NURSERY RHYMES - APRIL 2010

Room 2 – Three’s AM

Transportation and Plants!

In the past two months our children have been busy learning about transportation, hibernation, and winter sports. The month of February was very short but it provided us with the opportunity to remind everyone that friends take good care of each other. We learned the song “February is a Short Month” and sang many songs about friendship. We also learned about friendship by being kind to one another.
We celebrated Chinese New Year in a big way. The children cut vegetables, whisked eggs and watched as Juan, Luke’s father, prepared a delicious dish of vegetable fried rice. We did not get to finish the dragon or have our parade this year. The contributing factors were the winter brake followed by the flood in our school. Thank you to all of you for being so understanding during such a difficult time. We said good bye to our friend Kevin Alma. Nicole, Jan, and I hope that he is adjusting well to the new environment.
We explored the different outdoor activities that people do for entertainment during the winter months. We read about sledding, ice skating, snowboarding, skiing, and ice fishing. We turned a big box into an igloo and a small box into an ice box to be able to go ice fishing. This activity was very popular. They also liked acting out The Three Snow Bears and Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
We had the opportunity to work with Iris Gaspar, a student teacher from Lehman College. She introduced a transportation unit. Then, she concentrated on trains. We learned about the different types of trains and charted down how many children have ridden a train. We sang “I’ve Been Working in the Rail Road,” and “Little Red Caboose.” The children enjoyed working with Iris making their own trains. Some of the books Iris read to the children included: Trains, by Byron Barton, I Love Trains!, by Philemon Sturges, and Freight Train, by Donald Crews. We will finish the transportation unit after the spring break and take some a walking trip to our neighborhood library as well as a bus trip to the firehouse.
Iris finished her student teaching with a preschool setting and moved on to another school to experience another age group. However, we are very fortunate to have a student from Lehman volunteering in our classroom. Her name is Isaura Martinez or Izzy, and she started to volunteer on March 25th. We would like to say thank you to both Iris and Izzy for sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm with us.
Since spring has sprung we are excited to be able to do more planting. The beans, turnip, and the potatoes were a success. We would like to encourage you to come and visit our class and plant with us. Children love to water and watch as the plants grow. The nursery viewing box allows children to track down and see the growth of the roots. The viewing box is available right now please see me if you would like to do this activity with the children.
April is a busy month we will be counting down to the arrival of our eggs which will arrive at our school on the fourteen of this month. They are due to hatch on May 5th. We are going to start a unit about birds giving us the opportunity to revisit the farm unit. We will explore with bubbles as an introduction to wind and rainbows. We will also be learning about the weather and the changes that occur during the spring season. Bugs and rain will be our focus during April but it all depends on how much enthusiasm the children show towards these topics.Towards the end of April, I would like to organize a trip to a farm. You will be getting a letter soon to see if we can work together to make it happen. We will need carpooling since we cannot afford to pay for a bus. The first week of May will be the time to say good bye to the chicks and start to learn about the role of lighthouses. We will visit the Little Red Lighthouse that is located under the George Washington Bridge in May to help us with this unit. Also during this month, I would like to invite grandmothers to spend time in our classroom and share their experience with us.
Thanks to Jan, one of our wonderful teacher assistants, we have adopted seven walking sticks in our classroom. They are growing so fast. Children like to spend more time at the science table using the magnifying glasses to help them as they count.
We would like to thank all the parents that have spent time with us as Parent of the Day, with a special thank you to Rebecca, Nadia’s mom, who has been volunteering in our classroom once a week. We know it is not easy with our busy schedules but feel free to come in and say hi when you are in the school. Children enjoy having their parents in the classroom even for a quick hello or to get a good bye kiss.
Thank you for the support and understanding of all my assistants. Without you the children would not be so comfortable while learning so much.

Maria, Alma, Nicole, Jan, and Isaura Martinez