Christmas Break and January Plans

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  Our classes will resume on Wednesday, January 2, 2013.

January Plans

We are working on a field trip to the AHA! Museum and eating lunch at Frisch's  in Lancaster on Thursday, January 31.  We will also be swimming and visiting the Family Center at the YMCA.

Here are the dates for January:

• Wednesday, January 2-School Resumes
• Thursday, January 9-YMCA
• Monday, January 21-No School/Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• Thursday, January 24-YMCA
• Thursday, January 30-AHA!Museum and lunch at Frisch's in Lancaster

Concerns

In light of the events of Friday, December 14, 2012, please let me know of any concerns you might have with your child.

Here's a link to a brief discussion on preschool and your child and ways to handle the situation.  We will only address it with a child privately, if he or she asks a question about it.  We will always reiterate how much we love your children and how we want to keep them safe.  We will also let you know if your child asks us any questions and we will call you after school to discuss it with you so that you are fully aware of their feelings.

At the end of this discussion you'll find links to more articles that might help you as you deal with this issue within your family.

If you have any concerns or ideas that you would like to share with me, please either call me at the school or email me.

Thanks

Gingerbread Houses and Santa

We have all created the ground level of our gingerbread houses and now we're to the creative stage.  We're adding second stories, porches, chimneys, sidewalks and that was just in the last two days. I'm excited to see what we can build next week!  We have learned that more frosting is better than less and we've also learned that making gingerbread houses is finger licking good! We will continue to build our houses on Monday and Tuesday and we'll start decorating them on Wednesday and Thursday.  We'll send home their creations on Thursday in a box so they will be protected.

Santa Bob will be visiting our school on Tuesday, December 18 at 11:00.  We'll take as many pictures as we can for you.  We'll continue to sing great songs such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bells, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas this week.

We have school this week and then we'll be off from December 24-January 1, with school resuming on Wednesday, January 2.

Breakfast With Santa

When/Where:  Saturday, December 8th 9:00am-11:30am

                     Brooks-Yates School

                     1005 South Pickaway Street, Circleville

Activities:       Face Painting and Crafts

Breakfast:       Pancakes, sausage, orange juice, coffee, milk, and muffins

Secret Santa Shop Available:  All gifts are $2.00.  Kids can shop for family members, teachers, and even pets.

We will send home a paper on Monday, December 3rd with the cost and registration information.

Rationale Behind a Play-Based Preschool

I have thoroughly enjoyed talking with all of my parents for home visits during the past few weeks.  We never have enough time when I see you throughout the week to discuss relevant topics so it was wonderful to have that time together to talk.  I am hoping to find relevant research and blogs for you to use as a resource.  I love the questions that you asked when we met and I am searching for answers to meet your needs and to answer your questions.  Please keep them coming and I will continue to respond to them and help you find answers and new ideas to consider as you raise your children.

Please click here for some rationale for a play-based preschool.

November's School Schedule at a Glance

We have a few events coming up in November and December so here are the dates to remember:

November’s Schedule

Ÿ          Wednesday, November 14-School is closed.  The entire staff is attending the OCALI conference for our staff in-service.

Ÿ          Thursday, November 15-YMCA Swimming and Family Center.

Ÿ          Wednesday, November 21-School is closed for the Thanksgiving Holiday.

Ÿ          Thursday, November 29- YMCA Swimming and Family Center.

December’s Schedule

Ÿ          Thursday, December 13- YMCA Swimming and Family Center.

Ÿ          Tuesday, December 18-Santa Bob is coming to visit with the children at 11:00.

Ÿ          Monday, December 24-January 1-School is closed for the Christmas Break.  We resume school on Wednesday, January 2.

Our Five Senses

This week we started our discovery of our five senses.  It's amazing how quickly the children learn and want to experience new things!  We carved out our pumpkin and snake gourds that Ms. Gerry brought in and we saved the seeds.  We are drying the seeds to roast them next week and we planted the rest of the seeds and we'll watch them grow and observe the different stages.

We had a bag where we needed to feel with our hands...without looking at the item....and try to identify different items.  Some of us wanted to look so badly!  We also listened to sounds to try to identify them.  We conducted a science experiment with water beads and watched and felt them grow as they took on water.  The hydrated water beads are a great sensory activity and as an added bonus the beads bounce on the floor!

The YMCA Swimming and Family Center Program

Swim and Family Center Program

This school year we will be offering an addition to our swim program at the Circleville YMCA.  We will be going to the Y every other Thursday and half of our students will be swimming and half of our students will be playing in the Family Center.  We will alternate our students every Thursday so they each get to participate in both swimming and playing in the Family Center each month.  Starting this Thursday, November 1, our entire school will be going to the YMCA from 12:30 to 1:30 with the buses leaving at 12:00 and returning to school at 2:00.  We will be eating an early lunch on those days so we can be ready to board the buses at 12:00.

We will send home a letter with your child’s Swim/Family Center Schedule until Christmas.  Before Christmas break we will send home the entire schedule for the rest of the school year.

Conferences and our Election Results

I have scheduled most of our conferences and I am working on getting the last few set up for the next week or so.  I appreciate your willingness to take the time to talk things over about your child and their preschool year.  A lot happens within the school year and it's great to have an understanding of where we're headed and to share thoughts and ideas. I am very thankful that I can meet with all of you!

                                      



We have our election results tallied and our two groups are called, The Scooby Doo Club and the Busy Bee Club.  I will send home a paper with your child to let you know which club your child is currently in and what the goals of the club entail.  We're excited about each club and what we can learn!

School Pictures and Dates to Remember

School Pictures will be on Thursday, October 11.

We will have school next week on Monday, October 15 and Tuesday, October 16.  We will be closed the rest of the week for Pumpkin Show.  We will be back in school on Monday, October 22 and the bookmobile will be coming to school that day.

We are looking at starting our swimming program at the YMCA in November.  We are working out the details with the Y and we'll send home a swim schedule as soon as that has been confirmed with them.

Circle S Farms

Brooks-Yates School Field Trip

Circle S Farms

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

We will be spending the day at Circle S Farms.  They offer: hayrides, a pumpkin, a fun barn, a corn maze, a sunflower maze, a petting zoo, a scarecrow bale cave, and a donut and apple juice for each of our students.  The cost of the trip is $6.75 which includes all of the above. We will eat an early breakfast and then leave the school at 9:15-9:30 in the morning and return at 2 in the afternoon.  Please pack a totally disposable lunch that we will eat at Circle S Farms.  If you want to see what Circle S Farms is all about in Grove City you can visit their website at circlesfarm.com or call 614.878.7980.

We would love it if you could join us!

October Theme: Everything Changes

We will finish up our planet mobile during the first week of October.  We will then move onto our new unit of Everything Changes.  This unit will cover seasons and weather, growth and change that we find in plants and ourselves.  and all kinds of plants.  We will plant flowers and vegetables in the raised beds that are in our OLA (Outdoor Learning Area).  As we've changed to the season of fall we'll discuss and experience changes that we see outside and how that reflects change in how we dress and activities that we can do outside.  We'll, of course, talk about Pumpkin Show as we start getting excited about that this time of year!

Our Outdoor Learning Area (OLA), Planets, and Music

On Monday we have a dedication to our new Outdoor Learning Area (OLA) at 11:00.  That will be followed by a celebration of cutting the cake inside the school.  We'll enjoy eating our cake while we discuss what we saw and how we can use our new OLA.

This week we'll continue to learn about planets and the solar system.  We will start painting our planets for a mobile on Tuesday and we should finish them up by Thursday.  We'll hang them in our classroom for a week and then we'll send them home.  The children really enjoyed making their rocket-ships this past week.

For music this week, we will do rhythm sticks, musical egg shakers and dance to a new CD by Jim Gill called Moving Rhymes for Modern Times.  We'll try a little square dancing to Swing Your Partner and we'll also learn the motions to Face the Facts.  Here are the words to Face the Facts....you can see how fun this will be to act out!

I must face the fact.  My swimming arms are back.
We must face the fact.  Our swimming arms are back.
They are splashing, flapping. stretching, lapping one full mile exact.
We must face the fact.  Our swimming arms are back.

I must face the fact. My scissor legs are back. 
We must face the fact.  Our scissor legs are back.
They are cutting, clipping. slicing, snipping, trimming the rick rack.
We must face the fact.  Our scissor legs are back.

I must face the fact.  My driving arms are back.
We must face the fact.  Our driving arms are back.
They are guiding, steering, turning, veering, my air Cadillac.
We must face the fact.  Our driving arms are back.

I must face the fact.  My binocular eyes are back.
We must face the fact.  Our binocular eyes are back.
They are peering, peeking, scanning, seeking needles in haystacks.
We must face the fact.  Our binocular eyes are back.

I must face the fact.  My jumping jacks are back.
We must face the fact.  Our jumping jacks are back.
They are bounding, flapping, jumping, clapping, picking up the slack.
We must face the fact.  Our jumping jacks are back.

Scholastic Book Ordering Online!

On Monday, I will send home a letter explaining our new online ordering opportunity for Scholastic Books! I love books and so do the children and I want to make it as easy as possible for you to order books for your family as well. You're welcome to take advantage of this online option or you can continue to send in your order with your child.  If you order online credit and debit cards are accepted and paper orders can be accompanied with cash or checks made out to Scholastic Books.

Ordering online is fast and easy:

•     REGISTER at www.scholastic.com/bookclubs

•     ENTER the Class Activation Code for Brooks-Yates Preschool:  HKF2P

•     CHOOSE from thousands of print titles, value packs, and Storia eBooks

•     SUBMIT the order to your child's teacher

•     EARN FREE Books for you and the classroom too!

Things in the Sky: Man-made objects, Planets and the Solar System

We have a few weeks under our belt and we've started a new unit on Things in the Sky.  The children have been sharing what they know about things that are in the sky and we are coming up with some questions that we have about things that fly.  We will talk about things that are man-made that fly in the sky.  Last week we talked about general modes of transportation and we discussed what they have in common.  Here's the list that the children came up with: motors, doors, steering wheel, and fans-and they are used to cool things down.  This was a great list they were able to tell us about.  We talked about things that are vehicles and things that aren't vehicles.  

This week we'll learn more about stars and planets.  We'll also start to create some rocket ships on paper using different shapes and colors. Then we'll build and paint rocket ships too!  We have so much to do!

Focus on the Zoo!

We have a great line up of Zoo books that we'll be reading this week.  We've been talking about what we think we'll see at the zoo and what we want to see at the zoo.  When we come back to school on Wednesday we'll write down what we saw and what we thought about it. The children are very excited about going on Tuesday.  Then this Thursday, May 17 we'll be swimming for the last time this school year.  It's been so wonderful to see the children progress with their swimming skills and just being more comfortable in the water.


We'll also finish up our art projects as we put the finishing touches on everything in preparation for the art show on Saturday.  We are also practicing our program for the Preschool Celebration next week on Wednesday, May 23.  We have only one more permission slip to sign this school year and that's for permission to go to the Mary Virginia Hannan Crites Park on the last day of school for fun at the park and for a picnic.


It's so hard to believe that we're down to the last two weeks of school....my, oh, my, how the time goes so quickly!  

New Adventure This Week

We are sneaking in a new adventure that just came up!  This Thursday, we have the opportunity to visit Engel's Landscaping Center. Through Tina, one of our teachers, we have been invited to learn more about plants and to do some planting of our own.  We'll go to Engel's at 10:00 on Thursday morning and do some investigating about plants and we'll be back in time for lunch.  We will send home permission slips home today or tomorrow!

Fun at AHA!

We enjoyed a beautiful day at Rising Park for a picnic lunch last Thursday and we had fun at AHA! Museum in Lancaster.  


This week we will enjoy the senior citizen's clogger group that will come and perform for us on Tuesday at 10:30.  We will also transplant our plants as needed and continue to see how they're growing week to week.  We will also work on some of our art projects for our Art Show on May 19.  We are working on the program for our Preschool Celebration invitations will be sent out this week.  The entire class participates in a program together and we'll also present to our parents the scrapbooks that we've been working on throughout the school year. After the program we have some light refreshments for all to enjoy!

Busy Week Planned!

We have all of our seeds and bulbs planted so we'll be anxiously observing and measuring them this week to note their growth!.  We'll also be measuring with straws and yarn this week to understand more about measurement.  We'll discuss length and width.  Another measurement that we're learning about is time. We've started to sing a song in circle time about the hands of the clock and what they measure.


On Tuesday, April 17, OSU will complete their videotaping for the Apple Research Project.  On Wednesday, April 18, we'll be going to Mound Street Elementary School to hear stories by Mary Jo Huff .  On Thursday, April, 19, we'll go to the AHA! Museum in Lancaster in the morning and then we'll head to Rising Park for a picnic lunch.

Dates to Remember:

Wednesday, April 18-Storytelling by Mary Jo Huff at Mound Street.

Thursday, April 19-AHA! Museum and picnic at Rising Park

Tuesday, April 24-Cloggers will be performing for the school in the morning.

Thursday, May 10-Swimming at the YMCA-this will be our last swim of the school year.

Tuesday, May 15-Zoo field trip with the rain date of Tuesday, May 22 if needed.

Saturday, May 19-Art Show at Brooks-Yates from 6:00-9:30 PM

Wednesday, May 23-Preschool Graduation at 1:00

Thursday, May 24-All school picnic at Mary Virginia Crites Hannan Park and the last day of school.

Change in Plans

Since we can't have our field trip to the Anthony Thomas Candy Factory this week on Thursday, April 12, due to the elevators not working, we have a chance to go swimming at the YMCA instead.  I will send home a paper about it on Tuesday but I wanted to let you know about the change in plans.

Seeds and Bulbs

This week we'll be planting our seeds and bulbs that we talked about last week.  We have extra seeds so we can get our our magnifying glasses out and compare  and contrast the seeds to each other.  We also had a request to redo our celery experiment that we did in the fall.  We take stalks of celery and put one in a clear cup with water and food coloring to see what happens to the stalks of celery and we also make predictions of what will happen.  Each child will be able to do a stalk and pick the color they want.


This week is a short week as our Spring Break starts on Thursday, April 5 until Monday, April 9 with school resuming on Tuesday, April 10.


I haven't sent home a permission slip for the Anthony Thomas Candy Factory since their elevator isn't working at this time. I will call again this week to see if it will be repaired in time for our visit.

What to Study?

Last week we had a discussion of what we already know about spring and the children knew a lot about it already!  They told me that you can ride your bikes in the spring, grass grows in the spring, it's sunny in the spring, and that baby birds are born in the springtime.  Then I asked what they wanted to learn about for our spring study and these are the topics they gave me: caterpillars, bunnies, snakes, frogs, butterflies, and chipmunks.  So I now have books on all those subjects and we'll delve into those this week. It should be great fun to learn all about these topics that they chose and then anything else along the way as well!

Spring Around the Corner

Now that the leprechauns have left our classroom and left us some chocolate gold we can move onto spring this week!  We had such fun looking for leprechauns and finding things they left behind such as jewels in our sensory table, footprints around the classroom and cafeteria, and then they made a mess in our classroom!  It was great fun!


Today we'll start reading about how things grow and what spring means.  We'll continue working on our fantastic art projects for our Art Show in May.  The children are creating many masterpieces and having experimenting along the way as well with different art mediums.

Dates to Remember:

Thursday, March 22-Swimming at the YMCA

Thursday-Monday, April 5-9-No school due to Spring Break-school resumes on Tuesday, April10.

Tuesday, April 17-storyteller Mary Jo Huff is coming to New Hope Christian School for a free evening that is open to everyone.

Wednesday, April 18-our class is going to Mound Street to her Mary Jo Huff along with the preschool there and I'll send permission slips home for that event.

Schedule change-We won't be swimming on April 19 but we will go to the AHA Museum in Lancaster.  We originally planned to go to AHA on the 26 of April but we had to move that up a week to the 19 of April.

Reminder No School on Monday, March 12

Just a reminder that there's no school on Monday, March 12 due to a teacher in-service.

March

The dinosaurs have been a lot of fun and we still have more to learn and the interest is still high so we'll continue learning about them this week.  Tomorrow we'll hide dinosaur eggs around the classroom and have the children search for them with clues!


I have prepared the second CD of songs for your children and I'll be sending that home on Monday. I hope they enjoy them as much as we do singing them in school!

Dates to Remember:

Thursday, March 8 and 22-we will be swimming at the YMCA.

Monday, March 12-No School due to a teacher's in-service day.

Dinosaurs

We will be learning about dinosaurs this week.  We have sand in our sensory table and it's ready to discover fossils, baby dinosaurs, and who knows what else!  We have safety goggles for the children as they pretend to be paleontologists!  We will learn rhymes and songs about dinosaurs and dance the Dinosaur Boogie as well!  We will also introduce the letter D as we discover more about dinosaurs.  We have a dinosaur bingo game to play as well as dinosaur rubbings and art projects.  There is so much to learn about them as they are so fascinating!


We will read many books about dinosaurs, both fiction and non-fiction.  We will also couple our study of dinosaurs with learning about Jane Yolen. She's an author that has written numerous fiction books about dinosaurs such as How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?, and How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? Here's her website if you'd like to learn more about her and her writing style. The children will really enjoy her stories and we'll continue to learn about dinosaurs and what's real and what's pretend.


OSU will be continuing their videotaping of how I teach in the classroom this week. This is a continuation of the research project that I signed up for in the fall.  OSU is researching how teachers teach at the preschool level and they are trying to figure out the best way to teach us so that we're most effective in preparing preschoolers for kindergarten and for learning in life.


The Logan Elm girls basketball team will be coming to Brooks Yates this Thursday to play basketball with our students.  Since this is the only date they could come we will cancel our swimming date to play basketball with them.  They came last year and our children really enjoyed them.

Dates to Remember:

Thursday, February 23-we won't be swimming since the Logan Elm girls basketball team is coming to play basketball with us at school from 1:00-2:00.

Valentine Week

This week we are continuing to learn about friends; how to make them and how to be one! We'll have our Valentine's Party on Tuesday afternoon and we'll be making sugar cookies and decorating them for our party. We will also deliver our valentines to our friends that day as well. We will make a book about our friends at school that we can take home and read with you. On Thursday, we will visit the Anthony Thomas Candy Factory and see how they make chocolates. We have a four day weekend as there is no school on Monday, February 20, 2012 for President's Day.

February-Friends and Dinosaurs

We will combine learning about friends, Valentine's Day, and dinosaurs this month.  In fact, we might make a new dinosaur friend or two!  Some of our children expressed an interest in learning more about dinosaurs and all the different kinds so we'll delve into that this month.  


With Valentine's day right around the corner it's a great time to discuss what makes a friend and how to be a friend to others.  We will make Valentine boxes this week so we'll have a place to deliver our Valentine cards next week.  For Valentine's Day we'll make our own cookies and decorate them for our party.  We'll also deliver our cards to our friends.


We've added a field trip that wasn't on our original list that we gave you.  On Thursday, February 16, we will visit and tour the Anthony Thomas Chocolate Factory in west Columbus.  I will send home a permission slip for it on Monday.

Dates To Remember:

Thursday, February 9 and 23-Swimming at the YMCA

Thursday, February 16-Tour of Anthony Thomas Chocolate Factory

Monday, February 20-No school/President's Day

Last Week in January and Starting February

We froze water in many containers last week in preparation for our ice races on Tuesday.  We'll take the ice out of the containers and in the gym we'll set up a race course.  We will take turns predicting how far our ice will slide on the gym floor and then as we line them we will give them a shove and see how far they glide!  In our small swimming pool we will also add ice and talk about what will help the ice melt.  One of our children already guessed that if we add salt, it will melt the ice.  The children will add salt and see what happens!


We will also play with colors this week as we add water to our markers on paper to see how they combine.  For cooking this week, we'll make pigs in a blanket and enjoy some hot chocolate too.

Dates to Remember:

Monday, January 30-Bookmobile visits our school

Thursday, February 9 and 23-Swimming at the YMCA

Tuesday, February 14-Valentine's Day Party

Monday, February 20-No School for President's Day

Fun day at World of Bounce and Future Plans

We had a very fun day at World of Bounce and a lot of tired children on the way back to school!  Next week we will continue to learn about winter and learn about colors.  The children are starting to read Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?  We will also work on our bird feeders to help out our feathered friends.


We have a lot of children that like to paint so we'll be planning some more painting opportunities next week.  We'll also play around with black paper and wet and dry chalk to see what we can learn about colors.  This week we'll prepare for our ice races on Tuesday, January 31. We will freeze water in several different containers and then do some experiments to see how to melt it and what effects how quickly it melts too.  Then we'll take some of our ice structures to the gym and race each other and predict how far each one will go.  We can also measure and mark their distances and compare the sizes of our structures to see which ones will go the furthest.  

Dates to Remember:

Thursday, January 26-Swimming at the YMCA

Monday, January 30-Bookmobile visits the school

Thursday, February 9-Swimming at the YMCA

Tuesday, February 14-Valentine's Day Party 

Monday, February 20- President's Day/No School

Thursday, February 23- Swimming at the YMCA

The Winter Environment

This week we will continue learning about colors, animals in winter and how they react to their environment.  With what we learned about last week while reading, the children wanted to make some bird feeders to set outside our window.  I found some resources to share with our children on different options that we can make to help out our feathered friends although it's been a very mild winter to say the least!


This week we'll explore more sensory materials such as shaving cream and popcorn in our sensory table.  We still have some Jell-o left from last week so we'll use that one day too.  We're also going to fill water containers and freeze them at the end of this week so we can have ice races in the gym next week after the children come back to school after Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  Ice races are always a lot of fun and we'll do some science experiments after we hold our ice race to determine the best materials to use to melt the ice.


This week we'll do science experiments with baking soda and vinegar and see what happens when we combine those two and then we'll add some food coloring and see how that changes things.....we'll observe and make some predictions of what we think will occur.  We'll continue to read more about animals in winter and winter in general.

Dates to remember:

Monday, January 9-Bookmobile

Monday, January 16-No School due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Thursday, January 19-World of Bounce Field Trip

Thursday, January 26-Swimming at the YMCA

World of Bounce Field Trip

Here's some information on our World of Bounce field trip that's coming up next week.  I will send this information home in a permission slip on Monday.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Open Bounce!!

Let your children jump, climb, slide and play at World of Bounce! A truly unforgettable experience for ages 2 to adult! If you wish to join in on the fun (it’s hard to resist!), adults always play for free when accompanying a child!!

We’ll be going on January 19th during an open bounce session which means that other children and their parents might be there.  We will leave the school at 9:00 and we can bounce from 10:00 to 1:00.  We’ll leave there at 1:00 and return to school for a snack and bathroom break and then board the buses/vans and leave for home at the regular time of 2:30.  You are welcome to attend with your child and we’d love to have you come along and bring the camera too!  You will need to pack a lunch for you and your child.  You can bring in a sack lunch and any drinks must have a lid on them to close and single servings meaning no two liter bottles that need to be poured into cups are allowed.  We’ll take a break and eat lunch there.

There are several things you need to send in before your child can go to the World of Bounce.

1.    This signed permission slip

2.    The signed waiver from World of Bounce

3.    The cost for each child is $6.00 and if that’s a hardship for you please contact your teacher to work it out.  We would like all the children to be able to go if possible!  Parents are free!  Please make checks payable to your child’s teacher or you can send in cash.

4.    You will need to pack a lunch and drinks with a lid for you and your child on the 19^th.

5.    You and your child need to have socks to be able to play in the inflatables on the 19^th.

6.    If your child is not going on this field trip he/she will need to stay home on the 19^th as all of the staff are going.

7.    Please return your permission slips and have your money into your teacher by Tuesday, January 17th.

January 2012

Welcome to 2012!

We're looking forward to a great new year in preschool!  We have a lot of exciting things to learn as we embark on our journey of learning about winter, ice, and how animals cope in the winter time.  We'll start off by bringing in some snow into our classroom by making some!  We'll do science experiments with Insta Snow and put it into our sensory table. We'll also make some jello on Tuesday and then use it in our sensory table on Wednesday.  We'll make it in several containers and discuss the properties of it as a liquid and then discuss what happens when we put it in the refrigerator.

This month we'll also be swimming two times and going to the World of Bounce. It's going to be a great start to the new year!

Dates to remember:

Thursday, January 5 and 26-Swimming

Monday, January 9-Bookmobile

Monday, January 16-No School for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Thursday, January 19-World of Bounce field trip- I will be sending home permission slips this week.