Theme: Mall
Dates: January 19-29
From: Tanya

Language Experiences:

• The teachers will put on another famous "Made for television" skit about going to the mall and many of the things you can see and do there.
• Make a purse/wallet with toy money and pretend to go shopping at the mall.
• Make an "I love you Dad" place mat for our Dad's breakfast.
• Make beaded jewelry and pretend to "buy" it at the jewelry store.
• Play a "shoe mix up" game to match, sort, and try on various shoes at the "Shoe store."
• Make candy to sell at our candy store.
• Have a candy store in the fellowship hall and "sell" it to our friends and teachers.
• Have our very own pet store in my room:)
• Create a "NV Mall" with each classroom being a different type of store. This is always a lot of fun!

Vocabulary: shoe store, pet store, jewelry (earrings, necklace, ring, bracelet), clothes, toys, cash register, purse, wallet, candy store, gum, gumball, buy, cashier, mall, elevator, parking lot, Target

Notes: Please note some of the activities I've included at the end of this letter that you could do with your child at home that may help reinforce the language and vocabulary learned at school . In each individual letter that is sent home, I will also include a few language targets that we are working on each week so you can encourage your child to use these structures at home as well. Siblings can also take part in these fun activities! Please let me know if you have any other thoughts or ideas!

Show and Tell:

Monday: Ben D. and Kennedy

Wednesday: Isiah and Frank

Friday: Sooah and Rilee

Home Activities:

• Set up a little "store" with play money and items to "buy." Take turns buying items and working as the cashier in the store.
• Take your child to the mall to give them a hands on experience.:) Maybe allow them to buy something very small like a gumball or a snack at the food court where they are given the opportunity to give the money to the cashier using appropriate language/manners etc.
• Pull out a bunch of shoes and practice sorting, matching, and trying them on. You can talk about whose shoes are the biggest/smallest/fit/don't fit etc.
• Have your child make "play" money with paper, markers, scissors etc. They can practice asking "How much money do you want/have?"

Theme: Look, Listen, and Learn (The 5 Senses)
Dates: January 5-15
From: Tanya

Language Experiences:

• Make magic "goop" with cornstarch and water.
• Make a texture book with fabric, sand paper, fleece, tape, smooth paper, and bubble wrap.
• Sniff smelly sensory cups and try to guess what is inside.
• Make air popped popcorn while using all of our five senses. Yummy!:)
• Taste various foods that are bitter, sweet, sour, salty, minty etc.
• Make delicious pudding and explore using all of our five senses.
• Make pipe cleaner glasses and go on an outside walk to explore nature.
• Make mirrors and go on a "reflection walk" around the school to explore all of the things we might see our reflection in.

Vocabulary:

The 5 senses, hear/listen, taste, smell/sniff, see/look/watch, touch/feel, sweet, salty, sour, bitter, sparkly, whisper, shiny, rough, smooth, hard, soft, sticky, squishy, daytime, nighttime, bright, reflect

Notes:

Welcome back everyone!! I hope you all had a nice and relaxing holiday with your family. While I enjoyed a little break, I really looked forward to seeing your children again today! They are doing fabulous! Due to some changes in the schedule, we will not have our typical show and tell schedule this week...however it will resume again next week (please see date changes below). I'm looking forward to exploring our 5 senses this week and next! Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Show and Tell Dates:

Monday: Ben D. and Kennedy

Wednesday: Isiah and Frank

Friday: Sooah

Theme: Jungle
Dates: December 14-22
From: Tanya

Language Experiences:

• Make binoculars and search around the school/"jungle" for animals.
• Make monkey bread.
• Make zebra masks with paper plates.
• Make parrots with colored sand.
• Make palm trees with monkeys or make a safari map.
• Make spiral snakes with paper plates.
• Make tiger cookies.
• Make swamp snack.

Vocabulary:
parrot, zebra, crocodile, gorilla, hippopotamus, jungle, slimy, flamingo, cave, palm tree, vest, splash, swing, binoculars, crawl, gallop, map

Notes: Grandparents Day was a huge success! Thank you for contributing to our bake sale! We made over $500, which will be matched by the Oberkotter Foundation. Just a reminder...school is out on Wednesday, December 23 at 12:00pm and will resume again on January 4th. I'm looking forward to a great week ahead as we learn all about the jungle!

Show and Tell Dates:
Monday: Kennedy
Wednesday: Sooah and Frank
Friday: Isiah and Esther

Theme: Igloos and Ice
Dates: November 30-December 11th
From: Tanya

Language Experiences:

• Make a snow man with paper cut outs.
• Make igloos made of real ice and salt.
• Make ice skates with paper plates and "skate" around the school.
• Make hot cocoa with marshmellows. "Yummy!"
• The teachers will put on another Emmy Award winning skit about "Winter Fun!"
• Make and lace paper mittens.
• Make snowman ice sculpture.
• Make bagel bird feeder and hang on the tree for our winter birds.
• Make a snowman snack.
• Make a winter mobile craft.

Vocabulary: ice skating, skiiing, skiis, snowflake, snowman, snow, snow angel, igloos, snowpants, snow suit, skates, sledding, sled, snow shoes, Eskimo, hat, scarf, mittens, gloves, ice, boots, hot cocoa, marshmellows, bird feeder, snow mobile

Notes: Welcome back!! Hope you enjoyed a nice and relaxing Thanksgiving! Please mark your calendars for Grandparents Day and our Holiday Extravaganza...on December 8th. More details to come this week. I'm looking forward to another great week ahead...and possibly a little snow as we enter this new theme of "Ice and Igloos!"

Show and Tell Dates:

Monday: Kennedy and Ben D.

Wednesday: Sooah and Frank

Friday: Isiah and Esther

Theme: Healthy Living and Gardening

Dates: November 16-24

From: Tanya


Language Experiences:

• The teachers will act out a "Made for T.V" skit of things that are healthy and not healty for body.
• Sort foods into food groups (i.e., meat, vegetables, fruit, junk food).
• Make homemade butter and enjoy with crackers.
• Make paper bag turkeys to decorate the tables for the Thanksgiving Feast.
• Make Vegetable soup.

Vocabulary: junk food, fruit, vegetables, meat, grocery store, turkey, feather, soup, butter, exercise, pie, Thanksgiving, grow, garden, hole, gardening gloves, watering can

Note: Reminder...our Thanksgiving Feast is Tuesday, November 24 at 11am. Please sign up on the board outside the preschool room if you wish to attend. Hope to see you all there! Also, could you please send a vegetable in with your child on Thursday, Novemeber 19th. We will be making vegetable soup on Friday. Thanks!

Show and Tell Dates:

Monday: Kennedy and Ben D.

Wednesday: Sooah and Frank

Friday: Isiah and Esther

Theme: Family and Friends
Dates: November
From: Tanya

Language Experiences:

• The teachers put on a made for T.V "Be a Good Friend" skit.
• We made "Friendship Cookies" and passed them out to our friends.
• We made a Family tree.
• We made "Friendship Trail Mix" and took turns handing them out to our friends.
• We made shaped houses complete with squares, circles, triangles, and rectangles.
• We read the story "The 3 Little Pigs" and acted out the story on a flannel board.
• We read the story "Goldilocks and the 3 Bears" and acted out the story on a flannel board.
• We made an edible house with crackers, American, and String Cheese.
• We went for a walk on the neighborhood to look at the different houses and reinforce the vocabulary learned.

Vocabulary: cook, sweep, house, window, basement, driveway, bathroom, chimney, bedroom, sink, garage, blanket, sidewalk, living room, kitchen, closet, curtains, dresser, family, rug, dishwasher, brother, sister, roof

Notes: Thanks to all of you for keeping your children home if they were sick. We are doing everything we can to keep each other as healthy as possible (ie., hand washing etc.). Please keep November 24th at 11:15am open for our annual Thanksgiving Feast. All our invited! More to come next week...

Show and Tell Dates:
Monday: Kennedy and Ben D.
Wednesday: Sooah and Frank
Friday: Isiah and Esther

Theme: Our Earth, Fall, and Halloween
Dates: October 19-30
From: Tanya

Language Experiences:

• Take an "Earth Walk" and pick up trash
• Clean up a "trashed" room while sorting plastic, cans, glass, and newspaper
• Make a trash collage
• Make apple juice
• Take a field trip to the Good Will to donate items that can be reused
• Make Halloween orange play dough
• Go to a "pumpkin patch" and get a class pumpkin along with our very own small pumpkin to take home (hand-picked by me at my dad's farm)
• Make Witch's brew
• Make spider snack.
• Halloween party...Happy Halloween!!

Vocabulary: squirrel, stick, pick, earth, recycle, empty, full, newspaper, rake, can, plastic, glass, recycle bin, fall, seeds, acorn, trick or treat, costume, jack-o-lantern, costume, witch, skeleton, Frankenstein, Witch's broom, scarecrow, carve, bat, haunted house, mask, candy corn

Notes: Just a reminder...our Halloween party for the preschoolers will be at 2:00pm on Friday, October 30. Please send your child with their costume and we will help them put it on before the party. Also, you can join us at 2:40pm for our costume parade around the school. Hope to see you there!

Show and Tell Dates"
Monday: Kennedy and Ben D.
Wednesday: Frank and Sooah
Friday: Isiah and Esther