Pre-Primary Room

June News

Next month, we're excited to celebrate with our fathers, uncles, and grandpas for Father's Day! We're also looking forward to learning more about California and how we can be Community Helpers, just as our monthly theme teaches us. We'll explore what the police do, as well firefighters, nurses and doctors, and other Community Helpers!

May Recap

This month has brought so many smiles to our children's faces as we worked on projects for Mother's Day! Everyone was so excited to celebrate with moms, aunts, grandmas, and it was such a joy to see their happiness as they made crafts to give. 



The fun only continued as we explored whales and their journey through the seas. From using tissue paper to make their own whales to singing songs and making whale sounds, we had a blast–just like the water from their blowhole! We learned the parts of a whale and the differences between a few, such as the beluga, orca, and the narwhal, a tusked favorite of the children! 

With The Hungry Caterpillar as our book of the month, the children excitedly picked it to read and reread, naming every fruit the caterpillar ate each day, counting them out to one another. We explored the foods whales eat, from plankton to fish to squid and more. We also learned that butterflies migrate as well, just like the whales we learned about. 

We then learned the different foods South America has, including special holidays and traditional foods. We got an inside taste with our cookery dishes–delicious guacamole for Cinco De Mayo! 

April Recap

It was such a fun month learning from Islands, Australia Animals, Volcanos and lastly Pacific Island. We had a fun time making our own Kola Bears to decorate our monthly theme board. We had a blast learning some interesting facts about volcanoes during our circle time discussions. For example, we learned that the tallest volcano is located on the planet Mars.

Throughout the month we read one of our favorite books, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. We even learned the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom song. The children really enjoyed singing and dancing to this during our music and movement time. The children had a fun time incorporating the song with colorful scarves as they moved their body to the song. 

 

Our favorite was our Spring Egg Hunt. The children had a blast outside hunting for their Spring Eggs and enjoyed all the goodies that were filled inside. We also were able to make and create our own Spring egg art.

March Recap

We've had a great time learning about Africa, dinosaurs, and reading so many Dr.Seuss books this month. From the animals in Africa to traditional music and clothing, we explored so much of the different cultures in Africa. And with the oh so fun and wacky books of Dr.Seuss, we've made our own funky phrases to use in class, too! 



With many of us enjoying making sounds and music with anything we can in class, we introduced a traditional African instrument, the Kalimba. The children had a wonderful time listening to the different sounds each key on the Kalimba produced and forming their own tunes as they put the sounds together. We also really enjoyed imitating the sounds and movements of animals found in Africa–we made a safari of our own some days!

Throughout March, in honor of Dr.Seuss, we colored and painted characters in his books, such as the Lorax, Things 1 and 2, and the Grinch. The children loved reading and rereading the books, repeating the funky names of Warren Wiggins and Waldo Woo. 

St.Patrick's Day was another really fun day, with green clothes and coloring sheets. We loved exploring different shades of green and reading about leprechauns. We can't wait to see a rainbow–and what waits at the end of it! 

February Recap

We have had such a fun month celebrating Valentine's Day, Friendship, and Cultural Awareness. We explored so many cultures and their foods, traditions, and clothes. And our Valentine's Day Celebration was so much fun! 

As many Asian cultures use chopsticks, we had a great experience learning to as well with fake sushi. All the children loved practicing fine motor skills as they tried and successfully picked up pieces of sushi! We really enjoyed learning to transfer liquids from a teapot to a cup as well, in honor of the importance of tea in many Asian cultures, including China and Japan. 

As we prepared for our Valentine's party and celebrations, we had some fun with plenty of paint! With reds and pinks, we painted our fingers and used heart cookie cutters as we learned about how different cultures celebrate Valentine's Day. 



We also had a blast with the book Little Blue and Little Yellow. We sang songs about primary and secondary colors. Mixing primary colors, we were able to see what colors they make and the different shades they have. 

January Recap

Welcome to the New Year! We've had a wonderful time celebrating the New Year and learning about the first season of the year: Winter. 

To better understand the winter season, we've learned about how snow is made and even played with fake snow! Reading The Mitten, we've tried wearing some of our own. The children have loved choosing from a dinosaur, duck, and car mitten to learn how to fold and wear mittens during this cold season. 

As we explore Winter, Snow, and Ice, we've discussed penguins and their life cycle. Using cutouts to match each stage of the penguin life cycle, the children have begun matching words to their life stage, such as egg, hatchling, and adult. They have enjoyed learning about penguins so much, we decided to make some for our January board! 



With the winter season bringing snow and cold weather, we're exploring the animals that go into hibernation, such as bears, bats, and hedgehogs. The children have had a great time using crayons and colored pencils to color the habitats animals hibernate in, as well as practice line skills when matching animals to their hibernation habitats. 

December Recap

We can't believe how fast this year has gone and all that we've covered these past few months. But we're so excited for the new year and all that it holds! 

With December's theme of Celebrations Around the World, we have learned about so many different holidays and the fun ways we celebrate. From Hanukkah to Kwanzaa to Christmas, we learned about how different cultures celebrate and come together. We also explored The Giving Tree and the theme of sharing with those around us.



We learned about how long each celebration lasts and some of the different holidays, including the Menorah for Hanukkah, the Unity Cup for Kwanzaa, and decorated Christmas tree. The children loved painting their hands for the Menorah, learning that Hanukkah lasts eight nights and the ninth candle in the middle of the Menorah, the shamash, is used to light one candle a night. They also really enjoyed our holiday cookery and helping make healthy, festive foods to eat together! 

November Recap

I can’t believe how fast time is going and With two months left we’re almost at the end of the year!

In November we learned all about Virtues and Values. This helped us show kindness and courtesy to everyone around us. Some of the things we discussed and talked about throughout the month were what it is to be thankful and the things we can be thankful for. Like, our family, our home, our pets, school, friends and food. We went on to learn how we can practice being helpful at school and at home. We learned how to set a table. Practical life allowed them to compare what is a fruit and what is vegetable. We even were able to practice cutting some fruits and vegetables. Continuing reviewing our letters A-K.  Lastly our monthly book To fill a bucket. This teaches the children to find a sense of joy when they give to others and to be thankful when we receive something from someone.

Their favorite thing we did this month and what the children looked forward to all month was our Thanksgiving feast at the end of the month. They were so excited and thrilled to be celebrating with all their friends. Each of the children had their own place mat that they colored and decorated. Lastly each of the children brought in something to share and eat with their friends.

October Recap

What a fun and exciting month October was! The children enjoyed learning about The Solar System, the life cycle of a pumpkin and celebrating Halloween. We also went ahead and taught the children about fire safety too. They learned how to stop, drop and roll. 

The book of the month was “We’re Going on A Leaf Hunt”. A book I highly recommend you read with your child. It is a book where your child learns about the name of trees with a fun twist sounding just like We’re Going on A Bear hunt song. 

This month’s Montessori work the children used spoons to scoop up pom poms and insert them into small pumpkin buckets. They also count pumpkins from 1 – 5. s and the children mixed the colors red and yellow to make orange. 

Mid-October we focused a bit more about pumpkins and the celebration of Halloween. The children learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin, explored the insides of a pumpkin, painted pumpkins and washed pumpkins. 

As for enrichment activities, the children made spiders out of crackers, cream cheese and pretzels. They also made a harvest trail mix with lots of goodies. For music the children sang and danced to lots of Halloween themed songs, they absolutely loved Five Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate. 

Heading towards the end of October the children enjoyed dressing up in their costumes, having their snack party and having a blast trick or treating the inside class with their friends. Now that we’re done with that, it’s time to get ready and introduce the next huge holiday that we celebrate. 

September Recap

I can’t believe how fast September flew by, and our first month of school already behind us!



In September our theme was All About Me. The children had a really great time taking home their All About Me posters to work on with their parents and were displayed in our classroom in the last month where we could get to know a little more of our new friends and all their interests. We also focused on our first four letters of the alphabet A-D,    ,continued counting numbers.  We also had fun singing and doing the motions to Wheels on the Bus during circle time, read our book of the month The kissing hand.  The book helped the children to be at ease when going to school and find comfort. We went over the calendar and counted the days routine. We also discussed our jobs and how to use them correctly. Back to school night was a great time. We were able to meet the parents and get to know them a little better and go over what our daily schedule looks like and expectations in the classroom. In our enrichment class the children enjoyed each week of cooking class, where they made a school bus, Fall tree. 

Summer 2024 Recap

This summer we kept busy but had so much fun along the way! We had a different theme each week which made each week fun and exciting to focus on and learn something new. Our first week theme started off with Party in the USA. For cooking we made the American Flag using Graham cracker, blueberries and strawberries. The students painted Star with colors red, white and blue. As we ventured out to our new theme Underwater Adventure, during circle time we discussed all the sea animals. The fascinating theme the children really enjoyed was Space. We had so much fun making our own rockets and learned a rocket ship song about going to the moon during our circle time. Then for Camping, we pretend we were camping outdoors using a tent, as we read books on the nice nature of outdoors. Our Farm theme was nice, we had a petting zoo that came where all the children thoroughly enjoyed seeing all different animals. We explored Things that Fly, which include certain animals and certain transportation, airplanes or kites in the sky. For Fitness Fun week, the children were able to do several different exercises, and learned some yoga moves!



The children loved all the crafts and cooking activities that made it even more fun and exciting and something to do each week. The children loved all our house field trips that included Bubble Mania, A Petting Zoo, Magic Joe, and our Hawaiian Dancers. 

Now that our summer fun has come to an end, we are excited for a new school year with a new group of friends that will join our Pre-Primary class. We will be introducing new Montessori jobs each month that will be fun to experience and explore its theme each month.