Sunday, April 30, 2017

Week of May 1st, 2017

Plants!

Enduring understandings that the student should have by the end of the unit:
  • Plants are living things; every part of a plant has an important function.
  • Plants grow from seeds and need water, nutrients and light to live. 
  • Plants are all around us.
  • There are many different types of plants. 
  • Plants are important for many reasons.
Lessons and Activities For Learning Centers

Blocks-Build Plants:
The teacher will wrap blocks in green, brown and other color papers and invite children to use them to create stems, tree trunks, soil etc.  The teacher will supply paper, scissors and tape for children to use to create leaves, flowers etc. to add to their plants. Add pictures of a wide variety of plants for children to reference as they build. As children create their plants talk with them about the parts of the plants and types of plants they are creating, highlighting vocabulary words such as branch, flower, leaves and stem. 

Pretend play Flower Shop:
The teacher will turn Dramatic Play into a flower shop by adding pretend flowers, containers and pictures of flower arrangements as well as a cash register, notepad, writing utensils etc. Children can pretend to make, buy and sell floral arrangements. As you play with the children, use and highlight vocabulary words such as bouquet, floral arrangement, florist and flower. 

Art-Paper Flowers:
The teacher will supply pipe cleaners as well as tissue paper circles. Children can pierce the middle of the tissue paper circles with the pipe cleaner, adding as many as they would like, then fold the circles up to create a flower. After creating these flowers children can use them in the Dramatic Play flower shop.

Science-Plant Life Cycle:
The teacher will provide individual pictures of the plant life cycle. Ask children to sequence the pictures. The teacher will provide pictures / diagrams for children to refer to as they play and talk with them about each stage in the life cycle. 

Math-Seeds in a Watermelon:
The teacher will cut out several paper watermelon and add a number to each one and ask children to put the appropriate number of seeds on each Watermelon. Encourage children to write their own numbers, as they are ready. 

Library-Felt Board Story: 
The teacher will create felt board pictures for a favorite class book on plants. Invite children to use the pictures to retell the story. 

Writing-Seed Letters:
The teacher will write letters on index cards. Provide seeds for children to place on the letters. The teacher will talk with the children about the letters they chose to create and some of the words that start with those letters. 

Technology-Plants Around the World:
The teacher will pull up pictures of plants that grow in different parts of the world or may be novel to the children. For example, succulents, palm trees and cattails may be plants that children in New York City do not see on a regular basis. The teacher will invite children to take notes while they look at different types of plants. They can draw pictures of what they see or write letters they hear in the names of plants they hear or see on the screen. Provide various types of paper commonly used for note taking such as lined paper, post-it notes etc. 

Sensory-Seaweed:
The teacher will add plastic plants to the water in the sensory table along with pretend fish, toy boats etc. Invite children to talk about the different places they can find plants and discuss why plants grow in the bottom of oceans, rivers, lakes etc. 

Some of the books we will read this week are:

  • The Vegetables We Eat by Gail Gibbons 
  • An Orange in January by Dianna Hutts Aston 


Reminders

   Thursday, May 4 is Star Wars Day Students are invited to come   to    school dressed as their favorite Star Wars character.
  • Friday, May 5 is Picture Day!
  • Friday, May 12 is muffin with mom day all moms are invited to celebrate Mother's Day with their child. 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM  

Recommended Home School Connection

Monday: Universal Handwriting Page 52 and 53
Tuesday: Getting ready to read and write Page 54 and 55
Wednesday: Hand Writing My Letter Book pages 42 and 43
Thursday: Math News Here’s What I Know



If you have any questions Mr. Woods or I cannot answer feel free to contact the Archdiocese at (888) 227-8175 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm or Email At Cathlicschools.upk@archny.org

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Week of April 24th, 2017


Plants!


Enduring understandings that the student should have by the end of the unit:

v Plants are living things; every part of a plant has an important function.
v Plants grow from seeds and need water, nutrients and light to live.
v Plants are all around us.
v There are many different types of plants.
v Plants are important for many reasons.

Lessons and Activities For Learning Centers

Blocks-Build Plants:
The teacher will wrap blocks in green, brown and other color papers and invite children to use them to create stems, tree trunks, soil etc.  The teacher will supply paper, scissors and tape for children to use to create leaves, flowers etc. to add to their plants. Add pictures of a wide variety of plants for children to reference as they build. As children create their plants talk with them about the parts of the plants and types of plants they are creating, highlighting vocabulary words such as branch, flower, leaves and stem. 

Pretend play Flower Shop:
The teacher will turn Dramatic Play into a flower shop by adding pretend flowers, containers and pictures of flower arrangements as well as a cash register, notepad, writing utensils etc. Children can pretend to make, buy and sell floral arrangements. As you play with the children, use and highlight vocabulary words such as bouquet, floral arrangement, florist and flower. 

Art-Paper Flowers:
The teacher will supply pipe cleaners as well as tissue paper circles. Children can pierce the middle of the tissue paper circles with the pipe cleaner, adding as many as they would like, then fold the circles up to create a flower. After creating these flowers children can use them in the Dramatic Play flower shop.

Science-Plant Life Cycle:
The teacher will provide individual pictures of the plant life cycle. Ask children to sequence the pictures. The teacher will provide pictures / diagrams for children to refer to as they play and talk with them about each stage in the life cycle. 

Math-Seeds in a Watermelon:
The teacher will cut out several paper watermelon and add a number to each one and ask children to put the appropriate number of seeds on each Watermelon. Encourage children to write their own numbers as they are ready. 

Library-Felt Board Story: 
The teacher will create felt board pictures for a favorite class book on plants. Invite children to use the pictures to retell the story. 

Writing-Seed Letters:
The teacher will write letters on index cards. Provide seeds for children to place on the letters. The teacher will talk with the children about the letters they chose to create and some of the words that start with those letters. 

Technology-Plants Around the World:
The teacher will pull up pictures of plants that grow in different parts of the world or may be novel to the children. For example, succulents, palm trees and cattails may be plants that children in New York City do not see on a regular basis. The teacher will invite children to take notes while they look at different types of plants. They can draw pictures of what they see or write letters they hear in the names of plants they hear or see on the screen. Provide various types of paper commonly used for note taking such as lined paper, post-it notes etc. 

Sensory-Seaweed:
The teacher will add plastic plants to the water in the sensory table along with pretend fish, toy boats etc. Invite children to talk about the different places they can find plants and discuss why plants grow in the bottom of oceans, rivers, lakes etc. 

Some of the books we will read this week are:
      The Curious Garden by Peter Brown 
              Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner



Recommended Home School Connection

Monday: Universal Handwriting Page 50 and 51
Tuesday: Getting ready to read and write Page 52 and 53
Wednesday: Hand Writing My Letter Book pages 40 and 41
Thursday: Math News Here’s What I Know

Link to Weekly lesson Plan










If you have any questions Mr. Woods or I cannot answer feel free to contact the Archdiocese at (888) 227-8175 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm or Email At Cathlicschools.upk@archny.org 

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Week of April 3, 2017

Theme for the Unit:
Water!


Enduring understandings that the student should have by the end of the unit:

  Water is all around us.
  Water changes depending on how warm or cold it is.
  Some things float in water and some sink.
  Some things change when you put them in water.
All living things need water.

Lessons and Activities For Learning Centers
Blocks- The teacher will add pictures of ice castles. The teacher will invite children to refer to these pictures and build their own ice castles. Consider covering the blocks with white paper and adding clear plastic cups for children to use in their structures.
Pretend Play-Large cardboard boxes will be added to pretend play for students to pretend they are in a boat.
Art-The teacher
will invite children to use markers to create a picture. After they have finished with the markers, the teacher will provide spray bottles of water and invite children to lightly spray their papers. After they have sprayed their papers, the teacher will encourage them to watch and describe how the water has changed their work.

Science- Students are invited to sort animals into two categories: those that live in water and those that live on land.
Math- Seashells will be added to math center. Students will be able to match the correct number of shells to a number card.
Library-The teachers will read by Patricia Polacco with children in the library, then talk with them about what they do with their families when the weather is bad.
Writing-Where Do We Find Water? Invite children to think about this question, then draw or write their answers on an index card or small piece of paper.
Technology-The teacher will assist the children to enter the question where do we find water? into a search engine and join the children in observing the images that are displayed. Ask them which ones they have seen before and which ones they have never seen.
Sensory-Add child- safe soap to the water table as well as doll clothes and invite children to wash the clothes. The teacher will engage the children in discussions about how people use water to keep things clean.
Some of the books we will read this week are:
·     Float by Daniel Miyares 
·     Water Can Be... by Laura Purdie Salas 


Recommended Home School Connection

Monday: Universal Handwriting Page 48 and 49
Tuesday: Getting ready to read and write Page 50 and 51
Wednesday: Hand Writing My Letter Book pages 38 and 39
Thursday: Math News Here’s What I Know

Reminders

     Our Spring Show will be on Tuesday, April 4th at 9:00 a.m.
     Dismissal will be at 12:00 noon on Friday, April 7th
     Parent-Teacher Conferences will be on April 7th from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Link to Weekly lesson Plan







If you have any questions Mr. Woods or I cannot answer feel free to contact the Archdiocese at (888) 227-8175 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm or Email At Cathlicschools.upk@archny.org 


Week of June 12, 2023     WEEKLY REMINDERS       ·        Thursdays, June 15, 2023, Pre-k Father’s Day Celebration by Zoom At 9:30Am     ·  ...