What to Bring the First Day of School

What to bring on the first day of school

1. Backpack with the communication folder you received at the open house.

Please have Class directory information and nurse emergency cards inside.

2. Lunch and Snack

Lunch- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday

Please pack a lunch for your child including a drink. We are unable to heat or refrigerate lunch boxes, so remember to add an ice pack or put hot food in a thermos.   Also please label your child’s lunch box.  We follow the district food policy.  Your child may bring peanut/tree nut products for lunch as we will be eating in the cafeteria rather than in the classroom.  We have a designed table for our class and the Kickstart class.  Once we have established a lunch routine, we will be sending home lunch menus and Pay Pams information if you would like your child to purchase lunch.    

Snack- Please pack a NUT FREE SNACK daily.  We will provide water at snack (see below).  Please pack your child’s snack outside of their lunch box.  This will help with our morning routine of placing snack on top of their cubbies.           

No Lunch on Friday

On Friday, we will be dismissing at 11:30. Please send in a snack on Friday

3. Water Donation

During snack time we will provide cups and poland spring water. We also will provide the students water after hot playground times. We will be purchasing small cups for the school year as well as paying for Poland Springs for our classroom.  A suggested donation is $3-$5 for the school year. Thank you for your help.

4. An extra set of clothes  

Please label the clothes and place them in a labeled zip lock bag.   Please include underwear and an extra pair of socks as well.  We will keep these clothes in school.

5.Name tag

Please place the name tag that is in your child’s folder on them the first day.

6.Bear tag

Please attach the bear tag onto your child’s backpack. This helps with live drop off procedures and bus arrivals.

End of the Year Video

It was a wonderful year in the Cub Cadet Classroom! 

Enjoy our end of the year video!

Moving Machines (June 6-16)

Our Last Day of School is Thursday June 16!!
Have A Wonderful Summer!!!
Make It Move  Unit 8 

Unit Books: The Cool Pool
                            Dr. DeSoto

Weekly Question and Vocabulary Words:
How do machines help us move things?
(build, crane, pulley, dump, empty, lever, scoop, repair)

Literacy Small Groups

Journals -As we wrap up our school year, we will spend our literacy group time working on a special Yearbook.  We will write and illustrate pages that outlined our favorite parts of our year.  We hope this will serve as a nice keepsake of your child’s year- enjoy! This acitivty will take place across several days. Each day will be a different topic (ie. favorite acitivity, favorite lunch, favorite playground acitivity, etc)

Board/Card games- We will play cooperative board games within our small groups. (Alphabet Go fish, Popcorn lowercase/lowercase game, Cariboo)

Special Letter Books- We will finish our focus on lowercase letters that do not follow the other "rules" such as sliding letters and work on "special" letters in our books

Math Small Groups

How Much Can I Hold? We will recalled how in our unit book The Cool Pool how someone used scoops to fill empty objects.  We will use our hands as scoopers to pull out counters from a container.  We will record how many counters each friend collect will collect,    We will then compared who collected the most, least, and if any amounts were equal.

Which is Heavier?

We will compare the weight of classroom objects using a balance scale.  After determining which object is heavier we will record them in our books.  

Construction Count
We will use a special number cards to play a fun counting game.  We will practice counting to 20 or 30 by rote using number cards.  We flipped one card each time we said the number with the group.  We will take turns being a mystery hider. The mystery hider will place the “stop & build” card in place of a number card.  While counting we will be on the look out for the “stop and build” card.  When that card was turned over, we took a break to build blocks.  We continued until everyone had a chance to hide the card.

Counting and Numeral Writing Review

We will practice counting and writing numbers by counting and coloring summer items  found in a picture.  We will write the corresponding numeral for each item we counted.

Roll & Write

We will continue to practice writing numerals with another math game.  Using two dot dice, we will roll and added the dots.  We traced each number on our sheets to see which number won the race.  

Centers

Art Table- construction collage

Sensory Table beans and scoopers
Book Area- Exploring Books about construction
Easel-Markers and paper
Writing Table-Construction Words
Dramatic Play-Construction Site
Math, Puzzles, and Manipulatives- Wind Power Station
Rug- Building a Castle
Block Area- blocks

Science/Social Studies/Math Circle Concepts
-What is a pulley
-Moving and building
-Ramps to help us
-Compare Weights
-All kinds of energy

Preschool Life Skills 
- 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".
2. When I give you an instruction, do it "right a
way"
(Ask your child what do you do when your teacher tells you to do something.  They should reply "I do it right away." You can reinforce this at home too.  "Put your legos away and do it "right away""
3. When I give you  instructions, do them "right away" (multi-step directions)
4. When something is too hard say "Help me please"
5. When you want something from a teacher or friend, say "Excuse Me" to get their attention
6. When you want something from a teacher or friend, say "Excuse Me" to get their attention and then use your asking words(ie. May I have a turn?)

Songs, Word Plays, and Language

-Our Good Morning Chant
-Vowel Bat
-Big Pig
-Windy Weather song

-Alphabet Chant using sign language
-Letter Sounds Song

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 behavior

Science Center Visit Today

Wind Power Weeks (May 23-27 and May 31-June 3)

Reminder: Our End of the Year Show is Friday, June 3 at 11pm
Please arrive by 10:55 because we will begin sharply at 11:00
No School- Memorial Day May 30

Make It Move  Unit 8 Week 3 and 4

Unit Books: Gilberto and the Wind
                            The Wind Blew

Weekly Question and Vocabulary Words:
How does wind make things move?
(float, twist, umbrella, burst, blur, pinwheel, sailboat, balloon)

Literacy Small Groups

Rhyming Bingo

We will continue to practice rhyming.  This week, we will focus on producing our own rhyming words.  While playing a round of rhyming bingo, children will need to produce a word that rhymes with a picture on their mat to cover that space.  They will work to get five in a row to win.

Lowercase Letter p Formation

We will learn to write the lowercase letter p . Lowercase p is a diving letter.  It starts at the top and dives straight down.   We will practice this letter using magna doodles, chalkboards, salt trays, etc.  We will rainbow write and pencil practice the letter p as well.

Rhyming Race

We will work as a team to blow a ball to the finish line with a fun rhyming game.  After flipping a card, each child will get a chance to produce a word that rhymes with that picture.  When they do, they will  use a straw to help blow the ball  If they cannot, a new card will be drawn.  We all win when the ball reaches the finish line!

Lowercase Letter b Formation

We will learn to write the lowercase letter m . Lowercase m is a diving letter.  It starts at the top and dives straight down.   We will practice this letter using magna doodles, chalkboards, salt trays, etc.  We will rainbow write and pencil practice the letter m as well.

Lowercase Letter u formation

We will learn to write the lowercase letter u . Lowercase u is a diving letter.  It starts at the top and dives straight down.   We will practice this letter using magna doodles, chalkboards, salt trays, etc.  We will rainbow write and pencil practice the letter u as well.

Journal Writing

In next week’s story, Gilberto and the Wind, we will read about many different things we can do on a windy day.  We will write about what we like to do on a windy day.  We will add finger spaces to separate each word in our sentence and carefully sound out each word to hear sounds.  We will use details and lots of color to illustrate our ideas.

Gilberto Letter Sound Book

We will review objects that were found in our unit book Gilberto and the Wind. We will then listen to the beginning sounds in the objects. We will then match them with their matching letter. Then we will rainbow write the letters to complete the book.  

Sailboat Letter Matching

We will look review the letters in the alphabet by singing the ABC song.  Then we will cut and then sort our sailboats in the correct order to create a sailboat alphabet.  

Math Small Groups

How much does it hold?

Using cubes, we will compare how much different size cups could hold.  First, we will predict the amount that would be needed to fill the cup to the top.  Then we will count how many cubes are needed for each and write the number.  We will compare quantities and circle the cup that holds more cubes.

Family Order

We will compare heights of our family members.  We will think carefully about who is tallest in our family and continue until the shortest member of our family. We will make a family portrait with each member of our family in order from tallest to shortest.

Cup Fulls of Sand

We will fill  buckets with sand to recognize and compare how much sand fits in different sized containers. Using the same size cup, we will fill each bucket with sand and count how many we used to fill each.  We will  compare the size of each bucket with the amount we used to fill them. The bigger the bucket, the more sand we need.  The smaller the bucket, the less sand we need.

How much can I hold?

we will recalled how in our unit book The Cool Pool how someone used scoops to fill empty objects.  We will use our hands as scoopers to pull out counters from a container.  We will record how many counters each friend collect will collect,  We will then compared who collected the most, least, and if any amounts were equal.  

Spin and Write Numbers

We will spin a spinner then write the number it lands on. We will compare which numbers we land on the most, least or equal.

Will the Wind Blow it?

We look at a variety of objects. Then we will make predictions to see if the objects will blow in the wind. After we make our predictions will will use "wind" to see if the objects move. Next we will record what happened and talk about why.

Centers

Art Table- kite creations/windsocks/pinwheels

Sensory Table- boats with a fan nearby to create movement
Book Area- Exploring Books about wind
Easel-Markers and paper
Writing Table-What moves in the wind?
Dramatic Play- Airport/Post Office
Math, Puzzles, and Manipulatives- Wind Power Station
Rug- Tents to build
Block Area- blocks

Science/Social Studies/Math Circle Concepts
-Air, land, water movement
-What blocks move in the wind experiment
-Measuring Capacity
-Filling Containers
-How does the wind feel?
-Push, Pull, Go Book

Preschool Life Skills 
- 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".
2. When I give you an instruction, do it "right a
way"
(Ask your child what do you do when your teacher tells you to do something.  They should reply "I do it right away." You can reinforce this at home too.  "Put your legos away and do it "right away""
3. When I give you  instructions, do them "right away" (multi-step directions)
4. When something is too hard say "Help me please"
5. When you want something from a teacher or friend, say "Excuse Me" to get their attention
6. When you want something from a teacher or friend, say "Excuse Me" to get their attention and then use your asking words(ie. May I have a turn?)

Songs, Word Plays, and Language

-Our Good Morning Chant
-Vowel Bat
-Big Pig
-Windy Weather song

-Alphabet Chant using sign language
-Letter Sounds Song

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 behavior

Butterfly Release Today

Today we released butterflies that we watched grow from caterpillars into a chrysalis, then turn into butterflies.  We watched them fly away today.  It was magical!!

Make It Move Unit 8 Week 2 May 16-20

Make It Move  Unit 8 Week 2

Unit Book:  A Little Bit More

Weekly Question and Vocabulary Words:
What can we do to make things move?
(push, pull, roll, weigh, heavy, light)

Literacy Small Groups

Pushing and Pulling Sounds

This week, we have been learning that we can move things by using force to push or pull them.  Using magnetic letters, we will experiment with words by pushing away the beginning sounds to find out what’s left in the word.  Then, we will push the beginning sound back to say the word together again.  For example, if we pull away the c in the word “cat,” we are left with the word “at.”  When we push the letter c back into the word we have “cat” again.  Practice playing with words at home by taking away the beginning sounds to find out what’s left.  

Lowercase Letter m Formation

We will learn to write the lowercase letter m . Lowercase m is a diving letter.  It starts at the top and dives straight down.   We will practice this letter using magna doodles, chalkboards, salt trays, etc.  We will rainbow write and pencil practice the letter m as well.

I’m a Big Kid

We will discuss how we have changed as we have grown from a baby to a big kid! We will write and illustrate what we were like as a baby and what we are like now.  We will say each word carefully and listen for the sounds we hear.  We will also use details to illustrate how we have changed.  

Lowercase Letter r formation

We will learn to write the lowercase letter r . Lowercase r is a diving letter.  It starts at the top and dives straight down.   We will practice this letter using magna doodles, chalkboards, salt trays, etc.  We will rainbow write and pencil practice the letter r as well.

Journal Writing

This week, we will learn that we can move things by pushing or pulling them with our muscles.  In our journals this week, we will write about what else we use our muscles for.  We will continue to practice slowly saying words to hear each sound and writing the letter that makes that sound.  Remember, it is perfectly okay that your child writes any sound he/she hears, even if it is not the perfect spelling of a word.  He/She will learn the rules of spelling in future years.  

Math Small Groups

Comparing Equal Lengths

We will compare lengths of cube towers and work to make their lengths equal.  We will work with towers that have a set number of cubes and cannot be broken.  We will use sets of green and red cubes to make towers that are the same lengths as the taller yellow towers.  We will record our work on our sheets.

Going to New Heights

We will continue to use cubes to measure lengths that are equal to the lengths of the characters from our story this week.  We will make towers that are the same lengths as cut outs from our story and count the number of cubes we used for each.  

Roll a Tower Partner Game 

Working with a partner, we will roll dot dice to build towers with that number of cubes.  After each round we will compare which tower was tallest.  We will record our work and circle the taller tower  in each round.

Number Formations

Using the Handwriting Without Tears program as a guide, we will continue to practice forming numbers 1-10.  This week, we will review numbers 1-5 using wooden sticks, chalkboards or magna doodles and in our letter formation books.

Centers

Art Table- car track painting

Sensory Table- marble mazes
Book Area- Exploring Books about movement
Easel-Markers and paper
Writing Table-Building a playground
Dramatic Play- Vet (measuring and weighing animals)
Math, Puzzles, and Manipulatives- Weighing Station
Rug- Doll houses
Block Area- blocks to measure with

Science/Social Studies/Math Circle Concepts
-Push and Pull
-Starting Line (where we start when measuring)
-Taller and Shorter
-Working Together

Preschool Life Skills 
- 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".
2. When I give you an instruction, do it "right a
way"
(Ask your child what do you do when your teacher tells you to do something.  They should reply "I do it right away." You can reinforce this at home too.  "Put your legos away and do it "right away""
3. When I give you  instructions, do them "right away" (multi-step directions)
4. When something is too hard say "Help me please"
5. When you want something from a teacher or friend, say "Excuse Me" to get their attention
6. When you want something from a teacher or friend, say "Excuse Me" to get their attention and then use your asking words(ie. May I have a turn?)

Songs, Word Plays, and Language

-Our Good Morning Chant
-Vowel Bat
-Big Pig 

-Alphabet Chant using sign language
-Letter Sounds

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 behavior