Garden Ridge Preschool Newsletter

October 2019

October Highlights

Friends-What is a friend?We ended September by talking about what is a friend. We define a friend as someone you call and that you have fun with. The children had other characteristics that they described their friends as having. They make us laugh, tell jokes, play games. We talked about that it is okay to disagree with and think differently than our friends. We also discussed the value of a friend. What is more important, fighting over this toy or having a friend to climb a tree with and play super heroes with?

How do friends help each other?

We discussed what we could need a friend to help us with? We also discussed what we can do to help our friends. For instance if you are rolling and yelling in circle time are you helping your friends learn? We discussed how we learn together and extended with lots of group projects. We discussed how we help each other do more. As an extension. we re-opened the GRP pizza shop! We used stories about pizza shops to discuss how we work together. Before we opened up we discussed how our pizza cooks have to work together to make sure they deliver their customers with the perfect pizza. We tied this into

the five finger contract that the children have been learning about.

How do friends get along? We started this week with a group project. Each of the children made a square for our school friendship quilt. This was the last week of our 5 finger contract that we did together. We revisited the story of rainbow fish and discussed how the fish worked to get along. We don’t need to change our selves to be someone’s friend, but that friends are better than “being sparkly”.

Families

Who is in our Family?The children shared their family pictures and shared about where these pictures came from. The children learned about each other and two friends learned that they both had bigger siblings named Quinn. Other friends learned that they had similar pets. We also talked about how families can change. You look different as you get older or you family can have a new baby join the family.

How do Families care for one another?A favorite topic of conversation was the things that we do with our families. As Halloween was on many childrens mind many brought up that mommy or daddy got them their costume. We talked about things like you can help mommy or daddy make dinner or clean up a mess without being asked. If you are sick, we talked about how parents take care of us. We had five birthdays this month, so another topic of conversation was talking about how our families have taken care of us as babies and as bigger kids.

LiteracyThrough October we continued to work on alliteration (beginning word sounds), onset and rhyme and ended this introduction with phonemic awareness and the alphabet song. We introduced the letters Mm, Ss and all of our blends for those letters

Friends and Family Concept words: Family, brother, sister, father, mother, care, baby, chore, clean, cook, inside, outside, work, child, hug, grown-up, kindness.

Math- Module 1 -part 2

Numbers to 5In the second half of Module 1, children touch and count groups of up to five objects arranged in different ways. They

learn to match their count to a numeral 1–5. Children also see patterns in the counting sequence. When counting forward, they see each number is 1 more: One. One more is 2. Two. One more is 3.

4We will count the number of people in our families. Please send a photograph of your

Spotlight on Math Models

A Story of Units has key mathematical models that are used throughout a student’s elementary years. One of

these models is the number stair, a tool students use to model the patterns of 1 more and 1 less in the count

sequence. Number Stairs

Students have already used number towers (joined linking cubes) to work with numbers 1 to 5. At the end of Module 1, children create number towers for numbers 1 to 5 and place them in order to create number stairs.

Number stairs make it easy for children to see that each successive number in the count sequence is 1 more: “One. One more is 2. Two. One more is 3….” Conversely, as they count back from 5 (5, 4, 3, 2, 1) children see the 1 less pattern represented in the number stairs.This understanding sets the stage for children to understand adding 1 and subtracting 1, which they will begin to explore at the end of the year. It is also a prerequisite skill for the counting on strategies used in Grade 1.

Music and Math

The Ants Go Marching

The ants go marching 1 by 1.Hoorah! Hoorah!

The ants go marching 1 by 1.Hoorah! Hoorah!

The ants go marching 1 by 1;The little one stops to suck his thumb,

And they all go marching down, to the ground,To get out of the rain.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Repeat with numbers 2–5:2…tie a shoe

3…climb a tree4…shut the door5…take a dive

By participating in a story situation in which ants join the group one by one, students begin to experience a growth pattern, or a pattern of 1 more, in a fun way.

Halloween Fun-We enjoyed some fun at our fall party eating spooky snacks and playing some fun Halloween games. The children had a pumpkin hunt, spider sensory, spider STEM, and balancing on a spiders web along with some spooky art. The children also had a blast sharing their costumes with each other.

At Home ActivitiesMath at Home

Touch and count up to five objects together. At snack time, say, “1, 2, 3, 4, 5. You have 5 crackers.” Move the crackers into a line or a circle and count again.

Buy or make a set of numerals 1–5 (paper, foam, or magnets work well). When getting dressed, ask, “Which number shows how many shoes you are wearing?”

Point out and name numerals in everyday experiences. While riding an elevator, ask, “Which button has the number 4?”

Sing songs that involve counting forward or back, such as “The Ants Go Marching,” “This Old Man,” “Five Little Ducks Went Out to Play,” or “Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.”

Looking ahead: In Module 2, children identify, describe, and build shapes.

Literacy at Home-Reading and LettersTry and read at least 20 minutes a day. We are working on recognizing the letters… for those who are reading have them learn new word that start with these letters. You can pull out a dictionary and find one or 2 new words you can make a silly story with.

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Garden Ridge Preschool

www.gardenridgepreschool.com(426)653-3459

1270 185th Ave NE Bellevue, Wa 98008