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Prekindergarten News
Wishing you and your families a
Happy New Year!
Rochester City School District
January 2008 Volume III Issue 5
Department of Early Childhood Phone: 585 262-8140 131 W. Broad St. Fax: 585 262-8273 Rochester, NY 14614 www.rcsdk12.org/PreK
Thank you Teachers for your contributions
to this newsletter. Please continue to send your pictures
and articles: [email protected]
The 2007 UPK Regulations call for school districts to provide stronger monitoring of the instructional programs in our community collaborations as well as the programs that are housed in our school buildings. Fortu-nately, Rochester's excellent job is docu-mented by our RECAP Assessments. The technical assistance provided through Music Building Blocks, Moving Minds, Science Co-Explorers, Wolf Trap, Jeanne Herrick and Rose Marie Urzetta support quality Prekin-dergarten program regardless of the loca-tion. We have begun formal, documented site visits that focus on the parts of the pro-gram that State Education Department is evaluating. • Curriculum: Is it aligned with NYS Stan-dards and does it show continuity with Kin-dergarten and First Grade? Is there a liter-acy focus? Is intentional instruction evi-dent? Is there evidence of math and science concepts? • Learning Centers: Are they labeled? Is labeling at the children's eye level? Do chil-dren know how to work in the Centers? Are teachers involved with the children in the Centers? Are reading and writing materials
available in all Centers? How are materials introduced to children? How are they used? • Student Outcomes: Is instruction pur-poseful? How are parents informed about what is being learned when children appear to be "just playing"? Is there a balanced mix of large group, small group, child initi-ated and adult directed lessons? How is children's language development as-sessed? extended? supported? What op-portunities are there for outdoor/gross motor play? For quiet, reflective play? • Transitions: How much time is wasted in transitions? Are the children expected to sit and wait? Are the skills learned from Mu-sic, Movement and the other enrichment programs used to facilitate transition? Does the staff use appropriate strategies to maxi-mize children's learning during transitions? • Meals/snacks: Are meals or snacks served in family style? Do adults sit with the children? Are adults engaged in conversa-tion with children during meals? If you need help with any of the above, please call Jeanne (262-4170) or Rose Marie (262-8774).
State Expectations for UPK Instructional Programs —Shirley Jung
Save the Dates! ***
February 27 RCSD City-Wide
Professional Development
Strong Museum Registration—page 4
*** March 20
Superintendent’s Conference Day
Lisa Murphy MAG ***
April 9 Spring Seminar Barbara Nilsen Clarion Hotel
www.raeyc.org
One of our students, Marion Brown, is leading a finger play, “5 Little Ducks” at Circle Time. The Pre-K children have a file of these stories with fun foam pieces that they use with the songs and finger plays. - Submitted by Diane Wright, UPK Teacher at School No. 20
*** See inside for additional wonderful examples of literacy, math, science and more in our Pre-K classrooms. We will continue to share these con-tributions monthly.
Celebrating our Success—Pre-K Finger Plays at School #20
Page 2 Prekindergarten News
As a born and bred country girl, it was hard to believe that the city could be filled with such wonderful op-portunities for nature studies. Our UPK is lo-cated on East Avenue, so we relish in the fact
that culture surrounds us on all sides, and within walking distance. However, we’ve found this fall and winter that there are several natural oases to encourage hands on na-ture studies. With the onset of winter, we began exploring our curiosity of what happens to the birds and animals in our area when their food sources are scarce. Of course, this led to sev-eral references to literature based on hibernation and mi-gration. From Hopper, to A Little Bit of Winter, Owl Moon, Fox’s Dream, Animal Homes, and even Frog and Toad’s Spring, we constantly questioned whether the characters were hibernating, migrating or having to survive the winter. Several literature discussions prompted the sorting of hi-bernators and non-hibernators. Once we realized the “big picture,” we applied it to our own environment. Several walks were enriched with “track hunts,” and occasional spotting of birds. Our UPK kids were concerned for the well being of birds that did not migrate, so we decided to help out. In the photos, you’ll notice St. Paul’s UPK kids hunting for pine-cones in our “Pocket Park” on Park Avenue. Our intention was to make pinecone feeders for the birds, and any squirrels who may awake from their hibernation to come out and stretch. What a wonderful culmina-tion of literature, science studies, and “community action.” Happy New Year to you all!
The students at Bubbles Primary Prep searched for a group of gingerbread men that escaped the oven. It all started when Ms. Linda read a book about the gingerbread man and helped the class make a batch of gingerbread men. The students made sure to tell every one not to open the oven but they never expected the men to open the oven them selves. After discovering their escape, the class followed notes about their location all over the center. When they found the last note, the class discovered that the gingerbread men went on vacation. While receiving post cards each day from the men, the class decided on many ways to get the men to come back including WANTED posters and a trip to the George Eastman House to search for them in the Gin-gerbread House display. Finally, just before the holiday break, the gingerbread men returned. The class then held a gingerbread feast. Gingerbread Man Unit - submitted by Ms. Paradis We did lots of activities with this unit, and the kids were exposed to many ver-sions of the Gingerbread story. We used the literature about the Gingerbread man across all of the subject areas and culminated today with making Gingerbread houses! #57 Inclusion class with Mrs. Petkus, Ms. Casey, Ms. Toni and Ms. Roberson.
Math in Action Even breakfast can be a time for math….. .sorting and clas-sifying. Photo taken in Melissa Asenato’s classroom at school 22, Rochester Preschool Parent Program (RPPP).
- submitted by Barbara Decker, RPPP
Nature Studies in the City—Submitted by Suzi Long Gingerbread Man Hunt—Submitted by Linda Grennan
Page 3 Rochester Prekindergarten
On Friday December 7th we had snow in our Water Table. While playing we made snowballs. Fiona Williams’ Mom (Antionette) was a helper in our room that day. She decided she wanted to paint her snowball! Fiona and other children found that appealing. (#1) We used small aluminum dishes to hold our snowballs, and with blue and red paint we proceeded. (#2)
By the end of the class the snowballs, interestingly, had started to melt. We watched and talked as the colors started to run and mix. (#3 ) The next class day—much to our disappointment—the “snowballs” were just dishes of purple liquid. So we got brushes and used our “melted snowball paint” on paper. (#4)
Snowball Painting—submitted by Bonnie Evers, #7 am class, Rochester Preschool Parent Program
Fun With Science—submitted by Christine DeVito, CCCC Our classroom pets are snails. We enjoy observing, measuring, experimenting with, and playing with our snails! We observed some new life growing in our snail habitat - small mushrooms. We also enjoy observing the snails with our magnifying glasses, on mirrors, and with binoculars. We measured the snails with both standard (rulers) and non-standard tools (our fingers). We have performed various experiments such as racing the snails to see which one is faster, "painting" pictures, varying the leaves which are placed in the habitat to see which they like to eat the best, and observing the snails in a puddle of water. We have learned so much through hands on experience and are continuing to learn about our snails through other research on the Internet and in books. The amazing part for me is to see how a timid child has gone from watching her peers with the snails from the other side of the room, to exploring the snails in a fully hands on way. Its also amazing to see the caring and interest the children show in sustaining animal life in our class-room. Snails are a fun and easy way for children to ex-plore science, math and literacy concepts through out the year!
Shaving Cream and Spaghetti in the Sensory Table - submitted by Jennifer King, Rochester Childfirst Network
Department of Early Childhood 131 W. Broad St. Rochester, NY 14614 Phone: 585-262-8140 Fax: 585-262-8273 www.rcsdk12.org/PreK
Rochester City School District
*Call for Articles/Pictures w/Captions* Please send newsletter contributions by the 2nd Friday each month Email: [email protected]
Rochester Prekindergarten A Smart Way to Start!
Special Event—Observation and Documentation at The Strong National Museum of Play
Wednesday, February 27, from 3:00—5:00 pm
Session presented by Betty Bordner, Early Childhood Educator, Strong National Museum of Play and Kathy Burton, Director of Preschool, Seton Catholic School.
In addition to address by presenters, participants will be sent to the Museum exhibits with tools for observation and documentation.
The understanding goals of the workshop are: 1. To practice intentional ways of observing and recording conversations and observations. 2. To create activities from observation and documentation in the museum (classroom).
3. To assess through observation and documentation. This will be the planned activity for the scheduled District City-wide meeting. All RCSD UPK Teachers are invited. There are additional spots available for our Community UPK Teachers. Please complete this registration and return by February 1 so we may plan for the appropriate number. ____ Please register me for the Observation and Documentation workshop at Strong Museum. Name: _________________________________ School/Agency: ________________________ Email: _________________________________ Telephone: ___________________________ Please return by fax (263-8273) or mail/courier. Confirmations will not by sent.
