Hippo Headlines

We are so proud of all our Hippos as we have made it through our first week of school!

This is our weekly blog that we will send out Thursday, Friday or Saturday of each week. You will be able to read some highlights and activities of the week, be reminded of important and upcoming events and dates, and of course, see some adorable pictures of your little hippo in action (which is such fun to share with your child so they can tell you about their week). I will also list the Missouri Early Learning goals in the summary.

Here are a few things we worked on this week, as well as some highlights:

* Teacher and classmate names. You picked up a class collage with all the students and their names. You can help your child learn his/her classmate's names and you will also know who your child is talking about when they share school stories.

* Classroom routines and how the hippo room works. We showed pictures using our projector of all the places we go including the gym, playground, big room, art, music, library, where we line up for each, how we walk up and down the stairs safely, steps for our bathroom and snack routine, etc. These visuals are a wonderful way to discuss rules, safety, routine and answering questions. We know as the days pass, all these areas will get easier. However, if you wouldn't mind reinforcing the need to help the class clean up when the bell rings or when the lights turn off, that would be great. In addition, we read the daily schedule cards so the students know what we are doing each day.

* Music class was fun with Ms. Li, as well as ART class with Ms. Tara.

* During circle time the children came up with some great rules. We show visuals to help reinforce these rules. The children met Harry our hippo, and practiced introducing themselves to him and the class. (goals:contributing to the group, respectful behavior)

*We played a game with items in our classroom. I had a backpack with items that belong somewhere in the class. Each child had a chance to pick an item and find where it went in the classroom. Items included, markers, scissors, books, dramatic play items and blocks to name a few.

*We introduced classroom jobs on Wednesday. Every other day your child picks a job. Jobs, include, calendar helper, weather reporter, line leader, caboose, door holder, electrician and bell ringer.

(goals: recognizing name, using appropriate voice volume, rote counting, making decisions, following directions,)

*After watching a video of Pete The Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes we colored shoes using our favorite color and answered the question, "Where would your school shoes take you?" The hippos enjoyed painting Pete The Cat in his school shoes using water colors. We also matched Pete the Cat cards. Next week we will play a game with our shoes that relates to Pete the Cat and his school shoes. Each child will take one shoe off and place it under a blanket. We will mix them up and each child can take a turn pulling one shoe out and finding which classmate it belongs to! (goals: colors, fine motor, using language, answering questions, participating as a member of a group, following 2 step directions, learning the names of our classmates)

*Throughout the week there were a variety of things we played with on the carpet (trains, cars, dinosaurs, tinker toys, doll house, paw patrols, blocks, animals etc.) and a variety of materials on the tables (puzzles, playdough, plastic connectors, dry erase boards, pyramid blocks, chalk boards, alphabots, kinetic sand, etc.) when the students arrive at school and during center time. These activities give the students the opportunity to explore, to get to know each other, ask for turns and use words in a nice way. (goal: developing relationships with peers, solving conflicts when they arise, fine motor)

* The students enjoyed listening to the story, Curious George Goes To School! George received a star for painting his own picture. During center time, we colored a curious George star. We used pipettes to mix primary colors in ice cube trays and learned that colors mixed together make new colors. We sorted colored bears, matched colored elephants and Curious George cards. (goals: color recognition, fine motor strengthening finger muscles using the pipettes, answering questions from the story, sorting)

*As we listened to the story, There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Book, we watched Ms. Ginny use real props. Each child either placed the item in her mouth or took the items out and placed them in the backpack. Afterwards, we answered questions and then played with the book and props during center time. We also worked on making circles on a blue folder using colored chalk which the old lady ate.

(goals: participating as a member of a group, respectful behavior, answering questions, sequencing, fine motor)

*During the week we decorated a giant Henry the Hippo. We chose from a variety of materials to make him look really cool! We also decorated a page for a class book, Hippo, Hippo, Who Do You See? We then read it to the class. The students read it with me. We will take turns sending this book home for you to read to your child. We will have 3 students a week take the book home for the night. Please return the book the next day so we can give it to the next student. It may take a few weeks to get through the whole class. (goals: following directions, learning our classmate's names, colors, voice volume, making decisions independently, showing persistence)

Books we read:
There Was An Old Woman Who Swallowed A Book
Clifford's First Day of School
Curious George Goes To School
Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes

Questions to ask your child:
* What are the names of your teachers?
* What did you do at school this week? What was your favorite?
* What do you do when you hear the bell ring on the playground, big room, and gym? (line up)
* What did you play with in the gym?
* What job did you have this week?

Next Week/ Important Reminders/ Dates
*Our theme will be learning about real hippos!

**We would love to have each family prepare their own "Family Page" to be kept in a classroom book for the children to look at throughout the year. We will keep the book in the book center. We are asking that you either use real photos to add to a standard piece of paper (8 1/2 x 11), or you can email the page to us. Pictures can be more of your family, extended family, pets, house, vacation, etc... Please write about a family tradition as well. Please turn these in by Wednesday, September 9th. We will have each child show his/her family page to the class.

**Please send in 6 apples, preferably different colors (red, yellow and green) for our apple unit. Please bring the apples on Monday, September 14th. Thank you so much!!

Thank you for sharing your child with us! Already, we can see their little personalities shine through! Everyone was engaged and we look forward to helping them learn and grow! Enjoy the pictures below!