What's New in the Preschool?

We went on a Bear Hunt!

First, the we completed a paper by counting how many bears were in the ten frame and then we stamped the correct numeral.

Next, we looked throughout the school for bear paws and found the matching numeral on our paper.

Lastly, we went to the office where Ms. Jodi gave us a certificate for being great hunters!  

Hello Everyone!

The children have been so excited to celebrate Valentine's Day!  We loved sharing our Valentine's with our friends!  Here is what we have been up to:

In Imagine It, we continue to:

• Associate the names of letters with their shapes and sounds.
• Clap out syllables in words
• We have been practicing blending syllables to make words
• We are learning to show awareness of the beginning and ending sounds in words
• Here is a list of the sight words we have learned so far!:
• A
• the
• in
• on
• and
• is

The children loved reading "The Mitten" by Jan Brett!  This is one of my favorites!  After we read the story a few times we had a chance to act it out!  It was fun to have us all squeeze into a mitten (white sheet) until the bear sneezed and we all flew out!

Lacing Buttons!

Hello Everyone!
Thanks to everyone for remembering snow gear!  We try to get out everyday! (weather permitting)   The fresh air is good for everyone!  Unfortunately, it has been a little too cold!  I would rather have the snow than the bitter cold, so hopefully it will change soon!  Here is an update of what we have been doing in the classroom:

•  identifying rhyming words
• identifying positions using the order words first, middle and last
• understanding the concept of a letter and associating the names of letters with their shapes
• learning that some words can be put together to form a larger word

Here is a website I stumbled on that has some great phonological awareness activities:

http://www.phonologicalawareness.org/

In the area of mathematics we continue to work on 1:1 correspondence, numeral recognition/identification and matching numerals and quantity.  At home keep on counting!

Here is a peek in the room:

We love to READ! 

 Practicing our names by building a snowman!

Little do they know they are learning to add! 

After reading The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, we created our own snowy day pictures!

Hello Everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday Break!  We have SNOW!  With that there are a few changes in our school day.  WE NEED TO HAVE SNOW GEAR!  We will begin our days inside, but we will end our day outside.  Although, this is a very cumbersome  time, it is a great time to learn self-help skills!  How you bring the snow gear is up to you.   Your child can either wear the snowsuit to school, or you can pack an extra bag, which ever is easier for you.  Unfortunately, we can not keep the snowsuits at school, there just isn't enough room.  

January will also bring progress notes.  You can expect to see these in a couple of weeks.  I am also working on hosting a parent night to discuss our curriculum and to answer any questions you may have about helping your child learn some needed academic skills.  Let me know if you are interested in attending!  

Lastly, THANK YOU so much for your generosity!  We were overwhelmed by all of your donations and very thoughtful gifts!  We are well stocked to start the New Year!

I think that is it, so, enjoy the weekend and we look forward to seeing you next week!

Happy New Year!

All of us here at 

Hooksett Early Learning Program

wish you and your family a very 

Merry Christmas 

and a 

Happy and Healthy New Year!

The Month of December!

Oh my! Where did this month go?  We have been so busy in the classroom learning some new "games" and creating holiday decorations!

Here is our Gingerbread House!

We played a gingerbread man fishing game.   Some of us matched our letters, while others practiced writing our letters!

We added the correct amount of decorations to Christmas Trees!

(Practicing numeral recognition and 1:1 correspondence.) 

Here we are measuring a gingerbread man!  We then measured ourselves to see which was bigger!  The gingerbread man or us!

But our favorite was going on a gingerbread man hunt!  Everyone had their own clipboard with a picture of a gingerbread man with either letters or pictures on it.  We then looked all over the school for gingerbread men.  When we found one we would say the letter and find it on our paper.  If we had pictures we would say the sound the letter made and find the picture that began with the same sound!  The children did a great job!

And lastly, thank you so much for the yummy gingerbread cookies Mrs. Godbout!  We loved decorating them, and of course, eating them!

We have been working on:

• Identifying rhyming words
• Reviewing letter shapes Aa through Mm
• Associating  the names of letters with their shapes
• Introduction to the new sight word: in

Understanding and producing rhyme is an important phonological awareness skill.  Research indicates that there is a correlation between phonological awareness skills and reading.  Throughout this school year we will be working on developing this very important skill!  Here are some ideas for you to try at home:

• Read rhyming books to your child
• Teach your child nursery rhymes
• Read books over again!  Repetition is great and an important part in the learning process!
• Once you have read a rhyming book several times, begin to pause before you say the rhyming word to see if they can fill in the word that rhymes
• Play rhyming games 

It is important to remember that rhyming is a developmental skill that will emerge over time.   Be patient with your child, if he/she has difficulty with this skill he/she just may not be ready.  Continue to read and expose them to rhyme and before you know it they will be rhyming!

Always remember that learning is fun!