Mrs. Kelly's Class: President's Day!

This week we learned about President Obama, President George Washington, and President Abraham Lincoln. It was a little tricky for 3/4 year olds to understand what the President actually does for us, but hey, we still had fun learning. When I asked the kids what the President might do for our country, some of the answers were, “He is my dad!”, “He helps us!”, “THE PRESIDENT PUTS US IN JAIL!!!”. (The “jail” answer was my favorite. Ha!) We created an adorable log cabin that looks just like the one that Abe Lincoln lived in when he was a boy. We used 10 popsicle sticks, a brown triangle, a grey rectangle, and a white square to create the cabins. We used these items so that we could review some of the trickier things we have been learning. (brown, gray, white, and the shapes) We learned about money and which Presidents are on each type of coin or bill, thought about what we would do if we were the President, practiced cutting with scissors using under and over techniques, painted with red, white and blue while learning about the American Flag, and touched on the letter “K”.

We continued to work on the assessment this week. Please remember that this is just a tool to help you see what your child is learning at school, and to see how you may be able to help your child at home when discussing school. I must say, I am very proud of our little class! They are so smart and are trying so hard to learn, share, and remember all of the things we talk about at school. Another note I would like to add is that I have been introducing a new letter of the alphabet each week. We discuss what the letter looks like, the sound it makes, and practice writing the letter. I do not expect the kids to master each of these letter skills, as this class focuses on introducing the letters rather than complete comprehension. If you are concerned about your child’s progress with his/her letter recognition, I highly recommend the “Leapfrog Letter Factory” DVD. I actually bought this DVD for my oldest son and it is fantastic! Not only did it help Landon significantly before kindergarten, but my three year old son has also enjoyed the DVD and knows his letters/numbers as well. They actually ask to watch it sometimes. Wow!

We made a log cabin house, just like Abraham Lincoln's. We counted 10 popsicle sticks, used one brown triangle for the roof, one white rectangle for the door, and one gray square for a window. Using these specific items helped us review the tricky colors white, brown and gray. We also reviewed trangles, squares and rectangles!