Welcome To Our Class!!
Hi! Welcome to Mrs. Jennifer Helman’s Pre-K class at May Whitney
Elementary School. I’m looking forward to working with you and your child
this year. I know that we will have a fun and exciting year!
Young children entering Pre-school are embarking on one of the most
important journeys of their life. They will be learning life skills that they
will use for the rest of their lives. The education of your child will play an
integral part in our future. To create self-motivated, life-long learners, I
provide a developmentally appropriate, integrated curriculum that
enhances the social/emotional, intellectual, and physical development of
each child while nurturing autonomy, self- esteem and success.
I offer learning experiences that are safe, interesting, achievable, and
also challenging to the children. I set high standards for every child's
learning. Yet, I am aware of the great individual differences in children
and I tailor my learning goals and methods to meet the diverse needs of
each child.
My classroom is set up into various learning center areas. Each learning
center offers a specific skill for the child to explore and master. Using
centers, each child moves around freely and learns by doing. As your child
changes activities, he/she meets different groups of children and learns
to work and talk with others. Your child meets problems and solves them.
I structure the classroom in a way that allows the children to contribute
to and to participate in creating a learning environment where your child
feels comfortable and happy. I want each child to feel that he or she is
an important and special member of the group.
The Creative Curriculum for Early Childhood
Our Philosophy
The philosophy behind our curriculum is that young children learn best by doing.
Learning isn't just repeating what someone else says; it requires active thinking and
experimenting to find out how things work and to learn firsthand about the world
we live in.
In their early years, children explore the world around them by using all their
senses (touching, tasting, listening, smelling, and looking).
In using real materials such as blocks and trying out their ideas, children learn
about sizes, shapes, and colors, and they notice relationships between things.
In time, they learn to use one object to stand for another. This is the beginning of
symbolic thinking. For example, they might pretend a stick is an airplane or a
block is a hamburger. These early symbols - the stick and the block - are similar in
shape to the objects they represent. Gradually children become more and more able
to use abstract symbols like words to describe their thoughts and feelings. They
learn to "read" pictures which are symbols of real people, places and things. This
exciting development in symbolic thinking takes place during the pre-school years
as children play.
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Play provides the foundation for academic or "school" learning. It is the
preparation children need before they learn highly abstract symbols such as
letters (which are symbols for sounds) and numbers (which are symbols for
number concepts). Play enables us to achieve the key goals of our early
childhood curriculum. Play is the work of young children.
The Goals of Our Curriculum
The most important goal of our early childhood curriculum is to help children
become enthusiastic learners. This means encouraging children to be active and
creative explorers who are not afraid to try out their ideas and to think their own
thoughts. Our goal is to help children become independent, self-confident,
inquisitive learners. We're teaching them how to learn, not just in preschool, but all
through their lives. We're allowing them to learn at their own pace and in the ways
that are best for them. We're giving them good habits and attitudes, particularly a
positive sense of themselves, which will make a difference throughout their lives.
Our curriculum identifies goals in all areas of development,
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Social: To help children feel comfortable in school, trust their new
environment, make friends, and feel they are a part of the group.
Emotional: To help children experience pride and self- confidence, develop
independence and self-control, and have a positive attitude toward life.
Cognitive: To help children become confident learners by letting them try
out their own ideas and experience success, and by helping them acquire
learning skills such as the ability to solve problems, ask questions, and use
words to describe their ideas, observations, and feelings.
Physical: To help children increase their large and small muscle skills and
feel confident about what their bodies can do.
The activities we plan for children, the way we organize the environment, select
toys and materials, plan the daily schedule, and talk with children, are all designed
to accomplish the goals of our curriculum and give your child a successful start in
school.
MATH
I use a hands-on approach to learning mathematics. I like to encourage
curiosity, problem solving, exploration, asking questions and
experimentation. The children will learn primarily through manipulation of
materials to facilitate their understanding of math concepts.
The students will develop their ability to solve problems by engaging in
developmentally appropriate problem-solving opportunities in which there
is a need to use various approaches to investigate and understand
mathematical concepts.
The students will be encouraged to formulate their own problems, to find
solutions to problems from everyday situations, to develop and apply
strategies to solve a wide variety of problems; and to integrate
mathematical reasoning, communication and connections.
In the beginning of the year we spend a lot of time with free exploration
of our materials. Children became familiar with the wide assortment of
math manipulatives and I observe how they interact with the materials.
We will be introduced to a unit on patterns. Pattern is the underlying
theme of all mathematics. We will be working on many other math skills
this year, such as sorting and classifying, number sense, numeral
recognition, basic number operations, estimation, measurement, graphing,
and applying concepts in solving problems. Our math center reinforces the
concepts we are working on through active participation.
SCIENCE
I use many materials in science to encourage the children to investigate
and observe. I offer materials for investigation such as magnifying
glasses, plants, magnets and we make use of our outdoor environment. We
will gather information and draw conclusions.
FINE AND GROSS MOTOR
You may notice that only a few worksheets will be sent home during the
year. I use a hands-on approach to learning. The children will learn
primarily through experience and working with manipulatives. Of course,
there will be some worksheets. Most of them will be kept in a folder in
our classroom. The folders will be shared with you during conferences, or
anytime that you wish to come in and see them.
We will spend a lot of time during the first months of school developing
our fine motor control. We will use scissors, pencils, markers, crayons, as
well as a variety of manipulatives. As the year progresses we will begin
formal handwriting instruction.
We try to go out on the playground daily to develop our gross motor
skills. We also use rhythm and movement activities in the classroom to
strengthen our gross motor skills
SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL
I feel strongly that the social/emotional area is just as important as the
academic/ cognitive area. I provide many opportunities for each child to
succeed socially that in turn build self-confidence and self-esteem. I
work very hard throughout the year to help the children develop a sense
of respect for one another and their environment. I want children to feel
good about taking chances, trying new things, and learning from their
mistakes.
The Responsive Classroom approach to teaching and learning is an
approach that helps me create a classroom environment where children’s
intellectual, social, and emotional growth flourishes. We begin each day
with a morning meeting or circle time. This meeting time creates
opportunities for children to practice social skills like respect and
responsibility along with academic skills. This special group meeting is a
microcosm of the way we wish our schools to be – communities full of
learning, safe and respectful and challenging for all.
The Block and Dramatic Play areas offer great opportunities for your
child to develop interpersonal skills and to practice taking turns. The
children role-play a variety of situations and learn to work cooperatively
with each other.
ENRICHMENT
Library, Music and Art will be incorporated into our classroom curriculum.
Our service providers such as O.T., P.T., Social worker and Speech and
Language Pathologist will also spend time working with the students in the
classroom. We will take part in school meetings and assemblies.
Field trips may be planned throughout the year. In order for your child to
go, I will need a signed permission slip for each trip. Children will come to
school and go home at the usual times unless otherwise noted on the
permission slip.
PARENT INVOLVEMENT
Parental involvement is crucial to the learning process of my students.
Families are essential partners in the educational process as we work
together to create an atmosphere that is conducive to learning. If you
are interested in helping please fill out the volunteer form, you will find in
the information folder. Thank you!!
FOLDERS/NOTE BOOKS
The children’s folders/notebooks will contain any projects the children
are working on and other important information from our principal or
from our PTO. Please check your child’s backpack daily and especially on
Fridays! Be sure to sign and return any important papers. There is also a
communication log in the folder for any notes between home and school.
QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS
I hope you have found my classroom environment to be a caring place for
all that enters. I feel it is my responsibility to make each student and
parent feel that they are important members of my classroom. Families
are essential partners in the educational process. Parental involvement is
crucial to the learning process of my students and I look forward to
working with all of you this year. Together we can create an atmosphere
that is conducive to success and learning.
If you have a question or concern, please write me a note, send me an email (Jennifer.helman@lz95.org), or call me at school (847) 540-5282. I
will do my best to get back to you as soon as possible.
I truly look forward to a great year!!
Mrs. Helman