The wee mateys have enjoyed our lead up to Family Literacy Day activities. Here are some pirate links to enjoy together: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qAngsMJD3I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exads7KV-Y0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2d4W-ixLRQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMiC2QUMR5Y

We have been counting to five in all kinds of situations and taking a close look at combinations for numbers up to five. Here is a link to a site that uses five frames like we have in class: http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=74 Try acting out this rhyme with your little monkey! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUPxmO9Eyug

What a great first week back at school! The children seem to have grown over the holidays! They settled back into the routine easily and were eager to demonstrate that they retained their learning. We are finishing up our in-depth look at the alphabet and the letter sounds. We quacked for the letter Q and snoozed ("zzz") for Z. The lower case "q" is a tricky letter - sometimes the computer forgets to curl the tail and then it looks like a "g". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGAE81hD3lg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC93kxBMcvE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQZl9fRCQbo Our new sight word is "go" but we also know "going" and "goes" because we have great eyes! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PaKQ9dVk1U We counted our 5 kittens in the sandbox and practiced making 5's too!  

The children are getting lots of practice recognizing sight words. They are reading beginning books, playing sight word games and doing Smartboard activities.   Some fun things you can do at home to keep the words fresh over the Christmas break are: Spread salt or sugar on a cookie sheet and have your child make the words with their pointer finger. Of course, if you use sugar they can have a lick at the end of a word! Use the magnetic letters from the preschool kit and have the children play "Mix and Fix' on the fridge or a cookie sheet. They make the sight word and then they mix it up, repeating it several times and saying the letters and the final word as they "fix". Make the words with playdough (or real cookie dough!) Spray shaving foam or whipped cream on the counter and have your child trace out the word. Cut letters out of the flyers and glue them on a sheet of paper to make the sight words. "Rainbow Write" the words: the child (or you) makes the word with a pencil or marker. The child traces the word with several different colors to make a rainbow word. Write the words on separate pieces of paper, make sentences with them and have your child read the sentence. Mix in your family names to make it motivational and meaningful. Here is the list of sight words we have covered so far: I, my, Mom, Dad, is, here, am, see, the, little, big, a We plan to do In and on this week. Some of the children are picking up words like:  yes, no, happy, cat, dog  They may be fun to practice with too.

Some parents have been asking for the tune to the song we are singing for the Christmas concert. Here is a link to where they sell the music - there is a place you can click on "listen" and it plays the middle part of the song. http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/St-Nick-at-Night-Jolly-Old-St-Nichol... Here is a link to another class singing the same song on You Tube. Our actions are different but the words are the same. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOugtxnjGPw

The first snow day for our kindergarten students! Here is a fun song by Eric Herman - play more carefully than the boy in this song! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0q7YhEnPXk  

The children were eager to learn about elephants and rabbits this week (and the letter sounds for e and r too!) Ask your child if they remember the difference between African and Asian elephants.Which one is Mrs. Hendry riding in the picture? They may also remember why rabbits turn white in the winter. Of course, with Christmas getting so close, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer got some attention too. Check out our image gallery for pictures of the Rudolph craft.