Preschool Week 36

by Sarah Segall | Jun 6, 2015 | Preschool

Father’s Day

We wanted to make sure our dads didn’t get left out so we celebrated them before summer vacation.  Our annual SWS Father’s Day Carwash & Stepping Stones was a blast! If your child made a stepping stone please be sure to take it home this Monday or Tuesday.  They are right in the hallway outside the school office.

Los Deportes

This week we began our sports unit.  This unit is not only a LOT of fun but it also provides a wonderful opportunity to practice many gross motor skills.

Some things we worked on:

• kicking a ball between two points
• throwing a ball (over hand)
• tossing a ball (under hand)
• weaving our body in and out of cones

We also read and talked about the different types of balls that are used in different sports. We have included the following into our calendar pattern:

baseball – béisbol

soccer – fútbol

football – fútbol americano

basketball –basquetbol

Letras y Números

We had so much fun using our balls and bean bags to practice adding and subtracting in small numbers!  We were very active during these activities!  (Definitely active/whole body engagement!)

We also used fun sports pictures to work on syllables. Knowing letter sounds, putting those sounds together to form syllables, and then putting the syllables together to form words.  This is beginning reading! (Not every student is doing this but they are all benefiting from the exposure.)

Preschool Week 35

by Sarah Segall | May 30, 2015 | Preschool

Los Insectos

This week we read Hombre Mosca. This is a fun book about a little boy who is looking for a new pet for a pet competition. He finds a fly who knows his name, “Buzz”. Everyone laughs but the boy and the fly show them how great they really are.

Each class this week put together their own insect book. This was a lot of work, coloring all the different pages. We had a blast putting the words to the book into song form.  Each book was heartily sung to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus. Doing a multi-step, long project, is a skill we have been working on all year and all the students did very well!

Letras y Números

This week we reviewed all the letters of the alphabet. We included several uppercase to lowercase matching activities. We ‘painted’ our letters on the chalkboard with water. Students provided the sounds when shown letters, etc. Next week we will work on blends. Pre-Kindergarten students will also be receiving beginning reading booklets.  When these come home its a good idea to have a storage place for them so they can be re-read throughout the summer.

We also focused on the number 19 this week.  There were lots of insect activities counting up to 19.

The morning classes also joined the Kindergarten class for their calendar routine this week. This is a great way for the preschoolers to integrate with the older children at the school. It’s also a nice way to ease the transition for our pre-K kiddos. There are some things that are the same during calendar routine and it’s comforting for them to know this.

We also had time for our Kindergartners to read their books to your preschoolers. These are great experiences!

Preschool Week 34

by Sarah Segall | May 23, 2015 | Preschool

Los Insectos

This week we were very busy with la oruga hambriente / The Hungry Caterpillar. This story focuses on the life cycle of the butterfly. The story starts out with a little egg/huevo on a leaf/hoja then follows the caterpillar/oruga as it eats and grows, enters a cocoon (most caterpillars enter a chrysalis, but Eric Carle used the word “cocoon” as that’s what his father called it when he was a child) and emerges as a colorful butterfly/mariposa.
The caterpillar in this story eats a lot of food – some of it is very nutritious (like the fruits and the leaf) and some is “junk food.” We talked about what foods are good for you and what happens when you eat too much! We also enjoyed talking about each child’s favorite foods.

Letras y Números

This week we introduced the letter F. The letter F makes the same sound in English and Spanish. We form the letter F from the top right, going straight to the left and then straight down – all in one movement. Then we add in the little line in the middle from left to right.

We also focused on the number 18. Students did several activities adding insects, insect dots, and insect parts to form the number 18. Our younger students are focusing on counting up to 18, identifying the number 18, and forming groups of 18.

Preschool Week 33

by Sarah Segall | May 15, 2015 | Preschool

Los Insectos

This week we read the book La mariquita malhumorada. This is a great story about a grumpy ladybug who goes from animal to animal looking for someone who is big enough to fight with.  In the end he ends up back where he started, next to a nice ladybug, and decides to be peaceful and share the aphids on the leaves.

We talked about the significance of the different colors of ladybugs. This might be a good thing to reinforce at home:

red- normal ,

orange/yellow- poisonous – don’t touch.

blue – irritable

We continued our study of the life cycle and characteristics of insects. We used our craft time to explore the characteristics of insects:

6 legs / 6 patas,

2 antenas,

un caparazón,

2 alas

We also used our craft time to work on the tricky skill of folding paper and then cutting. We used this to make equal wings for our mariquitas.  We worked specifically with the life cycle of the mariquita. We compared it to that of last week’s mariposa.  They are very similar!!

Letras y Números

This week we introduced the letter ch. The sound is the same in Spanish and English. Think chocolate! This letter combination makes the same sound at the beginning, middle, or end of words.

Our number focus this week was Number 17. We did crafts making 17 ladybugs, making 17 spots, and matching numbers with the number of dots on the ladybugs.

Preschool Week 32

by Sarah Segall | May 9, 2015 | Preschool

Los insectos

This week we began our insect unit with the very fun story: The Crunching Munching Caterpillar. 

This is such a fun story to act out.  It really shows how a caterpillar changes into a butterfly.  We acted the life cycle out by being:

eggs / huevos – by laying in balls on the floor,

larva/ larvae –  by wiggling around like a caterpillar,

pupa/ pupa – by folding ourselves into balls and taking a nap,

butterfly/ mariposa  – by spreading our wings and flying around the room.

We also talked about the different body parts of insects and created fun crafts to go along with the topic.

Letras y Números

We played a fun insect game this week.  Students rolled a die and chose that many insects to place on the leaf game board.  Pre-K students played a challenge version of the game by adding 2 dice. This was very fun!

This week we focused on the number 17.  This number is THE MOST skipped number during oral counting.  We would like to encourage you to count, count, count and be sure this number isn’t left out.

We had a great time creating Mother’s Day gifts.  We hope you all enjoy them and have a fabulous weekend!

Preschool Week 31

by Sarah Segall | May 2, 2015 | Preschool

Servicios públicos

We finished our Community helpers unit this week.  We read a great book that talked about all the different people who make a community.  We learned there are different types of communities:

grandes ciudades  – big cities

suburbios – suburbs

pequeños pueblos – little towns

We looked at the different signs that can be seen around town. The stop sign is an important one! We also looked at the different shapes of crosswalk signs.  Our shape study this week was the diamante.

It was fun to play a few rounds of Luz Rojo, Luz Verde – Red Light, Green Light.

rojo = para

amarillo = despacio

verde = corre

Next week we will begin our new unit: Los deportes – Sports

 Letras y Números

This week we introduced the letter Z. The letter Z makes the /s/ sound in Spanish.  There is no buzzing! This was a fun letter to write: al lado, diagonal, al lado. All with straight lines!

Our number focus this week was the number 16: diez y seis. All the children do a fabulous job counting up to 30 with our monthly calendar.  To practice counting, challenge your child to find 16 …of the letter A (or any letter) in their favorite book, or 16 red blocks, 16 of anything. Counting is fun!