Hello Everyone! We are off to a great start this school year. The children are working hard to adjust to the new routines, spaces, and faces. They have begun forming friendships and taking more ownership over the classroom. We are looking forward to a wonderful year!
IN OUR CLASSROOM— Recently we have begun a new morning routine: Sign-In. Upon arriving, the children put their belongings away in their cubbies, wash their hands, and find their name cards. These name cards aid the children in writing their names on slips of paper. (We are working on starting at the top left corner of the paper and using lines and curves to form capital letters. The size of the paper and pencils also aid in writing horizontally and proper pencil grip.) After the children write their names, the slips of paper are placed in our ‘Job Jar’. Names are then drawn from the jar as we assign “jobs” for the day. Jobs (such as weather helper, pet feeder, plant caretaker, bell ringer, etc.) are an important part of our daily routine. These jobs become not only a motivation to practice writing our names each day, but they also encourage responsibility, promote independence, foster self-confidence, cultivate ownership over the classroom, and help to show that everyone is an important part of our class. The children look forward to their jobs each day and take pride in doing their jobs well!
THEMES— After an exciting week learning about pets (especially our Fancy Rats), it was obvious that we have a classroom full of little animal lovers. Taking a cue from the children’s interest in pets, we moved on to another unit involving animals: Farms. This week we have been very busy reading books, creating art projects, and playing games centered around farm-life and barnyard animals. We’ve painted a big red cardboard barn, made our very own butter, and played barnyard charades! Throughout the next few days, the children are looking forward to shearing “sheep” and milking a “cow”!
REMINDERS—Just a few quick reminders…
*Please make sure you have brought in the following items: An ‘extra clothing’ box, school supplies, a family photo, your child’s “All About Me” book
*Don’t forget to send your child in clothes that can get messy and a jacket for when we go outside.
*Please check the “Parents” page on our website often, for the school calendar and important upcoming dates.
UPCOMING EVENTS—
*School picture days are September 27-29th. A form is being sent home with your child’s assigned picture day circled on it. Please look for it in your child’s backpack. If for some reason you cannot find the form, please ask us and we can tell you your child’s assigned day.
*Our all-school field trip is scheduled for October 5th at Burnham Orchards where we will meet promptly at 10:00 A.M. There is no school this day. You are responsible for transportation and supervision of your child on this trip. Please look for the information packet to come home in your child’s backpack this week.
*The week of October 3rd, we will be learning about apples and pumpkins so that we can further explore the concepts from our field trip to Burnham Orchards. We are asking that each child bring in one or two apples towards the end of September/the beginning of October. We will use them throughout the week of October 3rd to make applesauce, carry out an apple tasting, create a “store” in dramatic play, conduct science experiments, and create art projects.
*There will be no school on October 14th, Pembroke Kids is following the Avon Lake School calendar to provide a professional development day for teachers.
Thank you for your support and for a great start to the school year! Please feel free to contact us via email (kelly@pembrokekids.com, beth@pembrokekids.com ), in person, or by phone with any questions or concerns you might have. Thanks again,
Miss Kelly and Miss Beth