Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello families~

 

We are on the verge of a little break from school to enjoy family time and big feasts.  I can't express to you in words how thankful I am to all of you for being such amazing parents.  I have wonderful families in both of my classes and nothing shows that to me more than having a successful Friendship Feast like we had last week.  I thank you all for helping, being there, and generally supporting your school and your children.  Good on you!

 

This week we will have a make up day for the 3s class.  We will have school at our normal time on Monday.  Parent helpers will arrive at 8:30 am and class will end at 11:40 am.  Please send a snack as usual.  Also, please, please send your children with coats, hats, gloves, etc. for playground time.  I will usually go out regardless of cold or rain so please send your child prepared for the weather.  They will enjoy outdoor time so much more with a warm body.

 

The 4s class will be going on a nature walk on Monday.  We will meet at school as normal at 1pm.  Please try to be on time.  We will leave school at 1:15 and meet in the parking lot of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormon church on the corner of Elm and 13th streets).  The physical address for the church is 1285 S Elm St.  We will park in the far back corner of the lot closest to 13th street.  We will gather together and then walk for a short jaunt through the neighborhood.  We will travel along a nature trail that ends up at the Canby City Park.  After we arrive at the park we will play for a few minutes on the playground, and then we will have snack.  The children will take their collection bags (from our Leafman project) to collect various treasures they find along the way.  After we have snack we will walk to the river to explore and see what we can see.  Then we will walk around the park and back to the nature trail.  We will walk along the nature trail back to our parked cars in the church parking lot.  I believe on the permission slip that I stated that school would end at the park, but school will actually end at the Mormon chuch parking lot at 3:40 pm.  I apologize for any confusion.  This should be a neat experience and tons of fun!!  I am really excited about sharing this trail with the children.  I hope they love it as much as I do.  I am so thankful I can share it with them. 

 

Please remember to dress your children for cold, wet weather.  We will go rain or shine.  The weather report at this point looks good, but it doesn't look very warm.  Please send your child with hats, coats, gloves, scarves, and sensible shoes.  Rubber boots are best.  Please send a snack as usual.  As always, your are all welcome to come along.  Younger siblings are also welcome, but the trail is not easy walking for new walkers or for strollers.  If your child is younger I might suggest a backpack.  If you have questions please feel free to call me at the school.  Take care and see you soon!  ~Anne.

Soup!

Hi there!  Don't forget that we will be making soup next week.  The children will be asked what kind of vegetable they would like to bring to add to the soup this Wednesday (3s) and next Monday (4s).  Try to discuss with your child what kinds of ingredients go into a soup.  Help them discern the difference between fruits and vegetables so they have an idea of what they would like to bring.  Maybe you could have a bowl of vegetable-style soup together and talk about the contents or look at a recipe and discuss the ingredients.  Take a trip to the grocery store and look at all the vegetables that they could choose from.  Make it fun and memorable. 

 

Your child will bring home a small slip of paper on the days listed above that states what vegetable they have chosen.  Try to involve them in the shopping trip.  Please bring all veggies to class in an unprepared form on Wednesday, November 16.  We will be having our Friendship Feast on Friday, November 18.  Please feel free to join us for the last part of class.

 

DON'T FORGET: Pictures with Curly (Craig) Huston are tomorrow!!  Prepare your child by talking about a man coming and taking a picture of them in the Art Center.  He is very friendly and good with the children, but it is always good to let them know.  You are not obligated to purchase portraits (you do not have to have payment tomorrow), but is an option.  I believe all purchasing of portraits happens online.  Your information sheet will explain most everything you need to know. 

 

I was most proud of your children last week. They did a lot of amazing things!!  I was blown away by my 3s class and the way they handled the "Mad Monster Science" experiments that we did.  The 4s class is starting to become such good friends.  They are relying less and less on chatting and playing with Teacher Anne and more and more on each other as peers.  It is magic!

 

Have a great day!  Don't forget to occasionally check this very blog for small updates and fun observations.  ~Anne.   :)

Harvest Greetings!

Welcome to Fall!  Autumn has seeped in and the cold, scarf-wearing weather is here.  I can't say I am resisiting it.  I love to go for fall color walks this time of year.  There are many places for this in and around Canby so don't forget to go outside!  Champoeg Park is beautiful this time of year and is only $5/car for day use.  Alternatively you can pay $25 for a yearly pass and get into this as well as many other state parks for free with your pass!  What a deal.  Load up your friends in your van/truck/car and go on a nature walk-what could be better?  Take rain gear and go on a rainy day for a sensory walk.  It will be lots of fun to come home to a nice, hot cup of cocoa or spiced cider after that!  

The following is a description of what we will be doing for the month of November.  Remember that we have the Thanksgiving holiday coming up and that Curly will be here to take pictures of the little ones.  At the end of the month we will have a visit from our local firefighters.  We have two 3s makeup days this month: Nov. 7 and Nov. 21.  Parent helpers arrive at 8:30 am and school starts at 9 am (as usual) on those days.  I am planning a big nature walk with the 4s class on November 21 to the Canby City Park.  This is a walk that I do with my children on a regular basis.  I enjoy it so much that I would like to show it to the children in my class.  Enjoy these cooler days and remember that Teacher Anne goes outside.  Rain or shine!  :)

 

Weds., Nov. 2: 3s class-In response to some of the creepy things the children may have seen or are talking about because of Halloween we will be "studying" monsters this week.  Today we will read Ed Emberley's Go Away Big Green Monster and make faces out of different shapes.  We'll also play with spaghetti!  We'll have a special monster friend in our classroom that the children will have a chance to transform themselves into.  4s class-Today will be an Open School day and we will have a chance to play with the children from Teacher Andy's classroom.  We will paint our spiders from Monday and we will learn about the spider's life cycle.  We will sing a song about a spider on the floor.

 

Fri., Nov. 4: 3s class-We will read another monster book today and make a book about the "monsters" in our class.  We'll play with flubber and watch it ooze.  4s class-We will finish up our study of spiders by decorating the salt dough spiders we made and we'll make a special edible spider!

 

Mon., Nov. 7: 3s class-MAKE UP DAY ALERT!!  SCHOOL TODAY!!  We will start to talk about fall and the changing colors and leaves and such.  We will read a story about the leaves falling down and we will learn a new song about the different colors the leaves change to.  We will make a fall tree with bath scrubbers and use spray bottles to make leaves to put in our windows.  The children can pretend to be little firefighters in the Canby Community Preschool Fire Station in the dramatic playroom.  On Wednesday, the children will be asked what kind of vegetable they would like to bring to use in the stone soup for our Friendship Feast (Nov. 18).  This is a good time to talk with your children about the differences between fruits and vegetables.  Maybe a trip to the produce section is in order?  4s class-Today we will read a story by Lois Ehlert called Leaf Man.  It will inspire our activities for the week.  We will make bags for collecting nature items and we'll use shapes stickers to make faces.  The dramatic play room is a Fire Station!!

 

Weds., Nov. 9: 3s class-PICTURE DAY!! Craig Huston (Curly) will be here to take individual pictures of your child.  You are not obligated to purchase, but it is an option.  You might want to talk with your child about a nice man coming to class and taking their picture.  (Change is always better when prepared for.)  We will trace the children's hand and arm and make a tree out of it.  Your child will come home with a note stating what kind of vegetable they would like to bring to class on November 16.  We will be cutting and chopping veggies for our feast that day.  4s class-PICTURE DAY!!  Tell your child bring their best smile today.  We will go on a collection walk in small groups today and make a Leaf Man.  We will use my salad spinner to make leaves out of coffee filters.  If you have an extra salad spinner that you don't mind getting temporarily paint-covered, bring it on in!  On Monday, the children will be asked what kind of vegetable they would like to bring to use in the stone soup for our Friendship Feast (Nov. 18). This is a good time to talk with your children about the differences between fruits and vegetables.  Maybe you could look at the differences in the produce section on your next grocery store visit.

 

Fri., Nov. 11: NO SCHOOL TODAY!!  VETERAN'S DAY HOLIDAY.

 

Mon., Nov. 14: Today we will hear a story about a village that makes soup out of a stone!  We will paint a turkey together and we will cut out feathers to place on the turkey we paint.  Your child will bring home a note stating what kind of vegetable they would like to add to our soup for the friendship feast (Nov. 18).  Please bring it unprepared on Wednesday.

 

Weds., Nov. 16: 3s class-Today we will be cutting, chopping, dicing, and slicing!  The children will bring the vegetable of their choice and we will prepare it for our soup. 4s class-We will be little chefs today and chop and slice all those veggies.  The children will get a chance to paint with vegetables.  

 

Fri., Nov. 18: 3s class-Friendship Feast day.  We will celebrate being friends with each other and feelings of thankfulness with a small feast which the children will prepare almost entirely themselves.  We will make corn bread, butter, and apple pie.  If you would like join us you are welcome to come and be thankful with us at 11am.  We will sit down family style and eat our feast.  NO SNACK IS NEEDED TODAY.  4s class-Friendship Feast!  We will place thankful feathers on the turkey we made together, and talk about being thankful for all the great things and people in our lives.  The children will make soup, corn bread, butter, and pumpkin pie.  We will make a feast that you are welcome to join.  We will have our feast at 3 pm.  NO SNACK IS NEEDED TODAY.

 

 

Mon., Nov. 21: 3s class-MAKE UP DAY ALERT!!  SCHOOL TODAY!!  Today we will start making Christmas presents and go on a small nature walk.  Send hats, coats, gloves, and boots.  4s class-Today we will be going on our special nature walk to the Canby City Park.  We will meet at the school and leave around 1:15-1:20 pm.  You are welcome to come with us if you would like.  The more help we have, the better.  We will leave the school and travel to the Mormon Church on the corner of Elm and 13th streets.  We will walk from that point through the neighborhood to a nature trail that leads to the city park.  We will arrive at the park and play, eat snack, do some journaling of the things we saw, and go see the river.  We will go on a short walk around the park and then return to our cars via the nature trail.  We will do this rain or shine so please be sure to send your child prepared.  Their comfort level depends on your preparation.  They will need rubber boots, raincoats, hats, gloves, etc.  The children will bring the collection bags we made earlier in the month.  Please send a snack as usual.  This should be a lot of fun!  I would like to do this in every season while in school, so the success of this trip will dictate future plans.  I'm super excited about sharing this favorite of my family's with your children.

NO SCHOOL NOVEMBER 23-25.  Enjoy your time with family.

Mon., Nov. 28: Today we will make a fire truck and paint flames for our fire station.

Weds., Nov. 30: 3s class-We will decorate the fire truck the 4s class started on Monday and make a fire hat we can wear while we enjoy a visit from the Canby firefighters!  4s class-The children will decorate the fire truck we started on Monday and make fire badges to wear while listening to the firefighters.  This should be a fun time to visit with the firefighters and learn about what they do when they have to go on a call.  

I am so thankful for all of you and for your willingness to share your children with me.  I am thankful every day for the things they teach me.  I hope you have a great month!  See you in the class room.  ~Anne.