Counting, Creating, and Catching Shadows!

Dear parents, 

Welcome back to our weekly Pre-K Blog! This week was full of hands-on learning and excitement! We explored 3D shapes and digraphs in our large group sessions, brought our counting caterpillar to life in art, experimented with shadows in science, and practiced writing missing numbers in math. Take a look at all the fun we had!

Happy Birthday Lielena!

Large group 

This week during our large group sessions, our Pre-K students had a wonderful time revisiting some of the 3D shapes they’ve learned about. They enthusiastically participated in a discussion about the different 3D shapes, sharing what they remembered and enjoyed identifying them by name. What made the experience extra special was the opportunity to touch and feel each shape—holding spheres, cubes, cones, and cylinders helped bring their learning to life!

We also took time to review some familiar digraphs, such as ch, sh, th, and wh. The children enjoyed brainstorming and sharing words that begin with these digraphs, demonstrating how much their phonics awareness has grown. They were excited to take turns suggesting words like “chin,” “shark,” “what,” and “thumb”.

In our rhyming word segment, we had fun exploring words that rhyme with “table.” The class came up with creative examples such as “label,” “Mabel,” and “cable,” and had a few giggles trying out even sillier-sounding rhymes too!

As we count down the days to our exciting Art Auction, the energy in the classroom continues to build. The children had lively conversations about the artwork they hope to take home, describing their favorite pieces with pride. With each passing day, their excitement grows—it’s clear they can’t wait for the big event!

Math

This week in math, the class had a blast with a familiar favorite- reviewing the missing numbers. This topic has been covered before, but this time we wanted to revisit and recap it. As always, in the first session, the class discussed the concept together by practicing on the board and counting as a group. Then, in the second session, we provided them with a worksheet for further practice and review. At this point, they are thriving- both learning and having fun with math!

Literacy 

This week, our literacy session focused on missing beginning sounds and sorting out 'ch' and 'sh' by reading. Since the school year is almost over, we are not introducing a new topic at this stage; rather, we are concentrating on what they have learned and providing more review and practical ideas. 

First, they practiced as a large group, with everyone reading and identifying letters. Then, we provided them with worksheets. The class was divided into two groups, and we gave them different worksheets. For the first group, we focused on identifying the beginning sounds by looking at pictures, sounding them out, and writing the initial sounds. For the second group, we worked on distinguishing between the 'sh' and 'ch' sounds. After reading some words, they cut and sorted those words into 'sh' and 'ch' categories and stuck them accordingly.

This helped them practice their reading skills and build confidence. Overall, in our literacy sessions, the class has made great progress throughout the year, and we are so proud of every child in the Pre-K class!

Science 

This week in science, the class learned about shadows by drawing their own and observing them in a dark room with a little light. First, the class discussed what a shadow is and when we can see one. After the discussion, we went outside, where everyone saw their own shadow. We played a game called 'Tag a Shadow,' where everyone ran around trying to tag each other's shadows, which was really fun. Then, they stood up and drew the shadows of their friends. After that, we went to a dark room to see our shadows with a small flashlight and posed in different ways to see how they looked. Overall, the students were very excited about this science topic and had a lot of fun with their own shadows and those of their friends.

"When shines it will makes our pictures" Alpha

"When the sun appears your shadow appears" Riley

"When mommy comes I see the shadow" Hala

"When the sun comes we see shadow" Leilena

"When the sun and and rainbow comes we will see shadow" Alya

Art

This week, our Pre-K students wrapped up the canvas projects with a very special art piece. The idea came from a familiar and well-loved part of our daily routine: our Counting Caterpillar, which we use to count how many days we’ve been in school.

The children were excited to turn this classroom favorite into a permanent piece of art. We began with a group discussion about how we could bring the caterpillar to life on canvas. The students shared ideas about what it should look like and what color the background should be. Once we agreed on a plan, we got to work!

In our first session, the children painted the background together, carefully covering the canvas with different shades of green color. Then we moved on to creating the caterpillar. We started with a large circle for the head, and the children added googly eyes, a big smile, and hand-drawn antennas. Next, they drew smaller circles to form the caterpillar’s body, and gave it adorable little feet to help it crawl along the canvas.

In the final step, we added numbers inside the caterpillar’s body—just like we do each day during our calendar routine. The students were so proud to see something they interact with every day transformed into a colorful, collaborative artwork. Watching their ideas come to life gave them a strong sense of ownership and joy!

Small group

Monday: - Science

Tuesday: - Math

Thursday: - Literacy

Our Special

Monday: - Ethiopian center

Tuesday:- Library

Wednesday: - Art

Reminder

• Every Tuesday is our library day, so we will be sending a book that your child picked from our library, which will be returned after a week on library day.

• Every Wednesday is our art day so please send your child with art-appropriate clothing.

Thank you for your time!