VALENTINE CELEBRATION

Dear Parents,

We had so much fun planning for our Valentine's Day Celebration. Each child cut out a heart and then decorated them with various types of stickers and colorful paper. We then punched a hole in the top of it and made it into a door hanger.

Valentine's Day is a day for the exchange of tokens of affection. Each child chose a friend to pose with for a picture.  They then decorated a heart frame for each other.  It was such a nice way for the children to learn the importance of giving and friendship.

The children also created adorable heart necklaces.  First, they rolled out clay and then cut it out a heart cookie cutter. They then decorated it with markers and strung it on a string along with small beads.  The children could hardly wait to finish them so they could wear them.

The had so much fun dipping strawberries in chocolate for our Valentine's Day Party on Friday. 

 

            Just relaxing with Friends

We concluded the week with a Valentine's Day Celebration.  The children had so much fun celebrating with the Half-Note Class. They listened to stories and then had a delicious snack with them. The children loved eating the chocolate-covered strawberries that they made and the delicious cupcakes Ella Jane's mother baked. 

This strawberry is delicious!

 

   
  
  

I love this cupcake!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Have a great long week-end!

Love, 

Ms. Bonne and Ms. Barbara

CHIHNESE NEW YEAR CONTINUES

February 7, 2013

Dear Parents,

We continued our Chinese New Year Celebration this week by reading Max Celebrates Chinese New Year, by Adria Klein and Lion Dancer, by Kate Waters. We then created red collages.  Red is a popular color for Chinese New Year.  Homes and businesses are dressed with red decorations and flowers.  Children are given money for good luck in red envelopes.

The children worked hard on their cutting skills by cutting many slits in various colored paper to create lanterns. They had the best time decorating them with stickers and glitter glue.  We then attached yarn to them and hung them up in the creative dramatic play area of our classroom.

The children also water-colored Happy New Year signs (Gung Hay Fat Choy) and made  Chinese Flags, which they decorated with  red tissue paper and  gold stars.

Notes from Lisa:
In music class we have been exploring how to write simple rhythms.  We use fruit names and Popsicle sticks to make quarter, eighth, triplet, and sixteenth note rhythms.  They love it and are really quick at picking it up.  All the children continue to sing and dance and generally have a great time!  I'm always please when students are finally comfortable enough to sing short solos in class.

I'm also excited that so many are starting lessons on instruments!  Preschool is a great time to start lessons because kids usually have fewer demands on their time. I find that it is good to establish a practice routine before kids start Kindergarten.  I am currently trying to start an early beginners violin class on Mondays at noon and need one more student.  If anyone is interested in starting violin lessons, or just has questions about it, please let me know ASAP!  I also have afternoon times open if that time doesn't work.

We look forward to celebrating Valentine's Day  next Friday.  Please send your child to school with valentines for each child in the class.  We have 10 children in the class. It is not necessary to write each child's name on the valentines.  Please send them in by Thursday. 

Making new friends at school

Note:  We need someone to volunteer to take Nori, the fish home next Friday for a week. 

Love, 

Ms. Bonne and Ms. Barbara. 

PENGUINS

Dear Parents,

Last week we went on an amazing "journey" to the Antarctica to visit the penguins. The children learned several facts about penguins such as: Penguins  can't fly but are excellent swimmers.  They are the only bird in the world that can't fly but can swim under water.  There are 17 different species of penguins.  The largest penguin is 4 feet tall (emperor penguin)  and the smallest is 16 inches tall (the little blue penguin).  The children enjoyed listening to the "Penguin Story" by Jane Arlington and Sharon Langon. 

Ella's penguin visited our class

, After reading about penguins, the children created their own.  First they painted egg cartons, then cut out wings, feet, and a beak and finally glued them all together to make an adorable penguin colony, which even included snow and icicles.

The children also created the most adorable snow people by gluing a Styrofoam ball on top of a Styrofoam cup and then dressed him/her with scarves, hats, buttons, and yarn.

     

We created 3-D horses in honor of the Chinese New Year. The horse is part of a 12-year-cycle of animals that make up the Chinese zodiac.

On Thursday we celebrated the Chinese New Year by having a party with the Half Note Class.  Emma, Serena, and Clara's moms came in to the class to talk about the Chinese New Year.  They read the children a story and talked about all the different animals in the zodiac.   They also brought in materials for the children to make lanterns.  The children glued together red colorful strips of paper together to form their lantern and then added string and a Popsicle stick to put it all together.  After the craft, the children had some rice crackers and other Chinese New Year treats.  We then moved on to the parade, where the children marched up and down the hallways with their dragon masks, lanterns, and music.  The children had such a great time.  They were very excited about all the activities and of course the parade.  To top of the whole day, Emma's mom handed out envelops with treats inside for each of the children.  

Emma's dad helping the children make lanterns

 

                                  Dressed in red for the Chinese New Year

We ended our week by making ground hog puppets.  We hope that the ground hog does not see his shadow.  If he does, we will have six more weeks of winter.

Love,

Ms. Bonne and Ms. Barbara