Black Bears Newsletter: November 2023

Classroom Newsletters, Black Bears Newsletter
Hi Black Bear Parents,I want to start off by expressing how grateful I feel for this special, and sweet group of kids I have this year! This is my second year of teaching Pre-K and your children bring me so much joy every day! I love being able to teach them new things by sharing my passions, listening to theirs, learning about their families, and exploring what makes each child eager to learn more about a subject. Some friends have so much curiosity about reptiles and ocean creatures. some friends absolutely love to sing, some friends love to build with blocks, some love when Ms. Lissy does funny voices, some friends love the toys their “Poppy” surprises them with. They are all so unique and wonderful:) 
For November I have a few areas that I would love to focus on:
Dramatic Play- Dramatic play can teach children many socio emotional skills (conflict resolution skills, naming their emotions, encouraging positive peer interactions) and it allows me to expand on what we learn when I take time to play along with them. Therefore, I would love to set up a pretend “hot chocolate stand” that they can have fun with. I am asking if any parents would want to donate anything creative, home made, whatever you and your child can think of to make it a fun interactive station. For example, we could use a sign that says “Hot Cocoa for Sale” or white cotton balls for pretend marsh mellows! As we get toward the middle of November, we will practice our manners at a table using cards of typical thanksgiving foods and they can practice having company over for dinner and preparing the house for guests. 
Math: I will be focusing on shapes and how many sides and corners each shape have. This will transition nicely into December when we discuss snowflakes. (Add)itionally, I will introduce them to “greater than > less than and equal = to. I plan to get acorns and use acorns, rocks, and other natural items.
Science: As stated above, I learned that this year’s Black Bears are extremely interested in different animals, reptiles, insects and ocean creatures. Therefore, we will talk about hibernation brumation, insectivors, herbivores etc. I am including Brumation because they know that Ms Lissy recently made a decision on a whim and bought a baby bearded dragon :). Maybe I will bring my bearded dragon to school one of these days so that, they can observe how it can eat vegetables and how Ms Lissy has to feed it insects :p
Language and Literature:We have so many great socio emotional books that I have set aside. We will read books about how we can help others,why we should listen, books about interrupting and books affirming that they are cared for, unique, brave and other positive qualities.
Further, we will continue working through the alphabet introducing the letter “I” and “J” the first week of November. We will practice our writing skills of those letters and their sounds. I am going to introduce a new way to think of the top line, middle line and bottom line- tapping the top of their head-referring to the “top line”, their bellies as the “middle line” and feet as the”bottom line”. For example: “does the lower case j touch the top line?” as I tap my head and they can do the same. 
Lastly, now that the weather is colder and more items of clothing are brought to school, I am asking all parents to please put their names on tags of their clothing. This includes gloves, hoodies, snow pants, hats, and winter jackets. This will help me very much as I have already a handful of items in my room that no one has claimed yet. I will be creating a lost and found bin that you can look through if you are missing anything.
As always, please feel free to chat with me through pro-care or at drop off or pick up with any questions or concerns.
Happy November and respectfully,Ms. Lissy