Montclare Parents - Koala PM

Week of 6/3

6/6/2019

Dear Koala Bear PM Room Families!

Summer has finally arrived! We have had an absolute blast in the Koala PM Room this year.

We have watched your children become independent, strong thinkers and we are so proud of how they continue to be such empathetic and kind friends to one another.

We hope you all have a fantastic summer!

Warmly,

Laura and Desiree

Week of 5/20

5/23/2019

Hello Koala Bear PM Families!

It’s been a fun-filled week yet again in the Koala Bear Room! We have continued to learn all about transportation. The students love sharing what type of transportation they took to school each day this week!

Centers:

We took out the large wooden blocks to create different types of transportation. In groups, we had the students discuss what types of transportation they’d like to make. They created trains, cars, planes, and even some submarines!
We worked on our visual discrimination skills by playing a same and different matching game with cars, boats, planes, and helicopters
We completed transportation pattern block mats

Some Books We Read:

Whose Vehicle Is This?, by Sharon Cooper
Cool Cars, by Tony Mitton and Ant Parker
The Little Airplane, by Lois Lenski

Letter of the Week:

Y! A letter that makes you want to say, “Y”ahoo!

Dates to Remember:

Friday, May 31st is our class trip to Victorian Garden’s! Please meet us at the park at 10 am. Every child needs to be accompanied by one chaperone, and there will be no school that day.
Our end of year party will be on Wednesday, June 5th from 3:30-4:15 pm.
Our last day of school is Friday, June 7th!

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Laura and Desiree

Week of 5/13

5/17/2019

Hello Koala Bear PM Families!

We are SO proud of all of the hard work the students did in order to put on their fantastic rendition of Pete The Cat: I Love My White Shoes! They truly did an amazing job. Thank you all again for coming out to see our show.

For the remainder of the week, we started our unit on Transportation. We learned about how we get from one place to another using air, ground, and water transportation.

Centers:

We used a variety of paper shapes to create our own imaginative images of different types of transportation.
Practiced cutting out shapes of cars, planes, and boats
Made transportation patterns using bikes, planes, trains, and taxis

Some Books We Read:

The Little Engine That Could, by Watty Piper
The Circus Ship, by Chris Van Dusen
How to Train A Train, by Jason Carter Eaton

Letter of the Week:

X! An E“x”cellent letter!

Dates to Remember:

Friday, May 31st is our class trip to Victorian Garden’s! Please meet us at the park at 10 am. Every child needs to be accompanied by one chaperone, and there will be no school that day.

Have a great weekend!

Laura and Desiree

Week of 5/6

5/10/2019

Hello Koala Bear PM Families!

This week we have been continuing to learn all about Theater! The students have been working on the backdrop and practicing their lines and songs as well. We have also been talking about Mother’s Day. The students made a very special and thoughtful gift for all of their moms. We hope you love it!

Theater Week Updates:

We picked out which cat ears to wear for the show!
We made grass for our backdrop as well by using scissors to cut up some green paper.
We found that we needed to reinforce our guitars, so the students brainstormed as to how we could make our guitars a bit sturdier. They all concluded that by adding more popsicle sticks to the back would help keep the guitar in good shape!
The students drew on some shoelaces to their Pete the Cat shoes
We are continuing to rehearse multiple times a day, so we can get used to being performers!

Some Books We Read:

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes, by James Dean

Letter of the Week:

W! A “W”onderful letter!

Dates to Remember:

The end of the year trip to Victorian Gardens is on Friday, May 31st. Every child must be accompanied by an adult. No siblings, please.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Laura and Desiree

Week of 4/15

4/18/2019

Hello Koala Bear PM Families!

This week we have been learning all about Earth Day. The students learned that Earth Day occurs every year on April 22nd. We learned all about The Three R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The students have become very inspired to save our planet! We learned that taking care of the Earth is a very important job and it requires all of us to work together as a team.

Centers:

We worked on our sorting and math skills by sorting and recycling different items and placing them in the “paper”, “plastic”, or “garbage” bins. We graphed our results and learned that we had the MOST garbage out of our items!
We learned what the term “germination” means, and using water, paper towels, and contender seeds, each student germinated their own pile of seeds. They are currently hanging up on the Koala Room window, catching some rays and being watered frequently! We cannot wait to watch our seeds grow into plants.
We made a beautiful Mat (Wo)Man! She is currently hanging outside of our classroom. The students loved adding eyelashes, earrings, and pigtails to her.
Using glue, glitter and circular plastic tops, we made a planet Earth sun catcher! We spread the glue using q-tips, and added in some blue and green glitter to represent the water and the land. We will let our Earth’s dry over the long weekend, and look forward to seeing our Earth’s catch the sunlight next week when we get back to school!

Some Books We Read:

The Earth Book, by Todd Parr
Earth Day Everyday, by Lisa Bullard
Earth Day Birthday! by Maureen Wright

Letter of the Week:

M! A “M”arvelous letter!

Theater Week Updates:

We are learning all about Pete The Cat, and the character and storyline.
We learned what the word “plot” means. The students are having a lot of fun talking about the plot of other books as well.
We are beginning to brainstorm different ways to make our costumes for the show. The students have some really great, fun ideas on how to turn ourselves into cats!
After a class-wide vote, the students were unanimous in wanting to wear cat ears and carry a guitar for the show!

Dates to Remember:

Parent-teacher conferences will be held on Thursday 4/25, and Friday 4/26.
MCS will be closed on Friday, 4/19 for Good Friday.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Laura and Desiree

Week of 4/8

4/12/2019

Hello Koala Bear PM Families!

This week we have been continuing to learn all about Spring, focusing on insects and butterflies. The students have also been very excited to hear about our Theater Week Performance of Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes.

Centers:

The students learned all about symmetry. We explained that something that is symmetrical is the same on both sides, or is a “mirror image”. The students examined different pictures of butterflies, and pointed out the symmetry that they noticed in each.
Using paper butterflies, the students used paint and paintbrushes to make a design on only one side of the paper. The students then folded the paper in half, and when they opened it back up, they saw their symmetrical design.
Using an open-ended writing prompt, the students finished the sentence “I know it’s Spring when…”, and were asked to write down their answer. After they finished their writing, the students then drew a picture of their answer.
We have begun making our props for our theater week performance!

Some Books We Read:

Are You a Butterfly?, by Judy Allen
Waiting for Wings, by Lois Ehlert
The Grouchy Ladybug, by Eric Carle

Letter of the Week:

V! A “V”ery fun letter!

Dates to Remember:

Parent-teacher conferences will be held on Thursday 4/25, and Friday 4/26.
MCS will be closed on Friday, 4/19 for Good Friday.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Laura and Desiree

Week of 4/1

4/5/2019

Hello Koala Bear PM Families!

Welcome back! We hope you all had a relaxing spring break and are ready for our Spring semester to begin. This week we have been learning all about Spring, with a focus on plants and flowers.

Centers:

We introduced “The Mystery Person of the Day" in the classroom. Every morning a teacher pulls one secret Koala Bear name out of a bucket. At the end of the day we reveal the name that was chosen and if that student has been a good listener, a good friend, and a good person, they get to hold Little K during Circle Time the next day!
Using four different flowers, we made complex 3 or 4 part patterns.
We sequenced the life cycle of a plant by looking at pictures of each stage of a plants life. The students placed the sequence in order, then showed us and explained why they chose that order. We then gave them a glue stick to glue down the images, and lastly, the students colored their pictures.
We made new place-mats! The students were given pictures of flowers, butterflies, and rainbows and we asked to cut out and color the pictures before gluing down to the paper.

Some Books We Read:

Spring is Here (Bear and Mole Story), by Will Hillenbrand
Mouse’s First Spring, by Lauren Thompson
Koala and the Flower, by Mary Murphy

Letter of the Week:

A! An “A”mazing letter!

Dates to Remember:

Parent-teacher conferences will be held on Thursday 4/25, and Friday 4/26.
MCS will be closed on Friday, 4/19 for Good Friday.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Laura and Desiree

Week of 3/11

3/15/2019

Hello Koala Bear PM Families!

The students have been so fascinated by the Five Senses, we decided to continue exploring each of our senses this week. We also talked about our upcoming Spring Break vacation. Here are some of the fun activities that we did this week!

Centers:

The students worked on their cutting skills by folding a piece of paper in half, and cutting out a shape. They were amazed to see that when they opened up the paper, there was a mirror image of the shape.
As a whole group on the rug, we worked together to make Mat Man (who the students said was really Mat Woman!). The students then sat down at the table to draw their individual Mat Man. Their drawings have progressed so much since the beginning of the year!
Since the students love cooking, we asked them what they would like to cook and voted on corn muffins. They loved helping to mix and pour, and loved eating them even more!
We made leprechaun faces! The students had so much fun decorating their hats and painting.

Some Books We Read:

When Spring Comes, by Kevin Henkes
And Then It’s Spring, by Julie Foglian
Pete the Cat: The Great Leprechaun Chase, by James Dean

Letter of the Week:

K! A “K”ooky letter!

Dates to Remember:

MCS will be closed for Spring Break the weeks of March 18 and March 25 and will reopen on Monday, April 1st.

We hope everyone has a fantastic Spring Break!

Laura and Desiree

Week of 3/4

3/8/2019

Hello Koala Bear PM Families!

The Koala Bears had a great time this week continuing to investigate our Five Senses! This week we focused on our senses of Sight, Smell, and Taste. The students really enjoyed listening to A.J. Jenkin’s “You’ve Got Eyes” song this week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_6Ai8NdkkY

Below are some of the fun activities we did this week.

Centers:

The Koala Bears woke up their taste buds when we had a taste test of foods that are sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. We then charted which foods were our favorite.
We played a smelly guessing game where the students tried to guess what was inside cups covered with tin foil using only their sense of smell.
The students used their memory and sense of sight after we showed them a tray with six objects on it. Everyone took turns closing their eyes I removed one object from the tray. When they opened their eyes, they had to figure out which object was missing. The students then had a turn to be the one to remove an object (or two or three), and guess what was missing.
We made a “Five Senses Book” writing about each of the Five Senses, and how that sense helps us to learn more information about the world around us.

Some Books We Read:

Look! A book About Sight" by Dana Meachen Rau
You Can’t Taste a Pickle With Your Ear, by Harriet Ziefert

Letter of the Week:

R! A “R”eally fun letter!

Dates to Remember:

MCS will be closed for Spring Break the weeks of March 18 and March 25 and will reopen on Monday, April 1st.

Have a great weekend!

Laura and Desiree

Week of 2/25

3/1/2019

Hello Koala Bear PM Families!

The Koala Bears made sense of a lot of things this week when we learned about…The Five Senses! Here are some of the sensible things we did:

Theme:

The Five Senses

Books We Read:

You Can't Smell a Flower With Your Ear, by Joanna Cole
The Five Senses, by Nuria Roca
My Five Senses, Aliki Brandenberg

Centers:

The Koala Bears learned all about each of their five senses. They were so fascinated to learn that even animals have five senses too!
We used our sense of touch when objects were hidden in a box and each student had to find different items inside using only their hands. No peeking allowed!
Using different types of materials and cardboard, we created a textile board. Some words to describe our materials are hard, soft, fuzzy, rough, and silky.
Using their sense of hearing, the Koala Bears identified sounds by shaking wooden boxes filled with different objects, and tried to identify two matching sounds. They also played a few rounds of Sound Bingo!

Person of the Week:

Maite!
We had a great time learning about Maite's family and reading about Little K's adventures.

Letter of the Week:

B! A “B”eautiful letter!

Dates to Remember:

3/15 Last day of school before Spring Break!

Have a great weekend!

Laura and Desiree