Pre-K: Math, Science and Music Galore!
This week in Pre-K, we continued "Cc" and "Ch" and introduced "Xx"! Your children are now experts at coming up with words that either start with or incorporate our letter and sound of the week. We are almost done with our alphabet; next week, we will be talking about "Qq" and "Yy", and, then, the rest of our year will be devoted to review and MORE FUN!
Language and Literacy
On Monday, we tried lying on our backs and writing/drawing on paper taped to the underside of the table! We will be trying this again a few times during the remainder of the year because the kids loved it and it helps to strengthen the muscles they will need as they sit for longer periods of time to work in Kindergarten next year. We finished our discussion of castles by talking about family "Ccrests"! Each child got their own crest to design with symbols that mean something to their families. You can see them displayed (along with their Xx-rays). We also tried something new this week; rather than Writing About Reading, instead we tried Writing About Listening. First, we looked through the wordless picture book The Conductor, and, then, watched a video of the book that was put to music. The children absolutely loved it and translated what they heard and saw into their creations. Here is the link to the beautiful video, in case you’d like to watch it at home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as0YkQS1IBc
Math and Science
In addition to building teen numbers this week, we have been playing a lot of games in Pre-K. From Count Your Chickens to Number Bingo, children are practicing turn-taking, cooperative play and good sportsmanship. We took advantage of "Ch" week to use Cheerios as manipulatives during some math group work. We both added and subtracted with them, and you can guess how Pre-K chose to “subtract.” Your children also showed a huge interest in graphing along X and Y axes! We rolled a die (or two for numbers 7-12), found that number along our X axis and then on our Y axis. We then drew up and over to create many squares for each number rolled. Their work went home; be sure to ask them about it - they were really proud.
For Science Friday, Martine led an activity on what we need to live and what living things can do that non-living things cannot. We were lucky to have Otis, Martine's son with us to help! After reading the book Are You Living?, Martine introduced her family’s guinea pigs Zeedo and Oreo! She also brought in a stuffed guinea pig and led a wonderful conversation about what Zeedo does that the stuffed animal doesn’t do. For instance, she breathes, drinks, eats and moves! She needs to go to the bathroom, she needs food and water, she needs shelter to be safe, she needs air to breathe and she needs love - just like us. Children LOVED meeting Zeedo and Oreo and were so gentle with them. Martine concluded the project by asking children to draw pictures of something living and something not living - their drawings are on our hallway bulletin board as well!
Art and Music
Children enjoyed playing with clay at our art table, building x-rays with q-tips on black paper and creating xylophones from colored paper and glue. We also did a special Mother’s Day project that we cannot tell you about now, but that you will learn about next weekend!
During our discussion of xylophones, we realized that children may not have heard what a xylophone actually sounds like. We watched and listened to parts of two performances: one was of Zubin Mehta conducting a full orchestra playing the Flight of the Bumblebee, and the other was of someone playing the same piece on the xylophone! Here are links to both:
Stay dry this weekend and know that, as we enter our last month as a class, Martine and I are starting to feel very nostalgic about our incredible year together.
Emily and Martine
Books included:
Little Cloud
The Conductor
What If Everybody Did That?
Are You Living?
