Rumney Preschool
Ms. Murray's Classes
Hi Families! Announcements:
This week was so much fun! We had fun, spooky themed activities, and we got to wear our costumes! One of my favorite things to do this time every year is to go on the costume parade throughout the all the classrooms. We had a blast weaving in and out of each classroom, starting with Ms. Babcock’s class (right across the hall), and going all the way to Mrs. Emmons’ class on the other side of the school. We walked through the office as well to see Mrs. May, Bonne, and Mary! They all had so much fun practicing their waving throughout the parade. I apologize that I did not get a group picture of the MT class in their costumes, but there will be more fun times to take group photos. They all enjoyed hammering golf tees into pumpkins this week. It is a great activity to work on so many muscles in their hands and arms. I started the holes in the pumpkins but they had to hold the golf tees and hammer them in with little wooden hammers that are typically used for cracking open lobster. Those hammers happen to be the perfect size for preschool hands! We also made bat hats this week. Some of the kids didn’t finish them this week but we will finish them next week. They used glue bottles to glue on googley eyes and helped me fold the spider legs and staple them on the hat. They are really flexing their glue bottle skills lately! They enjoyed wearing them after the glue was dry. A really fun activity we did this week was make “potions” with water, watercolor, and alka seltzer tabs (they called them fizzies). I talked at length with the kiddos that these are not to eat, and they all understood and followed that rule! Most kids made potions for over an hour in each class! They loved watching the water start to bubble up and sometimes spill over the container. We used green, purple, red, and blue watercolor to make the potions extra special. As they played, I walked around and asked them what I would turn into if I drank the potion. The responses were awesome. Here are some: a house, a jack-o-lantern, a bat, a spider, and a basketball. How cute! On Tuesday, we went out for a long walk around the school grounds and ended up on the soccer field. We played a few rounds of “What Time is it Mr. Fox?”. It’s a really fun game! The directions are: the kids stand in a line and I stand far away, similar to red light green light. They all ask, “What time is it Mr. Fox?” and I answer with a time such as 3 o’clock or 5 o’clock. Whatever number is said, is how many steps they can take towards me. When they are getting close and ask again, I say “Dinner time!” and run to chase them. It was so fun! On Thursday, they were all absolutely astounded to see that, at around 10:30 am, the moon was out in the sky! They all stood there and marveled at it together, and then quickly returned to their game of dinosaur chase. Ask Your Child: Did you go on a parade in your costumes this week? Did you see anyone you know (any grown ups or kids such as Ms. Honi or siblings/older friends)? I hope you all have a great and fun spooky weekend with your families, Deanna
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Hi Families! Announcements:
We had a great week enjoying the fall weather. It has been getting chilly in the morning time, so please be sure to send your child with some light gloves and a hat for these colder mornings, along with a jacket or heavy sweatshirt. Both classes enjoyed the woods this week! It was great to get out there and enjoy everything the area has to offer. The kids LOVED making “food” for animals like soups, pies, and cakes. They are all learning how to be collaborative in their play and share materials. I help them work through these situations by guiding them on how to ask for something from someone else. I then guide the other child to kindly let them know that when they are done with the tool (spoon, cup, pan, etc), they can use it. These situations take practice and can sometimes be frustrating to not get what they want right away, but they are learning an important life skill of self regulation! In both classes this week, we did a really fun craft. We dipped leaves in melted beeswax. They watched me heat up a pot of water and another pot with beeswax on a plug in stove. I briefed them on safety and they were extremely safe and careful! Once the beeswax was completely melted, each child (with my hand over hand assistance) dipped a leaf into the pot, gave it a quick shake, and then helped me hang it up to dry with a clothespin. It was a quick activity for each child, but they practiced many skills during this: patience, safety, and using their fine motor skills making their hand muscles stronger. Then they all took a leaf home — what fun! The dramatic play this week has turned into a farm. There’s an apple tree, corn stalks, a pumpkin patch, and some other fun treats to buy. They all take turns being a worker or a customer. The worker helps keep all the food in the right place, such as the apples on the apple tree, and they ring up the customers. The customers have enjoyed picking the apples and corn and counting out money. It is really fun to see how much money they are charging one another for the items. Sometimes an apple is one dollar and sometimes it’s sixty dollars! A lot of kids wanted to be a worker right away because the cash register is a hot commodity in the class. I helped guide them through that by using a timer so everyone who wanted to could get a turn being a worker. Have a great weekend with your sweet kiddos, Deanna Hi Families! Announcements:
I appreciate the flexibility from the kids and you all this week! As stated in the weekly whole school newsletter, subs are challenging to secure so sometimes we utilize other people in the building to help out. We were lucky to have Andrew for 3 days this week and Crystal back on Thursday. We had a fun week of making connections with friends and playing together. Now that we’re in the swing of things, I am noticing how their friendships are getting deeper and they are understanding each others needs. I overheard a conversation between two friends where they realized they both live in North America and were so happy to have a connection! On Monday, we discussed Indigenous Peoples Day. We watched a quick 11 minute video from a PBS show called Molly from Denali. It is about an Indigenous girl who lives in Alaska with her family. It is a very sweet show, I highly suggest checking out other episodes! Without overloading them with information, we talked about the fact that we live on Abenaki Land and it’s our job to protect the land. I was planning on doing this with the WTh class on Thursday, but will do it next week with them! In both classes this week, I set up some bowtie pasta, gloves, and some black watercolor paint. It was fun to watch them use gloves — it is something that was a little challenging for them! They wore the gloves to paint the bowtie pasta black. We did this in the morning time and by center time (after lunch) they were dry. We used the black pasta as bats to glue onto paper. As we continue to use glue bottles, they are learning that a little dab of glue goes a long way. Sorry that there aren’t a ton of pictures from the WTh class this week. There will be plenty next week! Have a fantastic weekend, Deanna Hi Families! Announcements:
Today was an inservice day for teachers. I had a lovely time connecting with all of the other preschool teachers in our district this morning. We had a very busy day on Monday! In the morning, we put on our muddy buddy suits and started our trek into the woods. This was the first time we have been into the woods this year. For those of you who are new this year, I’ll give some info on the woods: A few years back, I took a class called ECO at North Branch Nature Center. ECO stands for educating children outdoors. After taking that course, I went to the woods and started to set up a preschool ECO spot. Out in our spot, there are vertical and horizontal pulleys with buckets, stumps for us to sit on made by a family a few years back, pots and pans, baskets, and the most important thing: nature! It is quite a magical place. We spend time there throughout the year. While out in the woods this week, they really enjoyed using the pulley systems with the buckets. There are some great pictures in the slideshow below that shows the pulleys and buckets. Before letting go of the rope, they learned and practiced saying “I’m dropping it” before letting go. This will hopefully prevent any heads being bonked with a bucket! One of the pulley systems fell off the branch, and it is a little too high for me to reach without a ladder. Hopefully I can get it back up on the branch by next week. Since October is here and in full swing, we started doing some fun and spooky things in the classroom. In both classes, we made monsters out of play doh. A tray was put out with googley eyes, pom poms, pipe cleaners, and beads. They got to create any kind of monster they wanted! We also made monsters using all of the items that were on the tray with construction paper and glue. This was a great introduction to glue bottles. They are all starting to learn that a little glue goes a long way. On Wednesday, we took a great stroll through the woods for about 25 minutes. We searched for tree roots and mushrooms. It was great to find giant mushrooms and teeny tiny mushrooms. It was great to watch them work together to help find exciting things and climb over giant logs. With the pulley system broken, I opted to bring this class to the ECO spot next week instead of this week. I wanted to make sure both classes have an equal opportunity to enjoy everything! On Thursday we went out to the tennis courts and soccer field! We brought chalk to the tennis courts and drew some pictures, then brought some bouncy balls and soccer balls to the field. During that time, they all practiced taking turns with the balls and kicking them back and forth to one another. A few kids worked together to kick a ball for another friend to go get it. They loved the predictability of taking turns! Ask Your Child: Did you read a book about a spooky box? What were some of the things inside of the spooky box? I hope you all have a great weekend and enjoy the beautiful foliage. We are so lucky to live in such a magical place. 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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