September Newsletter

Welcome to School!

It is finally time to start preschool this year!  Hopefully all of the kids are excited and ready to learn and play.  You will notice throughout the year that our study of the alphabet doesn't go in order.  We start out with letters that are easy to recognize and also letters that can be blended to make words.  After learning just two letters we will already be able to start making words.  This helps the kids understand why we need to know the sounds and it introduces them to reading right away.  Along with the alphabet, we will also work on math skills, review colors and shapes, work on science and art projects, and learn about music.  We will also go over rhyming and opposites.  I have included an outline of the units and academic skills we will go over this year in a post below in case you are interested.  It does not include everything, but it at least gives you an idea.   I also posted the Disclosure document below.  Please look over it and let me know if you have any questions.  If you have a g-mail account you can post a comment, or call me anytime at 768-1091. 

About This Month...

Week 1:  All about Me/The Little Engine That Could

Week 2:  Circus of Shapes-review of basic shapes

Week 3:  Letter M-My Family/Magnets

Week 4:  Letter A-Apples/Jonny Appleseed

Health Reminder...

At school, we use hand sanitizer several time a day and wipe down the classroom and toys often.  We will also be having a lesson about germs and keeping ourselves clean.  Please be mindful of sending your child to school with sicknesses that may be contagious.  Hopefully these things will keep the illness at preschool down.  Thanks!

T-shirts

If you were not at back-to-school and you would like to order a Little Learners t-shirt, let me know by the 16th so I can get the order in.  The cost is $6.00 and can be included with your September or October tuition payment.

Tuition Reminder...

Tuition is due by Thursday the 4th.  The T, W, Th class is $75.00 and the T, Th class is $60.00.  If the first of the month is a hard time to pay, let me know and we can make arrangements for you to pay later in the month.  

We are excited about this year and can't wait to get to know all of your cute kids!  

Miss Amber

Miss Melody

Disclosure Document 2008-2009

Welcome to Little Learners Preschool! I am excited for our class to start learning and having a great time this school year. There are just a few important things for parents to keep in mind throughout the year.

1.Please bring your child no earlier than five minutes before school starts and make sure they are picked up no later than five minutes after school, unless special arrangements are made.

2.If your child is hurt or feeling sad, I have a “Hug it better” policy. If you are not comfortable with little hugs or pats on the back, please let me know.

3.If a discipline problem arises, I use the time-out policy. The child will be in time-out for the amount of minutes equivalent to their age. Please contact me if you have concerns about this, but also bear in mind that most problems can be worked out without resorting to time-out.

4.Tuition must be paid by the first week of each month. We will send an E-mail reminder about tuition each month. Tuition is $75.00 for the M,W,F class, and $60.00for the T, Th class. Please write checks to Amber Peck.

5.For Show and Tell, I have a special bag that the kids will take turns bringing home. We will have Show and Tell everyday, but only one person at a time will have the spotlight. They should have a turn every few weeks. This way we won’t be in a hurry to get through everyone and it will be exciting for the kids.

6.Please send your child with a backpack or bag to put things in, a coat or jacket (if necessary), and a full stomach! We will have a snack each day, but not right at the first of class.

7.We have a class snack bucket that will be sent home with a different child each day (except for the days that we will provide special treats that go with the lesson). Please fill the bucket with enough treats for the class (number of students is listed on the bucket). Your treat could be as simple as a bag of marshmallows, pretzels, some fruit to cut up, or something even homemade. Drinks will be provided at school. Thank you for your help with snack time. We will also try to coordinate your snack turn with birthdays. Let me know if you have any concerns.

8.If possible, I am asking for donations of any of the following: Ziploc baggies (snack or sandwich size), a box of tissues, wipes, or a roll of paper towels. These items can be sent to school with your child anytime!

9.I will follow the Alpine School District schedule for vacations and holidays,
with the exception of the beginning and end of the school year.Alpine district has other days off, but they are on Mondays and Fridays. I only listed the ones that affect our preschool days. The holidays are as follows:

UEA/Prof. Dev………October 16th , 17th, 20th
Thanksgiving/Teacher comp…November 26-28th
Christmas/New Year........December 22nd-January 2nd (we will be back to school on the 6th)
Spring Break/Teacher comp……April 13th-17th

•Last day of school is Wednesday May 20th and Graduation will be held on Thursday May 21st.

Class Schedule
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 9:15-11:45 (optional Tuesday, Thursday)
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 12:45-3:15

9:15-9:30 Name/cutting practice, books & puzzles
9:30-9:50 Calendar, Weather, Pledge, Show and Tell, Singing Time
9:50-10:00 Circle Time (intro to new letter, unit lesson, etc.)
10:00-10:30 Unit activities/Creative arts or crafts
10:30-10:40 Snack/Story time
10:45-10:55 Movement/Music activities
10:55-11:25 Alphabet work, Math, Science/Centers
11:25-11:40 Free time-creative play
11:40-11:45 Clean-up and wait for parents to arrive

I will follow this schedule but times may be arranged to accommodate certain activities.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call me. I anticipate a fun and stimulating year for your little learner.
Thank you, Amber Peck (768-1091)

Curriculum Outline 2008-2009

Unit 1-A Crayon Welcome/Preschool Pals
•Learn rules and routines
•Review colors
•Learn about our new friends at preschool

Unit 2-All About Me
• I am special and unique
• Learn to recognize name (also put letters in order)
• My body-parts of the body
• Feelings and emotions

Unit 3-The Five Senses (Letters M and S)
• Sight, smell, taste, touch, and hear
• Music-dynamics/High and low notes
• If You Give a Moose-make muffins
• Snakes!
• Science-sun experiments

Unit 4-Weather/ Ants (Letter A)
• Learn about seasons and weather
• Life of Ants
• Math-counting with ants

Unit 5-Fall-Leaves (Letter L)
• Signs of fall-why do leaves change color
• Math-tree/leaf counting boards & graphing
• Patterns & sorting
• L is for Ladybugs (counting spots)

Unit 6-Pumpkins/Pigs (Letter P)
• If You Give a Pig a Pancake-Prediction/re-telling
• Life cycle of a pumpkin
• Math-sorting, number recog., counting

Unit 7-Halloween (Letter H)
• Haunted House-Ghost Math (counting and recognition)
• Spiders and bats-math and science activities
• Monsters-review colors/sorting

Unit 8-Bookweek (Letter B)
• How to take care of books
• Draw picture stories
• Our favorite books (parents come and read to us!)
• Balloons-static experiments
• Button centers-sorting, lacing, matching
• Fun with Bubbles
• Math-counting/matching numbers

Unit 9-Turkeys (letter T)
• Life of a Turkey
• Teepees/start Indians-Indian art
• Math-number recog./matching

Unit 10-Thanksgiving (Letter I)
• Indians-typical day, make Indian fry bread
• Pilgrims and the First Thanksgiving
• Ice experiments/Make ice cream
• Music-rhythm
• Thanksgiving Feast!

Unit 11-Christmas Around the World
(Letter C)
• Germany-Gingerbread men, Christmas trees, ABC review, counting, number recog.
• Mexico-piñatas, ABC review
• Holland-leave out shoes for Sinter Claus, Math-number recog/ counting, patterns
• Hanukkah-Dreidles, make latkes
Christmas Unit Cont.
• France-advent calendars, nativity, make crepes
• Sweden-Christmas trees for the birds, St. Lucia, Match upper and lowercase letters (review)
• USA- (Letter C) candy canes, reindeer, Math-patterns, measurement, memory, lacing, Christmas party-gift exchange

Unit 12-Snow/Snowmen (Letter O)
• Snowmen-size discrimination and sorting/following directions
• What is snow?
• Math #2, number recognition, counting
• O is for Octopus

Unit 13-Animals in Winter (Review)
• Math #3/number order, recognition, and writing practice
• The Mitten-story re-telling
• ABC review

Unit 14-Space (letter N and J)
• Moon, sun, planets, astronauts, space food
• Math #4 & #5 sorting, patterns, number order
• Memory/Lacing
• Jell-O Jigglers

Unit 15-Groundhog Day/Safety/Manners
(Letter Y)
• Groundhogs/Shadow science
• Science-yeast experiment
• Safety with Little Red-strangers
• Manners with Goldilocks
• Math #6/counting

Unit 16-Valentines/Presidents’ Day
(Letter V)
• Same and different/sharing/ matching
• Math #7/counting, sorting, number recog., coin recog, patterns, addition & subtraction
• Science-Volcanoes
• Lincoln/Washington-our profiles

Unit 17-Community Helpers (Letter Q&D)
• Firemen-counting/size disc./shapes
• Police officer-guest speaker
• Community Helper Center-doctor, carpenter, library, storekeeper, etc.
• Fieldtrip to Library and Kohlers
• D is for Dads-what do our Dad’s do? What do I want to be?
• Math #8/addition with dominoes

Unit 18-Wind/Wild and Wooly weather
(Letter W)
• Science-wind and water experiments
• Math #9 and 10/counting/patterns
• March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb

Unit 19-Spring/Colors (Letter K)
• Sign of spring-sorting
• Math-counting, recognition, missing numbers, review 1-10
• Mixing colors-Jell-o science
• Kites

Unit 20-Leprechauns/Rainbows(Letter R)
• Science with rainbows-prisms and bubbles
• Review colors/sorting
• Green party/Leprechauns
• Match upper and lowercase letters
Unit 21-Rain/Umbrellas (Letter U)
• Math-addition and subtraction, sequencing, counting and # recognition
• Science-raindrop experiments
• Water cycle/Lightening

Unit 22-Seeds/Grass/Growing (Letter G)
• Science-bean exploration/growing
• What seeds need to grow
• Math-estimation, sorting, counting, review 1-10, addition and subtraction, patterns
• Make Granola

Unit 23-Eggs/Easter/Bunnies (Letter E)
• Science-Egg experiments
• Math-sorting, patterns, number order, counting, addition and subtraction, tracing practice
• Bunnies-food and lifestyle
• ABC review-match upper and lowercase letters
• Easter Egg Hunt fieldtrip

Unit 24-Spring/Chicks (Letter X)
• Math-counting, number recog, correspondence,
• X marks the spot treasure hunt
• Little Red Hen-cooperation/make bread

Unit 25-Fish/Ocean and Beach (Letter F)
• Math-sorting, gold fish addition and subtraction, counting and number recog.
• Beginning sound review/rhyming
• Science-sea shells/Float and Sink experiments
• Rainbow Fish-we are special/ sharing
• Swimmy-teamwork/Make No-bake cookies
Unit 26-Zoo Life/Zebras (Letter Z)
• Zoo animals
• Lacing, sorting
• Math-counting, writing numbers, perimeter
• ABC order, beginning sound review, fact recollection

Unit 27-May–flowers/Mother’s Day
(Review)
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom-ABC review
• Our Mom’s are special
• Sunflower science-predicting
• Math-review

Unit 28-Mail (Review)
• Postal carriers/parts of a letter
• Math-addition and subtraction, review numbers
• Practice blending words/review ABC
• Fieldtrip to the Lehi Post Office

Unit 29-Transportation (Review)
• Wheels/Wind and Air
• Car safety rules/stoplights
• ABC order
• Science-What sank the boat?

This list gives you an idea of the units and skills we will go over throughout the year. It may seem repetitious in the math area, but most of the activities are math games or centers that involve a particular skill (the more practice the better!). The list does not include the movement activities, art and craft projects, or specific unit and letter activities. I’m sure you will see these things coming home throughout the year. You may also look at our complete curriculum any time. Because of the Alpine district schedule, the units will not go exactly in this order. That information will be on the monthly newsletter. Thank you, Miss Amber