Welcome to School!

What did we do at school? Here's the Kit & Kaboodle:
We had a great first week of school!  We spent a lot of time learning each others names, cutting, and gluing.  Using scissors correctly is a hard task to master.  Please take some time over the weekend and help your child to cut.  Draw some lines on a paper and let him/her do it.  Or, if they don't want to stay on the lines, just let them practice cutting a paper to pieces :)  This builds muscles that will help them with their small motor skills (which includes writing).  Also, the concept of gluing is foreign to some.  It takes some time to understand that the glue goes on the back side of the picture and then is turned over to stick it where it belongs.  We will be doing lots of gluing and cutting this year.  If you can practice these skills at home it will help to reinforce what we learn at school.

Choosing Time:  When your children come to school there will always be a few options of activities for them to choose from.  This week we had cars, ponies, dragons, dinosaurs, cutting, puzzles, duplos, doll-house, bristle blocks, and play kitchen.  Usually, there is at least one activity that involves the theme/letter of the week.

Music & Movement:

• The Hokey Pokey
• "Please & Thank you" song
• "I like to Cut"
• "(Name of child) is wearing (name of a color on one's clothes)"
• The Friendship Music Walk
• Snack Song
• Clean-up Song
• Good-bye song
• "Wash your Hands" 

Games:

• Beanbag Name Game

Snacks:

• Popcorn & Marshmallows
• Goldfish Crackers & Banana Bread
• Graham Crackers & Grapes

Art:

• Flowers
• "David" pictures
• Free choice Drawing (I asked them to draw something they love to do)

Show & Tell:
It was so fun to see all of the pictures of your children's fun summer experiences.  Some of the fun and interesting things we learned about one another include:  One child went to Mexico, one went to Hawaii, one went shooting, one can "surf", one loves to swim in her pool, one went to California, one went to Lagoon,  ....

Question Board:  This year there is a special magnet for each child with his/her name and picture on it.  When they come to school they look at the Question Board and then answer the question with their magnet.  I am hoping that this will be fun for them to recognize their own names as well as become familiar with other words such as "Yes," and "No."  Make sure to ask them each day what was on the Question Board.  We only had one time when a kiddo didn't know which way to answer because he'd never been camping before.  So, I asked him if he would say, "Yes, I'd like to go camping", or "No, I do not want to go camping."  It was pretty cute.  The other questions were, "Do you like to swim?" and "Do you like to slide?"

Books:



Circle Time:  We took a short walk around to learn where the bathroom is and how to wash our hands properly.  We learned some rules that we need to keep while at school.  I asked the kiddos why we need rules.  One answered, "Because it keeps us safe."  And then another quickly added, "Hey, just like Jesus does!"  Too sweet! We will be reviewing our rules often:  Looking eyes, listening ears, sit on pockets, quiet voices, walking feet, and STAY IN the classroom.