Week of March 21 - 25

We had a super busy and great week!  On Monday we had Palio practice and on Tuesday, the kids performed in front of a great big audience!  The rest of the week was filled with visitors and celebrations.
Congratulations to Luke and Reagan!  They both celebrated their 4 year old birthdays with the class.  We enjoyed hearing about your big days and thank you for the yummy cupcakes!

We enjoyed hearing a story called the Police Cloud from Luke's Dad. It tied in so well with our community helpers theme!  

The JK kids had their picture taken with the Senior class earlier this week for the yearbook!  The big kids were so impressed with the JK kids and loved them to pieces!  This is a special time for the JK kids to see and interact with the other students at Roycemore.  We are one big family here.

 Palio was a big hit!  The children loved showing off their skills to their parents and friends!  Thank you for being a part of the show. 

For more pictures look through the slide show! 

 We continued to learn through the community helpers theme this week.  

Anisa’s mom, Mrs. Jasmine Sebaggala, came to visit the JK class to tell them about being a teacher!  Teachers help us learn about many subjects.  She showed us a chart of all the things that a teacher can do.  She read us a story during snack time.  She shared another book titled, Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes.  The children loved hearing about how teachers are community helpers too! 

Eli’s Dad, Mr. Andrew Ginsberg, came to visit the JK classroom to tell us about his important community helper job.  He is a union organizer.  He read the story Click Clack Moo to the class.  In the story the cows kindly type a letter to the farmer asking for electric blankets for the cold nights.  They withhold their milk and eventually the hens withhold their eggs until the farmer will make a deal with them.  The children loved the story especially because the ducks get a hold of the typewriter and demand a diving board for the pond.  Mr. Ginsberg did a great job explaining how he helps fight for what is fair for the workers!  

Macy’s Mom, Mrs. Annette O’Donnell, came to the JK room to talk about her job as a Roycemore teacher!  She wears many hats at Roycemore teaching reading, art, and library.  She read a book about being a Scientist to help us learn how she is a community helper and teaches children interesting subjects and helps them display their creativity.  She also showed us Scientists are too!  She also brought in more community helper books for our classroom library!  Thank you Mrs. O’Donnell!!!

The children worked hard on writing thank you cards for all the classroom visitors.  Everyone created a safety badge and drew a picture of their safety rule.  Each JK kid also used an ink pad to investigate their fingerprints.  

The children are enjoying the play clothes and construction tools during free choice and work time.  This unit has been great for our listening skills (while our visitors have been hear), creative and exploration with a variety of toys and dress up clothes.  They have been inventive and inquisitive.

When we return from break we have a few more Community Helpers coming in to visit the classroom.  The JK kids will also explore a safety town on the playground (weather permitting), write about what they want to be when they grow up, and explore how to keep a healthy body!

I hope everyone enjoys their break!  

Week of March 14 -18

 Our community helpers theme has been a great success so far!  The free choice time has been a great time to try out new activities and pretend to be helpers in the community.

Grocery Store!

The children are learning that food and dishes cost money!  They are using the play credit cards and coins to pay for their groceries, dishes, and utensils.

The children put on rubber gloves and used droppers to make a rainbow of colors. They were pretending to be scientists, using their imagination to what the liquids were and how the colors would mix together.  (I hope that this project cured the ailments that were going around in the classroom!)  

 In the balcony area, it has been transformed into a doctor's office.  The children took care of each other, gave each other shots, and listened to heartbeats.  At the light table they were able to investigate real x-rays.  Also, they were able to operate on Buzz Lightyear.  Some very successful surgeons!  

The JK students built an airport, constructed railways, and put together tall buildings in the construction zone!

 

We also had our JK firefighters putting out fires all day!  And we were so happy to have Captain Fochs from the Evanston Fire Department come in and teach us about fire safety and how his job helps the community!  

Officer Ron from the Evanston Police Department came in too.  He showed us his uniform, talked to us about stranger danger, and told us about how he protects us and keeps us safe.  

 Thanks to Macy's mom for coming in to read us a special St. Patrick's Day story!  The kids loved it and we loved the special treats in our mailboxes from Macy!!!  Thank you and we hope you enjoyed your St. Patrick's Day.

 We spent some quality time outside!  We welcome Spring with open arms.  The kids were so happy to be outside on the tricycles and we will do a safety town next week if the weather stays this nice!

Centers this week focused on a variety of skills!

In the math center, the kids explored coins.  They learned to identify the penny, nickel, dime and quarter.  We made a list of what each coin looks like and the size of the coin.  We sang a song about how much each coin was worth.  Some kids were able to add multiple coins together to find the total value! We talked about all the things we can buy with money, which tied in nicely with our theme.

 In the Language Arts center, the children read a book called, Helpers.  They tracked the words, found popcorn words, and made a list of community helpers!

In the Fine Motor center, the children used their small motor skills to operate on Buzz Lightyear!  This was a very fun way for them to strengthen their finger muscles, use patience, take turns, follow directions, and learn more about how a doctor operates:)

In the technology center, the children listened to Bob the Builder on tape, and they used the Leap Pads to interact with Bob the Builder, Tad the Farmer, and Thomas the Train books.

We really have been enjoying the exploration of the community helpers!  We look forward to visits from some of our parents in the next few weeks.  

Because of Palio and the community helper visitors next week we will not do center activities but we will work in small groups on reading skills, and social studies projects.