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We had such a short week! In the blink of an eye, it’s over! I hope you all have a wonderful and restful Fall Break! Take this time to relax with family. We will see you on Monday!
NO SCHOOL Wednesday, November 23-Sunday, November 27!
School will resume on Monday, November 28. See you then!
Next Week at Salina…
Monday, November 28: School 8:15 AM-3:00 PM
Tuesday, November 29: School 8:15 AM-3:00 PM
Wednesday, November 30: School 8:15 AM-3:00 PM
Thursday, December 1: School 8:15 AM-3:00 PM
Yearbook Order Forms – Due April 21, 2023
Yearbook order forms have been sent home! If you are interested in ordering a yearbook, please put the money in the form and turn it in to me. I will turn it into the office. They are not due until April 21, so there is time!
If you have misplaced your order form, please let me know and I will give you a new one.
The cost is $11. Please make sure you give exact change – LifeTouch does not give refunds or change.
I cannot believe we got some snow this week! I guess I should expect it since I live in Michigan, but it always surprises me. Speaking of which, we know that it is only going to get colder in Michigan for the next few months ahead. Please make sure your child comes to school with proper cold weather gear. This includes:
Heavy coat
Hat
Scarf
Gloves/Mittens
Hopefully we don’t get a lot of snow soon, but if we do, your child can bring snow pants and snow boots to school. You can leave your child’s snow pants and snow boots at school if you would like! This is not needed now, but it’s something to think about!
What Did We Learn This Week?
Our letters this week were T and I! Our Alphafriends, Tiggy Tiger and Iggy Iguana helped us learn these letters. We talked about the sounds T and I make. We also talked about some words that start with these letters.
Words that start with T:
Tiger
Teeth
Toothbrush
TV
Table
Words that start with I:
Igloo
Icecream
Iguana
Insects
Iron
Invitation
We also practiced our number identification and one-to-one counting skills. The students were given turkeys with different numbers on them (numbers 0-10). The students had to put the feathers on the turkey that matched the number. For example, if a turkey had number 5 on it, the students had to put five feathers on the turkey.
We read, “Pecan Pie Baby,” by Jacqueline Woodson this week. The students have been practicing their reading comprehension skills. First, we practiced making predictions. Before we read the book, I asked the students what they thought the book was going to be about. The students looked at the front cover and made different predictions. Here were some of the predictions:
“The mom and girl are going to make pie!”
“The mom and girl are going to play together!”
“The book is going to be about pie and a baby!”
The next day, the students were recalling important details of the story. They also made personal connections to the story that happened in their own life. Here were some of the amazing connections:
“I am a big sister, too!”
“I used to sleep in a crib. Now I sleep in a big bed.”
“My baby brother sleeps in a crib.”
Next Week at Salina…
Monday, November 21: School 8:15 AM-3:00 PM
Tuesday, November 22: School 8:15 AM-3:00 PM
Wednesday, November 23: NO SCHOOL – FALL BREAK
Thursday, November 24: NO SCHOOL – FALL BREAK
No School – Wednesday, November 23-Sunday, November 17 for Fall Break
Fun Weekend Activity Idea!
The students have been practicing their names a lot at school! They love writing their names! I encourage you to keep doing that this weekend with your child. Here is an activity that can help: Rainbow Write! All you need are crayons and paper. Have your child write their name with one color. Let them pick a different color and write their name on top of the first color. It will look like this when they’re done:
If you would like, feel free to send me a picture of your child’s rainbow writing on Remind! I’d love to see their hard work!
Well, I think our stretch of nice weather is officially over. Looking ahead, the weather is starting to get colder. As a friendly reminder, we still go outside as long as the feel-like temperature is 20 degrees or over (precipitation depending). Please make sure you are sending your child to school with appropriate outdoor weather clothing. These items include:
A heavy coat
Gloves
Hat
Scarf
Please teach your child how to zip their coats. This is a skill that this age group should be starting to do independently. This weekend, I encourage you to take the opportunity to teach your child to zip their coats. Please do not do this for them; simply teach them how. The only way your child will learn is by trying their best to do it on their own!
What Did We Learn About This Week?
We had a short week, but that did not stop us from learning! We did not learn a new letter due to a short week. Instead, we took an imaginary trip to an amusement park. It all started when I asked the students about roller coasters. Some students have been on them before, and some students have not BUT have seen roller coasters before. They excitedly talked about their experiences and what they looked like.
We pretended to go to Cedar Point and ride some roller coasters! As the students rode the roller coaster, they shouted out things they noticed about the roller coaster.
“It has wheels!’
“The tracks are going up and down!”
“We get dizzy on roller coasters, sometimes.”
“This roller coaster is outside. So roller coasters are outside.”
“It is going super fast!”
During Writing Time, the students recalled their roller coaster experience as we wrote down a list of things that roller coasters need to work:
Tracks
Wheels
Cars
Tunnels
The students drew blueprints of what they wanted the roller coaster to look like. The students drew multiple tracks going in multiple directions. They added details by drawing tunnels, roller coaster cars, and people in the cars. The students used these blueprints to build their own roller coasters. Check them out!
We also read two books about roller coasters: “Roller Coaster,” by Marla Frazee, and, “The Pigeon Will Ride The Roller Coaster,” by Mo Willems. As the students read the books, they made connections of their own experiences with roller coasters (even if their first and only experience was in the classroom).
Next Week at Salina…
Monday, November 14: School 8:15 AM – 3:00 PM
Tuesday, November 15: School 8:15 AM – 3:00 PM
Wednesday, November 16: School 8:15 AM – 3:00 PM
Thursday, November 17: School 8:15 AM – 3:00 PM
No School – Wednesday, November 23-Sunday, November 17 for Fall Break
Fun Weekend Activity Idea!
The students’ drawing and writing skills are starting to improve! We started talking about adding details to our pictures. This weekend, I encourage you to draw pictures with your child. As you draw pictures, encourage them to add details. For example, if your child is drawing a picture of themselves at the park, ask them questions about the park that they can add details to. For example, you might say, “What do we see at the park? We see a slide? Let’s draw a picture of a slide! Do we also see swings? Let’s draw the swings.”
See this sample picture for inspiration:
If you would like, feel free to text me pictures of your child’s work at home! I’d love to see how hard they work when they’re not at school!
October is officially over and November is here! Can you believe it? I definitely cannot. We have been in school for over a month and I am excited to share the fun things we have learned already! Please see these important announcements before reading about what we learned this week:
Parent-Teacher Conferences
Parent-Teacher Conferences are next week (Monday, November 7 and Thursday, November 10)! Everyone has signed up for a conference. I will send a reminder text before your conference. It is extremely important that you are ON TIME for your conference. Please bring your child with you!
NO SCHOOL – Tuesday, November 8: Election Day
NO SCHOOL – Thursday, November 10: Parent-Teacher Conference ALL DAY
What Did We Learn About This Week?
We learned about letters E and H this week. Above, you will see Edna Elephant and Hattie Horse. We worked on writing the letters, as well as the sound these letters make. We also talked about words that start with these letters. Some words that start with E are elbow, egg, elephant, eye, etc. Some words that start with H are horse, hair, hat, hammer, etc.
We practiced patterning skills. We practiced simple ABAB patterns with unifix cubes (for example, red, blue, red, blue). We also practiced sorting skills. The students practiced these skills with sorting bears. They looked at the different sorting bears and talked about their differences. “This one is blue!” “This one is big!” “This one is little!” They observed these different attributes and put them into groups.
We read, “Leaf Man,” by Lois Ehlert this week. “Leaf Man,” talks about the different types of leaves there are and how they all look different. The students used their observation skills by looking at the different colors, shapes, and lines and determined what Leaf Man looked like. Some students noticed that he looked like a bird, while others noticed he looked like bugs or even flowers. The students collected different leaves outside and created their own Leaf Man in the classroom!
Officer Gibson and K9 Loki
We had two very special guests on Tuesday: Officer Gibson and Loki! Loki is a Dearborn K9 dog who helps Officer Gibson find hidden things, as well as people! Officer Gibson explained how Loki uses his sense of smell to locate things that are really hard to find AND people who may be missing. Loki showed off his skills by looking for things in the classroom and alerting Officer Gibson when he found them.
We also got to see the inside of the police car, as well as where Loki sits. We got to hear the sirens, as well as see the lights. It was so cool!
The students loved Officer Gibson and Loki and talked about them every day!
Next Week at Salina…
Monday, November 7: School 8:15 AM-3:00 PM & Evening Parent-Teacher Conferences 3:50 PM-7:00 PM
Tuesday, November 8: NO SCHOOL – Election Day
Wednesday, November 9: School 8:15 AM-3:00 PM
Thursday, November 10: NO SCHOOL – Parent-Teacher Conferences All Day
Fun Weekend Activity Idea!
Because we practiced making patterns at school, I encourage you to practice making patterns at home with your child! Talk to your child about what a pattern is. A pattern is something that happens over and over again. You can make patterns with many different materials: spoons, forks, t-shirts, blocks, towels, sticks, leaves, rocks, etc.! See if your child can make a simple ABAB pattern first (example: spoon, fork, spoon fork):
If your child can master that, try a more complex pattern like this:
What a great week of school! We had so much fun this week, as we had a lot going on! I cannot wait to tell you all about it!
What Did We Learn About This Week?
We continued to incorporate fall to help us with our learning activities! The students talked about emotions and reasons behind them (example: “I am happy because I came to school!” “I am sad because I miss my family.”). The students practiced making different faces based off their emotions. They put together, “Emotion Pumpkins.”
We practiced our measuring skills by measuring different pumpkins with unifix cubes. The students made towers of unifix cubes that were the same height as the pumpkins. They practiced their 1:1 correspondence counting skills to see how tall the pumpkins were.
We also explored science by making apple sauce!! One morning, the students were eating apples at breakfast. We talked about what apples look like. See the image below for the ideas we came up with:
I asked the students what would happen if we put the apples in a pot and they turned into something else. They shouted out ideas like, “It will melt!” “It will turn into cake!” “It will turn into a pie!” The students tested their ideas by cutting apple slices into little tiny pieces. After cutting them, they each took turns adding in sugar and cinnamon. We kept the apples in a separate room for a few hours.
It turned into applesauce! The students got a chance to taste test what they made. Some students loved it, others were a little unsure. As they tasted it, they said, “It’s warm.” “It’s kind of sweet, but a little sour.” “The color is different. It’s more brown.” “It’s not a circle anymore. It’s also soft.”
We compared the differences between the apples and the apple sauce and wrote the ideas down.
Letters Ll and Ff
We started learning about letters this week! The two letters we learned were L, l and F, f. The students practiced writing these letters on whiteboards and in uncooked rice. They also practiced building the letters with sticks. We talked about the sounds these letters make and tried to think of words that start with those letters (L: lion, ladybug, lizard; F: fence, fork, five). I encourage you to keep practicing these letters with your child at home!
Check This Out!
Firefighters came to visit us on Tuesday! They talked about the importance of fire safety, who to call if there is an emergency, and what to do if your clothes are on fire. The students were so excited! We also got a chance to go outside and look at the firetruck! The firefighters showed the students some of the special tools the firetruck has (hose, ladder, etc.). They also played the siren for us! So fun!
Pajama Day – October 31!
Preschool is going to have PAJAMA DAY on Monday, October31! Your child can wear their pajamas to school!
Picture Day – November 3!
LifeTouch will be at Salina Elementary on Thursday, November 3 for picture day! Picture order forms were sent home this week. If you misplaced yours, I have copies; feel free to ask for one! If you choose to order pictures in advance, please put the exact amount of change in the order form envelope. LifeTouch DOES NOT give back change.
Please give me the envelopes at drop off (8:15 AM) on November 3. We cannot guarantee LifeTouch will be here after school to collect money.
Next Week at Salina…
Monday, October 31: PAJAMA DAY!!! School 8:15 AM-3:00 PM
Tuesday, November 1: School 8:15 AM-3:00 PM
Wednesday, November 2: School 8:15 AM-3:00 PM
Thursday, November 3: PICTURE DAY!!! School 8:15 AM-3:00 PM
Fun Weekend Activity Idea!
I encourage you to practice cooking with your child at home! Cooking has a lot of learning concepts, such as life skills, math, and science. Allow your child to practice measuring out ingredients and putting them into a mixing bowl. Talk to your child about how the food is changing once it’s cooking (what it smells like, what it looks like, what it tastes like, how it feels, etc.).
What a great week of school! We are really starting to develop an amazing classroom community! The students are starting to build relationships with others as they play and learn together! I am really looking forward to what the rest of the year is going to bring for us!
New Daily Schedule
Please see our new daily schedule:
What Did We Learn About This Week?
Apples, apples, and… well… more apples! We practically had apples coming out of our ears this week! It all started when the students discussed their favorite types of apples and how they grow. To get a better understanding of an apple life cycle, the students studied two different time-lapse videos of how apples grow:
The students practiced their recall skills by putting a picture book together of the life cycle of an apple. The students explained how you have to plant an apple seed into the ground first to grow an apple tree. After the tree grows, flowers grow on the branches. Apples grow from the flowers. Once the apples are fully grown, people can pick them to eat.
The students practiced their fine-motor skills by lacing a piece of yarn through the holes of different apples. Quite a few students said, “I can feel the muscles in my fingers getting stronger!”
We tasted different types of apples, too! The students tasted samples of red, yellow, and green apples. After tasting them, they discussed which apple they liked the best. We practiced our math skills by graphing our favorite apples on apple trees in the hallway.
The students agreed that most students liked the red apples because the red apple tree had the most apples. (As you can tell, no one liked the yellow apples… haha!)
Next Week at Salina…
Monday, October 24: School 8:15 AM-3:00 PM
Tuesday, October 25: School 8:15 AM-3:00 PM
Wednesday, October 26: School 8:15 AM-3:00 PM
Thursday, October 27: School 8:15 AM-3:00 PM
Pajama Day – October 31!
Preschool is going to have PAJAMA DAY on Monday, October31! Your child can wear their pajamas to school!
Fun Weekend Activity Idea!
Our class has been spending a lot of time building with cups in the Block Area. This is fun because it allows the children to use real-life materials for learning purposes. This weekend, I encourage your child to build with cups! As they build, they can count how many cups they are using to build a tower.
Short weeks always go by too fast. I blinked and cannot believe it is the end of the week! As always, thank you for your participation to help your child have the best school experience!
Our first Parent Meeting was a hit! Thank you for taking time out of your day to participate in our meeting and all the fun literacy activities we did. If you would like to review the PowerPoint again, click here to access it. For the list of songs we sang during the meeting, click here to access it.
Parent-Teacher Conferences
During the Parent Meeting, I passed out the Parent-Teacher Conference sign up sheet. Conferences will be on November 7, 10, and 16. Some families already signed up for a conference. If you did not sign up for a conference, please see me before or after school this week to get signed up. Spots are limited! I will send a text on Remind a day or two before your conference (if you signed up for a conference on Monday, November 7, I will send you a text on Remind the Friday before).
PPAC on Zoom – Tuesday, October 18
Next Week at Salina…
Monday, October 17: School 8:15 AM-3:00 PM
Tuesday, October 18: School 8:15 AM-3:00 PM
Wednesday, October 19: School 8:15 AM-3:00 PM
Thursday, October 20: School 8:15 AM-3:00 PM
What Did We Learn About This Week?
We used apples to help us with a variety of skills this week! The students practiced their literacy, math, and art skills by creating a book about an apple tree. We created a book called, “Let’s Count Apples.” There were different numbers on each page of the book. The students had to put the correct amount of apples on the tree that the book said.
The students also used apples to help develop their sorting skills. There were three different colored apples: red, yellow, and green. The students had to use the tweezers to place pom-pom balls on the correct apple color.
Fun Weekend Activity Idea!
To keep literacy going at home, I encourage you and your child to write stories! You can write about whatever story you want! Take some time to sit with your child and draw pictures with them. As your child is writing, I encourage you to write what your child’s story is. If you have any fun stories you wrote over the weekend, feel free to share them with us! We’d love to see what you wrote about!
Can you believe it is already October? I am always amazed at how fast time flies during the school year. Thank you all for your participation for another successful week of school! I cannot wait to share what we’ve learned this week! First, please read these announcements and reminders:
Parent Meeting – October 13
Our first Parent Meeting is on Thursday, October 13. There are two times to choose from: 8:30 AM and 9:45 AM. The sign up sheet will be available on Monday. Please make sure you sign up for a time!
As mentioned during the Parent Orientation, Parent Meetings are mandatory for both parent and child (only one parent needs to attend). There is no school following the meeting.
Next Week at Salina…
Monday, October 10: School 8:15 AM – 3:00 PM
Tuesday, October 11: School 8:15 AM – 3:00 PM
Wednesday, October 12: LATE START School 9:15 AM – 3:00 PM
Thursday, October 13: NO SCHOOL! Parent Meeting 8:30 AM and 9:45 AM
What Did We Learn About This Week?
We worked hard on our fine motor skills this week! Fine motor skills are the strengthening of the small muscles in your fingers. To help with this, the students practiced cutting with scissors, squeezing glue bottles, and making art with BINGO dabbers. The students practiced holding the BINGO dabbers with a tri-pod grasp and making dots on paper. The students also practiced squeezing small amounts of glue on paper and decorated it with tissue paper. The students practiced cutting with scissors by cutting snakes made out of Play-Doh and paint samples.
Mat Man was introduced during Writing Time! Who is Mat Man? Mat Man helps students with two things: 1. Mat Man helps students learn how to draw pictures of people, which strengthens their art skills. 2. Mat Man helps students learn how to write letters. If you look at Mat Man, he has all the features of writing letters (curves, horizontal lines, vertical lines, diagonal lines, etc.). Next week, we are going to start drawing Mat Man!
Fun Weekend Activity Idea!
This weekend, I encourage you to go for outdoor walks with your child! As you’re walking, you can collect items off the ground (sticks, acorns, pine cones, leaves, etc.). Have your child talk about the items they collect. Here are some questions you can ask them:
“Tell me about what you found!”
“What does it feel like?”
“What does it smell like?”
“Tell me what colors you see.”
“How are these leaves the same? How are they different?”
We completed our first full week of school (with the exception of Monday being a half day)! Thank you for all of your hard work you’ve done so far to support your child with their preschool experience!
Before I talk about what we learned at school, please read these important dates AND reminders:
Next Week at Salina…
Monday, October 3: School 8:15 AM – 3:00 PM
Tuesday, October 4: School 8:15 AM – 3:00 PM
Wednesday, October 5: School 8:15 AM – 3:00 PM
Thursday, October 6: School 8:15 AM – 3:00 PM
REMINDERS!
Pick up time is at 3:00 PM SHARP! Because we have important meetings after school, it is critical you pick your child up on time. Thank you for your understanding with this!
NO food, toys, or school materials can come to school. There are children in the school with allergies and we cannot risk an allergic reaction. Furthermore, we are not responsible for any lost toys or school materials. We have all the toys and materials provided for your children at school.
ONLY WATER can come to school – please do not send juice or energy drinks to school.
Blankets were sent home on Thursday. Please wash them and return them to school on Monday.
If your child left their blanket at school, you may send them to school with a new one on Monday and take home the old one OR let your child use the old one. Either option is fine!
Make sure you check your child’s folder every day AND empty the papers out. Some folders are already getting full!
What Did We Learn This Week?
We continued to learn about the different areas in the classroom. This week, we explored the Toy Area, House Area, Sand and Water Table, and Book Area! The students took time exploring the materials in the area and practicing the routines and procedures. They also learned how to take turns using the materials with others, as well as cooperative play skills. This helped the students when they played with each other during Work Time!
Fun Weekend Activity Idea!
Autumn is here and the weather is getting cooler! As we know, Michigan does not hold back when it comes to cold weather. This weekend, have your child practice putting on their own coat AND zipping it up! Our two favorite styles to try are super hero and tag-to-toes. Check out this video to learn these strategies and have your child practice them at home!
Our first week is done and it was a huge success!!! Thank you for your active participation this week as your kids completed the first week of preschool!
I will send a blog post every week on Friday’s. The blog posts will include:
An overview on what we learned for the week
A look into the following week
Important dates/reminders
Other announcements (if applicable)
Next Week at Salina…
Monday, September 26: HALF DAY OF SCHOOL 8:15 AM – 11:20 AM
Tuesday, September 27: FIRST FULL DAY OF SCHOOL 8:15 AM – 3:00 PM
Wednesday, September 28: School 8:15 AM – 3:00 PM
Thursday, September 29: School 8:15 AM – 3:00 PM
REMINDERS!
Blankets WILL be needed next week at school. If you did not send your child to school with a blanket this week, please send them to school with a blanket next week! If you already sent your child to school with a blanket, it is in the classroom already.
What Did We Learn This Week?
As the students start to get acclimated into the classroom, it’s important they learn about all the areas in the classroom and how to use the materials. The students explored the Art Area and Block Area this week. The students practiced using the materials in each area, as well as how to be responsible for their materials. They also learned how to take turns using the materials with others, as well as cooperative play skills.
We will continue to learn the other areas of the classroom as we continue to learn at school.
