God's creation is bursting with the vibrant colors of fall. We are blessed that we are able to enjoy the many rewards of the harvest season. The experiences we share are an important part of what makes our preschool so special.
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As we entered the month of October, our classroom schedules and activities were well under way. The children are happy and adjusting nicely to our school routines.
Singing with our toddlers about all we do helps to teach in a fun and engaging way. Each morning the children learn to clean up our classroom toys while singing the "clean-up song." Before we transition for circle time, we stretch and shake our jiggles out, and take a moment to pray for our day. Singing our "Days of the Week" and "Months of the Year" songs helps us to learn our days of the week and months of the year. We review our calendar each morning by counting the numbers on our calendar, learning what day of the week it is, and learning what month we are in. After we sing our "Weather Song" each morning, the children pretend to put on their weather glasses to discuss what type of weather we are having. Once it's decided what type of weather we are having, each child takes a turn holding and shaking our weather jar. When a student is done with the weather jar, they pass it along to their classmate with a "welcome" and "thank you." Looks of "I'm not sure" have turned into "Yes, I can!" As teachers, it has been such a joy and pleasure to witness this transition in your children.
During the month of October, we reviewed the letter A, the number 1, the color red, and the shape circle. The children were introduced to the letters B, C, and D this month and the sound they make. Our twos were also introduced to the number 2, shape triangle, and color orange. We counted our 2 ducks on our number card and learned to hold two fingers up for the number two. Singing our triangle song helps to teach us that a triangle has three sides and three corners too. A little jumping, dancing and giggling to our "Orange Song" helps us to remember our color of the month.
During lesson time, we reinforce fine-motor skills by having the children practice stamping their letter dot-a-dot sheets. Tracing our letters using our working finger and letter worksheet helps with our readiness and writing skills. We work on our crayon grip by coloring our letter book and color of the month book. Counting as we put items on our number tree worksheet helps us to rote count as well as point and count. A bear, a caterpillar, and dinosaur were the letter crafts the children made this month, which are proudly hung on our class bulletin board.
Our twos enjoyed a visit from Librarian, Ms. Risa, from The Tuxedo Library this month. Ms. Risa read us a fun book about animals who dressed up for Halloween. The children all enjoyed a felt activity involving different size and shaped pumpkins. Each child then got to make a spider with Ms. Risa to take home. Pumpkins and Halloween fun were part of the laughter and joy we shared in the month of October. Our annual trip to Wright Family Farm proved to be a joyful experience for all. Our twos dressed up in their favorite costumes for a Harvest Party celebration filled with yummy treats. We enjoyed singing one of our favorite Halloween songs, "Five Little Pumpkins." After our Harvest party, our students took a walk down to Ms. Lisa for a little trick-or-treating. The seniors at The Tuxedo Promenade enjoyed handing out candy during our annual preschool trick-or-treating visit.
To wrap up our month of October, we can't forget our parents. Our parents have been incredible. Your response to volunteer your time and donate the many things to our preschool has has been amazing. We are so grateful for your support and willingness to take an active role in helping make St. Mary's Community Preschool an enjoyable learning experience for all our preschoolers!
Michelle Keyser
Carole Cleary
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The students were introduced to a very special friend in October - Mat Man. Mat Man is built using wooden lines and curves that we also use to build our letters. Building Mat Man helps the students identify body parts and what their used for. After building Mat Man several times, the students can easily approach drawing themselves or other people the same way.
The students were introduced to the letters D, E, and F. Each week they made a letter craft corresponding to that letter - dog, elephant, and fish. We also enjoyed yummy snacks corresponding to the letter of the week including donut holes, pretzels shaped in the letter E, and Fruit Loops and Fig Newtons. This helps to reinforce the letter of the week and the sound it makes, making the experience more memorable, and therefore easier to retain.
During math, the students have been practicing counting and number recognition. We have also been focusing on identifying shapes.
During language and literacy, the students have been learning to identify letters from pictures, as well as learning to place the letters correctly using the cues on our alphabet cards. The students have been learning to place our readiness and writing blue work mats correctly as well. These skills will help us in writing down the road. The students learned that when writing, we begin our letters at the top. The students love learning through song, so we spend a lot of our day singing.
We spent a lot of time preparing the students to write. We continually work on hand grip and coloring in the lines using a fill it in method. The students also began to draw lines and have been working so hard to identify lines and curves. Learning the proper terminology early in the year builds a strong foundation for the rest of the year as we learn how to form letters, numbers, and shapes.
We learned about our five senses during October. The students love this learning unit because we read lots of fun books, create fun crafts, and played a Mr. Potato head game.
Ms. Carole led us in many fun crafts this month. The students made “thumbkin” patches, monster faces, mummies, and puffy paint ghosts. The students’ work decorates our hallway bulletin board for all to see.
Our preschool ventured out to the pumpkin patch, went on a hayride, navigated a corn maze and enjoyed a beautifully sunny day at the Wright Family Farm. We also had a visit from the Tuxedo Fire Department and learned about fire safety during Fire Safety Week. Ms. Risa, from the Tuxedo Library stopped by and read us many fun stories and helped children with a Halloween craft. We ended October with our Harvest Party and a trip to The Promenade to go trick or treating.
Amanda Rabolli
Carole Cleary
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Harvest time is here full of spectacular sights and sounds - beautiful foliage, pumpkin picking at the Wright Farm, children in Halloween costumes, animals scurrying around to find food to fill their bellies for the winter months. Inside the classroom, there was a lot of energy too:
Penmanship - The students used their Letters and Numbers for Me books to write their Frog Jump Capital Letters - F, E, D, P, B, R, N, and M.
Word Time - We finished our chapter - My Body and began the chapter - Sky. With the help of Squawker, the children learn the pronunciation, spelling, and definition of words.
Language and Literacy - We continue our lessons from the chapter - Phonological Awareness. Students distinguish words that are the same and different to develop speech and language skills. They learn to identify rhyming words that have the same ending sound. We break spoken sentences into words and put a group of words into a sentence. Children separate compound words into two words. They clap and count the syllables in a word.
Math - The students finished their I Know My Numbers - #1 and #2 booklets. We continue working from our chapter - Numbers and Operations. Children learn to tell a person's position in a line using ordinal numbers. They compare sets of objects to see more and fewer. Using their 1-2-3 Touch & Flip Cards, they connect numerals to the quantities they represent. They count and label sets up to 10.
PATHS - With the help of our PATHS animals, we discussed different feelings we experience and help children recognize the facial expressions and body postures associated with those feelings. Children recognize the positive feelings associated with giving and receiving compliments.
Chapel - The students love to visit with Father Rick in Chapel on Wednesdays for a bible story, songs, and special prayers.
Halloween is always special because we go trick or treating at The Promenade. The joy the children bring to our seniors is enormous.
We would like to thank all the people who participated in our Ashley Farms Fundraiser to help our preschool.
Ida Payne
Cynthia Dinan
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November 9 Grandparents Event
November 12 Veteran's Day No School
November 19-20 Story Time with Risa
November 21-23 Thanksgiving Recess
School Closed
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St. Mary's Community Preschool
10 Fox Hill Rd
P.O Box 637 Tuxedo Park , NY 10987
845-351-2389
www.stmtux.org/preschool
ipayne@stmarysintuxedo.org
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