Homes Around the World

"It must be remembered that the purpose of education is not to fill the minds of students with facts... it is to teach them to think, if that is possible, and always to think for themselves." --- Robert Hutchins

In the next week we will be studying Homes Around the World. This corresponds to the New York State Standard-Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.

We will talk about homes starting with sharing the types of homes that we all live in. After this we will discuss why some homes are different than others using pictures to look at different types of homes. Next the children will be shown pictures of homes that are found in other countries. The children will compare and contrast the homes in the pictures with the ones in their neighborhoods with some help.

At the end of this unit we will use different materials to have the students build their own homes. Your children are encouraged to bring different and unusual items from home to add to their buildings. They will then share their buildings with the class and explain why they chose the materials they did.

This website, Homes Around the World, contains pictures of homes around the world if you would like to help your child begin understanding these differences. After the children are done with their homes, the parents will be invited in for the presentations.

Enjoy!

~Miss H


Students,

This week we will be learning about our homes and those of others. We will also be building this week. You will be able to bring in some items from home to help you with this building. I hope you are looking forward to this week!

~Miss H

One to One Correspondence

Hello everyone!

In this upcoming week we will be working on one to one correspondence. This is a very important skill for young children to master, as stated in the New York State Standards;
-Students will understand numbers, multiple ways of representing numbers, relationships among numbers, and number systems
-Students will understand meanings of operations and procedures, and how they relate to one another

As a parent, you can help your child understand this better by letting them help set the dinner table, playing matching games with them, and other similar activities.

If your child has any specific food allergies that I have not been made aware of, I ask that you please let me know as soon as possible. We will be working with different foods to make a friendship mix (like trail mix) in order to better understand one to one correspondence. Thank you very much for your cooperation on this!

This website, Pre-K Smarties, is a very good website with activities for understanding one to one correspondence.

~Miss H


Students,

Get ready for some fun learning with foods! This will help you to understand one to one correspondence, which is when you have a number of items that group together evenly. I'm looking forward to learning with you!

~Miss H

Getting to Know You

Hello!

In this upcoming week we are going to be working on our 'Getting to Know You' Unit. During this unit we will learn all about why we go to school, ways to get along with one another at school, friendship, what makes a good friend, our families, and ways we are different and similar to each other. This is a very important first step in making the children feel more comfortable at school and around each other. This also helps to ease the separation anxiety that your child may face.

The first activity in this unit is a picture project called 'Me and My Family.' Each of your children will be sent home with a note as well as directions on here. Please help your child put together a poster, collage, photo album, etc. of family pictures that are okay for them to share with the class. Each of your children will get a chance to stand up in front of the class to share their posters or collages. Then they can answer questions from the other children.

This activity is wonderful in helping to promote literacy and full sentence structure. It also helps to build self-esteem and confidence that will last.
Some great websites that you can use for activities to help students understand more about friendship are:

Pooh Friendship Day:Fun and Games
Maisy's Fun Club

We will also be learning some songs and the meaning of some vocabulary words throughout this week. These words are: friendship, same, different, compromise, and respect. If you can help your student to have a rough understanding of these words that would be wonderful! Thank you!

~Miss H

Students,

I hope you are ready to learn about each of your classmates this week! We will be sharing about our families and friends. Get ready for some fun learning!

~Miss H

Some Fun and Helpful Learning Tools

Dear Parents,

Your students may be frustrated if they are not understanding everything right away. This is normal, but there are many things you can do to help. Make sure to go over their letters with them every night, and practice writing them, as well as their names. This will be a good start. Some other things that may be helpful are websites with learning games to help them. Here are just a few:
Kids Know It Network, Funbrain, Zoodles, Starfall, JumpStart, and one of my personal favorites,
PBS Kids.

These websites provide homework help, reference resources, many fun and educational games, and parent resources. PBS kids especially has games more geared towards younger children because of the subject matter of the station's viewing material. If your children are complaining that learning is boring, why not make it fun for them? It will also be more successful if they enjoy learning as well!

Please check out these websites and let me know what you think. I hope that you will find them helpful and your students will enjoy them!

~Miss H


Hello to the students!

I have given your parents some websites that you can go on-with their permission of course-to help you with learning. I hope you enjoy them, and let's continue to learn together!

~Miss H

For the Students

Hello Class!

We will be learning about many fun things over the next few weeks, so get ready to put your thinking caps on and learn some new things!

~Miss H