Last Week of August

     During this second week of school we're learning all about our school, our new friends and our new teachers.  The children are learning about many new ways to communicate with each such as sign language, using pictures and using a communication device such as a Dynavox to talk with their friends.  You might see new signs at home such as drink, please, more and friends. We are learning why our school has ramps and that our friends that use wheelchairs need those ramps to get around the school. We are also learning that our school has rules that we need to follow.  The children are already saying, "walking feet" inside the school.  Our rules are very simple:

• Listen to your teachers
• Walking feet inside the school
• Keep your hands and feet to yourself
• Use nice words with our friends
• Use inside voices

     We played musical chairs yesterday and it was fantastic...we giggled and laughed a lot as we all scrambled to find a chair when the Sousa marching music stopped!  We are also learning nursery rhymes during our music time.  Today we'll use our rhythm sticks.  We'll first learn the rules with our sticks and I will demonstrate the myriad of ways to use the sticks.  Then I'll pass out the sticks to each child and we'll go around the circle and play follow the leader with each child taking the leadership role.  This is where the children get very creative and do fantastic moves with their sticks and we all follow their lead.


     

Welcome to Brooks-Yates Preschool!

     What a great first week of preschool!  We're meeting new friends and learning their names!  We sing a good morning song to our friends before we eat breakfast and everyday we're learning more and more of our friends' 

names.

This week we're learning the new routines of preschool and the ins and outs of our school building!  Within the first week we have visited all of our areas of play from the playground in the back of the school to the sensory room on the fourth floor.  This week we'll start cooking by making pudding together.  We'll also peel carrots for our snack on Thursday.  At snack time, we discuss what we're eating and also what category of food we're eating. Is it a fruit, a vegetable, or a grain?  Here's our snack menu for this month:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday
22 Juice/Graham Crackers/Bananas	23 Juice/Fig Newtons/Pears	24 Juice/Popcorn/ Cantaloupe	25 Juice/Celery/ Peanut Butter
29 Fruit Loops/Milk	30 Juice/Cheese Puffs	31 Water/Pudding/ Vanilla Wafers	1 Juice/Carrots/ Animal Crackers

Within in the next few weeks, I'll be sending home Clifford papers and Weekly Readers. I am trying out both subscriptions to see which ones our class prefers.  I have a month to try them out and then we'll decide on one to use for the rest of the year.  If you have a preference after seeing both of them, please let me know so we can decide together!  Please read over them together with your child and give me your input.

I am also sending home a Parent/Child Magazine that might help you out with ideas for your family.  I hope you'll enjoy this resource!