Ms. Laurus' Preschool Blog

Parents:

Good morning families!

Can you believe we are here?! This is the “official” last day of me posting new assignments and learning for your child on my iBlog! We did it! Woo hoo!!

That being said, this is hardly the last time you will hear from me. I will be posting on this iBlog as information about the new school year becomes available… I will be sharing fun summer learning activities every month here so you can make sure your child doesn’t fall behind over vacation… and stay tuned for an update when we can all be together IN PERSON!

Thank you times a million for sharing your most prized possessions in your entire world with me this year. I love each and every one of your kids with my entire heart, and I hope you were able to see that and take notice of that throughout this year. Even though these past few months have been nothing like they were supposed to be, or how I imagined they would go, you have all been amazing! Thank you for sticking with me through all this craziness!

Kindergarten Info:

As promised, here is the link to the District’s information about how to enroll and links to all of the forms you will need to get your child ready for school. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IQ7sE24hsr6Cbt4PCqAYqplOm-oXPUyOUVGKwusDlGs/edit

Kids:

Good morning friends!
We are on our LAST day of online learning and our LAST letter of the alphabet! Check out the letter Zz!

Language, Literacy & Communication:

Today you will go on a scavenger hunt through your house to see where you can find the letter Zz! You can also look for items that start with the /Z/ sound. Have your grown up send me a picture with the items you find.

Math:

Write as many letter Z’s as you can. When you’re finished writing them, count the Z’s and write the number on your paper. Have your grown up take a picture and send it to me on Remind. This is the LAST picture you have to send me!

Friends!

Parents:

Good morning families!

Reminder: We have a VIRTUAL parent meeting – TODAY – THURSDAY JUNE 4th at 2:00 PM. Stay tuned to your text messages on Remind from me when it’s close to time to join.

Kids:

Today we are learning about the letter Y y!

Today I want you to find as many things as you can that have a Y on it or start with the /Y/ sound. Remind your grown up to take a picture of you with the items you find and send it to me today.

Math:

For math we are going to make some patterns!

Today, choose 2 colors of marker or crayons. Make a capital Y in one color, a lowercase y in the next color. Repeat the pattern at least 6 times.

To make it more challenging, try making patterns writing your letter Yy in three or four colors! Take a picture and send it to me.

Friends!

Parents:

Good morning families!

Thank you so much to everyone who was able to stop by Whitmore-Bolles yesterday to pick up your child’s belongings. I spent yesterday cleaning and finishing up the packing of our classroom for the summer months.

Please don’t forget: We have a VIRTUAL parent meeting tomorrow, Thursday June 4th at 2:00 PM. Please make sure you have the Google Meet app downloaded to your device by today so that it is ready to go for our meeting. You will need to open the app and enter the code: LAURUS to get to our meeting. Please arrive in the meeting on time. Mrs. Alzuhd will also be there to translate the meeting.

Kids:

Language, Literacy & Communication:

Today we are going to learn about the letter Xx!

Today you are going to use the sidewalk chalk I gave you. Have a GREAT time being outside in the beautiful weather today and write as many letter X’s as you can! Have your grown up take a picture of you with your letter X’s and send it to me on Remind.

Math:

For math today, we are going to work on problem solving and strategy. This means you have to do a lot of thinking! Don’t worry though, this is a fun way to do a lot of thinking and you will be playing this game A LOT!

Today you are going to play tic-tac-toe with either your grown up, or an older brother, sister or cousin who is at your house. To play the game, you will need paper and something to write with.

First, your big person will draw the tic-tac-toe game board to look like this:

Next, one of you will be the person to write the letter X… and the other person will write the letter O. You will take turns writing the X’s and O’s until someone gets three in a row. The goal of this game is to be the first person to get three of your letter in a row.

Here are some picture examples of what a winning game could look like:

Have your grown up take a picture of you playing tic-tac-toe and send it to me on Remind today.

Friends!

Parents:

Reminder: Today is the day you will need to go to Whitmore-Bolles between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm to pick up your child’s belongings that were left at school. Please stay in your car the entire time. You will drive through the drop off line, tell a staff member mine and your child’s name, then someone will bring you a paper bag of any of your child’s belongings that were still in the classroom or in their locker.

2nd Reminder: We will be having a VIRTUAL parent meeting on Thursday June 4th at 2:00 pm. This meeting is important and will cover information you need to know for your child to go to Young 5s or Kindergarten this fall. Please make plans to be in our meeting.

To access the meeting, we will be using Google Meet. If you’re using a laptop, desktop computer or chromebook – you will go to the website: www.meet.google.com and enter the class name/code LAURUS.

If you’re using a cell phone, ipad or tablet to access the meeting, you will need to download the Google Meet app. You will open the app and enter the class name/code LAURUS.

Please do NOT try to log into the meeting with your child’s student email and password as they have all been shut down by the district.

Kids:

Language, Literacy & Communication:

Today’s letter we are going to learn about it the letter Ww! Below are some videos to watch.

After you finish watching the W videos, I want you to use the playdoh I gave you to make a capital W and a lowercase w. Make sure you roll the playdoh into long lines/snakes first with your hands. Then, use those long lines/snakes to make the lines for the Ww. Make sure you remember to have your grown up take a picture and send it to me on Remind.

Math:

For math today we are going to practice patterns. Today, I have a game for you to play online. Click this link and play the pattern game!

https://www.abcya.com/games/fuzz_bugs_patterns

Friends!

Parents:

Good morning families!

Holy moly! Can you believe today is the first day of June!? This has somehow been the shortest and longest school year I have ever experienced in my 15 years of teaching! Normally, this is the time of the year when I am doing countdowns to the end with your children… when they are helping to wash the materials in the classroom… where we are having field day “preschool style” and enjoying our last week of school together. There are always feelings of pure joy, excitement and even a touch of sadness when we say goodbye on the last day. This year however, I don’t know there are words that can even begin to describe my feelings…. or your children’s feelings. It’s definitely all very surreal!

REMINDER! PLEASE remember to drive to Whitmore-Bolles TOMORROW, Tuesday June 2, 2020 sometime between 9:00 AM and 1:00 PM to pick up your child’s belongings that were left at school when schools were closed due to Covid-19.

We have 5 letters left in our alphabet we did not get to learn this year. In order to ensure we at least touch on them and all of your children have had exposure to them, I will be introducing one of those 5 letters every day this week plus the last one on Monday June 8th.

My last update to parents today: We will be having a VIRTUAL parent meeting regarding your children’s transition to kindergarten this week on Thursday June 4th at 2:00 PM. I will send out details on how we will be meeting later this week. Please make sure to save that date/time and keep it open though.

Kids:

Good morning!!

Language, Literacy & Communication”

Today we are going to learn about the letter Vv.

After watching the video, I challenge you to find at least ONE thing in your house that begins with the /V/ sound! I know this one will be tricky, but give it a try. When you find something, have your grown up take a picture of you with it and send it to me on Remind.

Math:

Today I want you to write the letter Vv as many times as you can. When you’re finished writing it, count how many letter V’s you made and write the number. Have your grown up take a picture and send it to me on Remind.

Friends!

Parents:

Good Morning families!
Yesterday 9 out of 16 of you logged your children into their Happy Numbers account! Excellent! Today, I’d love it if we can get up to 13! So, please log your children in again today and have them spend some time doing those activities.

Yesterday, Mrs. Alzuhd and myself spent time together in our classroom cleaning and gathering leftover items from your children for you to pick up. Pick up of these items will be on Tuesday June 2 from 9:00 AM until 1:00 PM. Several children had their extra sets of clothes… a few had snow pants / boots… some blankets… shoes…. and EVERYONE has their picture from their locker! All you have to do to get these items is show up at Whitmore-Bolles on Tuesday June 2, 2020 anytime between 9:00 AM and 1:00 PM. You will stay inside your car and go through the drop off loop in the parking lot. You will need to tell them my name (Mrs. Laurus) and your child’s name. Someone will then bring you a bag with your child’s items to your car.

Items that are NOT picked up will be donated.

Please let me know if any of you have questions about this.

Kids:

Language, Literacy & Communication:

We are going to finish up learning about the letter Nn today! Today’s video is showing you how to write the letter Nn.

To practice, grab either your crayons or your markers and a piece of paper. I want you to rainbow write letter Nn today. This means first you will write Nn in red. Next you will write Nn in orange. Next you will write Nn in yellow. Keep going until you have written capital and lowercase Nn in every single color you have. Remind your grown up to take a picture of your rainbow Nn and send it to me today.

Math:

Today I want you to count how many Nn’s you wrote for rainbow writing. Write the number on your paper.

Also, get into your Happy Numbers account today and do some math games there.

I have one more game for you to play today. This one is an online Number Bingo. I want you to choose the board game for the numbers 10-20 to try to get a Bingo with. Play it a few times and if it is easy, play it again with numbers 20-30. Click the link below to play!
https://www.abcya.com/games/number_bingo

Friends!

So many of you found nests as part of your Nn scavenger hunt! I also have a nest at my house too! You guys did an AMAZING job counting and writing numbers too! There are also several great stories about spending time with your family.

Parents:

Good Morning families!

Only 4 of my 16 students logged into Happy Numbers yesterday. This is rather disappointing to me. If you are not having your child go on to practice math, please send me a message today and let me know the reason why. If you don’t find yourself having a reason why… PLEASE get your child logged into it today. Everyone should be practicing on Happy Numbers for approximately 10 minutes every school day (Mon – Thurs).

Also, please remember it is a Dearborn Public Schools requirement for children to be participating in online school during school days. Last week Thursday as well as yesterday I only had texts or pictures from 10 out of 16 of you. While 10 may sound good… it’s only a 62% participation rate. Please make sure you are sending me a minimum of ONE text or picture each day. The time of day you send it does not matter to me. Just please make sure you are remembering to do it.

Kids:

Language, Literacy & Communication:

We are going to continue to learn about the letter Nn today! Check out this video from Starfall.

When you have finished watching this, I want you to go on a letter Nn scavenger hunt through your house. This time, I am going to challenge you to try to find 8 things that start with the Nn sound! When you are finished finding all of your Nn items, have your grown up snap a picture of you with your stuff and send it to me on Remind.

For writing, I want you to get our your journal and write a story about what you did these past few days at home. Don’t forget to draw your line first to separate your picture from your words. Draw your picture above or on top of your line, and try your best to write some words/letter under your line. Remember to use a lot of different colors in your drawing. When your picture is done, tell your grown up your story and have them write the words EXACTLY as you say them. Take a picture of your work and send it to me on Remind.

Math:

Today we are going to work on both counting objects and writing the numbers to match.

First, write the number 1 on a piece of paper. Find one thing to put with it. Next, write the number 2 on a piece of paper. Find two things to put with it. Next, write the number 3 on a piece of paper. Find three things to put with it.

Keep doing this until you get all the way up to 20. Here is an example:

When you’re done, have your grown up take a picture of all the items you counted and put with your numbers.

Friends!

Parents:

Good morning families!

Can you believe it’s almost June!? I am having a hard time believing it myself. This is the time of the school year when things start to get difficult on parents (and teachers!) When the weather turns beautiful… and gets hot outside… the kids kind of check out. Their brain does not want to engage as much and you might be noticing they are fighting with you about doing school work. I promise you, you’re not alone in this! I am having the same challenge with my kids at home as well. Not to mention, this is also very typical behavior at this time of the school year in the classroom.

The bright side?? We’re almost done! The finish line is in sight! So stick with me… power through… and I promise you will be glad you did!

This week is a short week since yesterday was a day off from school. Let your kids know they only have “3 school days” this week to get through and that should help motivate them.

Also please make sure to log your kids in to Happy Numbers today.

Here is a reminder of the Daily Activity without screens that is important to do every day as well.

Kids:

Good morning friends! I hope you all got to spend a lot of time outside these past four days we haven’t had online school. It has been very hot, but also great to be outside and enjoying the fresh air and sunshine!

Language, Literacy & Communication:

Today we have a new letter to learn! We are going to learn about the letter Nn. When you’re practicing making the sound for the letter Nn, make sure you keep your lips NOT touching and that your grown up can see your teeth while you’re making the sound. If you lips are touching, you’re making the letter Mm sound instead. Check out this letter Nn video today!

I also have a story for you to listen to. Many of you really like dinosaurs, so I thought this would be a fun story! We have read Goldilocks and the Three Bears at school many times. This story is very similar, but also different. The person reading the story to you also has some really cool puppets! Enjoy!

Math:

We are going to combine our letters and numbers today to play a fun game! For this game you will need these items:

• Paper
• Marker
• Something to use as place holders: You will need one item for each person who is playing. Some ideas are coins (a different coin for each person), a small, tiny toy (a different one for each person)
• The foam dice I gave you

Your grown up will need to draw the “game board” on a piece of paper. It will look something like this:

You can see the people playing the game in this picture, used little dinosaur toys as their place holders. (Note to grown ups: Please use all of the letters of the alphabet TWICE. First make each space an uppercase/capital letter, then make each space a lowercase letter. You will have 52 spaces total from start to finish.)

To play the game:

• Roll one dice
• Count the dots on the dice and move your place holder that same number of spaces. Say the name of the letter you land on. If you know the sound of the letter, make the sound of the letter too!
• The next player takes their turn.
• Repeat taking turns counting spaces and saying the name/sound of the letter until you get to the end of the game board.

Send me a picture of you playing your game today!

Friends!

Parents:

Good morning families!

Just a quick reminder, this is the last post you will see from me until Tuesday May 26th. There is no school tomorrow or Monday due to Memorial Day weekend. I hope all of you have a WONDERFUL weekend and can get outside to enjoy the weather together. For those of you who celebrate Ramadan – Eid Mubarak this weekend as well! <3

Kids:

Good morning friends! Today we are going to be learning about firefighters as part of our Community Helpers week!

Language, Literacy & Communication:

Today we are going to write the letter Mm in fire colors! Write both capital and lowercase Mm in a red, yellow, orange pattern on your paper today. You can also practice writing your first and last name in fire colors. First, write your name in all red. Next write your name in all yellow. Last, write your name in all orange. Have your grown up take a picture and send it to me today.

I also have a fun story for you today. This story has our favorite animal, Pete the Cat! In this story, he is visiting the firehouse and learning about firefighters. I hope you like it!

Math:

For today’s math activity, you are going to need the dice I gave you when I dropped off materials at your house, some crayons or markers to color with and for your grown up to print this paper for you:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rMXYpUHXgQW2HpRIR_dnkyba_afrnZ9wBA5Pf5WavXc/edit?usp=sharing

Here is what you will do: First, roll one of the dice. Next, count the dots on the dice to see how many dots there are on the side that landed face up. Find the number on the paper that matches the number of dots on your dice and color it. Keep doing this until you have found all of the numbers. Have your grown up take a picture of your paper when you’re done and send it to me on Remind.

Independence:

We are getting REALLY close to the end of our preschool year. It is extra important for you to keep practicing doing things on your own, without help from your grown up. You need to be really good at this in order to go to Young 5s or Kindergarten next year.

Mr. Liepe had a parent from his class – who is a firefighter – make this video to show you how the firefighters get dressed in all their protective gear and equipment. Check it out!

After you watch this video, it’s your turn! Go find a shirt or a sweater that has buttons on it… pants that have a button and a zipper on it…. socks…. and shoes! Put all of these things on BY YOURSELF (just like the firefighters do!) Your grown up is NOT allowed to help! Even if it’s tricky for you to do. It’s important to keep trying and keep practicing. (Note to grown ups: if you’re child is REALLY struggling or getting upset while they do this, you can step in and how them HOW to button their shirt or pants, but then un-do the button and let them try again!)

When you’re dressed, snap a picture and send it to me!

Friends!

Parents:

Good Morning families!

Today we are going to continue our journey of “Community Helpers” and focus on food helpers. This could be anyone from people who work in a grocery store, farmers who grow food or people who work in a restaurant. We are also going to finally get outside today! I have a nature scavenger hunt for you to print down below. On your walk / hike today, have your child look for the items on the paper and cross them off when they find them.

Kids:

Good morning friends!

Today we are going to start out with some work on our letter of the week before we move onto our community food helpers.

Language, Literacy & Communication:

To start your day, here is a video about the letter Mm.

After you finish watching the letter Mm video, it’s time to find things in your house that either start with the /m/ sound, or have a letter Mm written on it somewhere. When you’re finished collecting all your Mm items, have your grown up take a picture of you with your findings and send it to me on Remind.

Now for our story! Our story today has to do with many different types of fruits and vegetables.

When you’re finished listening to the story, draw me a picture of your favorite fruit and your favorite vegetable. Mrs. Laurus LOVES to eat apples and dip them into peanut butter. I also LOVE watermelon and pineapple! For vegetables, I like to eat salad made with romaine lettuce, baby spinach, sweet peppers and onions. Don’t forget to send me a picture of your drawing!

Creative Arts:

We are going to do a lot of pretending mixed with some writing practice. First, when it’s time for your family to eat today, I want you to pretend you’re at a restaurant. My 5 year old daughter Ellie absolutely LOVES to do this all the time! First, you can write each family members name. Next, you can draw a picture of what they want to eat or drink next to their name. Just like a server in a restaurant does.

After, you can help your grown up prepare the food you’re going to eat with your family – just like a chef in the kitchen of a restaurant. With the help of your grown up, you can fill the kitchen sink with cool, clean water and help wash the fruits and vegetables. Make sure you remember to dry them off by putting them on a clean paper towel.

Physical Activity:

The yucky rain has FINALLY stopped! Hooray! We are going to get outside today and go on a Nature Scavenger Hunt. Your grown up can click this link and print the paper. Then, along with your grown up you can take a walk with your family around the neighborhood – or wherever your family goes hiking at. Let’s see how many of these things you can find today. As you find each one, cross off the picture and look for something else on the list.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BrC-OazZ5utiRg4itYsCp9isKtGfl7sJqFZG8jWQQWQ/edit?usp=sharing

Friends!

You all came up with some extra creative way to build letter Mm and make some very tall buildings! Check them out!