MONTH AT A GLANCE--JUNE

This year has been rewarding. The program grew with the addition of the Enrichment Day at the studio and the Family Nights.This month we are reviewing in all of the areas of study. We will end the year with a graduation celebration for family night at the Lacey community center and a play day at the park(studio for a rainy day) on the last day of school. There are several new families who have brought joy to our lives and we have several five year olds who are moving on. We will miss their talents and leadership in the classroom. Thank you to all of our families for a good year.

GEOGRAPHY..Back to discussing all of the continents. We are comparing the climates,the people and the animals in each area of the world. For many of the new students it is and introduction to the world so we are including the land and water forms.

BOTANY..The most basic thing that we have emphasized is the plant life cycle. We are comparing living and non-living things.

ZOOLOGY.. the comparisons of living and non living cross over between the two sciences. Classifying all the different animal kingdoms that have been discussed is interesting for the children too. Ms Sandi has provided living creatures for the children to touch and see to make this area of learning come to life.

LANGUAGE ARTS..We are reviewing the letters and their sounds. The older children are putting the sounds together and reading words and phrases. Ms. Sandi loves good Children's literature,which she shares with the children and adds a hands on experiences to reinforce what they are learning.

MUSIC..rhythm and melody are the foundation of music so we are drumming and singing every day.We dance and move to make sure the music sinks in all the way down to their toes. During our African Unit we were introduced to the Brain dance. We incorporate the moves in a sequence that stregthens connections in our brains.

ART...The lessons that we have had from Ms. Julie in the areas of sculpture,shape and cubism have been interesting for the children. Now we are making gifts and decorating tee shirts with autographed hand prints of the preschool friends.

MONTH AT A GLANCE--MAY

The intense green lawns,the popcorn like tree blossoms and the colorful flowering bulbs seem to be dramatically welcoming my favorite season..Spring! We celebrated Earth Day this year with our fellow Olympians dressed up like forest folk in the Procession of the Species Parade. The monthly studies have been centered on Australia, Caring for our classroom environment and making music instruments.

GEOGRAPHY... We have been discussing the location and weather differences compared to our lives here in the Northwest. The color code for helping us to remember the name of the continent is brown. We are also reviewing land and water forms since Australia is a very large Island.

ZOOLOGY...Ms. Sandi brought part of and Octopus leg that her husband found while scuba diving as part of her lesson on this underwater creature. She also taught animal life cycles using baby chicks for an example. As many of you have noticed the children are totally fascinated with digging for worms, giving the teachers another opportunity for conversations on life cycles.

BOTANY..Plant life cycles are taught naturally with all of the changes from the season.The Children have been digging in the garden preparing the soil for planting. the first plants to go in the ground this year were strawberries. Next comes chives and peas.

MONTH AT A GLANCE--FEBRUARY

February seemed to come to us very quickly. This is the "Random Acts of Kindness"month and in many Asian cultures the New Year is celebrated. We will focus on both of these and enjoy the Valentines and play practice.

GEOGRAPHY--We just flew into Asia..the largest continent in size and population. All of the continents have a color code in the classroom environment. Yellow is the color code for Asia. We will use that same color for our color of the month. Asia will guide the curriculum themes in the rest of the subjects of study so that experience this part of the world with all of our senses.

ZOOLOGY--Since this is the year of the rabbit we are studying rabbits. We will go over their classification in the animal kingdom and the parts of the rabbit. We have two friendly rabbits to care for in the classroom,named Doki and Umi.

BOTANY--Bulbs are nestled in the ground waiting to peer out. It is a good time to study the parts of a bulb and how they grow. We will plant more bulbs on the warm days in the front yard and in the garden boxes.

LANGUAGE ARTS..There are several children who have been word building and some children who have recently discovered that they can read. This has motivated the younger children even more to learn their sounds. Miss Sandi is using stories from Asia or with an Asian theme. The first book they read was about toothpick soldiers. Then they made their own soldiers or sculptures with toothpicks,gumdrops and marshmallows.

MATH..Fractions can be fun during a month when we are talking about kindness..We can cut snacks, or paper or play dough and share with our friends. The counters in the classroom will change to match the valentines theme.

JAPANESE..This is such a fun month for Sensei, we are totally supporting her language studies with crafts, cooking and music activities. She already made a tasty stir fry and they practiced their Japanese writing.

PRACTICAL LIFE..The environment will have folding clothes and fabrics. We will use our chopsticks for tweezing and sorting. The cutting that was mentioned in math will include Bananas and vegetables.

MUSIC..We have some beautiful instrumental music to listen and move to. The children are comparing the different instrument sounds. They continue to practice Japanese and program songs.

MONTH AT A GLANCE--JANUARY

January is the perfect month to focus on science. The weather is more extreme which brings more inquiries from the children and there is more time spent indoors to observe science experiments. Right after Winter break we start the year off reviewing classroom rules and routines. Then the teacher gets to enjoy the sudden burst of "desire to learn" that occurs from children who are settled in their environment and comfortable with their relationships at school

GEOGRAPHY--Antarctica is our destination for this month. It is the land of extreme weather that is inhabited by scientists and unique cold weather tolerant animal life. It's position on the globe makes for interesting discussions about the seasons.

ZOOLOGY--We studied Penguins again this year. We can learn a lot from their behaviors in the groups or communities that they live in. The children enjoy watching the penguins on the computer from the live webcams set up by the scientists.

LANGUAGE ARTS--Books that match the curriculum themes are read and the children continue working at their individual pace on phonics using objects,sandpaper letters and pictures to match up with the words and sounds that they are learning.

MUSIC--We are learning songs for our spring performance. On enrichment Fridays we dance and move in the dance studio. We use drum circles to learn rhythm and we sing to the top of our lungs filling the big space. More creative movement activities like dancing with scarves,following the leader and moving like animals gives the children a chance to experience the music through their body movements.

JAPANESE--Sensei has new music for the children to learn and more words that match the curriculum for the month.

PRACTICAL LIFE--This is another area that is very important keeping little hands busy in the winter time. The food prep like peeling carrots and making toast are reviewed again,especially for the younger students. Grating soap and using the powdered soap for hand mixing practice is a favorite activity.

BOTANY--Since we are indoors more at this time the focus is plant care using indoor plants. The needs of the indoor plants are compared to that of the outdoor plants.

MONTH AT A GLANCE--NOVEMBER

November came upon us quickly. The fall weather is beautiful and the children are adjusting nicely to the classroom routines. Friday enrichment days at the studio are wonderful. The children are getting plenty of physical activity and soaking in the academics taught on those days. Family nights are interesting and they give us the much needed bonding time with family and our school community.

GEOGRAPHY--We are flying back to North America,into the United States. We will color maps and study the continent as a whole,then several of our activities will focus on how our country is a melting pot for so many different cultures and traditions.

ZOOLOGY--Birds are the main focus for this time. How their bodies work for flying,where they live and what they eat are a few questions that will be answered. We added a Love bird named "Amigo"as a pet to our room for observation.

BOTANY--Leaves are changing and falling. We are looking at the parts of the leaf and then in the spring we will go into studying Leaf shapes.

LANGUAGE ARTS.--Practicing beginning sounds and building words phonetically is on going. Ms. Sandi ignites the children's interest in reading by bringing in well written books to read and discuss. Then the children make pages for our own books.

MATH--Counting in different ways and learning Place Value are the foundations that we are building on before we go on. A few of th older children have discovered adding.

MUSIC--We are studying music to celebrate the Holidays. We will perform some of the music numbers at our gathering for family night and cookie exchange in December. Bells that are color coded are being used to to teach sounds then we add posters with color coded symbols to help us remember the notes.

JAPANESE--The everyday greetings, colors and numbers are well ingrained in many of the children's memory. They are using Japanese words for familiar American games such as "duck duck goose" and "red light green light." Words from the monthly class themes are incorporated into the weekly lessons.

MONTH AT A GLANCE--OCTOBER

What a fun Month. We started with a field trip to Lattin's Farm for the animal tour and the pumpkin patch. Almost all of the families came and enjoyed cider donuts, feeding the animals,and picking out "orange" pumpkins.(A lot of pumpkin patches had problems with their crops because of the rain.) Then the children "flew" to Africa on Bliss Airlines. They were greeted by Bethany and Bill Sweet with an interesting well prepared presentation. Another highlight for the month was the family night. We were greeted by the spicy smells of the different dishes that families brought. After a tasty meal we danced and played and drummed African style,led by a very talented Musician and Teacher,Kerri Lynn Nichols. We finished the month dressed in costumes for a Halloween party,assisted by fun moms.

Geography--The continent studies are all about Africa. Coloring maps,playing games and experiencing the culture from parts of this large continent,through traditional music,stories and food.

Botany--The leaves have been amazing this year so we started looking at the changes and studying the parts of the leaf.

Zoology--Insects whats and hows and whys,especially those from Africa. Joseph Stanger our Jr Scientist shares his insect collection which included a scorpion,tarantula, millipeed, and hissing cockroach. There were caterpillars and slugs to handle.

Language arts--Sandi Stanger is doing in depth language studies with the children. She Reads with them. Then they create pages that can be bound into book.She chooses themes that match the classroom study topics.

Music--Rhythm and Drumming are the focus. The children sing and dance continually with casual songs and some that can be used for future programs. They are in the process of learning a dance to celebrate the seasons.

Japanese--Christie Carlson,who the children call Sensi,has been teaching basics numbers, colors and small conversations. They have been enjoying her creative movement games that match the themes and are just fun to play.

Art--This year's art studies are based on the continent that we are in. One example is African Adrinka symbols and patterns which were introduced,then they decorated their drums with their own designs.

Summer School

It is definitely the good old summertime. The mild summer is wonderful for teaching. I am really enjoying the children. New friendships are forming and other relationships are getter stronger which will give the class a strong foundation for Fall. We have had the pleasure of including some of the older siblings. Our theme for the summer is Water Eco -Systems. We are studying about the land and water and the creatures that live in the water. The Puget sound is a natural classroom for this. Each week a different Eco system will be covered with an accompanied field trip.

Summer is also a good time to focus on patriotism. Each week there will be lessons that teach love and respect for our country.

GEOGRAPHY..Learning about Land and Water forms and how the land and seas are formed.
We continue to trace and paint maps of the world.

BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY... Each Eco system supports a different range of plants and animals who's lives intertwine. We will learn about each of them individually then see how they are all supporting each other such as ponds, lakes, rivers, tide pools, and oceans.

SCIENCE ... We have our own team of science teachers, Joseph Joel and Jacob Stanger. They will bring in science experiments and new research on the science topics that we are studying. Joseph's first experiment about molecules using the bottles that look like ocean water was a hit!

MUSIC,ART AND THEATER...These three will support our water Eco system theme but our main focus will be patriotism. Our first few songs that we are working on are "The Grand Old Flag" written by Cohen, and "My Country" and "My Flag" from The Children's Songbook. Art projects include painting and drawing animals from the ecosystems. At the end of the summer classes there will be a small performance t0 share our patriotism with our families and friends.

LANGUAGE ARTS.. We are learning phonics and beginning reading rules. We will practice reading together along with the phonics practice. A lot of emphasis is placed on the beginning short vowel and consonant sounds and word building for those who know their sounds. Please practice this during your family reading time and the children will progress twice as fast.

MATH. Main focus is counting and learning basic accounting skills and the value of money.

JAPANESE...We review our basic numbers colors and greeting phrases. Jamie Stanger, our guest Japanese teacher, will bring in new words and phrases for us to learn from time to time this summer.

BUSINESS

We are adding the registration info to the Blog and calendars so that you have a better chance to see the whole summer for planning purposes.

There is a calendar with the summer class and special events information on the blog now.

We have cubbies now for the children. Each child needs a pair of slippers or house shoes to change into for classroom time. The slippers and a gallon zip-lock with a change of clothes can be left at the school or carried back and forth in backpacks, whatever works for your child.

We are adding emergency packs for each child now. As part of our Disaster Preparedness program, every student is asked to have a Personal Emergency Preparedness Kit provided by their family. These kits will be stored at the school for emergency use only. A list of necessary supplies for the kit is provided below.
3 small cans of Juice
1 small box of Cereal (individual size)
1 small (5 0z) Pudding
1 small can of Beans, Tuna or Chicken as a protein source (8 0z)
1 Granola Bar
1 Candy Bar
3 Plastic Spoons and Napkins
1 - 1 Gallon zip-lock bag to hold the above items
If your child has allergies or special dietary needs, please adjust the emergency items to their needs.