Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you hear?

Little Gorilla Yellow Class Newsletter
Kari Cronister, B.S. Supervising Teacher
February 27 – March 1
We started this week with a new teacher, Miss Ashlee. Miss Ashlee’s theme for the week is all about animals and the kids have been excited this week doing projects that include animals. Monday we read a book about different kinds of animals and we wrote down all the animals that we read about in our book. We also colored different pictures of animals and made puppets out of them. The kids had a lot of fun with this project.

Tuesday we read the book “Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you hear?” We told our own stories about what they thought polar bears might hear or see and they drew their ideas in their journals. There is definitely a lot of imagination in preschool! On Thursday we finger painted bears hibernating in their caves. The children loved finger painting and expressing their ideas through art.
The weather has been excellent for outside play aside from Tuesday night. Some of the kids requested new toys to play with outside. This week we were able to get out the Frisbee’s, sidewalk chalk, bug finders, hoola hoops and soccer balls. Some of the students suggested we play Duck, Duck, Goose (because of our animal theme) during our outside time. We can’t wait to see what next week holds for our classroom. We are going to continue our study of animals and our puppets will move into the dramatic play area.

The Monster at the end of this Book

Little Gorilla Yellow Class Newsletter
Kari Cronister, B.S. Supervising Teacher
January 23-26, 2012
We are off to a wonderful start! The weather has been incredible and we have been enjoying our time outside. This week we made new placemats. We used tape and finger paint. The children formed their name with pieces of tape and then painted over and around the tape. Once it dried we peeled off the tape and revealed their name. On Tuesday we read the book “The Monster at the end of this Book” by Jon Stone. While we read this book we voted on whether or not we should turn the page. At first everyone wanted to turn the page but as we got further into the book we began to see a few more no’s! The children loved the ending and discovering that it was only Grover at the end of the book. On Wednesday we began a web about winter. The children had wonderful ideas to contribute to our web. I will be forming the next few weeks of lessons on what the children have told me they want to learn about winter. On Wednesday we also introduced the nursery rhyme Jack be Nimble. Each child got a chance to jump over our pretend candlestick while we recited the nursery rhyme together. On Thursday we reviewed our winter web and jack be nimble before dismissing to small groups where everyone got to watch science in action. In small groups we made oobleck this is a mixture of 2 parts cornstarch to 1 part water. The children were able to see the mixture go from a liquid to a solid and back again. They really enjoyed playing in it and watching the change happen in their hands.

Mason's Masterpiece at Preschool

Little Gorilla Yellow Class Newsletter
Kari Cronister, B.S. Supervising Teacher
February 6-9, 2012

This week we continued our study of winter. We began discussing what animals and plants do in winter. We are learning new vocabulary words like dormant, migrate, and hibernate. We are also learning what animals migrate and which animals hibernate. On Wednesday we planted an amaryllis bulb! We are going to care for it together. We have made journals for the children to document its changes. We will also be measuring how tall our plant becomes and documenting this. On Monday we painted our own versions of winter. The children enjoyed thinking about snow and painting it. They also added trees, homes and animals to their pictures. On Tuesday we graphed which of our friends preferred mittens and which preferred gloves. We also read the book The Mitten and this led to our discussion about what animals do in the winter. This week our weather has been a bit cooler and we have had to come inside. During this time we have gotten out our new paper dolls, bamboo blocks, and several games like twister and candy land.

Mason's Happy Note

Blake and I had our first parent/teacher conference for Mason yesterday, and I am pleased to say he is a very bright, perfectly normal, stubborn, mischievous, 3 1/2 year old. It's very interesting because she is the same teacher Braden had, and fortunately she has a oldest child much like Braden and a second son a lot like Mason. She doesn't deny that Mason loves to push the limits, but she said it all with a genuine smile. He is so proud of all of his projects and activities at Preschool, and every morning asks if it's a "Preschool day". He only goes on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 8:30-11:15, but we hope to start him in the afternoon Preschool program offered where he goes to daycare. We did the same thing with Braden and by the time he turned 5, he seemed more than ready for Kindergarten.

Attached is the letter she had for us, with a few pictures of him in action.

I know it's hard to read, in the picture, but the text on his Happy Note says:
Mason’s Happy Note
This semester we have seen Mason grow and mature.  Mason is a very fun and energetic child.  We feel that he really enjoys preschool.  Mason can usually be found in the science center or in the sensory table.    This semester we have seen Mason recognize his name, identify basic shapes and colors, he will sit and listen at meeting and participate in our activities.  Mason can tell us about recent experiences and retell stories.  He can also string beads, freely paste and glue, and loves to participate in sensory activities.  Mason is on track with his social emotional development.  He is regular in attendance and separates from parents with ease.  He can follow our daily routines and changes activities without difficulty. 

Little Gorilla

 It's official, Mason is starting Preschool at the PSU Little Gorillas Preschool on campus! This is the same one Braden went to. Some of you might remember, they also have a one way mirror, for the student teachers and parents to observe through! I was addicted to this when Braden first started. It was mesmerizing to watch him interact with the other kids. He loves to hear the story how one day while I was watching, he picked something up off the floor and my first thought was, "Ah, he is such a helpful boy" then I stood there with my mouth open in shock as he ate whatever it was. Something leftover from snack.......

 Mason felt like such a BIG BOY with his new backpack and handsome clothes, to meet his new teachers and see his new classroom. I think it was a big help to have Braden tell him how much fun he had and show him around.

 I love that I got this picture of Blake! It couldn't be more out of place.....handsome guy in a suit, sitting on a paint splattered set of stairs, at Preschool! With the bookshelf next to him, he looks like he's about to gather the kiddos around and have story time.......I promise that didn't happen!

 I love this picture that Blake got of Braden! Not just the scaffolding in the background, but Braden's shadow as he's jumping off the ladder.

 Blake decided to tease Mason and ask if he could please wear his NEW backpack!

As you can see, Mason didn't like this plan!