Dear Families,
Hope everyone has their power back by now! Sure glad we had power at school. We had a fun Tuesday with Halloween activities and the Bedford firefighters visiting our school. Thank you to Heather Friedman and Julianne Murthi for helping out with "monster hands" and "cookie decorating"! Since my daughter had two days off from teaching at Windham High School due to the power outages, she volunteered to read "The little old women who wasn't afraid of anything". One of our favorite Halloween stories. A great day was had by all!
We have lots of friends who are in the process of putting together a map by "pricking" out each of the seven continents. In Montessori ,"pricking work "is very popular in our classroom. The children use a small tool to poke holes along an outline of a shape, letter, continent, or number. Great activity for developing fine motor skills and hand strengthening, which are a direct preparation for holding a pencil and writing. We had a great time singing a song about the continents and learning the name of each one (see below). We held up a paper outline of a continent when the song prompted us to.
The Continent Song
T
ell me the continents, tell me the continents, tell me if you can.
North America, South America
Africa , Europe and Asia
Don't forget Australia, don't forget Antartica
Tell me the continents, tell me the continents, tell me is you can.
In music, we are continuing to work on keeping the steady beat in music class through movement and singing games. The children enjoy dancing the traditional "Jump Jim Joe," a "mixer" where children change partners as they follow the dances directions. In the traditional French circle dance, "Chimes of Dunkirk," the music gives "cues" for the children's stepping and clapping. The children also have fun acting out the German singing play "Thorn Rosa," (a variation of the "Sleeping Beauty) as they sing the story.
Miss Marianna reviewed body parts by singing "Cabeza, Hombros, Rodillas, Pies" and playing a matching game. Then the children were given their own white board and together they all drew a monster. Would you be scared of a monster with ocho ojos or diez piez? I would! (Side note: White boards are wonderful tools for emerging writers. Dry erase markers are easy to use and "mistakes" are easily erased, so the emphasis is on the process not the product.)
Song Head Shoulders KNees and Toes"
cabeza, hombros, rodillas, pies
rodillas, pies.
Ojos/eyes, orejas/ears, boca/mouth y / and nariz/nose.
cabeza, hombres, rodillas, pies
rodillas, pies.
Our Harvest Breakfast will be on Tuesday November 21st. We will have you sign up on "volunteer spot" soon for something to contribute to our breakfast. If you would like to volunteer to help serve the children we would love two volunteers.
Looking forward to our preschool parent/teacher conferences next week!
Miss Gail and Miss Mary Jo
