Our Picture Days were a success! The children brought their smiles to school and boy were they cute! If your child missed picture day, we will give you a coupon to have your child's picture taken at one of their studios. Please email me for more info.
Our map studies continued! The children learned all about using a compass and how to figure out which direction they are traveling. Each child was given a sheet of paper with pictures of familiar places in the classroom (the clock, mirror, black dog, etc). Once they located the item, they checked their compass and recorded the direction.
We also read the book, "Henry's Map" by David Elliot. The book followed a pig named Henry on a mission to straighten up and organize the farm animals. Shortly after, the children were presented with a challenge to make their own map of the farm to help Henry out. The children added all types of animals including crocodiles and monkeys!
Other map books we read this month included, "My Map Book," by Sara Fanelli, "Me on the Map," by Joan Sweeney, "How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the USA," by Marjorie Priceman, "Mapping Penny's World," by Loreen Leedy and "The Change Your Name Store," by Leanne Shirtliffe. All wonderful books about maps, states and different countries! Try to find them at your local library to continue the learning at home!
And our curriculum time has been filled with fun skill building activities this week! The pre-k group read, "Princess Pigtoria and the Pea" by Pamela Duncan Edwards. After clapping out all of the 'P' words in the story, the children played a game of Pictionary only using P words! It was so great to see each child choose a P word and draw a picture for their friends to guess. Check out the picture below! And the preschool group, focused on counting with manipulatives, sequencing sizes and tracing and recognizing letters.
Extension Activity:
Have you ever heard of GeoCaching? It's an outdoor treasure hunt that uses maps, coordinates and a GPS to find a Geocache (aka treasure box) at a particular location. Inside the Geocache is a log book and maybe a trinket or two. If you take a trinket, you must leave a trinket of your own. Here is the website, Geocaching and here is a quick Q&A to find our more about this super cool activity! And it's FREE! It may be best to wait a few weeks until the snow melts a little more and don't forget to let us know how it goes and if you find any treasures!
What's Coming Next:
We are continuing with the map theme for one more week. We will explore treasure maps and make a "Map of Me." After tracing each child on a large piece of paper, the children will make a map of their body.
Friendly Reminders:
- March's Monthly Gathering will be tomorrow, Saturday, March 21st at 1pm at the Barefoot Books store in Concord, MA. The children will enjoy a story and activity for just $5! Please view the Evite for more details and to RSVP. Did I mention this is one of my favorite books stores?!
- Please continue to send your child with snow gear, we still have plenty of snow in the playground. We will let you know when the children will no longer need their gear.
- Our spring break will be April 20-24, 2015. The school will be closed during this week.
Check out some pics from this week:
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| Working on patterns |
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| Making names with magnetic letter constructors |
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| Pictionary with the letter P! |
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| And a very cool horse tower during picture day Happy Friday! Joanna |
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