Winter

Brrrr, it's that time of year again!! Please make sure that all mittens, gloves, scarves, coats, boots etc are labelled with your child's name. I know we all hand down things, so at least have your child's last name. Often they don't recognize things especially if they are new or worn infrequently.
Also, you may have heard from your child that I don't put coats on them :) I ask that all We 3s at least try to put on their own coat, they need to pull on one sleeve, but I think by practicing at home they could easily be putting on their own coat by Christmas break. The PreK kids need to be able to put on their own coats, I will help with zippers, boots, mittens etc. Again, if you see that your child is having trouble, please start taking a few minutes a day to have them practice. It is not about my time, it's just a skill they need to have. It's time to let them 'be big' and do it themselves!

This week we are focusing on letter I and I read a great book to the kids! I hope that they all came home talking about the car they would like to invent from the ideas that they saw in If I Built a Car by Chris Van Dusen. If you haven't seen this one yet, you may want to look for it at the library or at a book store. The little boy in the story decides his dad's car is boring and makes plans for a car that he would drive if he could. I encouraged all of the kids to go home and try imagining or drawing their own car. Hopefully you heard some wild ideas! If not, it's not too late :) Have them tell you what they would invent, it's a great way to use 'i' in your discussions and to get those incredible minds thinking!

Halloween!

Happy Halloween!! Hope everyone stayed warm and enjoyed the fun!
Here are some ways you can use your child's candy to help them learn:
1.Have them sort it. Sort it lots of different ways: by color, by size, by brand of candy or by type, see what ideas they have.
2. Make an AB pattern with the candy: snickers, twizlers, snickers twizlers etc.
3. Count it! Count each type of candy, count all of it together, work on those teen numbers :)
4. More than/less than: take a pile of M&Ms and a pile of lollipops, which has more? Have them guess and then count to find out which really did have more or less.
5. Make equal groups: make a group of say 6 Twix, then have them make an equally sized group of another type of candy. Equal groups have to have the same quantity but not be identical.
6. Look for letters A, B, C, D, E, F. Names are usually in bold letters on wrappers, perfect for beginning readers. They can see which letter they find the most of, or sort by beginning letter.
7. Make a tasting chart. Make three columns: I wouldn't try it, I tried it, and didn't like it, I liked it a little, I loved it! You could even draw faces with each one so they can remember as they go back to try more. They can glue the wrapper or part of it, on each column.
Have a great weekend with your little ones!

Fire Safety!

This week the Prek classes met with a fire fighter from the Flushing Fire Dept. He went over the basics of 'stop, drop and roll' and to have a safe meeting place in case of an emergency. He also reminded the kids to have their parents check their smoke detectors. So, this week, please let your child help make an exit plan in case of an emergency. They talked about a safe meeting spot with the fire fighter, like a tree or a neighbor's house. They can also help 'find' the smoke detectors as you go to check the batteries in each one. Don't have any? The fire fighter said the brand doesn't matter, that they're all basically the same unless you get the ones with voice commands, so consider picking up at least one.
The PreK kids also all brought home an activity book, that would be good to do with them to review what they learned.
A great read aloud to go along with Fire Safety week is No Dragons for Tea (it also ties in with our letter of the week, D) by Jean E. Pendziwol. It's available pretty much everywhere, you can also try the library.
Hope you have a fun and productive fire safety week!

I invite a fire fighter for the We 3 class when we learn about community helpers. He is a fabulous guy and really engages the kids.

Counting, counting, counting!

It probably seems like we are always counting! We count together to the date on the class calendar, we count the number of children wearing shorts/pants to decide what our frog should wear, they count to the date on their calendars, and many other counting jobs. Most children can count, some skip a number here and there, but they have the concept. The part that needs work is counting objects, not just rote counting, and counting the 'teens'.
First, counting objects versus rote counting: instead of having your child count out loud to 20, ask them to line up 20 Legos, cars, Cheerios, whatever. Then have them touch each one as they say a number. Watch that they don't go too fast and say 1,2,3 before getting to the third object.
Second, counting the teens: the majority of the preschoolers either skip a teen, or repeat one, or just confuse the sounds. This sounds like "firteen, fourteen, fifteen" or "thirteen, fourteen, sixteen." Have your child slow down, work on those sounds. You can also just isolate those three to four numbers: "show me 13 crayons" then have them count 13 crayons. then, "show me 14 crayons" and count the 14 crayons. Ask which group has more crayons. Thirteen and fourteen seem to be the hardest to differentiate, although some skip from thirteen straight to eighteen. We will be spending quite a bit of time during the winter working on teen numbers, but this home practice will get them ready!

Calling All Superheroes!!

This weekend is the Weiss Advocacy Center's Superhero Fun Run! This is a great event for little ones to get involved in helping others. Dress as your favorite superhero and come out for the fun run 1k at 9:45 on Saturday, September 20. My boys and I will be collecting pledges and running the 5k at 9:15 so we hope to see your there! There are super heroes in the Uof M Flint pavilion at the corner of Saginaw and Kearsley Sts., face painting, superhero mask making and my favorite: the superhero photo booth! We can all be superheroes in the lives of a child and have a fun morning doing it!

Weiss Advocacy Center steps in when a child has been a witness to or the victim of a crime. They counsel, offer medical help and take testimonies all on site at this wonderfully homey center. This gives the children privacy and the chance to only have to tell their story one time. It is a hugely important organization in our community.

Please visit the Weiss Advocacy Center's webpage for details and event registration!
www.weissadvocacycenter.org

Preschool tie-ins

This week we have worked on cutting. They can use all the practice you can give them! Let them cut up school papers you've read, magazines, junk mail, anything! Just watch their grip. They need to have their thumb in the small hole of the handle and at least their pointer and middle fingers in the other hole. Make sure their hand is turned so that their thumb is up. Then have them hold the paper with their other hand. If you have any questions please let me know! I'd be glad to help!

The other skill to practice at home is sharing or taking turns. You can start by playing games, like High Ho Cherry-O, Chutes and Ladders or even Tic Tac Toe. Don't always let them go first, their friends at school will not :) Make sure they wait their turn to go. They can also wait their turn for other activities from the simple: serve yourself a drink and then them, to harder "I'm going to read this book to myself for 5 minutes and then I'll read your book to you." These are just a few examples, but I'm sure you get the point. They are all learning how to be in a classroom where it is not 1 to 1 or 1 to 2 like at home. They are doing a great job, but anyone could use practice.
Sharing works much the same way. We read Llama Llama Time to Share today and talked about how Llama llama felt when a neighbor came and wanted to play with his special toy. We talked about what we can do when we have things that are too special to share, and how to share other things. Keep practicing at home, make a few very simple 'shares': " Will you share one of your carrots with me" to a harder one involving something they're playing with at that time.
The author of the llama llama books has a great website! It has info about her books, games, songs and a 'pledge to play nice'. Check it out here:
www.llamallamabook.com