Morning
4-Year-Old Preschool
Sue Dionne |
Suzanne Mitchell |
Food Allergies
- Gluten (wheat), Casein
Learn more about these allergies.
Co-op Schedule
- Go to our calendar (in a new window)
Welcome to Our Classroom Page
See some of our class activities in the photos below!
Photos
March 2008
March 11 & 13 — We were talking about space and rockets this week to go along with
the Endeavor launch early Tuesday morning. We read stories about space, drew
rockets, constructed rockets and made constellation crowns. Our parents
voted on whether they wanted to go to space someday, we looked at that graph
and then compared it to the one where the children voted. All the children
wanted to go to space some day, most of the parents did too! (S. Dionne)
February 2008
Feb. 2 — Each day we read a message together. The "co-op" child cheers his
name and we all echo the letters he cheers. The chart is left up for the day
and children often wander over to it to read it again. Then the chart is
sent home with the "co-oping" child. (S. Dionne)
January 2008
Jan. 29 & Feb. 4 — In January and February we were learning about birds. We learned a poem
about different birds and painted owls after reading "Owl Moon" and hearing
lots of stories from people who have seen owls this winter. We made pine
cone bird feeders and used crayons and watercolors to make some
crayon-resist birds to hang from our ceiling. We sorted pictures of birds
according to what that ate by looking closely at their beaks and we matched
bird halves by observing details in their bodies. We also listened to bird
songs on a CD that a student brought in.
Jan. 22 & 24 — This week we talked about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. We read a book called "Happy Birthday Martin Luther King". We made a paper chain with skin tone colors to celebrate his birthday, we hung it near our birthday cakes. We pretended the links were like children holding hands and getting along with each other, just the way MLK would have liked! The subject of death, of course, did come up, the children made insightful contributions to our discussion..."new babies are born when people die...if you eat healthy, you probably won't die" Then we played an old singing game called "Jump Jim Joe" that MLK might have played. We held hands with a partner and danced and sang. (S. Dionne)
Jan. 15 — We read "Joseph Had an Overcoat" about a man who sewed all different articles of clothing, we kept guessing what he might be going to sew next. We did some sewing ourselves at project time and also sorted buttons by a variety of attributes. Two good ways to practice fine motor, thinking and visual discrimination skills. (S. Dionne)
Jan. 10 — The picture is a bit fuzzy but my objectives in setting up this activity are not: practice using balance and coordination along with cooperation and lots of movement fun on a day when we could not go outside! (S. Dionne)
Jan. 8 — We sequenced the steps to getting dressed to go outside. Mrs Mitchell even pulled out her winter clothes when there was a need to demonstrate how hard it is to zip your coat if you put your mittens on first or how hard it is to get your snowpants on if you put your boots on first! (S. Dionne) 
Jan. 8 — Listening to a book on tape with a partner. They had to talk to each other and agree on the same book before listening. (S. Dionne)
December
Dec. 6 — Several children (in this and other classes) have brought in guitars this year, we play duets. It is fun for them and the other children are always polite listeners. They all learn from this that even beginners can have fun playing an instrument and that playing with someone else requires collaboration. (S. Dionne) 
Dec. 6 — We used our "jingle sheet" during music. We listen to music and shake along matching the tempo of the music which means we have to listen and shake at the same time. Sometimes we shake softly and gently along with some flute music, sometimes we shake to some louder drum music. Everyone has to cooperate! (S. Dionne)
November
Nov. 19 — We talked about Thanksgiving this week and how the Wampanoag taught the Pilgrims how to grow corn and then dry the corn so it could be ground into flour. Then we took some dried corn and manually (just like they would have done) "ground" it into flour. It was hard work! (SD)
Nov. 20 — Sharing a Thanksgiving "feast" with Mrs. Higgins class, we brought grilled cheese and apple slices to share, they prepared turkey and cranberry sauce roll ups and shared them with us. We sang our thank you song for Mrs. Higgins' class. Everything was delicious, it was fun to visit with and share food with our friends. (SD)
October 22
We recently had a visit from the Derry Fire Department. They taught us about fire safety, dressed in their firefighting gear and let us walk through their fire truck. See our class book for all the pictures of the visit and your children's comments about what they learned. (SD)
October Applesauce
We peeled, cored, chopped and cooked apples to make applesauce. The next
school day we shared the applesauce with our families and friends. They
loved it!
Ocotber 4. Our rules chart. We brainstormed rules, I wrote down everyone's ideas, then I summarized their ideas into these four rules which they
illustrated:
• Be kind
• Be safe
• Listen to the person who is talking and
• Keep your hands in your own space.
We talk often about the imaginary bubble that
is around our bodies that is our personal space and the need to respect other people's personal space.
October 4. We tasted different colored apples and then graphed the results. We sat down and looked at the graph at the end of the day and I asked them what
they noticed. Some of their responses:
• Two people have names that start with M.
• If there was one more over there (pointing to first column) those two (columns) would be the same.
• That one is the smallest, that one is medium and, that one is the biggest.
• You could also say littlest and largest.
• Yellow has the most.
• There are four k's in the names.
• Why do apples come in different
colors.
• That's the way they grow.
• Not many kids like green apples.
continues ...
October 4, Apple Graphing continued.
After they made their observations, we counted the columns together and talked about most and least.
October 2. We were so lucky to do gym outside today with our gym teacher Miss Rene. She was showing us how to "trap" a soccer ball.
October 1. Our hayride at Apple Acres (before the parents got on the wagon). We made a class book of our trip with several more pictures, it also includes artwork and dictated words of the children. The book is at school in our borrowing box in the reading area. Please sign out the book, take it home, and let your child recall our trip for you.
September 25. Playing a cooperative block game. We each took turns spinning and then had to search for the corresponding shape and build a structure together. Then we spun the spinner and took turns disassembling the structure and returning the blocks to their place.