Pre-Kindergarten

Current Unit: Wheels

Next Units: Exercise

Summary of Unit:

Wheels are all around us. They are on cars, buses, shopping carts, riding toys, etc

Children love to explore how things move and how wheels help us do things easier.

The students will discover the physical attributes of wheels, how they work, how people in their community need wheels to make their work easier, and even use different materials to create their own wheels.  Through this unit we will focus on language, literacy, math and science skills to enhance their learning.

At home you can:

• Take a nature walk around your neighborhood and identify different types of wheels.
• Make Pizza and have your child use a pizza cutter to make pieces.
• Compare different types of wheels
• Ask them why a car has 4 wheels and a bicycle has 2 wheels?
• Talk about getting ready for kindergarten. Ask your child how they feel about moving to a new class next year. What do they think they should do to prepare for kindergarten?

Reading: 

Pre-k students have spent an entire year listening to and interacting with a read aloud each day! They have grown to love books and understand some basic concepts of print. In these upcoming units we will read books about wheels, exercise, and kindergarten. As we continue to explore our daily read aloud, we will review the various parts of a book, including the title, author, and illustrator. Additionally, pre-k students will begin to be exposed to common sight words, such as “the”, “look”, and “my”. This will allow students to become familiar with some of the words seen most often in print. 

At home you can:

• Read books about wheels and exercise..
• Take a picture walk through a book before reading it together. Have your child make observations, connections, and ask questions. For example, “I see a family traveling in a car. I wonder where they are going. I’ve traveled in a car with my family to visit grandma before.”
• Let your child show off how to properly hold a book and turn the pages! See if they can tell a story using the pictures. Look out for any of our sight words in the text.

Suggested Books:

• Don’t let the Pigeon Drive the Bus By:Mo Willems
• The Most Magnificent Thing By:Ashley Spires
• Where’s the Ramp? By: Lisa NAdrea McCarthy
• ABC on Wheels By:Roman Olivera

Writing: 

It’s been a great year for our writing development!  As they continue to practice writing their letters, we will be working on the understanding that when  letters are put together they form words. We will be labeling our pictures in connection with the wheel unit. Ex: car, door, names of different vehicles, counting the wheels in the different vehicles and writing the numbers. 

At home you can:

• Encourage your child to write their first and last name, making sure to leave a space in between. 
• Make it fun by making a name train! (See image below.)
• Provide your child with a list of family member’s names and have them try to write them. Notice how the first letter is always uppercase and the rest are typically lowercase.
• Have your child try to write the letters they see to make their own sign. 
• Have your child draw a picture of what they see at a park, zoo, or farm and label the picture.

Math: 

During our final unit, pre-k students will begin to learn basic addition and subtraction. In class we will use different objects to visually demonstrate these concepts. For example, we will show two babies at the park and show three more joining them. Then students will be asked to identify how many babies there are all together. Similarly, students will begin to explore subtraction by showing a group of people, taking some away, and identifying how many are left. Finally, students will practice writing numbers 0-10 on their own. 

At home you can:

• Use a toy car to practice tracing numbers or letters. (See image below.)
• Have your child practice writing numbers 0-10 using any fun type of writing tool, such as colorful markers or a fun pen.
• Make simple addition and subtraction problems at home. For example, “You have five blocks out. If we put two away, how many will be left?”
• Practice counting at least to 20 but if your child can go beyond encourage it

Music with Ms. Florio 

Students are singing songs that connect to their learnings in ELA and in Math, such as songs involving basic counting, identifying colors, songs about wheels, songs about pets and songs about letters. Families are invited to attend our Magic of Music event on May 2nd at 9:15am!

Gym/Gross Motor Movement

Students used colorful connecting links to make a path and pretended to drive their car along. They also walked along the path, hopped, skipped, and jumped along the path made from several links which they counted out with a friend or friends while playing together. The students had fun playing and dancing to a song that encouraged them to make a train by holding on to each other and marching around the classroom. Students also danced and acted out the song “Wheels on the Bus”. They were able to learn about the features of wheels and what purpose wheels serve on cars, buses,trains etc... Students enjoyed various spring songs and freeze dances that made them practice different exercises and stretching poses for strength. At home, you can look through a book or magazine and locate the wheels on pages and discuss the appearance and functions of the wheels.You can also draw wheels and describe the features, sizes, and uses on different types of vehicles. Have fun talking about the shape of a wheel and what other objects resemble the wheel in your real world environment!

Parent’s Voice

​​Mrs. Rodriguez :Elias has shared all he has learned about recycling and how he can reuse paper to save trees.

Student Voice:

Angelo: I love music and singing Body Boogie.

Manha:I like to go to art and draw. I draw a rainbow and cut out American Girl Dolls and glue it.

Elias: I like to play in the airport. I cook and I drive the plane. I put on a hat and headphones. 

Adrian: I like to sing the Body Boogie.

Alany’s Mom: I am very grateful for the teachers my daughter has learned so much and even when she’s struggling with the letters, they go above and beyond and make her books so we can practice at home. Which I truly appreciate. My daughter loves Ms Tracy and Ms Sadek to the point that when she’s home she always asks me to send pictures to her teachers so they can see what she’s doing. Thanks so much for all of your help and for being such amazing teachers.

Ayden: I’m building a mansion and here is the street.

Jayden: Kaylee can I help you with your shoes?

Aaliyah: My skyscraper is medium. Your skyscraper is bigger than mine.

Lilianna: Mr. Allwood, can I be the line leader? 

Student Work:

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