Pre-K 1 Happy Campers

Our themes during the month of April will be:
Easter
Wind and Weather
Earth Day
Plants and Flowers

Looking Back...(week of 3/27/23)
Our circus show was a wonderful success and we thank everyone so much for taking the time to join us on Thursday.  Everyone practiced and practiced and we had a great time performing on the stage.  Our decorations looked beautiful and our special snack tasted even better after the exciting event.  Throughout the week, we focused on a "Spring" theme by reading all about this beautiful time of the year.  We discussed the signs of new life that we can observe all around us.  Our marigold seeds have become sprouts and we are looking forward to caring for them and continuing to observe their progress during the coming weeks.  We worked on a tissue paper umbrella project and a hatching chick craft.  We viewed a video about baby animals in spring and we created our own book all about our favorite springtime activities.

We spent time this week reviewing our letters and sounds.  We matched pictures with beginning letters and we filled in missing letters and words each day on our whiteboard.  We practiced our March poem and we matched rhyming words together as a group and independently.  Our math activities included a chick counting activity and chick subtraction activity.  We used our ten frames to compare sets and we acted out a poem about the number ten.  We identified sets of shapes by number and we worked on a counting movement activity.  In the math center, we played a circus object counting game and a number matching game before putting together our circus number puzzles.

Looking Ahead...(week of 4/3/23)

The week ahead will be short but full of life!  We are looking forward to celebrating the theme of "Easter" and welcoming another new month together.  We will complete an Easter basket art project and have fun dyeing real eggs in the art center.  We will read about Easter and look for signs of Lent and God's love all around our school.  We will continue to shorten our daily rest time each day.  When we return to school following the Easter Recess, we will transition to a quiet play time during the period after lunch.

We will continue to work on matching rhyming words next week along with identifying letters and sounds.  Our math activities will include a jellybean graph and an Easter egg pattern activity.  In the math center, we will work on a spring number puzzle activity.  We will have a special snack of matzo, butter, cream cheese, and grape juice to commemorate Holy  Thursday.

Online Resources
*You can see a video about our school here!

*Fine motor activities are very important and will help the children to strengthen the muscles in their hands.  We do many of these activities in school and some of them can be done at home as well.  If you are seeking activities that can be done outside of school, you may like to refer to this list of fun and practical fine motor activities.

*Our class prays daily, including the "Our Father" and the "Hail Mary."  
Before lunch, we pray:
Bless us, O Lord, and these, Thy gifts,
which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, 
through Christ, our Lord.  Amen. 

After lunch, we pray:
We give Thee thanks for all Thy benefits,
O Lord, who livest and reignest world without end.  Amen 

Before snack, we pray
Thank You for the food we eat; thank You for the friends we meet.  
Thank You for our work and play; thank You for this happy day.  Amen.

Additional Home Activities
You may be looking for ideas for activities that you can do with your child at home over the weekend.  Please remember to read together every day.  Here are some other activities you can do at home together at any time:

Puzzles
Building
Free Art
Drawing
Water play
Play dough
Watercolor painting
Cooking and baking