Monday, February 20, 2012

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.


Saturday, February 11, 2012

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.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

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