Hippo Headlines: 2026-08-30

Hello Hippo Families!

We had a wonderful week with your children in the Hippo room! We are learning and practicing the the classroom routine, working on transitions, being safe on the stairs and going over the class rules. We are also learning our daily schedule. It is posted on our white board and we check it each day as well as discuss or show pictures of the expectations involved. (goals: responsibility, accepting transitions, listening, following rules and routine)

In the hippo room, we encourage self help skills. It begins by following the morning routine when entering the classroom. When the children need help with anything, we ask that they try it first by themselves. The students practice unzipping and getting their snacks out as well as packing up to go home. We have the hippos put their backpacks on the floor, unzip their backpacks, check their cubbies for papers, load their belongings and zip up their backpacks. (self help skills, responsibility, fine motor)

Our theme this week was "Hippos". We learned a few hippo facts, practiced some "Hippo" songs, watched a video of real hippos and even learned how to spell hippo to the tune of "BINGO". We discussed the letter H is the beginning letter in the word Hippo.

The children really enjoyed learning about Fiona, a hippo from the Cincinnati Zoo. We read a book about Fiona. During snack, we watched a video from when she was a little baby. The doctors took such good care of her so she could then be reunited with her parents. During story time we also talked about real hippo books and make believe hippo books.

We introduced our 2nd steps social/emotional skills curriculum and met Sammy our puppet. It was his first day of school. We introduced ourselves to him and told him things we can do at school. We then talked about the listening rules and practiced singing it and using hand motions to help us remember. In addition, our school participates in the Heggerty program. This program works on letters, sounds, listening and rhyming. This week we tried to guess different sounds with our eyes closed. We also made the sound of the beginning letter in our names. (listening, following directions, letters and letter sounds)

Our centers included: playing with hippos and scoopers in kinetic sand (sensory), going on a Hippo word hunt for the word HIPPO (recognizing letters, words, matching, fine motor), playing with hippos in playdoh, painting our hippo masks (fine motor, making decisions), using props to go with the book, You Can't Move a Hippo (comprehension, sequencing), playing with hippos and the doctor toys based on the book,Dr. Hippo (pretend play, taking turns), cutting grass which hippos eat- green yarn and construction paper (cutting, holding scissors correctly, using helper hand) putting shape cookies together based on the book, Chocolate, Chippo, Hippo, (learning shapes) painting with hippo footprints and answering where the hippo tracks took you to...(sensory, following directions, using language), making spots using daubers on the letter H (recognizing the letter H), making pretend gum out of model magic and a pink marker that was the spot in the book, Hippospotamus. (fine motor, strengthening fingers, sensory), playing Hungry Hippos game (taking turns, waiting patiently, fine motor), using plastic hippos to practice positional concepts and playing with cars, trains, tools, doll house, legos, etc. (taking turns, using language, resolving conflict when it arises)! We were busy hippos this week!!!

During gym class we pretended we were hippos, gathering food, using bean bags and scooters. The bean bags had shapes on them so we practiced saying the shape. (goals: gross motor and shape recognition)

Books we read:
You Can't Move a Hippo
Hippospotamus
Here Comes Dr. Hippo

Chocolate Chippo Hippo

Song: (tune to BINGO)
There is a class at LECC
and Hippo is its name oh
HIPPO, HIPPO, HIPPO
and Hippo is its name oh
(take a letter away and clap)

Hippo Song: (tune..Are You Happy and You Know It)
Oh, I wish I was a hippopotamus! (clap, clap)
Oh, I wish I was a hippopotamus! (clap, clap)
I'd jump and I'd dive,
do a happy little jive
Oh, I wish I was a hippopotamus! (clap, clap)

Questions to ask your child:
1. What job did you do this week?
2. How much does a hippo weigh? As much as a car or as much as a table?
3. When do hippos eat, during the day or at night? (at night)
4. How long can hippos hold their breath underwater? 10 minutes or 5 minutes? (5 minutes)
5. What do hippos eat? (plants and grass)
6. In the book, You Can't Move a Hippo, what did the mouse say to get the hippo to move off the bridge? (he said please)

Things to Practice At Home
Please practice self help skills at home. Self help skills contribute to independence and self esteem. Have your child practice unzipping their backpack, loading their own snack and zipping it up by themselves so they are ready for school. It is easier for them to do this when the backpack is on the floor.

Coming up next week:

Friendship Unit

Important dates:

**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!!

Enjoy our busy hippos!!!