Experimenting with wire.

Hello all,
Today was one of those crazy but fun days that happen every once in a while. Ms. Elma attended a full day training course and was not at school. We talked with the children about being "big enough" to help out around the classroom since we were short-handed. They were quite funny about it as you can imagine. We talked quite a bit about our trip yesterday; creating a curricular web with the knowledge they shared. We also began an exploration of a new medium - wire. We drew our designs (mostly trains) on small pieces of paper, chose type and size of wire to work with and began to create. Some of the children were able to replicate their drawing with the wire while others simply made whatever they wanted, different than their design. Either way they spent a great deal of time investigating the new medium and have requested that it be made available on a regular basis. Not everyone was able to work with the wire today, so it will be out over the next few weeks.

We celebrated Charlie's 5th birthday in the afternoon class with cupcakes - Yeah Charlie.

Thank you to Ms. Charlotte, Ms. Ann, Ms. Michelle and Ms. Kim for helping out in the classroom today! We are always grateful for an extra set of hands.

Finally, whether your child is returning to Vick next year or going on to Kindergarten you should have recieved a letter requesting some information. We need these returned ASAP. The letter for those leaving states the school that we have on record for your child and asks whether this is correct or not. By filling it in and returning it we are able to make sure that your child's records are transferred to the right school. For those staying with us next year we need to know which session you would prefer: AM/PM/Third Shift so that we can begin the lottery process for next year. Please make sure that you have recieved and returned the letter that applies to your child. Thanks!
Ms. Amy

Post- Anniversary Party and Trains

Whew!!! finally, back on the blog. I apologize for not updating the blog, but we have been very busy preparing the school and classroom for our 10 Year Anniversary. Nothing like a party to get everyone energized to spruce up the place. We hope you notice the improvements made in the garden, hallway, and classrooms. Our school looks phenomenal!


The next two weeks, we will be learning about trains. Today, we talked about different kind of trains: freight, passenger trains, subway, commuter, and locomotives. If anybody knows any conductors, train engineers, or train enthusiast who would like to come speak in our classroom please let us know.


Our Train Field Trip is on Wednesday 4/29. We will be taking a bus to the 111th st. station and a round trip train ride to the Tinley Park station. PLEASE BE ON TIME. We have a train to catch! We will be unable to wait for anyone.


Today we read the book- Train, played games during small group, added two new jobs to our job chart---- door caller (name caller during pick-up) and counter (count # children ), and had bananas and left over Anniversary Cake for snack.

Ms. Elma

10 Year Anniversary- Friday 3-5pm

This week in class we will be talking about our School's 10 Year Anniversary. The children made invitations today. We will be decorating our classroom with a banner, and voting on what color flowers and balloons we will have for our classroom refreshment table. On Friday, we will be serving cake and cookies! There will be dancing in the playground with Mr. Ed DJ'ing the top hits of Barbara Vick. I wonder how many times Freeze Dance will be played?

We hope your entire family can join in our celebration. If you know any past alumni of Barbara Vick School, please spread the word and invite them to our 10 Year Anniversary.

We celebrated Bridget's 4th birthday today in the morning class! She donated the book, Purpleliscious and handed out gold fish treats, thank you! Both AM and PM class chose Purpleliscious for story time. We sang/danced to Baby Fish (AM) and Sticky Bubblegum (PM).

Please come in and view our new Clay Exhibit. The exhibit showcases sculptures that the children created independently. We will continue to offer clay/sculpting as a choice during center time. Not all have chosen to sculpt but we will continue to encourage everyone to participate. Working with clay is very challenging because it requires technique and finger strength and finger control, skills needed for writing. Please encourage or ask your child if he/or she has made a sculpture.

Ms. Elma

Spring Is Here!

Thank you to Mr. Scott and Jordan in the afternoon class for being our Guest Chefs yesterday. The class really enjoyed the fluffy fruit salad prepared for us. We have extended Guest Chefs till May at the request of some parents who were unable to sign-up. There is a new Guest Chef sign-up for May outside the classroom door.


We celebrated Andrea's 5th birthday in the morning class with an outdoor cookie party! We enjoyed the beautiful day riding bikes outdoors. The children noticed that our garden flowers are blooming and we have been spotting red robins. During small group Wed/Thur we have been playing letter bingo, position bingo, and teddy bear matching. We continue to work on painting our sun catchers in the art studio. We had bananas for snack today.


Thank you for returning field trip permission slips. We have 2 more chaperon openings in each class. Remember permission slips are due by 4/24. On Friday there will be class for the AM class. Enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend!



Ms. Elma

Designing Sun Catchers

Today during meeting time, we counted the number of children on the top risers and bottom risers. We practiced how to count----reminders we used: count slowly, do not skip numbers, remember your number order, count things one at a time.


During small group, we worked on designing our sun catchers. The children worked on their design yesterday and today. The next 2-3 days we will be painting the sun catchers in the art studio using acrylic paint. The children will choose which design to use. Ask your child what design he/she created? We learned the word transparent- something you can see through.


During story time and music the morning class chose to read, Good Night Gorilla and sang, Color Farm. The afternoon class read, Mary Had A Little Lamp and danced to 5 Little Fish.


Field Trip permission slips were distributed in the children's mailboxes. Please sign and return. We are taking a Metra Train Ride on Wed. 4/29 during regular school hours. Children are free, $5 for adult chaperones . We can have 5 chaperones per class.


We went for a nature walk in the morning and played outside in the afternoon. We had strawberries for snack.


Ms. Elma

Monday, April 13th

Hello 107!

Well, despite the yucky, rainy weather I am very excited to be back at school. Where else can I get hugs all day and have people so excited to see me? Needless to say I am thrilled to see everyone again. The children immediately re-introduced me to life in our busy classroom by filling me in on everything that I've missed - and I mean EVERYTHING. A few children continued to speak for the entire 2 1/2 hours of class. I found out that we have 3 new babies in our afternoon class and that they are all boys! Congratulations to the families of Meghan, PJ and Spencer. I met our newest class member Sydney; she seems to fit right in. I heard all about the birthdays that I missed in both classes and have gotten a sneak peek at all of their artistic endeavors over the past few months. I am looking forward to planning our next project based on the interests that the children have expressed recently.

Thank you for all the kind thoughts and beautiful gifts for Nora Elizabeth. She is doing very well. She already weighs over 13 pounds and is a very happy baby. We are extremely lucky to welcome her into our family. Aidan and Hannah are wonderful siblings and have been very good to the baby and Mom.

The children enjoyed bananas with Ms. Joanne for nutrtion today.

Ms. Amy

Goodbye Room 107!!

Since mid-October, I have had the privilege of working with your children. I can honestly say it has been the most beneficial experience for me...and my first "real teaching job"! I am sad to leave, as each and every child has touched my heart. Some children have asked me "Will you remember me?", and my answer is "Absolutely!" They have also been asking if I will be going to their Kindergarten class next year, or the schools where their siblings are. We told them to put in a good word for me if they hear of any job openings! :-)

Throughout my experience, I have been thoroughly amazed at the depth of knowledge these young children have! I hope that I have taught them as much as they have taught me!

I have not only been able to develop positive relationships with your children, but with some of you as well. What a great school environment that I had the opportunity to interact with many of you on a daily basis! Thank you for welcoming me into your classroom in October, congratulating me on my graduation in December, and wishing me well now that I am moving on. Your thoughts and well wishes are greatly appreciated!

Today we had a going away party with delicious ice-cream sundaes and a goodbye song. I received so many pictures and cards from the children, as well as a book in which each child made their own page, with a picture and message to me. I promised the children that I would read it when I got lonely and missed everyone from Room 107.

I hope to see everyone around, maybe subbing once in a while!

Goodbye Room 107, I'll miss you!!



Love,

Miss Gina