Little Busy Bodies Preschool

Newsletter

April 30th & May 2nd 

Dear Preschool Parents,

Only three weeks left of school! I can’t believe it! As we wind down the school year, we will be reading some good ole classics.

To start us off, on Monday we read “Caps For Sale,” by Esphyr Slobodkina. This book was first published in 1940. A peddler walks around selling caps from a tall, unsteady pile on his head. Unable to sell a single cap one morning, he walks out into the countryside, sits down under a tree, checks that all the caps are in place, and falls asleep. When he wakes up, the caps are gone--and the tree is full of cap-wearing monkeys. His attempts to get the caps back generate the kind of repetitive rhythm that 3- and 4-year-olds LOVE (amazon.com). After reading this story, the children sported tails and a mustache as they reenacted the story. It turns out, by request of the children, we will be performing this story during our graduation program!

The second book we read this week was “Swimmy,” by Leo Lionni. I must say that I LOVE Leo Lionni books. Each book is wonderfully written and always has a moral or a life lesson to be learned. His book “Swimmy” does not disappoint.  Deep in the sea there lives a happy school of little fish. Their watery world is full of wonders, but there is also danger, and the little fish are afraid to come out of hiding . . . until Swimmy comes along. Swimmy shows his friends how—with ingenuity and team work—they can overcome any danger (amazon.com).

Finally, if you have not already, please let me know by Wednesday if you are interested in ordering a preschool yearbook. I sent a preview through email to each of you so you can get an idea of what the yearbook will look like. Changes will be made, but you can at least get an idea of what you will be receiving. Each book is $13 + shipping. No pressure, my feelings will not be hurt.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

--PICTURE DAY—May 9th
--Last day of school—May 23^rd (Graduation Program)

 

REMINDER

*KING/ QUEEN OF THE WEEK May 7^th & 9^th: Rome…SNACK

See you next Monday! Have a nice weekend.

Sincerely, 

Amber

Little Busy Bodies Preschool

Newsletter

April 16^th & 18^th 

Dear Preschool Parents,

        We are beginning to wrap up our unit on rhyming and lyrical stories. The first book we read this week was “Off We Go,” by Jane Yolen. “This is another book with an emphasis on rhyme. Little Mouse moves ‘tip-toe, tippity-toe,’ Little Mole begins to ‘dig-deep, diggity deep’ and Little Spider does a ‘creep-crawl creepity crawl,’ each headed to a different but equally wonderful, place: Grandma's house. Though each has planned a separate journey, the animals find themselves playfully hopping, slithering and digging over and under one another as they all move along a grassy meadow. Wherever Grandma's house is found/ In hole, in tree, or underground, / In web, or bog, or in a nest/ Why, Grandma's house is always best” (amazon.com). After reading this book, we discussed animal actions that we could use to act out the story and would go along with the animal’s sound words. Then I reread the book while the children acted it out. Next, I gave each child an instrument. We discussed which instrument sounded most like each animal in the story. Then I reread the story yet a third time, and as their animal’s sound was read, they played their instrument. It was fun because all of the kids were actively involved playing their instrument, plus they sounded pretty cool together.

Today we read “Louella Mae, She’s Run Away,” by Karen Beaumont. “A playful story with a surprise ending! Louella Mae, she's run away! Look in the cornfields! Look in the hay! Where, oh where, is Louella Mae? Louella Mae is missing and everyone on the farm is frantically trying to find her. In the hay, in the well, in the barn: she is nowhere to be found. But there's a surprise in store at the end of the book when we find out that Louella Mae is . . . a pig, who just had piglets!” (amazon.com) Just before the last page where Louella Mae is revealed, I had the children make a prediction by drawing a picture.

Just a heads up in case you’re interested…I always make a little soft cover memory book (6x8) through Snapfish for myself of each class that I teach. These books turn out really cute! When I get the book finished, I will send an invitation to you to view it, then you can decide if it is something that you would like to purchase or not.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

--Last day of school—May 23^rd (Graduation Program)

REMINDER

*KING/ QUEEN OF THE WEEK April 23^rd & 25^th: Reese

See you next Monday! Have a nice weekend.

Sincerely, 

Amber

Little Busy Bodies Preschool

Newsletter

April 9^th & 11^th 

Dear Preschool Parents,

          

            I can’t believe how fast time is passing! The days of April are dropping like flies, and graduation is right around the corner!

The first book we read this week as we continue on with our rhyming and lyrical unit was “Jamberry,” by Bruce Degen. This is a book of silly, yet joyful rhymes. A whimsical story of a bear and a young boy who frolic through a magical berry land in their quest to make jam. They play in strawberry fields forever, rumble and ramble in blackberry brambles, and topple their canoeberry with blueberries. After coming up with several of our own silly berries, we made a berry smoothie that was delicious! Then the children danced to music, as the boy and the bear did in the book, using streamers! The kids LOVED the streamers!

The second book we read was “This Is the Way,” by Charles Fuge. I absolutely LOVE the bright and colorful illustrations in this book. I introduced this book by posing some animal riddles to the children, which they loved answering. Once they got the idea that our book was about animals, I asked them to come up with some sound words that we tend to use to describe the sounds and movements of these animals. They came up with words like boing, slither, waddle, neigh, and squawk. We talked about sound words or onomatopoeias. I told them that our book today was a rhyming, lyrical story about animals that used many sound words just like the ones we had brainstormed. After our story, we finished up with a game of animal charades.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

--Last day of school—May 23^rd (Graduation Program)

REMINDER

*KING/ QUEEN OF THE WEEK April 16^th & 18^th: Leah

See you next Monday! Have a nice weekend.

Sincerely, 

Amber

Little Busy Bodies Preschool

Newsletter

April 2^nd & 4^th

Continuing on with our unit on rhyming and lyrical stories, we read “Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?” by Nancy Carlstrom. The book follows a young bear through a day as he playfully "wears" not only his shirt and pants, but also the sun on his legs, sand on his arm, his mealtime chair, his bathwater and bubbles, and finally, Sleep in my eyes/And stars in the skies/Moon on my bed/And dreams in my head/That's what I'll wear tonight. This is a sweet book with darling illustrations. The children just love it. The melodic rhyme is contagious and the children want to read it again and again. After reading the book, the children worked together to dress their bear appropriately for different seasonal activities.  Finally, we worked on rhyming words with a matching game.

Today we read “Silly Sally,” by Don & Audrey Wood. I love this book! It is a wonderful read aloud, plus it teaches phonological awareness, and gets the kids moving. Silly Sally went to town, walking backwards, upside down. On the way she met a pig, a silly pig, they danced a jig. Sally and pig (upside down) meet and are joined in their walk by a dog, a bird, a sheep and (ta-dum!) Neddy Buttercup (walking forwards, right side up), who sets everything straight (amazon.com). After reading this book, I explained to the children that this book has actually been turned into a song. We listened to the musical version, practiced the related actions, and had a grand ole time dancing along! 

We have been working on our writing skills this school year. The first step is strengthening the small muscles in the hands and wrists that are used in handwriting, otherwise known as building fine motor skills.  I have encouraged fine motor development with a myriad of centers and small group activities: lacing activities, stringing beads and Froot Loops, playdoh, cutting with scissors, hammer and nails, etc. When I feel that the children are physically ready to write, I have them first use their finger to draw in sand, rice, pudding, shaving cream, paint, etc.  Finally, when I see that the children are ready to move onto pencil and paper, I have them trace simple lines and shapes and then letters. One of the most important things to focus on at this age is that your child holds their writing utensil correctly (using three fingers in a tripod grasp). If they establish another grasp from the beginning, the tripod may feel awkward at first. Changing any habit is difficult, particularly when it involves muscles and coordination. I am often correcting the children. So PLEASE watch your child as they color and write at home and correct their hold if necessary. Thank you for helping to reinforce this skill!

*KING/ QUEEN OF THE WEEK APR: 9^th  & 11^th: Olivia

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

*LAST DAY OF SCHOOL: May 23rd

Have a great week!

Sincerely, 

Amber

Little Busy Bodies Preschool

Newsletter

March 26^th, 28^th

Dear Preschool Parents,

Welcome back to reality!! I hope you all had a great spring break with your families, and are enjoying this awesome Spring weather.

We are beginning a unit on rhyming and lyrical stories. “Young children seem to be naturally "wired" for sound and rhythm.” (songsforteaching.com) I know we’ve all witnessed our babies boppin’ to music from the time they can sit up. These rhyming and lyrical stories are not only entertaining, but they can play an important role in language and literacy development. So grab some rhyming books and read, read, read to your child!! Yes, even if they pick out the same book over and over again!

On Monday we read “The Hungry Thing,” by Jan Slepian. In this story, the Hungry Thing shows up in a town, asking for food.  The people can’t figure out what he wants.  When he requests “shmancakes” they each have a different idea about what “shmancakes” actually are. One boy makes sense of it all, reminding them that “shmancakes” sound like “pancakes”.  So they give the Hungry Thing some and he eats them all up!  This continues on to include “feetloaf” and “gollipops”, “boop with a smacker” and “tickles”. The kids absolutely love guessing each mystery food that is presented in the story. After reading the book, I introduced the class to our very own Hungry Thing. The children each chose several pieces of plastic food. Then the Hungry Thing asked for specific foods from the children by using rhyming words (i.e. “I want some fleas!”). The children had to look at the foods they had in hand and think which food rhymed with the word “fleas.” Then they would feed the Hungry Thing that food…peas. They had a blast, and I got a sore throat from talking “Monster.”

Today we read, “Is Your Mama a Llama?” by Steven Kellogg. In this story, Lloyd, a baby llama, asks each of his friends, "Is your mama a llama?" and each baby animal answers with a rhyming description of their mother that is answered on the following page. Again, the children loved using their knowledge of rhyme and animals to guess the mystery mama animal. “Rhythmic verses with fill-in-the-blank style pauses at the end of each stanza help early readers learn to read, young children squeal with glee, and everybody within ear shot get the urge to get up and dance!” (abookbug…amazon.com) To go along with this story we played a Mama/Baby Animal Memory game. We even completed an activity where I asked each child, “Who’s Your Mama?” and then they described their mom to me as I wrote down their thoughts. You gotta love the things kids say!

*KING/ QUEEN OF THE WEEK APR: 2^nd  & 4^th: Rome

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

*LAST DAY OF SCHOOL: May 23rd

Have a great week!

Sincerely, 

Amber

Little Busy Bodies Preschool

Newsletter

March 5^th, 7^th & 9th

Dear Preschool Parents,

Yeah! Another weekend has arrived! This week we finished up our cumulative stories unit!

 On Monday we read “Mr. Gumpy’s Outing,” by John Burmingham. “Mr. Gumpy lives in a house by the river. He owns a boat, and today he is going out on the water. The children ask if they can go with him, and Mr. Gumpy agrees so long as they don’t ‘squabble.’ Mr. Gumpy soon discovers that the children are not the only ones who want to go on a boat outing. As he poles the boat along the river bank, a rabbit, a cat, a dog, a pig, and numerous other animals ask if they can join the expedition. Mr. Gumpy agrees to let the animals join him as long as they behave themselves. ‘Don’t muck about’ he tells the pig, and ‘don’t kick’ he tells the goat. Of course, It isn’t long before Mr. Gumpy’s passengers stop behaving themselves”….and can you guess what happens next? (Through the Looking Glass Children’s Book Reviews). After reading this story, we reenacted the story using a big cardboard box as our boat. The kids had a great time hopping in and out of the boat and then, of course, tipping over.

             

               On Wednesday we read, “The Old Woman and the Pig,” by Paul Galdone. This is a classic and the perfect example of a cumulative tale. The Old Woman decides to sweep her floor and upon doing so, finds a sixpence which she takes to the market to buy a pig. Once she’s purchased the pig, she decides to head home and soon finds that her new pig is quite an uncooperative one, as he refuses to cross the stile. So she continues a ways until she sees a dog, stick, fire, stream, ox, butcher, rope, rat, and a cat. Will any of them help her get that pig to cross the stile so she can get home tonight? Not really…until she meets the cat. That sets a frenzy in motion! I actually introduced this story using giant dominoes. I explained how this cumulative tale is like a “domino effect.” Afterwards, we retold the story using stick puppets.

            

                 Today we read the story, “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt,” by Michael Rosen. "We're going on a bear hunt. We're going to catch a big one. What a beautiful day! We're not scared." And we weren’t! We had quite the journey crossing a grassy field, swishing across a river, trudging through mud, and, of course, finally seeing THE BEAR, who chased us all the way back to our home. I began by showing them several items that were all linked to the story. I had the children guess what story we might be reading today. After they guessed correctly (this book is pretty well known), we read the story, reenacted it using the song and motions, and finally, went outside where we continued to be adventurous with an obstacle course.

*KING/ QUEEN OF THE WEEK MAR: 26^th & 28^th: Ethan

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

*NO SCHOOL: March 12^th -21^st (My son has no school the first week and MUSD has no school the second week)

*LAST DAY OF SCHOOL: May 23rd

Have a nice Spring Break!!

Sincerely, 

Amber

Little Busy Bodies Preschool

Newsletter

February 27^th, 29^th & March 2^nd

Dear Preschool Parents,

Happy Friday! We celebrated the 2012 leap year with an additional day of preschool this week! The cumulative stories that we read were “Shoes from Grandpa,” by Mem Fox, “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly,” by Pam Adams, as well as “Henny Penny,” by Paul Galdone. Children of this age love repetitive stories because they invite them to make predictions or guesses about words, phrases, sentences, events and characters that could come next in the story. Children can’t help but join in themselves to tell or “read” the story again and again. On Wednesday the children brought home an old lady story prop to help them in retelling the story, if these haven’t made it into the trash yet please encourage them to tell you their version of the story. Thanks!!

Please forgive me...I have yet to formally welcome and introduce the newest member of our little class, Leah. She's been with us for a month now and she fits right in. It's as if she's always been here. I love how easily children make friends and accept each other!

*KING/ QUEEN OF THE WEEK MAR: 5^th & 7^th: Piper

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

*MAKE-UP DAY: Friday, March 9^th

*NO SCHOOL: March 12^th -21^st (My son has no school the first week and MUSD has no school the second week)

Sincerely, 

Amber