http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/ en Copyright 2012 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:44:44 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Monday Please remember to bring in a cereal box for your child if you have not done so already. We will be decorating them this week for our Valentine's Day Party! In our sensory tub will be pink and red hearts on paper for the children to practice cutting out. In the morning we will be playing, Pin the Heart on Cupid! In the afternoon we will playing a heart matching game, where the children must match the broken hearts by number and corresponding dots. Tuesday Today is recyclable art. We will be graphing candy hearts both in the morning and the afternoon. In the morning we will graph how many of each colored hearts there are in a container to see which color has the most and the least. In the afternoon we will graph our favorite color candy heart. We might even get to taste a few too :) Wednesday For our art project today we will be making a heart butterfly. We will also work on our printing pages today for our portfolios. We will be doing a science experiment today where we place 3 white carnations in 3 different vases with 3 different colored water. We will all predict what we think will happen to the carnations over night. We might even need to wait until Monday to see if anything changes! We will also be learning new Valentine's Day songs this week. I'm sure you will be hearing them at home too. Thursday Today we have an 11:30am dismissal. AM preschoolers will still be dismissed at 11:00am. Parent Teacher Conferences are today from 1:00pm to 4:00pm and then again from 5:00pm to 7:30pm. I am very pleased with the progress the class is making, if you feel you need a conference feel free to come in any time during the times mentioned above. Friday No School Just a reminder that our Valentine's Day Party is on Tuesday, February 14th. Each child can bring in Valentine's for the class, but please remember to only have your child sign their name. This makes passing them out much easier. There are 26 children in our class. Have a great weekend!! Mrs. Dougherty]]> http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2012/02/will_you_be_my_valentine_xoxo.html http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2012/02/will_you_be_my_valentine_xoxo.html Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:44:44 -0600 *The 4 year old preschool class will be getting a report card, but it will not be coming home this Friday with the rest of the school. Your child will receive 3 evaluations throughout the year and the 2nd evaluation will come home on Friday, February 3rd.* Here is a look at our week... Tuesday We started our letter Ww packet today and the children did a great job of coming up with words that begin with W. For our art project today we made snowmen out of our names! At the easel we are painting snowmen on blue paper with white paint. They are turning out very cute :) In the morning we also discussed hibernation. We read a book that told us all about different animals that hibernate over the winter. You might want to ask your child to name a few...we were surprised by some of them. In the afternoon we pretended we were snowmen and did a little song and dance until we melted at the end. It was a lot of fun, we even put on a little performance for Mrs. Gute. Wednesday We have a new student joining us today...WELCOME SECILIA! Today we will be decorating mittens for our art project! In the morning and afternoon we will be doing science experiments with ice. In the morning we will estimate how long we think it will take an ice cube to melt and in the afternoon we will make sticky ice out of ice, water, and salt. Thursday Recyclable Art Today We will be working on Religion Chapter 13 today, and discuss how Jesus belonged to a family too. In the morning we will play the game, "Pin the carrot on the snowman." In the afternoon we will play a mitten match game. Friday For art today we will be decorating snowflakes for our windows. In the morning we will be counting mittens and putting them in order by number. In the afternoon we will be making special snowman treat using rice cakes, frosting, chocolate chips and a carrot! I hope you have a great week! Mrs. Dougherty ]]> http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2012/01/winter_wonderland.html http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2012/01/winter_wonderland.html Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:00:15 -0600 ]]> http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2012/01/our_beach_day.html http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2012/01/our_beach_day.html Sat, 14 Jan 2012 11:06:14 -0600 Outside the classroom will be some chairs and a carpet for those students who are wearing snow boots to school and need to change into their regular shoes. This way the snow is not tracked into the classroom. Please remind your child to stop at the chairs before entering the classroom. The snow came just in time for our beach day! :) http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2012/01/snow_boots.html http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2012/01/snow_boots.html Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:46:42 -0600 Monday **We have a new student that joined our class today in the afternoons...WELCOME KAYCEE!** For our art project today we colored octogans and glued them on the letter O. In the morning we read a story about different octopuses that live in the ocean, we then watched a short video that came with the book. The video showed cameras underwater taking video of the octopuses in their natural habitat...the kids loved it! In the afternoon we worked on our letter O packet and also played a game to welcome Kaycee to our room and hopefully help her learn all of our names. Tuesday **We have another new student joining our class today...WELCOME T.J.!** Recyclable Art Today we will do a science experiment with salt and fresh water. We will fill two bowls of water, one with salt and one with out and on Wednesday observe to see what has happened. In the afternoon we will also be tasting saltwater and freshwater to see which one we like best! We will graph our results. Wednesday We will be making a paper plate octopus today. We will work on printing our names for our portoflios today. In the morning we will play a game acting our different ocean animals. In the afternoon we will play "Feed the Shark." Thursday Recyclable Art In Religion today we will be discussing how we all love one another. We will discuss how we show our love to one another and to God. We will also play some ocean games today like, "Pass the Fish" and "Fish, Fish, Shark." Friday *Our Day of Fun in the Sun* Today is our beach/ocean day! A letter went home on Monday describing today's events! Over the weekend I will post pictures that shows what we did at our day at the beach. If you have any questions regarding today, please let me know. It should be a lot of fun! Please remember to have your child dress for the summer today, but no bathing suits. Have a great week!! No School on Monday! ~Mrs. Dougherty]]> http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2012/01/january_9th_2012.html http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2012/01/january_9th_2012.html Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:40:46 -0600 Wednesday Our theme for this week and next is "Deep in the Ocean with an Octopus!" We are learning about the letter O. We really only concentrate on the short o sound, however we do discuss the long o sound briefly. Thursday In our sensory tub we have blue water with ocean animals in it. At our easel we have different shades of blue and green paint to make ocean pictures! We will be working on our Religion Packet today. Friday Please have your child bring in a present they received from Christmas to school for Show n' Tell. The toy should be kept in your child's bookbag or in a separate bag. The toys will only be brought out for show n' tell. Have a great week! Mrs. Dougherty]]> http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2012/01/happy_new_year.html http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2012/01/happy_new_year.html Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:08:02 -0600 Yesterday Afternoon, we read the story of the 3 Wise Men coming to visit Jesus. We discussed the gifts that they brought to Jesus and how special these gifts were. Everyone had a turn to tell the class what gift they would bring Jesus if they were there when Jesus was born...I thought I would share them with you :) Amanda ~ a cat Ava ~ a baby sister Jordan ~ a rubber ducky Ronin ~ a crown Emily ~ a lalaloopsy Julianna ~ a diamond necklace Katelyn ~ a real candy cane Kaitlyn ~ a baby bed (so he didn't have to sleep in the hay) Peter ~ a baby bottle Keith ~ milk for the bottle Allyson ~ a teddy bear Thomas ~ a toy monster Aidan ~ a truck or an airplane Charlie ~ a baby monster truck Nickolas ~ a toy kitchen http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2011/12/gifts_for_jesus.html http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2011/12/gifts_for_jesus.html Fri, 16 Dec 2011 07:30:42 -0600 Monday Today we worked on a special art project that we will be making into a present for our families. We also discussed the story of Jesus' Birth. Today we practiced for our Christmas concert in the Church and the children did very well. Tuesday We will be working on our letter C packet today. Recyclable Art Wednesday We will be finishing up our projects from Monday :) Printing page for our portfolio today. The children are really improving on their printing and the pictures are always fun to see. Thursday Recyclable Art Happy Birthday to Emily & Peter!! Friday We will be finishing up our letter C packet today. Although we will continue to discuss letter C next week and play games with the letter C, we will finish our packet today. Have a great week!! Mrs. Dougherty]]> http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2011/12/christmas_celebrationweek_2.html http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2011/12/christmas_celebrationweek_2.html Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:21:24 -0600 Wednesday Today we will be finishing up our angels for the hallway and also making some candy cane decorations for our windows. All of your child's Christmas projects will be going home before Christmas break. Each day we are also practicing for the Christmas Concert. We will be singing "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" and so far we are doing great! Thursday Today we will be working on Religion Chapter 8 ~ caring for God's Creatures. We have also been discussing the birth of Jesus on Christmas and we have our very own Nativity Scene the children can play with during free play time. Friday For an Art Project today we will be making our very own stockings out of brown paper. The Full Day preschoolers will be attending the Bake Sale today during Lunch time. If you would like your child to purchase something, each item is $0.50. Please send the money to school in your child's folder, labeled with his/her name. The items are difficult to take home because they are not wrapped, so we will be eating them here for dessert at lunchtime. Have a great week!! Mrs. Dougherty]]> http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2011/12/christmas_celebration.html http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2011/12/christmas_celebration.html Wed, 07 Dec 2011 07:25:39 -0600 Monday We started learning about letter Nn today. For our art project we glued noodles onto the letter Nn. In our sensory tub we are stringing different colored noodles on string. I loved the patterns the kids were making today! We also read a few nursery rhymes and even started memorizing some. Tuesday Recyclable Art We will be matching pictures from different nursery rhymes in the morning and the afternoon, however we will be doing it with different nursery rhymes. Wednesday Today for our art project we will be making Humpty Dumpty pictures. We will also be working on printing our names and the date. Today we will be discussing rhyming words and make our own rhyming books. Thursday We will work on matching rhyming words today. Recyclable Art Friday We will be making a mobile today for art using the nusery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle." In the morning and the afternoon we will be making a graph of our favorite nursery rhymes. Just a few reminders... *Scholastic Book Orders are due by Friday. *Our field trip is on Monday, December 5th!! All am preschool children can get picked up at noon, and all afternoon preschool students will need to arrive to school by 9:15am. If your child does not attend school on Mondays, please drop them off at 9:15am and pick up at 12:00pm. Thanks, we are all so excited and I think this will be a great way to start our Christmas theme! Have a great week! Mrs. Dougherty]]> http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2011/11/nursery_rhymes.html http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2011/11/nursery_rhymes.html Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:53:37 -0600 ]]> http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2011/11/our_thanksgiving_feast.html http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2011/11/our_thanksgiving_feast.html Tue, 22 Nov 2011 18:49:04 -0600 Monday We finished up our letter Tt packets and for those who had already finished, we worked on our color green packet. In the morning we learned a new turkey song that goes along with the tune to "I'm a Little Tea Pot." In the afternoon we are playing pin the feather on the turkey. Tuesday Today is our Thanksgiving Day Feast! We are joining together with the 3 year old preschool and the Kindergarten Class to have our very own Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Day Feast! We will be feasting on...popcorn, buttered toast, jelly beans, and pretzels! We will be watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving before attending our feast. Our class will be dressing up as pilgrims, check the blog later on this week for our feast pictures. Wednesday 11:30 am Dismissal ~ am preschool will still be dismissed at 11:00am. We are celebrating Ellie's Birthday today ~ her birthday is tomorrow!! Thursday & Friday No School ~ Have a Happy Thanksgiving! I am so thankful I get to spend my days here with your children, they are all such a happy bunch!! Have a nice long weekend too :) Mrs. Dougherty]]> http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2011/11/happy_thanksgiving.html http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2011/11/happy_thanksgiving.html Mon, 21 Nov 2011 11:22:49 -0600 Monday In our sensory tub this week we will have different containers of water. The children will use turkey basters to transfer the water. At our easel, we have fall colors where the children are encouraged to paint fall pictures, such as a turkey! Today for our Art Project we will be making our Thanksgiving Day Feast placemats. The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, the preschool class joins together with the Kindergarten class to have their own Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Day Feast! For those of you who are not familiar with the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, we will be enjoying a feast of buttered toast, pretzel sticks, popcorn, and jelly beans. We will be making our costumes this week too. I will post pictures next week after the feast, so everyone can see how wonderful we looked! We are still continuing to work on the letter Tt packet today. In the morning we will be making a turkey to sing along with our song "The Turkey Trot." In the afternoon we will be playing a game, "Turkey for Thanksgiving." This will be fun as we try to see who is faster the turkey or the farmer, by passing two balls around in a circle. Tuesday Recyclable Art In the morning and the afternoon we will be learning some new Thanksgiving Day songs. Wednesday For our art project today we will be spreading toothpaste on the letter T with a toothbrush! We will also be working on printing letter Tt. Thursday Recyclable Art In Religion we will be working on Chapter 7. In the morning we will be learning the song "Five Little Turkeys" and in the afternoon we will be learning the song "Five Fat Turkeys." Friday For art today we will be making an I am Thankful Wreath. We will decorate the wreath with our handprints saying what we each are thankful for. We will also be making a cornucopia today and discuss what exactly it is. Have a great week! Mrs. Dougherty]]> http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2011/11/turkey_talk_week_2.html http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2011/11/turkey_talk_week_2.html Mon, 14 Nov 2011 07:35:52 -0600 Monday Today during free play we started working on an art project for the hallway. We will be finishing them up on Wednesday! In our sensory tub we are practicing out cutting skills by cutting scraps of paper with our "fancy" scissors. These are the scissors that make different designs when you use them. The kids loved them today! We will be working on the letter Tt for three weeks, since two of the weeks are shortened and there is so much to learn about Thanksgiving! Tuesday Recyclable Art Wednesday We will be going to the book fair today. Our class times are from 9:00 to 9:20 and again from 12:20 to 12:40 Today we will finish up our projects for the hallway. Feel free to stop by and take a look at it! Thursday 11:30am dismissal All half day morning kids will still be dismissed at 11:00am. Parent teacher conferences are today! The conferences are open and you can come at any time between: 12:00 to 3:30 and again from 4:30 to 6:00. Conferences will last about ten to fifteen minutes and I will go over your child's progress in the class. Friday No School! Have a great weekend! Mrs. Dougherty]]> http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2011/11/turkey_talk.html http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2011/11/turkey_talk.html Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:49:24 -0600 The Kindergarten class has invited the preschool class to go along with them on a field trip to the Beverly Arts Center on Monday, December 5th. We will be seeing Mrs. Claus. I saw this play last year with my class and the children loved it, I am sure it will be great again this year! We just received the permission slip yesterday afternoon, so I sent it home today to the students. The form said that the money and permission slip is due on Monday, November 7th. I know this is very short notice, so please just have it back in to school by Thursday, November 10th. If you need more time, please let me know. Thanks so much! Mrs. Dougherty http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2011/11/field_trip.html http://www.stlblog.org/ccotter/2011/11/field_trip.html Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:40:41 -0600