Theme -- Hospital!

I wonder if you've heard the news? Our dramatic play theme has changed to Hospital. We have an Operating Room, X-Ray Department, Gift Shop, Hospital Room 100, and a Newborn Nursery. Very exciting and engaging for the kids. Here's a peek at what it looks like ...

And a few more pictures, after we added our rescue helicopter center ...