Rumney Preschool
Ms. Murray's Classes
Hi Pre-K Families! Announcements:
Time sure flies when you’re having fun! Both classes were jam-packed with fun and learning this week — not much different than any other week :) Both classes enjoyed a game called “Rivers & Roads” which has small square tiles that have rivers, train tracks, and roads on them. They worked either together or alone to make long rivers and roads with bridges and train tracks passing through. It was quite challenging because some of the pieces cannot connect with each other. I’ve been joining in play to help guide conversations. Problems during play always arise, even though it’s rarely intentional. I have been bouncing around from center to center using phrases such as, “I notice that…” or “What I am hearing/seeing is…” I make sure the kids understand that I am giving an outside perspective based on what I am hearing and seeing. It helps them step back and see what is happening instead of being really flustered in the moment. We’ve been taking a pause when disagreements arise and each child will explain to the other their plan to one another. We’ve been doing a lot of balancing in class this week. They have used the stepping stones, the slack-line, and the wooden balance beam. It is a great inside gross motor activity. More preparations for our play on The Mitten happened this week. Early next week, we will make invitations and give them to adults in the building. I will film the play and send it to you all :) Stay warm this weekend! Deanna
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Hi Folks! Announcement:
What a great week in the books. We had so much fun inside and outside this week. Both classes have been really excited about The Mitten and the play we are working on. During a typical year, I would invite you all in to watch the play. This year, I will film the each play and send it out to the respective classes. It could be fun to even watch the video later with your child to prompt some great conversations. We have not practiced the play at all yet, but they are eager to do something like this! In order for it to feel like a “real” play, we will invite some school adults (Mr. Provost, and other adults in the school) to view it. The day for each classes play is still TBD. On Tuesday and Wednesday, each child used my sewing machine (with me assisting) to sew their costumes. Note: If your child was not in on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week, they will sew their costumes next week). Boy howdy, did they impress me with their sewing skills! A few of them proudly told me that they have used a sewing machine before. Each kiddo got the fabric ready by measuring how big and long it needed to be. Then, they got the felt ready in the machine, put the presser foot down, pushed the button to bring the needle down, and did a backstitch. Then, they stepped on the foot pedal. I guided their left hand along the side to slowly push the fabric through. They stitched both sides of the felt, leaving space for arm holes. I cut out the head holes. After all that, we walked around the school to find any adult who would listen for the kids to tell them all about their sewing adventure! On Wednesday and Thursday, we spent a ton of time outside. We found a very big snow mound in the front of the school. On Wednesday, the kids pretended it was the top of a castle and they were protecting the castle by throwing snowballs from the top. Each child gathered a big snowball and on the count of 3 they all yelled GO and tossed the snowballs at the same time. On Thursday, they pretended the snow mound was a mountain. Some kids stayed at the top and others were “falling” down the mountain and putting out their hands to pull their friends up. Some of them decided that I was the fasted route up the “mountain” so they jumped on my back as I crawled up the snow mound. Talk about a workout! The creative minds of young children is amazing to watch. Change in staffing: Casey sent out an email to you all earlier today. Our beloved Eliza is scooting over to another classroom at Rumney, and Kaitlyn Chaffey will be starting on Monday. Next week, both classes will work on cards to give to Eliza. Have a great weekend with your families, Deanna Hi Pre-K Families! Announcements:
This week was a little different. I want to thank you all for your flexibility during this unusual school year. There aren't a ton of pictures this week, we were really immersed in learning and playing. The kids used small dot stickers that I wrote letters on, and they had to match the right letter to the letter on the page. Everyone gets really excited about letters this time of year. After learning about letters and playing letter games, they are bubbling with excitement to share that C is for cat and D is for dog. That excitement also continued when both classes met our new Letter Monster! I don't have a picture of him, but he is made of poster board and he only eats letters (and sometimes numbers), but never kids! They reiterated that quite a bit to every adult that stopped in this week. No kid eating in preschool! We sang a song and then the letter monster chose a letter to eat. Each kid took a turn to find one letter at a time to feed him. It was very fun :) The song goes like this: Letter Monster, Letter Monster Munch, munch, munch Which letter are you having for lunch? Sledding has been quite a hit these last two weeks. They are getting their much needed sensory input that is trickier to fulfill during winter compared to the warmer months. Mrs. White was in and out of the classroom all week and the kids really love spending time with her! Another adult from the district, Dawn, popped by on Wednesday and the kids loved playing with her, too. We are really lucky to have so many great grown ups always willing to play in our classroom. Have a great weekend! Deanna Hi Pre-K Families! Announcements:
Happy New Year! I hope you all had a restful and happy school vacation with your children. It was great to see them again! Please note that your child may be extra tired, grumpy, or irritable this week and next. Getting back into a school routine can be challenging and zap the energy right out of them. The kids were happy to see one another again, and got right back into the swing of things. We spent most of the week talking about Jan Brett and reading The Mitten two times. We used story stones to retell the story. Retelling a story is a big part of preschool, it aides children in comprehension and builds vocabulary. On Tuesday and Wednesday, they learned more about retelling by doing a cutting and gluing activity. They cut out each animal from the book and glued them onto a big mitten in chronological order. They really know this story! On Thursday, we decided that we want to do a play of The Mitten. Each child picked an animal that they wanted to be, and were very respectful and flexible if two or more kids wanted to be the same animal. We then began to make masks of each animal. Masks will be made next week with the MW class. A lot of gross motor play happened this week. The mat was out for tumbling and jumping, and we did a TON of sledding! On one of the days, we bumped into Kindergarten outside sledding. That was fun! Both classes experimented with sledding on their bottoms or using a sled. They made different "tracks" on the hill and were trying to figure out which one was the fastest, and which one made them go the furtherest. On Monday, the kids explored ice with paint and warm water to see what would happen. They ended up making "potions" once all the paint was mixed together. It was really exciting! They were using different tools (big and small spoons, measuring cups, tongs, etc) to see how they could move the ice since it was so cold. The TTh class will do that next week. Another exciting week in the books. I hope you have a great sunny albeit chilly afternoon and weekend. Deanna |
Welcome!Hello and welcome to the Rumney Preschool blog for Ms. Murray's classes! You will find information about what we do every day in preschool along with important announcements. *Photos on the Blog*
If you would like family members to see pictures of your child playing at school, please email me and I will add them to my weekly email list. These photos are not permitted to be posted on social media. Thank you! Archives
June 2023
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