NURSERY RHYMES - MARCH 2012

UPK FULL DAY

Dear Parents,

Welcome back! We hope that everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable February break, and that your children have been looking forward to coming back to school. At this point in time, we are really in the thick of our classroom routine. It is amazing how fast the school year is going by. We have a busy classroom full of busy children, which makes the time go even faster. We have so many activities in school from cooking to dance to art projects and everything in between, that sometimes it seems as if time is flying by at top speed. Before you know it, it’s clean-up time!

We have had many experiences in the classroom and many opportunities to learn about sharing and caring. Thanksgiving afforded us the opportunity to share a special feast that we cooked ourselves. Christmas, Chanukah, and Kwanzaa provided us with the chance to make special gifts to share with our families and to cook delicious things that many of us had never tried before. We learned about the importance of kindness and caring, both at the holidays and every day. Our classroom affords us opportunities to share in many different ways. For example, we share food and stories at snack time, and we work together throughout the day on the various projects and activities. It’s fun to be together, and we have all become very good friends.

We have studied dinosaurs for the past few weeks (taking a break for Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year in between!) and we have learned a lot. We turned out Dramatic play area into a paleontologist lab where we could study and assemble dinosaur bones. At the cooking table we made dinosaur nests that we can eat! We have examined different species of dinosaurs in depth, moving and eating like they did. But don’t worry. We promise we will not eat you.

I want to take a moment to thank all the parents who have signed up to be Parent of the Day, and those of you who came to Parent-Child Sunday. We have had a great deal of parent involvement this year, which is very gratifying to us as teachers. The collaboration between parents, students, and teachers is one of the things that make our school so special. You are always welcome in our classroom.

We will soon be working on an art unit I call “Painting Without Brushes”. We will be doing a LOT of painting, but not with brushes. Our class will brainstorm and come up with interesting and unusual thing to paint with. It will be interesting to hear their ideas! Painting with unusual items encourages creativity and the ability to “think outside the box.” Besides, it’s fun to paint with odd things. It will really get us thinking. The unit will culminate with the children collaboratively creating our own Jackson Pollack. For those who may be unfamiliar, Jackson Pollack created his works by dribbling paint all over a large canvas. This is one of the most enjoyable projects for the children. It really gives them an opportunity to let loose!

When you walk into our classroom it is plain to see how much everyone has matured since September. There are many things going on at the same time, and the children move about from one activity to another as they choose. There are many opportunities to explore and use our creativity. In all activities, socialization and communication are encouraged and modeled by the teachers. We have learned a lot about ourselves and each other, and we grow a little every day. When we say “we are all friends” in the classroom, we really mean it!

Stay tuned for springtime fun!

Andrea, Alma, & Yasmin