April 4th, 2016
Dear Families,
We had a nice week back from spring break and loved our visit from the StoryBus!
Hopefully your preschool told you all about it. Please continue to work on your April Family Fun
calendar. Remember, if your child completes at least 10 of the activities, he or she should return it
to school in exchange for a prize from our treasure chest.
Scholastic Book Orders
You'll receive a few Scholastic flyers in your
child's backpack on Tuesday! Please take a
look and order any books that you like. When
you order books for your own child, it helps
our class earn free books to add to our
library. Remember our class code is HHJPX if
you order online. Orders are due by 4/11!
Highlights from this Week!
Car Wash Dramatic Play!
Monday- We will review transportation
vehicles that ride on the land, in the air or
on water.
Our dramatic play center has been
transformed into a fun carwash! Tere are
two cars that the kids can get into and then
drive (Flintstone style-walking their feet!)
Tuesday- We will learn a jingle about the
along a road through some pretend hoses,
letter “J” and feed our letter monster some
soap and wipers. We have towls, buckets,
J things.
squeegies, and uniforms for the workers too!
May Family Field Trip: May 12th
Wednesday- We will focus on social
emotional learning thourgh the Second Step
program.
We are planning a family field trip to the
Skokie Exploratorium on Thursday, May 12th!
Please save the date. Remember, our field trips
Thursday- We will write in our journals
are family field trips and every student needs
to be accompanied by an adult. Please look out
for a letter about the field trip coming soon in Friday- Funday game! We will play a full
group game with the PM class!
your child's backpack! If you are unable to
attend the field trip, please remember there is
no regular preschool at Marie Murphy that
day. We hope to see you there as it sounds
like it's going to be a wonderful experience for
the kids!
Center
Blocks
Activities
Why are these activities so important?
Large trucks and cars
Boats and ships
Little people
Creative play; turn taking; strengthening
fine and gross motor skills; task
persistence and problem solving
Table Toys and
Games
Sorting air, land and water vehicles
Car Carrier counting game
Transportation memory game
Visual discrimination; measurement and
size; turn taking with a peer; hand-eye
coordination
Dramatic Play
Car Wash
Developing language and social skills;
socialization and building friendships;
imaginative and pretend play; sharing
materials and turn taking
Writing
Scissors, dot markers, and dry erase Fine motor skills; early literacy; language
boards
development
Library
Spring and nature books
Transportation books
Book-handling skills; social interactions;
imaginative and pretend play; early
literacy
Sensory
Water table with boats
Sensory; fine motor development; volume
and measurement; science conceptssink/float, solid/liquid, hard/soft; sharing
materials with peers
Play dough, textured eggs, cookie
cutters and rolling pins
Snack
Self-serve during center time
Self-help; language development and
social skills
Art
Name Trains
Transportation collages
Expressing creativity; developing fine
motor skills; Applying new knowledge
Tech
Ipads
Turn taking; developing hand-eye
coordination and fine motor skills;
practicing various cognitive skills
(literacy, math, science concepts)
Science
Color paddles
Transparent color blocks
Exploring cause and effect; making
observations; turn taking with peers
Listening
Ipad stories
Language development; book-handling
skills; practicing literacy concepts
Important Dates
4/11: Scholastic Book orders due
5/12: Field Trip to Skokie Exploratorium
5/30: Memorial Day- No School
6/2: ACP Family Picnic (Save the Date!)
6/3: Last Day of Preschool attendance