New Friends, New Lessons And Lots of Fun!

This past week in Jr. Kindergarten our class visited Mr. Murphy's office.  He welcomed us with gifts!  The children were delighted to meet him, hear about his job in the school, and receive the sweet little puffin statue he offered to his new Sunny Sea Friends.  Puffins just happen to be Mr. Murphy's favorite bird.  He told the children a story describing what amazing birds they are and we all decided that a puffin, because they live in and around the sea, would be the perfect addition to the Sunny Sea Friends classroom.
The curious children were also excited to use their senses to explore a very special rock that Mr. Murphy keeps in his office. This rock is made of crystals, looked shiny, felt bumpy and cold, and tasted like the beach...according to the children. Wow! Great descriptions! As it turns out, the rock is from Poland and is made of salt. We left Mr. Murphy after he promised to visit our classroom  to share a book and another story about puffins very soon.  We'll enjoy our little puffin statue gift where it stands proudly next to the Flag of America and a Shorecrest bowl in our Circle Time area.

It was a week of special visits! The Sunny Sea Friends visited Mrs. Smay in the Library for the first time on Thursday. Our fabulous Media Specialist introduced her friends Mr. Clean Hand and Mr. Dirty Hand, much to the delight of the children. Mr. Clean Hand knows just what to do and taught the children the rules to keep books safe and in good reading order.  However, his neighbor Mr. Dirty Hand is not as careful when handling books.  He needs lots of help and practice!  Our Sunny Sea Friends know just what to do!  They promised to help Mr. Dirty Hand to handle the books in our library safely. Ask your child about the lessons he/she learned in order to be a Mr. Clean Hand with books. Every Thursday we will visit the library at 10:30am.  Mrs. Smay will give a library lesson every other week.  We would love for parent volunteers to visit us on the weeks that Mrs. Smay is away, in order to be mystery readers for the class.  The children love to listen to clues and try to guess who will be reading to them from teachers around campus, student friends, and parent volunteers just like you!  The children will also have the opportunity to check out one book with the class on Thursdays.  They may keep that book until the following Thursday, or return it to our classroom at any time during the week before our next library visit.  You are welcome to take your child to the library on campus any time during school hours to check out more books, if you wish to do so.

The children focused on the letter Ll this week in Exploring Centers.  They learned the song, "One Luscious, Two Luscious, Three Luscious Lollipops" during Circle Time. Along with learning to make the uppercase L with big line and little line, the children air-wrote the letter and "punched" it too.  "Punching" is using an extra large pushpin with the correct grip (Claw fingers! Ask your child) to punch holes along the lines that create the letter.  You should have seen this "holey" L in your child's folder early in the week. This is a great fine motor activity for practicing  grip and control. The children heard the story about Lu Lu Lamb and how she laughed, which taught a great life lesson about being sensitive to the feelings of others.

 We all enjoyed "senseriffic" activities this week! The children explored their sense of touch.  On Tuesday they worked with partners to play with a feely box.  The feely box was filled with all sorts of familiar items, including a seashell, pinecone, mini football, etc.  There were pictures of each of these items.  As one friend wore a blindfold and reached into the feely box, the other read the picture card and asked his/her friend to feel for that particular item. No peeking allowed! :) The children had to use only their sense of touch to feel and find each thing as it was read off.  After making their own Science Journals during one Exploring Center this week, the children used them for another "touch" activity.  Four mystery bags were filled with different things from around the center.  The children all had the thrill of reaching in each bag one at a time and describing what they felt.  They made a guess about what was in the bag and drew a picture of it in a box labeled with the same number as the bag. The children soon found out whether they guessed correctly, as the contents were revealed in the end! I loved hearing the descriptions that came out as the hands went in! Ask your child about it. :) On  Fun Day Friday we explored clay...using our feet!  What a "senseriffic" experience that was!

Of course, we used our hands and creative minds too!

Next week we will focus on the letter Ff, take our first field trip to Crisp Park (Wednesday), continue to learn about tadpoles and frogs, and explore our sense of sight.  Using our eyes and magnifying glasses we will get up close and personal with the veggie and herb plants that came in last week.  The children will be asked to make observations about what the plants look like, smell like, feel like, and taste like.  They will have the opportunity to plant their veggie plants in the garden boxes on Monday and tend to them as they watch them grow!

Have a great week!  Hope to see  you all at Spirit Night on Friday, and the JK social on Saturday.
Mrs. Carson