Dear Pre-1(PFAE) Parents and Families,
Welcome back Pre-1! We hope everyone enjoyed their break and we are so excited to be back. This semester we had a slight change in our daily schedule. Our outside time switched from 10:45a.m.-11:45a.m. to 9:45a.m-10:45a.m. With that being said, please make sure you send your child to school with appropriate outside attire (hat, gloves (preferably waterproof), snow pants, functioning coat, and snow boots.) Remember, we will still go outside even when it is 15 degrees out, but it will be for a shortened amount of time (20 mins).
Snow, Art, and Sensory Exploration
Our children enjoy sensory exploration as it is a time for them to develop motor skills, support their language development and encourages problem solving. This month we have been focusing on snow, art, and sensory exploration. During outside time, the children have explored the snow using buckets shovels, and sleds. We also filled each child’s sensory bin with snow so they could explore the snow indoors. One activity we did with the snow sensory bins was painting the snow using watercolor paints. Some of the children used their fingers to paint the snow and others used paint brushes. We asked the children, “What do you think will happen if we leave the snow sensory bins outside overnight? Will they still have snow in them?” They responded with, “I think so.” The next day, we showed the children their sensory bins and asked questions.
Read-Alouds
Every week for our read-aloud story time we choose two stories to focus on. Repetition with reading the same two books over the week give the children the chance to pick up on the story line, main characters, and vocabulary words. During each read-aloud we engage in conversation about such components. This month we explored a few different books, “TheMitten” and “The Hat”. Both books demonstrated some sequencing conversations with the children. Each book talked about a sequence of animals that entered the mitten to make it expand or how each animal took a piece of clothing in “The Hat” book. We encourage reading at home with children too as it can engage you in conversations with your child. During reading at home take the time to ask questions when reading. For example, what character is in the story? Feel free to share some of your favorite stories that you read at home too!
Red and Green Choices
This past semester we have introduced the language of making red and green choices with the children regarding choices they are making. Green choices are thumbs up choices like being kind and cleaning up toys when needed. Red choices are thumbs down choices and are possibly using hurtful words or hands. We are always using positive reinforcement with the children as they are being complimented when making green choices. There are various reminders about red and green choices around the classroom. For example, we have visuals posted on our bulletin board located in the personal area. Also, we have our green choice board and social stories. The last week of January we introduced the book “Have You Filled a Bucket Today? “This book talks about filling your bucket with green choices. We are going to begin implementing this concept in our classroom. We will incorporate a visual bucket in our classroom that the children will decorate. Throughout the day as we notice children making green choices, they will be able to fill our bucket with colorful pom poms. We will incorporate math into this activity as we can count how many pom poms it will take to fill our bucket. We will make some guesses as to how many pom poms it will take, as well as discuss a fun activity we can participate in when we fill our bucket. Such ideas could be a pajama day, special dance party or even a special walk on campus. We are excited to see how this positive reinforcement activity in our classroom will impact our green choices!
Thank you all for your flexibility and understanding this semester during these uncertain times. Our goal is to keep you safe and healthy! We are looking forward to the remainder of our semester together as we can engage your child in active learning as they grow and develop!
As always please reach out with any questions you might have.
Jen, Sarah and Abby
