School is Here!

September 3 & 4 Getting to Know You! Letter M and Number 0
Self Directed Learning Stations/Clean Up-Alphabet Seek Sacs, puzzles, and Knex
Weather, Calendar, Counting, Letter and Number of the Week: M and 0
Seat Work –Name writing and worksheet
Reading and Writing 1,2,3, Count with Me/ Lesson One for 4 year old class
Show and Tell- Today bring something that helps us get to know you better!
Music Circle Time
Hello Song-Time to Play/It’s time to Shout Hurray!
Small Motor Skills-Talking with my hands
Instruments-All Night All Day-drumming
Social—Make New Friends: Explain that we are here to make new friends at preschool. Pass a ball around the room when the song ends have that person roll the ball to someone and say their name. If they get really good at that have them also say something they like about that person. Make new friends,but keep the old,One is silver,the other is gold. A circle is round, it has no end. That’s how long, I will be your friend. You help me, and I’ll help you, and together, we will see it through.
Counting-Who is holding number 1? (number cards of 0,1,2,3,4,5)
Music readiness/rhythm-Introduce Alphabet Cards
Large Movement Skills-Sleepy Bunny Song
Cognitive (colors, shapes, letters)-Baa Baa Black Sheep
Singing—Child Chooses Songs
Outside Play-Duck Duck Goose
Learn how to wash our hands
Snack & Story Time
Creating Project (arts and crafts)-My Favorites Collage
Math/Science Skills-Die and number block game
Goodbye Song

Announcements:
I’m super excited to start this new school year!  I have fun field trips planned, cool crafts, awesome new students, and a new energy that I love at the beginning of the school year.  Thanks so much for all of you who were able to come to the open house.  I gave out yearly calendars and found a big typo!  I have the schedules starting on the wrong time.  School this year will begin at 9:30 for the morning classes and 12:30 for the afternoon classes.  Find the updated schedules below. (If you want this hard copy I can e-mail it to you just let me know.)

This week and next we will be getting to know each other.  I will take time to explain our classroom rules and the daily schedule.  I want to take time to see what each student knows now.  I will do a written assessment of their knowledge of the alphabet, numbers, colors, shapes, writing their name, and see how high they can count.  This will be done one on one while the rest of the class is playing.  Each assessment takes only a few minutes but will give me an idea of what they know.  This will be given at the end of December and also at the end of the year so we can see your students progress.
Tuition is due this week. I have a box with a butterfly on it on the corner shelf right as you walk in the house. If you have a check please just put it in there. If you are bringing cash if you can hand it to me and I will mark it down so we both know I got it. Some people find it easier to pay online. I bank at America First Credit Union so if you bank there you can do a manual or automatic transfer every month. My account number is 752496-0 and the account name is music. If you have trouble setting this up let me know and I can help. I also have others that would like to pay for the whole semester at once and that is also just fine.
This week we are going through magazines to find things we love. If you have old magazines that you aren’t using please send them in your child’s backpack. We use magazines for craft projects and it’s nice to get a variety.
If you have facebook have you liked Music Train Preschool yet?  I will try to post pictures and some announcements.  I have parents who really like this because they can share it with grandparents who are far away or close by.  There are a few parents who have asked me not to take pictures of their child and I will not post pictures of your child.  I also will never use their names when posting pictures. Click here to visit our facebook page.  https://www.facebook.com/musictrainpreschool

Homework Challenge:
Each week I give parents a challenge to do at home with their child. This is so important to be involved with their schooling. If you do this your child will get more out of their preschool experience. I am teaching your child some sign language to use in the classroom. This is an effective way to communicate with me and it helps them not to speak out and disrupt the class. Ask your child if they remember how to say “yes”, “no” Thank you, Time, Bathroom, Tissue, Please, and Play. These are signs we will use often at school. If they can’t remember you can ask me and I will teach you so you can use these at home as well. Signs can be used with children that are not speaking yet. You can teach them to your infants and toddlers. I loved using these with my babies that are sitting in their high chair to eat. “All done” and “more” were used a lot!

3-4 year old Preschool Daily Structure

9:30 Self-Directed learning stations /Clean up
9:45 Weather, Calendar, Counting, Letter and Number of the Day
9:50 Seat Work (writing name & worksheet)
9:55 Story Time and Pre-Reading skills
10:00 Music Circle Time (Small and Large Movement, Instruments, Counting, Music Appreciation/Readiness, ABC/Reading, Singing)-Show and Tell once a month*
10:30 Outside Play (Dress appropriately for weather)
10:45 Snacktime/Storytime (story read by teacher while eating snacks)
10:55 Creating Project (arts and crafts)
11:20 Math/Science Skills
11:30 Time to go Home

4-5 year old Preschool Daily Structure
9:30 Self-Directed learning stations Clean up
9:40 Weather, Calendar, Counting, Letter and Number of the Day
9:45 Seat Work (writing name & worksheet)
9:55 Reading Development/Phonograms (letter sounds)
Practice Writing (writing in salt & air)
10:10 Music Circle Time (Small and Large Movement, Instruments, Counting, Music Appreciation/Readiness, ABC/Reading, Singing)-Show and Tell once a month*
10:40 Outside Play (Dress appropriately for weather)
10:55 Snacktime/Storytime (story read by teacher while eating snacks)
11:00 Creating Project (arts and crafts)
11:20 Math/Science Skills
11:30: Time to go Home

Afternoon Times
12:30 Self-Directed Play & Clean up
12:40 Weather, Calendar, Counting, Letter, and Number of the Day
12:45 Seat Work (name practice & worksheet)
12:55 Reading and Writing
1:10 Music Circle Time
1:40-Creating Project
1:55 Outside Free Time and Motor Activity
1:55 Snack and Storytime
2:00 Creating Project (arts and crafts)
2:20 Math/ Science Skills
2:30 Time to go Home