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September Newsletter

So Far in Pre-K 204….

We are off to the most AMAZING start in room 204. The children have taken to routines like 5th grade veterans! They are already working on many new skills. In the first 14 days of school the children have quickly mastered:

Unpacking and packing up

Walking in a line quietly in the hallway

Using the elevator

Responding to the chime and other attention grabbers

Call and responses

Walking up and down the stairs

How to use the art cart

How to clean up

Meal routines

Rest time routine and clean up

Where to put toys and play items

Classroom responsibilities – wiping tables, pushing in chairs, turning the schedule etc…

Transitioning to and sitting on the carpet

And so much more!

The children have learned new and familiar songs to move and dance to. They have a routine of moving to Baby Shark, We are the dinosaurs, Purple Stew, Silly Bear Hunt, Monkey Bananas, & Moon Moon Moon. For song links click Resources in the navigation bar to the left. They have also learned 7 yoga moves: Dog, Tree, Lion, Snake, Frog, Butterfly, and Mountain. Along with yoga moves, the children are working on mindful breathing. They take deep breaths filling their belly like a balloon and pushing the air out of the balloon when blowing out. We have mastered our hello and goodbye songs, transition songs, and we are learning the days of the week song. We will only build from here!

The children are beginning to explore the light table, art, paint, sensory table, loose parts, imagination play, and many of the other manipulatives in the room. The children are beginning to take ownership of their classroom by doing votes on classroom decisions (like playdough color and what goes in the sensory bin). They have also been helping to make classroom charts and storytelling props. Blocks will open next week and we will really dive into open play during morning work time and more closed play during afternoon work time.

We have also started our reading buddies! The students met Marianna and Victoria’s third graders who came down to our classroom to read to them. Bill Gordh has visited 2 times already and will continue to visit 2x monthly for the remainder of the year. The children have learned their specials teachers names and are adjusting to those routines as well.

Because the children have adjusted so well overall, we have been able to jump into content learning. We have started with basic snake care and beginning ideas about snakes like: how they eat, what they eat, their environment, and that they use their tongue to smell. The children have been so great treating Selu (Say-Loo) like a member of our classroom community.

After we learned basic snake facts we have moved on to learning about ourselves. Children are sharing their favorites like, color, food, and animals with the class. They have also been introduced to their names with opportunities to trace it and work on learning to write it. From here the children will learn about their name story (look out for an email about this), how many letters are in their names and working with name puzzles. It will move into self portraits and talking about facial features and how they are the same and different. This will also lead into and work alongside learning about family where we will talk about who is in our family and what family means to us.

Finally we celebrated our first classroom birthdays, Melysa and George! They were the first people to start coloring the letters on the wall. Each child has a letter and when it is someone’s birthday the child will decorate the letter. By the end of the year all letters will decorated and help to make our classroom beautiful.

Phew! Pre-K 204 has done SO MUCH already and will only continue to get better. It is shaping up to be a fantastic year.

Looking Forward into October

10/8 SCHOOL CLOSED – Columbus Day

10/26 First Family Friday

Halloween Parade – look out for further details

Family Friday Dates

Mark your calendar for 10/26 and 12/7!

These will be our Family Fridays for the first half of the year. They will start at 8:25am.

These dates have also posted in the Save the Date category in the navigation bar on the left hand side of the webpage.

 

 

Welcome to Peck Slip School

Welcome to Pre-K 204 at Peck Slip School!

Dear Incoming Pre-K 204 Families,

I am so excited for the new school year and getting know all the new faces entering Pre-K; I cannot wait to see you! I have been working diligently putting together the classroom and planning activities for the upcoming year. We are going to have a wonderful time growing, exploring, and socializing together as a Pre-K family and school community.

First, let me introduce myself. My name is Melysa and this is my second year teaching in room 204, but I will be starting my 12th year in the field of early childhood education. I have held numerous positions working with children aged two to six as a teacher, therapist, and SEIT. I live in Queens with my husband, 2-year-old son, and two rescue doggies. I’ve spent my summer taking professional development classes, going to local beaches, and spending time with family. When not working, a few of my favorite things to do are going running, baking yummy treats, and going to Mets games.

Next, while in room 204 we will focus on social emotional learning through building relationships, creating and negotiating play, and through the many other multifaceted layers of this developmental domain. We will strive for independence, abstract thinking, and building a love of learning all through varieties of play. Children will have opportunities to engage in open play through sensory table (sand, water, beans and more), playdough, clay, blocks, drawing, light table, and imagination play (dramatic play). They will also have opportunities to engage in more structured play like beading, sewing, woodworking, legos, magnatiles, cars, trains, dinosaurs, and so much more. Learning will be anchored in projects, block play, and loose parts exploration to boost the children’s deep thinking and creativity. All this wonderful play will be driven by the interests of the children facilitated and expanded with help by me. The goal is to come together as a classroom family and help to build the Peck Slip community. Children will get to experience this community through specials (art, library, big blocks, gym, recess), reading buddies, and inter classroom visitation. Pre-K will be an exciting and busy time for young learners.

I am so excited to meet you and to begin a fresh new school year!

Best,

Melysa

 

  • Please sign up for the meet & greet with visits on either 8/29 or 8/30
  • A more detailed note with everything you will need to know about Pre-K will be sent the last week of August

School starts September 5th