ELP Tokeneke
Here is a list of upcoming events to look forward to:
Tuesday, November 24: Thanksgiving Party at noon – all are welcome!
Wednesday, November 25: Early Dismissal at 11:15
Thursday, November 26: No School, Happy Thanksgiving!
December 7-10: Early Dismissal at 11:15 for Conferences. Please see schedule in post below.
Wednesday, December 23: Early Dismissal at 11:15
December 24 – January 3: No School, Happy Holidays!
Monday, December 7th:
11:45 David
12:15 Sarah
1:00 Jack
2:15 Anthony
Tuesday, December 8th:
12:00 Wells
12:30 Nicholas
Wednesday, December 9th:
11:30 Colin
2:00 Owen
Thursday, December 10th:
11:30 Sophie
12:15 Rowan
For the next three weeks, our reading unit will be based on the story of Somebody and the Three Blairs by Marilyn Tolhurst. This is a humorous reversal on the classic tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. In this version, the Blairs (a mother, father and baby) leave their house to go to the park. While they are out, “Somebody” (a bear) comes into their house. He tries the breakfast food, which is “too dry” or “too noisy” except the honey, which is “just right”. Next, Somebody tries the chairs and toys in the house, finding things that are just right for him. Lastly, Somebody tries the beds, finding the just right size for a bear cub. At the end of the story, baby Blair sees “Somebody” leaving their home and the family finds a big mess.
This story not only invites comparison to the original story of three bears, but also provides an opportunity to build new vocabulary, uses recurrent memorable phrases, and provides a fun storyline to prompt role-playing of action sequences. We will be reading both versions of this story in order to compare and contrast the plots as well as playing with many of the same things that Somebody did. We will be learning about different kinds of bears, hibernation, and families (right in time for Thanksgiving!). Some activities will include playing with oatmeal, graphing and sorting bears, making bear projects, eating yummy bear snacks and creating class books about bears.
On Monday 11/19 we will be participating in a “Bear Share”. Please send your child to school with a teddy bear from home and we will discuss things we do with our teddy bear friends. We will also be making “just right” beds for our teddy bears, so if you have empty shoeboxes at home, we would love to use them! Also, we will be discussing our families and favorite activities to do at home with them. If you feel comfortable doing so, please send in a picture of your family to include with the project.
We will be learning through Somebody and the Three Blairs for the next three weeks, then moving on to Thanksgiving before the holiday. After that, we look forward to learning about the December holidays and reading Night Tree.
During the next two weeks, we will be reading Picking Apples and Pumpkins by Amy and Richard Hutchings. This fall story involves a family that goes out to a farm to pick apples and pumpkins. While on the farm, they ride the hay wagon, climb trees, use an apple picker, have a picnic, and buy their apples and pumpkins. At home, they bake an apple pie and carve pumpkins into Jack-O-Lanterns.
This story offers us an opportunity to explore the changes that occur in the fall, such as the changing colors of the leaves, the planting and harvesting of apples and pumpkins, the variety of textures and flavors of foods made from apples and pumpkins, and the equipment on a farm. We will be acting out a trip to a farm to pick apples and pumpkins and will be making art projects with trees, leaves, acorns, pinecones, sticks, and apples. We will also be studying weighing, measuring, cooking, and the differences between fruits and vegetables. We will be graphing our favorite apples, too, and that will give us a chance to try eating different kinds!
To begin our fall unit, we will be learning about the different colors of fall. To incorporate these colors, we will play with a water table dyed to match our themes, make collages with colored materials, string dyed pastas, and paint beautiful fall tree scenes.
We will also be starting a year-long unit of study about letters. Each week we will learn a new letter of the alphabet (in order). Some activities we will be doing are: “walking the letters” (literally walking on a poster-board sized letter to get a feel for how it is formed); reading poems with the letter’s sounds; discussing what words begin with that letter; and tracing/writing our letter of the week. We’ll start with “A” next week just in time to read our Apples and Pumpkins book!
We are really looking forward to learning about fall, and hope you will love the artwork and stories your children will be bringing home! What’s next? Halloween and The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything.
Please feel free to email/call me with questions as needed!
Thank you to all those who came to last night’s Open House – it was great seeing you again! I am also so grateful to our wonderful room moms for their work so far and the commitment they’ve made to help us throughout the year!
Today in school we concluded our unit of The Kissing Hand. Beginning next week, we are starting a new unit to learn letters through Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault. This wonderful alphabet story has a catchy rhythm, and before long, your child will be reciting the book to you! The premise of this story is how the lower case letters of the alphabet come out to play by climbing a coconut tree. However, as more and more letters climb up, the tree slumps and eventually… chicka chicka boom boom! Down all the letters fall, skinning knees and bumping heads along the way. The mama’s and papa’s – or the uppercase letters – come to rescue, until the lower case letters choose to begin their climb once again.
Throughout next week, we will be listening to the story, acting it out, and learning our letters. Our projects will include making coconut trees, decorating letters and making coconuts. We will even be making a fun coconut tree snack using graham crackers, bananas and grapes! We will also play games like counting coconuts on a tree, Chicka Chicka letter Bingo and “Barrels of Monkeys”!
We are all looking forward to next week’s letter learning and the fun activities that go along with it! Just a quick peek to the future… after Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, we will be learning about fall through the story Picking Apples and Pumpkins.
We are starting the school year with activities related to the book The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. This book is about Chester, a raccoon who is afraid to go to school and wants to stay home with his mommy and his friends. His wise mother tells him the secret of the Kissing Hand. She kisses the palm of his hand and tells him that he will be able to feel the warmth of her love any time he is feeling lonely by simply putting his hand to his cheek. He feels better about going to school when he can take his mother’s love with him, so he kisses her hand in return, and goes off to make new friends. This book will allow us to discuss our feelings about going to school, to talk about our favorite things at home, and to explore the fun activities that will be available in preschool.
During the first two weeks of school, we will be listening to the story, acting it out, doing lots of fun things with hearts and hands, and sharing our thoughts about home and school. As one of our projects, we will be making cards to send home our own Kissing Hands to our families, and we invite you to make cards to your children in return! Also, we will be making a display of some of our favorite things from home to make us feel a little more comfortable in this very new environment! Please send in one or two of your child’s favorite stuffed animals, toys or books from home to share with the class for the week. Please also remember to label items with your child’s name, so that everything can be returned to their loving owners! If you’d rather not send in the actual items (they may be missed at home), you can take pictures or help your child draw pictures to send in.
We are so excited for this new school year and being able to spend it with your children. We hope you all enjoy the Kissing Hand story and beautiful crafts that your children will be working very hard on for the next two weeks! Just a quick peek to the future… after The Kissing Hand, we look forward to learning our letters through Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! Please feel free to email/call with any questions you might have: kiorio@darienps.org or 203-655-9666 ex. 4191.
Hello all and welcome to Miss Kristin’s blog! We are looking forward to seeing our new and returning students, and having new families join the ELP team! Please feel free to always contact us with questions: kiorio@darienps.org or 203-655-9666 ex. 4191. Below please find some important upcoming events:
9/1-3: Early Dismissal for Special Ed students, 8:15 – 11:15
9/4: Typicals Orientation, 1:45 – 2:45
9/8: First day of school for Typicals, 9:15 – 1:15 (pickup in cafeteria)
9/16: Open House, 6:15 – 6:45
9/28: No School
That’s all for now! We’ll keep you posted on new events/important information.
I can’t believe it is actually the end of the school year! Congratulations to our graduates and we look forward to welcoming back our younger students in the fall! They have done such great work this year and we are all very proud of them! We’d also like to thank all of you for your dedication this year – you’ve been so helpful!
Tomorrow we will be sending home your child’s diploma along with a few last projects, extra clothes, etc. There will also be a present for dad for Father’s Day and a special surprise for the kids! Have a wonderful summer – enjoy some relaxation and, hopefully, some sun! 
Kristin, Lauren, Donna & Erin
Hello all! The end of the school year is quickly approaching and we have a lot of fun events to look forward to!
Parent Conferences: week of June 1-4 and we will have half days with dismissal at 11:15. Please email me to schedule a date and time to meet.
Stepping Up Ceremony: Thursday, June 11 at 9:45 in the Common Room. Students will wear their tie dyed T-shirts! Following the ceremony parents are invited to return to the classroom for a party and refreshments.
Beach Party: Thursday, June 11 at Pear Tree Point from 4:00-6:30. Hope to see you there!
Last day of school: Thursday, June 18.
