Miss Kim’s Preschool News
Date: August 31st -September 3rd
September 7th-10th
Theme for the Weeks: Welcome To School!
Notes for the Week:
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Welcome to everyone. I am very excited about working with all your children and am willing
to help with this transition any way your family needs. Please call me at Hilliard School 8993075 ext. 2162 or email at mccue@wlake.org with any questions.
Communication binders will be coming home daily. It really helps when you fill them out.
The Ohio Department of Education has preschool standards. Our Westlake team has taken
these standards and placed them into themes/program of study. We also incorporated the
International Baccalaureate program of inquiry into this document. Our Westlake Early
Education Program of Study is available on my teacher website. If you would like a personal
copy to reference let me know. For those parents who are new to the program, each week we
focus on different standards that fit with our classroom theme. There are some standards that
are worked on throughout the school year. If you have any questions at all about standards
please ask.
School Pictures are Wednesday, September 16th!
We will be using a program called Phonics in Motion. The children will learn a physical hand
motion for each letter in the alphabet. These hand motions are a critical part of the phonics and
reading experiences your child will have this year. The hand motions are very fun for the
children (and should be) but they are not taught as if they are a game. Each motion has a very
specific movement and they are always made in a way in which the children can feel tension in
their muscles. The hand motions are very purposeful as they are rooted in theory and research.
Using "physical movement" is a style of learning that promotes the integration of Gardner’s
Multiple Intelligences. Using a multi-sensory approach to teaching is highly effective for the
students to gain new information through the left and right hemispheres of the brain.
Activities for these Weeks:
International Baccalaureate:
Who We Are~ An inquiry into the nature of the self, beliefs and values; personal, physical, mental,
social and spiritual health; human relationships including families, friends, communities, and culture;
rights and responsibilities; what it means to be human
Central Idea: Learning about self-identity and personal care help us make healthy choices.
Key Concepts: Function, connection, responsibility
Related Concepts: Nutrition, physical activity
Lines of inquiry: Ways we are special Ways we use our senses Ways we take care of ourselves.
Vocabulary: alike, different, school, help, play, read, sing, friends, teacher, backpack, hand, heart,
raccoon, feelings, family, responsibility
Week of 8/31-9/3
Sensory Table: sand exploration
Craft: My Book activity
Monday:
Circle Time: Welcome To Our Classroom! We will stop at all the areas in our
classroom, explain the rules of the area, and how to clean up. We will then do
calendar/weather, discuss our day, choose a song from song chart, go over class
agreements, & choose a play area.
Large Group/Language Activity: The Kissing Hand by Audrey Wood. Before we
read the story today we will make some predictions by looking at the book’s cover.
What do we think the story will be about, what do we know about raccoons, what do we
know about school. This book is about a mother raccoon comforting a child raccoon by
kissing its paw, as the child heads off to school.
We will begin to share our “All About Me” posters. As each child shares their poster we
will make lists of items children have that are the same and different as their classmates.
The posters will be shared throughout the month of September..
Tuesday:
Circle Time: calendar/weather, discuss our day, choose a song from song
chart, go over class agreements, & choose a play area. 5 Little Raccoons Rhyme
Large Group/Language Activity: We will be rereading the book The Kissing Hand by
Audrey Penn. Each student will receive their own bag of ‘story bits’ for this book. A
story bit is a reminder of the book we read in class. Have your child tell you the story
using the story bits. This sharing experience will help develop your child’s memory
and will help strengthen his/her reading skills.
Small Group Activity: Working in pairs we will use chalkboards to write letters.
Wednesday:
Circle Time: calendar/weather, discuss our day, choose a song from song
chart, go over class agreements, & choose a play area. Raccoon Color Match
Large Group/Language Activity: Read Preschool Day Hooray by Linda Strauss.
Thursday:
Circle Time: calendar/weather, discuss our day, choose a song from song
chart, go over class agreements, & choose a play area.
Large Group/Language Activity: Miss Karen’s Language Lesson
Small Group Activity: Working in pairs on a counting hearts activity
Week of 9/7-9/10
Sensory Table: sand exploration
Craft: My Book activity
Tuesday:
Circle Time: calendar/weather, discuss our day, choose a song from song
chart, go over class agreements, & choose a play area.
Large Group/Language Activity: Read I Like Me by Nancy Carlson. Summary: By
admiring her finer points and showing that she can take care of herself, a charming pig
proves that the best friend you can have is yourself. We will talk about how each of us
is different and the same. After this book we will learn the motion for the /m/ sound. It
is hands on knees bending knees while making the sound.
Large Group/Math Activity: 1 to 1 counting
Wednesday:
Circle Time: calendar/weather, discuss our day, choose a song from song
chart, go over class agreements, & choose a play area. Song: Miss Mary Mac
(/m/ sound).
Large Group/Language Activity: Read Mouse’s First Day of School by Lauren
Thompson. What has been our favorite part of preschool school so far?
Thursday:
Circle Time: calendar/weather, discuss our day, choose a song from song
chart, go over class agreements, & choose a play area. Graph our favorite color based
on the All About Me posters.
Large Group/Language Activity: Miss Karen’s Language Lesson
Small Group Activity: Matching paw prints
Attached is a handwriting sheet for you