Rumney Preschool
Ms. Murray's Classes
Hi Families! Announcements:
I missed the MT class this week, I look forward to seeing them on Monday! This week was filled with snow adventures. On Wednesday, we did some sledding and ventured off into the deep snow out to the soccer fields. They were amazed at how deep they were sinking into the snow! On Thursday, we did some more sledding and then ended up on our playground. They loved trying to go down the snow-packed slides. On Thursday, I introduced a small basket called the calm down basket. Currently, it only has 3 cards in it. The card say: close your eyes, take 3 deep breaths, and think happy thoughts. We learned about it at morning meeting time. I talked to them about it saying that sometimes your body might feel like it needs a little bit of a break and that’s okay! They all seemed really interested in it and sat on the bench by the calm down basket throughout the day. I mentioned to them that sometimes, a grown up might ask you to sit by the calm down basket and use the tools. I made sure to let them know that this isn’t a punishment or a time out, but just a quick moment to help your body get ready to play safely again. I will introduce this to the MT class on Monday! I hope you all have a great chilly weekend, Deanna
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Hi Families! Announcements:
This will be a quick blog post. This week was a different and challenging week. We had a cold day on Tuesday, I was sick on Wednesday, and we did not have adequate staff to run on Thursday. I appreciate everyone’s flexibility when things get tricky! On Monday, they spent a lot of time in the morning squishing balls of play doh. It is a great sensory activity that helps get out some energy when they push as hard as they can into the play doh. Later in the day, I took out a 48 piece butterfly floor puzzle. I gave a handful of pieces to each child and encouraged them to talk to one another to do the puzzle together. It can sometimes be a little challenging when there are so many hands on deck, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well they communicated with one another. Dawn came to school on Monday and introduced the peace flower. Later that day, we all sat in a circle with a few toys and practiced different scenarios for when we would use the peace flower. Each friend got a turn to act out a scenario and practice with the peace flower. We acted out taking a toy out of someone else’s hand, knocking a book out of someone else’s hand, and crashing a train when the person just said that they did not want their train to be crashed. They were fantastic! The peace flower has been quickly integrated into our classroom with great success. Have a great weekend, Deanna Hi Families! Announcements: Looking ahead:
Welcome back from break! I hope you all had a lovely time with your children. They were all excited to come back to school! We jumped right back into our routines. We went over some rules for outside so refresh their memory — I have added a question in the “Ask Your Child” section at the bottom of the post. It’s hard to remember certain rules when we had such a long break from school. For consistent language, we say, “we go down the hill and up the stairs.” In both classes, we did the shoe greeting during morning meeting time. It’s their favorite greeting! Everyone takes off one shoe and puts it in the middle. Taking turns, you close your eyes and pick a shoe and only that person can guess. Once they get the right person, they say good morning to each other. The child that got their shoe goes next! On Tuesday, they had a great time pretending to be a family of cats out on the playground. They were speaking in meows and purrs. After we came inside, they spent some time using blocks and animals to make some homes for the animals. They shared what kind of homes they made and for what animal, some even had automatic doors! We enjoyed the sledding hill this week, but on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, it was too icy for sleds. They really wanted to use the sleds, and I let them know that is can sometimes be really challenging to not be able to do something that you really want to do. I always make sure to let them know that it is absolutely okay to have big feelings and how important it is to feel those feelings! Even though it is a relatively small problem in the course of the day, this little moment can help them understand that their feelings matter and that they have trusted adults at school to share those feelings with. We worked on shapes this week with some fun snow themed shape cards. They used popsicle sticks to build different shapes. They learned about pentagons and hexagons while solidifying their knowledge of the basic shapes. On Thursday, Dawn brought in a flower that we call the peace flower. If there is a problem between two friends, we can use the peace flower. Some examples of problems might be taking something out of someones hand or saying something that could hurt someone’s feelings. When that happens, a friend can get the peace flower and bring it over to the friend they are in conflict with. Both hands of each kiddo has to be holding the peace flower (pictured below!). That helps them focus on resolving the conflict since their hands can’t be holding or doing anything else. They work together (and with a grown up) to solve the problem. Once both kids think the problem has been solved, the peace flower can go back to the vase. On Thursday, they were amazing with the peace flower! Almost immediately, friends were getting the peace flower and asking another friend to hold it with two hands to solve the problem together. We will show the peace flower to the other class on Monday. If your child is in the Wed/Thurs class, you can ask them about it. Since it is so new, they may need help remembering the steps. A big thank you to Dawn for bringing this in! Ask Your Child: - Did Ms. Murray read a book called The Hat (by Jan Brett)? What animals were in that story? What got stuck on the hedgehogs head? - When reading books, you could also share with them who the author and illustrators are and ask these questions: What does the author do? (Write the words). What does the illustrator do? (Draw the pictures) About the sledding hill: How do you go down the sledding hill? (Feet first) How do you get back up to the top of the hill? (Up the stairs). Have a great weekend with your kiddos, 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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