Beaver Falls Classroom News - May/June 2021 - Lewis County Head Start

LEWIS COUNTY HEAD START

     Beaver Falls Classroom News
                                 May/June 2021
It is a bitter sweetness as we wrap up our year. We have enjoyed getting to know your family
and watching your child grow; many for two years. The Corona Virus Pandemic has made this a
crazy time for sure; shutting us down without warning last year and giving us a whole new
teaching method called “virtual”.
It put us in situations that were against so many early childhood beliefs. Typically, we encourage
togetherness as a way of learning the foundations to social-emotional skills. We want children to
share the same spaces and toys, learn how to pass dishes and serve themselves food, etc. The
virus pushed us apart, teaching us new terms, such as social distancing, masking up, pods,
screenings and “germ juice” (sanitizing solution). It taught us to be patient as we waited to be
served food or for a turn with a toy that needed to be sanitized. It also reminded us of the
importance of taking care of our belongings as we had more individual items.
We were challenged to “think outside the box” and get creative with parent participation within
the program. We cannot thank you enough for all you have given in the form of transportation,
patience, flexibility and so much more as we have navigated through unknown waters together.

Our final month and a half has been filled with learning information planned to help the children
transition from Head Start to Kindergarten. We have:
•   practiced opening up milk cartons and carrying a “tray” in preparation for meal time in a
    cafeteria.
•   focused on letters Ii, Cc, Nn, numbers 9 and 10, and the color grey (along with a review of
    other colors)
•   learned sign language for yellow, red and blue.
•   introduced the shapes, cube and hexagon, and we compared the
    similarities and differences of a square and a rectangle.
•   learned the nursery rhymes; Mary, Mary Quite Contrary; tongue
    twister, She Sells Sea Shells Down by the Sea Shore and the stories of
    Jack and the Bean Stalk, The 3 Billy Goats Gruff and Caps For Sale.
    The children enjoyed watching performances by the teachers,
    puppet shows and then acted out and put on puppet shows themselves.
Throughout these last days we have reviewed many of the skills that they covered at
Kindergarten registration. If your child did not attend the scheduled BRCS Kindergarten

Science:

Our classroom has been home to many different types of creatures!
•     An ant farm reinforced what we have been learning about ants. We used magnifying
      glasses to observe the three sections of the ants bodies and the tunnels that they made.
•     Mexican Jumping beans were introduced and we learned that they weren’t really beans at
      all! In fact, they are a seed from a bush that grows in Mexico which becomes home to a
      worm as it transforms into a moth. The jumping happens when the worm throws itself to
      make the seed move away from heat. We performed experiments, such as placing cold
      sponges under a tray to see if the beans would move toward the cold. We also held races
      to see whose bean would jump out of the ring first!
•     A bowl of tadpoles was brought in for the children to observe the life cycle of
      a frog in real life. We also learned the life cycle of butterflies, dragonflies,
      bees and beetles! Check out the videos on our Facebook page to see these
      fascinating changes!
•     When learning about what insects eat, we discovered that there are plants that consume
      flies for a meal! We watched a video that showed the plants up close and taught us how
      they snap shut on a fly. Once it catches a fly, it stays closed for ten days. We then used
      magnifying glasses to find the six sensors in the plant and we watched it catch a live fly!
      Our classroom now has a Venus Fly Trap plant!

    We have had so much fun learning the characteristics of insects, how they move, how they
    are alike and different, how they communicate, how they change as they grow and so much
    more! We hope the children will use their new knowledge as they play outside and explore

Books focused on Insects: Inch by Inch, Over in the Garden, Best Bug Parade, In the Tall
 Tall Grass, The Fly Flew In, The Very Lonely Firefly, The Very Quiet Cricket, Helpin’ Bugs,
       Ant Cities, I’m a Seed, The Very Lazy Ladybug and The Very Hungry Caterpillar

                                A Thumbs Up/Down Safety Game
The children were given scenarios of activities during the summer where they should practice
  safety such as, playing with or around pools or water, strangers, barbecue grills, campfires,
   bikes and all terrain vehicles (atv’s), kayaking and boating and keeping our bodies safe by
   using sunscreen and staying hydrated. It was a fun way to review how to keep safe and a
reminder of what to do if someone gets hurt. Everyone practiced dialing 911 on the phone as

                               Skills To Work On Over The Summer
Scissor skills supervised (cutting with scissors will be a big part of your child’s day in
Kindergarten)
Print the letters of their name (children are asked to do this on all of their work)
Identifying letters (especially the ones in their name)
Practice alliteration (words that begin with the same letter/sound) Example: peter piper
picked a peck of pickled peppers
Patterning
Syllable counting (breaking words down into parts by clapping them out: pop-sic-cle, jack-et),
Play card and board games to encourage waiting for a turn and cognitive skills.

                         Children will be receiving the following
                        from the Parent Activity Fund; a bag with
                        their name, water stick, bubbles, coloring
                            book, crayons and a butterfly kit.