January,   2010      Happy New Year!

SPACE  &  SKY   /   DINOSAURS
Text Box: Please welcome Kate Kiser, a teaching intern from Lake Washington Technical College! She will be with us for several weeks, primarily with the TWTh class, but also with our class.. Text Box: MWF class Text Box: Social Goals: We are continuing to learn & use our friends’ names. We will soon send home a class snapshot. This isn’t the special “save this forever” one you’ll get at the end of the year. This one is for your child to carry around and play with and bring to the dinner table so you can talk about school, using friends’ names & seeing friends’ faces. If it gets ripped, we’ll give you another! We are also adding to vocabularies with words to use when your child needs something or needs someone. Text Box: SPACE! 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - Ready for take off! We are preparing for take off in our Little Friends’ space ship (after your children help build it, of course.) We explore some of the stars and planets in our galaxy. We also talk about all the things we see in the daytime and nighttime skies. HOMEWORK: Please try to observe together our daytime sky and especially our nighttime sky. Start a dialogue about what your child and you see. If possible, write down some of these words or have your child draw an impression of what you have seen, and then send it back to school. This can be a great way to take a deep breath, slow down, and appreciate the wonders of above. ——- Teacher Patrice Text Box: DINOSAURS! Well, of course, your child knows all the names. But we can add a little bit extra because we have the Dinosaur Box from the UW’s Burke Museum. We see just how big a T-Rex tooth really was. We touch a petrified stone with an impression of dinosaur skin. And then there’s the gastroliths—rocks some dinosaurs swallowed to help “pound” vegetable matter in their stomachs into something which could be digested. Let’s face it—Dinosaurs are really cool! Text Box: PLEASE NOTE: Registration for next’s fall starts on Fri. 1/22. Please see the attached information sheet. And please make sure we have your new registration form. Kids’ Time is Sat. 1/16. Please sign up near the office. There will be lots of digging in the sandbox for our “dinosaur bones”. Remember sturdy shoes & warm clothes! Text Box: Dear Families—Wow! We are already into our 4th month of school! It has been wonderful! We have been practicing yoga on Fridays. So far the children have learned the Roller Coaster, Warrior, Om Easy Seated, Tree, Bicycle, Downward facinf Dog, and Pocking Horse poses. It has been a delight to see the children enjoy and participate in yoga. Besides the wonderful physical benefits of yoga—increased flexibility, strength, coordination, and body awareness—the children have the opportunity to be creative and to shine in the group. Whne the children are doing a specific pose, they get the chance to embellish it and share with the class. For example, when we do the Warrior pose (aka, the Firefighter pose), the children share who they are saving in the imaginary fire. They have saved everything from a small kitten to their mothers! And when we are doing the Downward Facing Dog pose, the children can pick up an imaginary treat for their dog. We’ve had imaginary nutritious fruits to yummy candy canes! It has been such a reward watching the children excitedly grab their yoga mats and practice their poses with confidence and creativity. I look forward to the next part of the school year to see what joy awaits us! —- Teacher Augusta