THEME: CELEBRATING THE SEASON

During this theme the learning experiences in the classroom will focus on the symbols, customs and sounds of Christmas. At circle time we will embrace the holiday season by reading holiday books and playing group games. At center time we will create many decorations for home and school and all of the children will be busy making a fun holiday gift for their families!

Music time will find us singing Jingle Bells, Rudolph, Must Be Santa and other popular songs of the season. We will sing these at the party and hope you will all join in and sing along!

The letter of the week activity is L is for lights.

*December 11-15 is a sharing week. The children are asked to bring in a holiday treasure on their scheduled sharing day.

REMINDERS, REQUESTS, AND OTHER INFO:

*The January snack calendar is available to sign.
*Please check the spare clothes in your child’s backpack to be sure they include
socks and warmer clothes for winter.
*The holiday party will be held on Thursday 12/21 at 9:30.
The notice about this has been sent home in your child’s backpack.
*An additional lunch bunch will be offered on Tuesday 12/19. This is a regular
Lunch bunch and children should bring their own lunch.

Happy shopping!

A Christmas finger play:
Here is the chimney (make fist with thumb tucked inside)
Here is the top (place other hand over)
Open the lid (remove hand)
Out Santa will pop! (wiggle thumb)
Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!

A Santa song we will sing at the party: (tune is to head, shoulders, knees and toes)

Hat, whiskers, belt and boots, belt and boots.
Hat, whiskers, belt and boots, belt and boots.
Twinkling eyes and a little cherry nose.
Hat, whiskers, belt and boots, belt and boots.

Happy Holidays!

Language concepts such as rhyming words and opposites are part of the curriculum throughout the school year. This week there will be a more concentrated focus on these important pre-reading skills. To help reinforce this, each day we will read a selection of some of our favorite books and nursery rhymes and then follow up with a variety of activities at the learning centers. Some of the learning experiences for the week include:

-creating a hard/soft collage, painting with black and white paint and conducting a Humpty Dumpty experiment @ circle time.

At music time we’ll play Doggie, Doggie, Where’s Your Bone? and we’ll sing Laurie Berkner’s Nursery Rhyme medley!
The letter of the week activity is J is for jingle bells.

WEEK OF DECEMBER 4 – 8, 2017THEME: UNDERGROUND ANIMALS

This week we will explore the habitats and characteristics of underground animals.
Through books and discussions we will learn about mice, moles, rabbits and more!

We plan to crawl through a tunnel, use flashlights to search the classroom for animals and create rabbit puppets and hedgehog paintings.

The letter of the week activity is K is for keys.

REMINDERS, REQUESTS AND OTHER INFO:
*The December snack calendar has been sent home in your child’s backpack.
*The Yankee Candle orders will be available for pick up on Tuesday 11/28.
*The book order is due by Friday 12/1.
* There are signup sheets for parent/teacher conferences. A reminder of your
scheduled conference time will come home next week.

THEME: OUR FAMILIES / GIVING THANKS

“Some families are large, some families are small,
but I love my family best of all!”

Families and Thanksgiving will be the focus of our activities for these two weeks. At circle time we will read the story of the first Thanksgiving, discuss our own family Thanksgiving celebrations, our favorite Thanksgiving foods and what we are thankful for. Other activities planned include painting with watercolors, creating a thankful wreath and a writing activity about our families. The letter of the week activity is I is for insect. At music time we will dance the turkey-pokey, sing On Thanksgiving Day by Laurie Berkner and this turkey song:

I’M A LITTLE TURKEY (tune of I’m a Little Teapot)
I’m a little turkey fluffy and brown.
My wings flip flop when I turn around.
I have a lot of feathers on my back,
And a big orange beak that goes click-clack.

**11/13 -11/17 is a sharing week. We are asking each child to bring in a family photo on their scheduled sharing day. You may send in a picture of just one or two individual relatives or a group picture; any family photo your child selects will be fine. We plan to pin the photos onto a classroom bulletin board for
several weeks. The Yellow Apple photos will be kept for each child’s end-of-the-year portfolio book.

REMINDERS, REQUESTS AND OTHER INFO:
*Parent-teacher conferences will be held in December. Miss Ilene’s conferences (Red Apples) will be held on Monday 12/4 and Tuesday 12/5. Miss Bridget’s conferences (Yellow Apples) will be held on Friday 12/8 and Monday 12/11 and Tuesday 12/12. Please see the conference signup sheets posted on the fence to schedule a conference appointment. If you cannot access these sheets you may call or email for an appointment time.

*The December snack calendar is available to sign.

*Please let me know asap if you plan to attend the performance of Madagascar
at NSMT on 3/31. We need to reserve a block of tickets soon!

*We plan to be on the playground for 20 – 30 minutes each morning. Please dress your child for the weather and be sure all outerwear is labeled. When wearing boots, put shoes in the back pack to change into once we’re inside.

*As the cold weather approaches we must prepare for inclement weather. PPP is closed if the Pentucket School District is closed. When a delayed opening is announced, PPP will hold school from 10:45-12:30. No lunch bunch will be held.

*There is a signup sheet for Tasty Tuesday on 11/21.

** Lunch Bunch will not be held on Wednesday 11/22.

THEME: ON THE GO!

As we explore transportation this week the children will become aware of the many ways people travel from one place to another. Some of the learning experiences planned for the week include:

-creating trains, boats and cars from a variety of materials,
-flying paper airplanes,
-building vehicles with play dough,
-conducting a sink or float experiment at circle time,
-touring Ms Sherry’s school bus and
-singing some favorites such as; I’ve Been Working on the Railroad, The Wheels on
The Bus, Down by the Station, Row, Row, Row Your Boat and a new song
Old MacDonald Built a Car.

The letter of the week activity is H is for helicopter.

REMINDERS, REQUESTS AND OTHER INFO:
*This is a good time to check the spare clothes in your child’s backpack to be
sure they have a complete change of warmer clothes for fall/winter.
*The Tasty Tuesday with pizza from Nick’s of Groveland was such a big hit we will
hold another one on Tuesday, November 21st! A signup sheet is available.
* Pizza lunches will be scheduled on different days of the week during the school
year so all who are interested may attend.

THEME: FIVE SENSES and HALLOWEEN
Our senses play an important part in our everyday actions. Over these two weeks the children will participate in activities that involve each of the five senses. We will also have some fun Halloween activities in the classroom. We plan to…

-create texture collages, paint with spices and shaving cream, play name that
sound, bake banana muffins and use musical instruments at music time. We’ll also
paint ghosts and carve a pumpkin and sing Halloween songs which we’ll all sing
together at the party, See below for the words to a few.

The letters of the week are F is for fish and G is for ghost.

*10/23 is a Sharing Week. The children may bring in an item related to the five senses on their scheduled sharing day.

REMINDERS, REQUESTS AND OTHER INFO:

*Tasty Tuesday will be held on 10/24. There is a signup sheet.

*The Yankee Candle orders are due by Friday, October 27th. Thank you!

Songs:

BATS ARE SLEEPING (tune is Frere Jacques)
Bats are sleeping, bats are sleeping.
Upside down, upside down.
Waiting for the night to come, waiting for the night to come,
Then they fly around, then they fly around!

I’M A WITCH
I’m a witch, tsk tsk
I’m a witch, tsk tsk
With a pointed hat on my head.
I jump on my broom and sweep through the sky
While the children are in bed.

STIRRING THE BREW
I’m stirring, I’m stirring, I’m stirring the brew.
Whooooo, whoooooo!
I’m stirring, I’m stirring, I’m stirring the brew.
Whoooo, whooooooo!
Tip, toe, tip toe, tip toe
BOO!

SCARY EYES
See my great big scary eyes.
Watch out for a big surprise,
BOO!

THEME: ALL ABOUT FALL and PUMPKIN PALOOZA

Autumn is in the air and in the classroom as we explore this colorful season. At circle time we will talk about the signs of fall, the changes that fall brings and some of our favorite fall activities. We plan to paint with fall colors at the easel, create fall pictures with stamps and roll corncobs through paint. Our science center will have mini pumpkins, gourd, leaves and Indian corn for exploration. A few of the books that we will be reading include:

When Autumn Comes, by Robert Maass
Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert
The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall
The Biggest Leaf Pile by Steve Ketzger
Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell

The letter of the week activities are D is for dot and E is for envelope.

REMINDERS, REQUESTS, AND OTHER INFO:
*PPP is closed on Monday 10/9 for Columbus Day.

*The money for the pumpkin picking trip is due by Wednesday morning.
A signup sheet and money collection envelope is on the fence at arrival time.

*The Yankee Candle Fundraiser packets have been sent home. There are
additional order forms if anyone needs one. Please return all orders by 10/27.

*A photographer from Hockmeyer Studios will be here on Thursday 10/12 for
those interested in having their child’s photo taken. If your child attends school
on Thursday the teachers will bring them to Fellowship Hall for their
photo @ 9:30. All others are asked to come between 10-10:45 for photos.

*A Tasty Tuesday pizza lunch will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 24th from 11:45 – 1:00.
Pizza, juice and Hoodsies will be served and the cost is $8 per child.
A signup sheet will be posted this week.

* Our Halloween party will be held in Fellowship Hall on Tuesday, 10/31 at 9:30.
All PPP children are invited to attend with a parent/guardian. Regular preschool
class is not held that day. The party concludes with a Halloween parade outside in
front of the church @ 10:45. More information will come home as the date
nears. A signup sheet for donations of snacks and prizes for the party will be
out this week.

THEME: THE SHAPE OF THINGS

Shapes will be the focus of our activities this week. Through the experiences provided the children will learn the names of basic shapes, to identify basic shapes and that objects are made of shapes. We plan to paint a variety of shapes, create a shape collage and go on a shape hunt in the classroom. The songs, “Birds in a Circle” by Hap Palmer, “Shapes” and “The Beanbag Boogie” by Greg and Steve will add to the learning experience!

The letter of the week activity is C is for cat.

October is fire safety month. We will read the My Big World magazine on fire safety and practice a fire drill on various days until all children have a chance to do this. We do not sound the alarm; we practice exiting the building by walking quickly
and quietly.

REMINDERS, REQUESTS AND OTHER INFO:
*The October snack calendar is coming home today along with a snack information sheet. Please call or email with any questions.

*The Yankee Candle fundraiser packets will be available to pick up at the Open house on 10/2.

*Lunch bunch is now offered on Wednesdays.

*There is no Lunch Bunch on Friday, October 6th.

*It’s not too late to sign up for the pumpkin picking trip to Spring Hill Farm on Wednesday Oct. 11th at 12:30. A signup sheet is posted on the fence along with an envelope for payment.

*A photographer from Hockmeyer Studios will be in Fellowship Hall on Thursday Oct. 12th for those who would like to have their child’s picture taken. Children who attend school on Thursday will go to Fellowship Hall with their teachers to have their pictures taken at 9:30. All others are asked to come between 10-10:45 for pictures. Order forms will come home as soon as we receive them.
The class picture is taken in May.

This week we will have fun with colors. We plan to graph our favorite colors, experiment with color mixing, sort objects by color, play Red Light, Green Light and create a variety of colorful paintings and collages.

Each day will focus on a different color and the children are asked to wear the color of the day to enhance this learning experience.

Monday – red day
Tuesday – orange day
Wednesday – yellow day
Thursday – green day
Friday – blue day

*This is the first sharing week of the school year. Please see attached.

Each week the children will be offered several activities to reinforce letter concepts. This week is letter B week.

REMINDERS, REQUESTS, AND OTHER INFO:

*The October snack calendar is available to sign.
*Please label all backpacks.
*The Ice Cream Social and Open House will be held on Monday, October 2nd from
6-7pm. There is a signup sheet for those who would like to contribute an item for
the Ice Cream Social. More information on this event will come home next week.
*The Yankee Candle Fundraiser begins on October 2nd. Packets may be
picked up at the Open House. This is our one fundraiser for the year. The orders
are due back by Friday 10/27. Checks may be made out to PPP and there is
no sales tax. We appreciate your participation in this fundraiser.
*The Parent Group has planned a pumpkin picking trip to Roger’s Spring Hill Farm
on Wednesday, October 11th at 12:30. Please sign the sheet by Wednesday,
October 4th if you’d like to attend.
A notice is attached.
This is always a fun trip, hope you will come!!

THEME: WELCOME TO SCHOOL!

Welcome to Perry Park Preschool and the first Weekly Update of the school year. Each week your child will bring home an update which lists activities and events for thefollowing week.

The first weeks of school will focus on introducing the children to the rules and routines of the classroom and the playground. The children will be learning new songs to sing for greeting hello, clean-up time and good-bye. They will have the opportunity to explore many interest centers in the classroom including blocks, dramatic play, play dough, puzzles, the computer center and the science area.

Art exploration will include painting at the easel, using scissors and glue sticks, painting with water colors and decorating a place card for snack time.

WEEK OF: SEPTEMBER 18 – 22, 2017 

THEME: THE MORE WE GET TOGETHER

This week at Perry Park the children will continue to explore new centers in the classroom. Circle time activities will include singing songs and playing games to help learn the names of our teachers and new friends. Other friendship activities will include painting with friends, creating a friendship collage and a Bag Buddy (which the children will take home at theOpen House).

Also this week we will begin our letter of the week activities with A is for acorn.

There are many reminders and requests..…any questions please call!

REMINDERS, REQUESTS AND OTHER INFO:

*Wear nametag for the first week of school.

*Clearly label backpacks and be sure to keep a complete change of clothes inside.

* Lunch Bunch begins on Thursday 9/21. There is space available.

Please see the notice in your orientation packet for more information.

*The book order is due by Friday 9/22.

*The 2nd tuition payment is due September 15th. Subsequent payments are due on

the 15thof each month with the final payment due on May 15th.

*PPP will provide snacks for the first few weeks. Daily snacks are listed on the snack

calendar found in the orientation packet. Water is served with the snack of the day.

*The October snack calendar will be available to sign on 9/18. Please call or email if you

are unable to access the signup sheets anytime throughout the year.