Pre-Kindergarten

Units of Study:

Unit 1: Getting to Know You

Unit 2: Ball Study

Unit 3:Tree Study

Unit 4:Clothing Study

Unit 5: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Study

Unit 6: Buildings Study

Unit 7:Wheels Study

Unit 8: Exercise Study

 

Summary of Unit:

 

Our pre-k students have adjusted to school nicely!  Our students are working hard to be independent in the classroom. Help your child increase their independence by having them practice opening up juice boxes, snack items and cleaning up.  It’s getting colder out, so please work with your child on zippering their jackets!

 

 We are working on our core values to create a great foundation for their future years at Queens Explorers. Service,Trustworthy, Achieve, Respect,and Responsibility are our core values. Focusing on these core values will create STARS of our school.    

 

Currently we are at the end of the Ball Study.  Students spent time exploring balls and how balls provide us a variety of knowledge. The study shows how to use children’s interest in balls to help them explore social studies and science concepts related to the features and nature of balls and practice skills in literacy, math, technology,and the arts as they investigate.

 

Next unit will be the Tree Study. This unit helps build children's interest in Trees. This unit focuses on helping children develop an understanding of the characteristics of trees and their roles in our natural and man-made worlds. They will learn about creatures that inhabit trees and foods that trees produce. As the students investigate Trees they will build their science and social studies knowledge as well as strengthen their literacy, math and arts skills.

 

At home you can:

• Work on independence!!! Let them get dressed by themselves, put on their shoes and take them off and jackets, sweaters, hats and gloves.  Let them help you while cleaning the house, doing laundry, and setting the table.  
• Explore the trees in your neighborhood : You may say: I wonder why leaves fall from the tree. I wonder what makes trees grow so big. 
• Collect parts of a tree and sort the items. Make a collage.
• Do the Optional Homework everyday

Reading: 

Students are becoming familiar with many different types of books and stories. We read many books throughout the week in large groups as well as small groups.  We expose the students to a variety of non-fiction and fiction books For each book we review new vocabulary words and their meanings. We take picture walks through each book in order to become familiar with the story and make predictions about it before reading. We look at the cover page and talk about what we see.  We are also learning about the author and how he/she writes the book. Questions are asked throughout our read aloud lessons.  Students are learning to think about the question being asked before they answer. 

At home you can:

• Look through a book before reading and ask them to use the pictures to make predictions about what will happen in the story.
• Read books about various topics to your child and ask questions about them.
• Encourage students to speak and answer questions in complete sentences. 
• Point out letters you see in your environment, such as on cereal boxes, signs, in books, etc. Ask your child if they know the sound the letter makes or if the letter is in their name. 

 

Suggested books to enhance our Trees Unit:

• Tell Me Tree: All About Trees for Kids By: Gail Gibbons
• Gus is a Tree By: Claire Babin
• We are Going on a Tree Hunt By: Steve Metzger
• While a Tree was Growing By: Jane Bosveld

Writing:

Pre-k students are practicing tracing their name every day during morning sign-in. As they write, they are working on holding the pencil properly and identifying the letters in their name. Students also practice writing at the writing center as well as incorporating writing in other areas of the room.

At home you can:

• Have your child practice drawing with a variety of writing instruments using the correct grip. For example, draw with crayons, pencils, markers, chalk, paintbrushes, etc.
• Have your child practice tracing or writing their name on their own.
• Practice drawing anything! Such as shapes, people, etc.
• Strengthen your child’s fine motor hand muscles by playing with clay or play-doh.
• Practice writing the letter of the week and their names in their notebooks.
• Use cheerios to make the letters in their name.
• If your child can write their first name, have them write their last name.

Math: 

In math, students are identifying, sorting, and grouping colors and shapes. They also have become Number Detectives!  We have started counting 1-10 and using our fingers to show how many.  We are singing, counting songs and dancing to the number songs as well.  We will be teaching them 1 to 1 correspondence as well where they have to match an object to the correct amount.

 At home you can: 

• Continue to identify colors and shapes you see. Practice sorting by color, shape, and size. For example, have your child help with laundry and sort socks by color!
• Practice counting aloud to 20. 
• Sing songs or read books that practice counting and simple addition/subtraction skills.

Some Fun Songs:

How Many Fingers? | Kids Songs | Super Simple Songs

Five Speckled Frogs

Five Little Monkeys Swinging From the Tree

 

Gym/Gross Motor Movement

During Gross Motor Time,the children work on both fine & gross motor skills activities connecting to our Creative Curriculum. The students are working on these skills through obstacle courses, running, jumping, hopping,climbing,catching a ball, balancing, etc. Some activities are pretending to move like different animals that live in trees, pretending to be crossing a river using stepping stones, pretending ladders are trees and picking fruit off a tree. We  also work on their sense of spatial development. Working on directional words such as over, under, around, through, up, & down are used throughout the day. The best part of gross motor time is working on social skills such as problem solving, following directions, listening, taking turns, etc. We try to go outside everyday so, please dress your child appropriately. Studies prove that active children actually learn better!

 

Our First parent Engagement will be on Tuesday, November 26th with Ms. Sheflin. 

9:15am- 9:45am

We will conduct stations using different kinds of balls and movements. 

Please look out for our flier on class dojo.

Parent & Student Voice

Nathan’s Mom: I love everything, the pictures, all the activities. 

Cielo’s Dad: I love this school so much for my daughter, but Ms.Tracy and Ms.Mauritsen are the best teachers ever. I have literally sat in the classroom and watched them work with the kids, amazing work, very understanding and very patient with the kids. I am so happy they are teaching my daughter. It is a blessing to have them as teachers.

Violet: I like to write in the writing center.

Logan: I am good at building. I like to build with John.

Eliana: I love school and my teachers.

Student Work