First Weeks of School (September 25-29)

Bring A Stuffed Animal to School Day -Friday, September 29
-See the notice in your child's folder coming home soon
Please be sure the stuffed animal can fit in your child's backpack.

First Weeks of School
We will begin our school year getting to know each other and establishing classroom routines. During the month of September, we will be focusing on developing classroom expectations, routines, and getting to know each learner. Our books for the first several weeks will pertain to transitioning to school and feelings about coming to school.
We will also use these books to have the students become familiar with our curriculum approach which is to use books to build on our classroom activities.

Books These Weeks:

Corduroy
Thinking Thoughts and Feeling Feelings (Social Thinking Curriculum)

Small Groups:
Literacy Small Groups
-Letters in our Name Partner Circles- We will be cutting the letters of our name with a partner and comparing the letters that are different and the same
-My name/Your name- We will be tracing our names and our friends' name.  We will then draw a picture of ourselves and our friend.  We will discuss things we have in common
-Sequencing Corduroy- We will discuss the events in the story and then cut and place in order the events on a strip.  We will reinforce left to right progression as well.
- We will be Sorting the letters Ff and Ll.  We will be sorting uppercase letters from the lowercase letters in groups. Then we will use rock crayons to color on our papers the uppercase letters and lowercase letters we can find.  

Math Small Groups/Fine Motor Small Groups
-Corduroy Lacing- We will be coloring then lacing bears

-Sorting by size, shape, and color- Using sorting circle, we will sort a variety of buttons on the rug

-Corduroy Math- We will be focusing on creating a set of 5 objects in a small group activity. Look for a paper to come home in your child's folder for you to reinforce what they learned in school. Have Fun!

-Counting and Sorting Buttons- We will color a set of buttons with 2 or 4 holes. Then we will sort them in groups into a chart

-My stuffed animal Journal paper- We will be using our stuffed animals at small groups and draw a picture of what they look like. We will discuss what color our animal is and trying to match the colors we see on our papers.

Centers

Art Table- piggy banks with water bottles and tissue paper

Block Area- block, bears, and blankets (to make a bed for Corduroy)

Sensory Table- Button sorting buckets
Book Area- Exploring Books about school
Writing Table- crayons and paper
Dramatic Play-Shoe store (using dolls and baby shoes to match and measure for dolls in the area)
Math, Puzzles, and Manipulatives- Pattern Blocks
Rug- Legos

Science/Social Studies Circle
- We will be focusing on our curriculum of Preschool Life Skills during this time to help us transition into our new classroom.

1. When I call your name, stop what you are doing, look at me, and say,"Yes".
-Discussing how we sit and listen in a group (our community classroom)

Social Thinking Curriculum
During the course of the school year, we will be using a series of 6 books.  
Our first book is Thinking Thoughts and Feeling Feelings. 
Concepts Include: 
What is a thought?
Your brain is a thought maker
What is a feeling?
Your heart is a feelings keeper

A feeling is something that happens in your body

Songs, Word Plays, and Language

-Action Bingo Song:

There was a class that had a boy/girl, and _____was his/her name-o

(Each child chooses an action for others to follow)

Jump, Jump, (name), Jump, Jump, (name), Jump, Jump, (name),

We're glad you're in school today.
-If your happy and you know it.
-Here we are together at school
-Our Good Morning Chant
-The Cub of Day, Who will it be?

-ABC Rock by Steve and Greg

-Number Rock by Steve and Greg
-Dino Stomp

Classroom Motivational System
We will be learning classroom routines and expectations within our new classroom.  In order to create a successful and rewarding environment, each child will have a motivational system. Our classroom system promotes positive classroom behavior through positive peer modeling and teachers providing positive reinforcement for desired behaviors.  This system can be explained more thoroughly in a tab on this blog.