Welcome to March!
This month will be filled with lots of exciting events, exploration, and learning! We will “travel” to Ireland, learn about Chef’s and what they do, learn about Mother Nature, our beautiful Earth and the environments that surround us, journey back to the Jurassic period while we learn all about DINOSAURS, enjoy a coin hunt on St. Patrick’s Day, and take a few days to celebrate Read Across America week!! Below is a quick synopsis of all we will be doing this month.
A reminder to please arrive by 9:30am so the children understand the flow of the day, can do their appointed jobs and to hear about what our day will be like.
Monthly Curriculum
Theme: Environment
Value: Respecting Mother Nature
Color: Green
Multicultural Visit: Ireland
Holiday: St. Patrick’s Day
Animal: Dinosaurs
Community Helper: Chef
Additional Theme: Plant Life Cycles – Flowers, Fruits & Veggies
Letters/Sounds: Jj, Kk, Qq
Words: -en Family: den, hen, men, pen, ten, then, when
Numbers: 51-60
Shapes: Parallelogram
Hip Hip Hooray!!
These kiddos are turning 5!
Jaiden – March 16
Philip – March 22
** Week One- Mar. 5- 9
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Its read Across America Week at PLAY! Jayt aas in many schools all across the nation, children will be given the opportunities to fall in love with books and reading. In our class, we will focus on the works of the great Dr. Seuss. Each coming day will be themed! We will read a Dr. Seuss book, dress up, create an art activity, play a game, or conduct a science experiment. Below you will find the list of themes and actions for the day.
* Wednesday: Wacky Wednesday – Wear your clothes inside out or backwards or just put on the WACKIEST outfit you can think up!
* Thursday: Oh, the Places You’ll Go! – we will be creating 3D hot air balloons in art.
* Friday: Bartholomew and the Oobleck – We’re making OOBLECK in science!!
We will also spend time learning about DINOSAURS!! We will discuss and learn fun facts about Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Velociraptors, Pterodactyls, Brachiosaurus, Ankylosaurs, etc. Our class will pretend to venture on a paleontological expedition! To enhance their sensory experience and imaginative play, our class sensory bin will be filed with various ‘fossils’ and bones to excavate! Additionally, we will measure how long a T. Rex was, see how big one of their footprints would have been and compare it to the size of our own feet!
Week Two- Mar. 12 – Mar. 16
In Social Studies and Geography, the Pineapple’s will journey to Ireland! We will learn facts about the country and locate it on our world map! We will discover that Ireland is called Éire in Irish and is also known as the Republic of Ireland. Ireland covers five-sixths of the island of the same name, the remaining one-sixth of the island is Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. Irish, or Irish Gaelic is the country’s first official language, however the second official language English is more commonly spoken. There were over 4.75 million people living in Ireland as of July 2013.
The Irish capital, Dublin is home to over one quarter of their total population. We will look at and learn fun facts about a few famous landmarks such as, the Blarney stone and Blarney castle, the Cliff of Moher, Killarney National Park, the Giants Causeway, the Ring of Kerry, St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Brú na Bóinne. We will also learn a couple of phrases in Gaelic, as well as, our number 1-10. Some of our arts and crafts projects and activities will be shamrocks, Irish flag, Rainbow with a pot of gold, creating our own leprechauns, and trying to make our own medieval castles.
PLAY will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on Friday, March. 16^th, don’t forget to have your child come to school wearing something GREEN!
Monthly Academic Focus
Academically, we will be going over the Letters: Jj, Kk, and Qq. Each week, we will focus on one letter/sound and practice writing it, review words that start with that sound, search for things in our classroom that start with that sound, and read a book about that letter and its sound. We will also begin listening to the zoophonics song to help the children learn their letter names and sounds in a more entertaining way. We will start learning our -en Family words using the sounding out methods we have learned so far! The words we will learn this month are den, hen, men, pen, ten, then, and when. We will learn to read these words by blending sounds from left to right and matching them to picture words!
For math, the children will have the opportunity to create dinosaur patterns using our class tangram shapes. This will help them practice identifying the shapes, figure out which shape best fits where, and enhance puzzle skills. Our class will practice going over numbers 51-60 with the 100’s pocket chart, the Montessori Tens Board and beads, and our unifix blocks. These materials will allow us to match the quantities with its appropriate number. We will also practice reading numbers from left to right and how our 50’s numbers all have a 5 in the front followed by our unchanging 0-9 pattern.
In the Math area, the children can practice their patterning and geometry skills by making pictures using pentagons, hexagons, octagons, squares, triangles, circles or rectangles.
CVC Words
the for of
to up down
a look see
I is little
and go it
you we said
in can not
Upcoming Events
PLAY Family Outing
Saturday, March 10th!
The entire school community is invited to meet up at the National History Museum on Saturday, March 10^th at 10am. Please have your child wear their PLAY shirt so others know you are with our school group!
These monthly outings, ‘Field Trips’, are aligned with our themed curriculum and give your child the opportunity to share what they are learning in class with you. They also give families the opportunity to meet each other and make new friends! You might even see a teacher there with their family!
Volunteers
I have openings on for mystery readers, art activity leaders, Science/Math activity leaders, career day discussions, and cultural presentations.
Dates available in March: Thur. 8, Tues. 13, Wed. 14, Thurs. 15, Wed. 21, Thurs. 22
Times available: 10:40am or 2:40pm
Reminders
– Birthdays at PLAY – Our class celebrates all birthdays after our lunch (approx. 12:35pm).
If you’d like to be here for the festivities or if you would like to have a small celebration with decor, treats, etc. please notify me as soon as possible so we can plan it all out and I can offer my help.
Reminder, we do not allow an excess amount of frosting! The majority of our class does not nap and therefore can burn off the sugar high.
– Hot lunch will continue to be $5 when ordered in advance, however if ordered the day of or by the week it will be billed at $6.
– Show and Tell is every Friday! Encourage your child to bring in a special toy, book, or game of their choice to share with the class. Show & Tell is great because it’s fun for the kids and simultaneously enhances effective communication, strengthens their vocabulary , improves their listening skills, and promotes self confidence.
– Date Night is (typically) every other Saturday from 5:00pm-12:00am. $15/hr for an individual child or $20/hr for a pair of siblings (min. charge is $60). Dinner and a movie are also provided.
– We are now NUT FREE! We have a number of students in the school allergic to peanuts and tree nuts, in order to keep them safe we ask that you please do not send your child to school with any products containing nuts. If you would like a list of nut-free food suggestions let me know and I will get you a list!
– And lastly, a personal request from myself, please try to label all of your child’s items! Many families buy the same things and sometimes other students or teachers may move your child’s items mistakenly; labeling your things will greatly help avoid any mishaps!
If you have any other questions about the parent handbook feel free to ask myself, Gabriel, or Ms. Annie.
School Calendar 2017
March
Saturday – 10th – Date Night with Ms. Cynthia
Friday – 16th – Celebrating St Patrick’s Day
Tuesday – 20th – Egg Hunt
Friday – 23rd to 2nd – NO SCHOOL- Spring Break
April
Tuesday – 3rd- Back from Spring Break
Saturday – 7th- Date Night with Mrs. Gloria
Saturday -21st – Date Night with Ms. Jennifer