Garden Ridge Preschool Newsletter

September 2019

Welcome back to school!

Learning All About Me! We started this year talking about who we are. The children have enjoyed learning about each other and getting to know how our bodies work.  The children made self portraits and making all about me pages. We have been learning about what makes us the same and different. Some of us love blue and others only like orange.

Look and See - My SensesWe learned about our senses through a variety of activities. Some of the class favorites were in music. We closed our eyes and listened to the sounds around us and began to learn how sounds make music.  For taste, we conducted a science experiment where we learned about our taste buds by mapping them. 

How Do I Stay Healthy? -Nutrition and Exercise

We started the week reading books that introduced us to our five food group friends.  Farah Fruit, Dean Protein, Reggie Veggie, Larry Dairy and Jane Grain. We learned about each and why they are important.   We also learned about the two bite club and why we should try new foods. The two bite rule says that we always try at least two bites before we decide we don’t like it.  We do this because our bodies need a variety of different foods to help us learn, play and grow. In cooking we made a food group sandwich and the children matched each food to their food group friends. The children talked about their favorite foods and learned the German names.  The children also played some group games to extend their knowledge of the German words for food.

How Do I Feel?-Emotions

We started the week reading “Peanut” by: Linas Alsenas. We talked about how our main characters’ emotions changed throughout the story. The children connected that when Mildred’s pet elephant went home she was sad because she was lonely. We discussed how our emotions can change over time. As a class, we made an emotion picture and we named the various emotional faces that we had. We worked on stretching their emotional word vocabulary throughout the week. 

Learning With My Friend

This was a very important week. We discussed everything from personal space, to how to include friends in play to how friends make life better. We started the week off with making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and reading “Peanut Butter Rhino, By: Vincent Adriano.” In our story, the rhino was sad because he lost his sandwich; his friend helped him feel better when he shared his sandwich.

LiteracyWe are working on the components of words and letters before introducing letters. We started by introducing books with a book walk and talked about the parts of the book. Through September we had lessons in word awareness, rhyme, compound words and syllable awareness. We will continue this into October with alliteration (beginning word  sounds), onset and rime and end this introduction with phonemic awareness and the alphabet song the week of October 14th. We teach all these components of word reading before introducing letters. On October 21 we will start introducing letters each week starting with the letter Mm. In addition we have concept words for vocabulary that are connected to our unit themes. 

All About Me Concepts words: Friend, fun, laugh, play, together, class, give, help, listen, share, school.

We also introduced fiction and non-fiction books and talked about what makes them different.  This also tied into social studies where we learned about living vs. non-living objects. Moving forward we will be learning about Onset, Rime,

Phonemic Awareness and teaching the children a new Alphabet song.  In addition the children will be introduced to our letter and blend cans.

Math- Module 1 ( Sept.4-Nov.8)

Welcome to the World of Pre-K Math!

Throughout the year, you will receive letters highlighting the age-appropriate mathematical ideas that your preschooler is learning.  These ideas are foundational to the way we understand and analyze the world. Each letter includes a summary of what your child is learning, key vocabulary terms, and ways you can provide support and make connections at home.

Numbers to 5

In the first half of Module 1, children match and sort objects based on their attributes (e.g., color, size, use).  Along the way,/ they are shown as many as three objects and asked, “How many?” Touching one object at a time, they count to find the total, and match the count to a numeral.

Counting the Math Way

In the second half of Module 1, children learn to count from 1 to 5 the Math Way, starting with the left pinky finger and moving toward the thumb. In counting the Math Way, students see the number of fingers increase as they count from 1 to 5, moving from left pinky to thumb without interruption.  Counting in this way orients the count from left to right, in exactly the same way that the number line is usually drawn. Unfortunately, the traditional way of counting by starting with the index finger and ending with the thumb does not give a sense of direction consistent with written math conventions.Counting the Math Way provides a foundation for understanding the number path and number line, which by convention, usually are drawn so that they increase from left to right.  This builds number sense and prepares children for future work with addition and subtraction.Children begin counting the Math Way using the piano template pictured above, dropping their fingers as they count.  Throughout the year, students will learn to lift their fingers to count the Math Way.In Module 3, students count from 6 to 10 the Math Way, beginning with the right thumb through to the right pinky.  By the end of the year, Pre-K students count to 10 on their fingers, moving from the left pinky to the right pinky.

At Home Activities

Math at Home

§  Have your child help with household chores that require matching or sorting, such as matching socks in the laundry, organizing shoes, or collecting utensils for meals.  As your child matches objects, ask questions like, “How do they match?”§  Play I Spy together to continue developing vocabulary around size, shape, color, and texture.  For instance, seeing a banana, you might say, “I spy something yellow and smooth.”§  Identify and count parts of your body, noticing if there is a matching body part (1 ear, 2 ears) or just 1 body part (1 nose).§  Touch and count three objects together.  At the grocery store, count, “1, 2, 3. We need 3 apples.”

Literacy at Home-Reading and LettersTry and read at least 20 minutes a day.  A fun way to help your child engaged in reading is to have them do a letter or sight word hunt as you read.  

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Garden Ridge Preschool

www.gardenridgepreschool.com(426)653-3459

1270 185th Ave NE Bellevue, Wa 98008