COLUMBUS ACADEMY SPIRIT DAY!

Next Friday, September 28th, is "Spirit Day" at Columbus Academy.  Students can wear an Academy T-shirt or sweatshirt on this day.  Dress Code clothing should be worn from the waist down.  If your child does not have an Academy T-shirt or sweatshirt, please have him/her wear a dress code shirt.  

GO VIKES!

FANTASTIC FRIDAY 9-21-12

 FREE CHOICE~

Sophia puts together the cubes with numbers in order from 1 to 50!

NURSERY RHYME JOURNAL~

Today we started our Nursery Rhyme Journals.  Throughout the school year, we will introduce several nursery rhymes.  We will add each new nursery rhyme to our journals.  We will also do a "writing" response activity with each nursery rhyme.  Today, we asked the children to draw a picture of what they think would happen if Mary's lamb came to our school.  Be sure to ask your child about his/her idea!

LETTER "M"~

We decorated our letter "M" with MONKEYS!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

This afternoon, we helped Will celebrate his September birthday.  Will's mom read the story, If TheDinosaurs Came To Town.  Then, we enjoyed eating Rice Krispie Treats!  Happy Birthday, Will!  

THRILLING THURSDAY 9-20-12

VISIT TO MR. MACKENZIE~

On Thursday, we traveled to the Headmaster's (Mr. Mackenzie's) office.  We introduced ourselves to Mr. Mackenzie and learned more about his job as the Headmaster.   Mr. Mackenzie read to us a very funny story called, The Hungry Thing.  He then shared with us a model of a viking ship that belongs to the school. 

 ESTIMATION ACTIVITY~

On Thursday, children were asked to "examine" 2 jars of marshmallows and "estimate" which jar had the most marshmallows.  The jars were the same sizes.  One jar had mini-marshmallows that filled 1/4 of the jar, while the other jar had large marshmallows that filled the jar to the top.  After children made their guesses, we counted the marshmallows in each jar.  Be sure to ask your child which jar had the most marshmallows!

 ZERO THE HERO DAY!~

We celebrated our 20th day of school by making button caterpillars.  Thank you to London and his family for providing us with this fun activity!

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

We celebrated our first birthday in Pre-K.  Emma's mom came in to read a story and we then enjoyed eating "push-up pops" as Emma's special birthday treat.  Happy Birthday, Emma!

WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY 9-19-12

~REMINDER~ 

Children should bring in items beginning with the sound of the week on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  Please assist your child in remembering to do this homework.  It is a great way for your child to develop skills in responsibility.  The children are disappointed when they don't have any items to share during Sound Box sharing time.  Thank you for your help!

MAGNET DISCOVERIES~

The children are busy scanning the classroom to find magnetic objects/items.  We have large horseshoe magnets for the children to use.  In the photo below, David discovers the legs on the chair are magnetic.

WRITER'S WORKSHOP~

To prepare the children for creating and "writing" their own stories, we are spending time reading stories followed up with a personal story from the teacher.    Today, we read the story, Good Boy, Fergus!  Be sure to ask your child if Fergus was a good boy or not and why.  Then, ask your child to share with you the story Mrs. Spolter told the class.  HINT:  Fergus (a dog) had to have whipped cream on his dog food before he would eat it.  This reminded Mrs. Spolter of something she does for her girls so they will eat a certain vegetable. 

TERRIFIC TUESDAY 9-18-12

M IS FOR MASK!~

Yesterday we decorated masks to help us remember the new sound of the week!  Can you guess these masked Pre-K children?

 NEW FREE CHOICE ACTIVITIES~

This week we opened our Sensory Tub for the first time!  For this activity, children use a magnet wand to search and find magnetic circles and balls hidden in shredded paper.

 Will and London make some discoveries!

 Bittania and Lily count the number of mini marshmallows in the counting basket.  There were 100!

 Marble Painting~This week children can paint with marbles at the Creation Station.

 At the Alphabet Station, children can trace a letter on to a white piece of paper, draw at least 2 pictures that begin with that letter sound; and then label the pictures with assistance from the teacher.  So far, letters B and M are included with this activity.  As we introduce a new letter sound each week, that letter will be added to this activity. 

 

 

 

 

 We added a new spatial reasoning activity to Math Magic.   Children use the shapes and turn them to match the picture.

 

 Cody and David play Teddy Bear Bingo at Games Galore.

 

M&M GRAPH~ 

Children were given a small cup of M&M candies and graphed them to discovery which how many of each color of M&M they had.  Be sure to ask your child to share his/her graph with you and ask them....

~Which color had the most?

~Which color had the least?

~Were there any colors that were equal?

 MAGNET EXPLORATION~

Today we read the story, Mickey's Magnet.  We learned that items made of metal are magnetic but not all metals are magnetic.  The items have to be made of iron are steel to be magnetic.  Using a magnet of their own, children explored the area to discover magnetic objects/items.

 Beginning tomorrow, children can complete the activity pictured below at the Discovery Station to make more magnet discoveries!