Mrs. Barabara Graham

PreK-2
stbrendanschoolbronx@gmail.com
(when sending emails please include child's name and grade in subject line)

The week of june 15th through 19th

Hi Everyone,

This is our final week of school and it was a pleasure having your children in our class.  They have all done so well and we wish them all the best in the future.  Here are a final few activities on Seesaw which may be helpful.

Seesaw Activities:

Math:
- Positional Words
- Pirate Numbers Overboard 1 - 20

Englich Language Arts:
- CVC Site Words
- Rhyming Words - Tree
- Do These Words Rhyme (part 2)
 

books:

Kindergarten, Here I Come! by David Steinberg: A poem to celebrate each kindergarten milestone.
Double Happiness by Nancy Tupper Ling: The difficulty of transition and celebration of the ways in which love and family provide strength.
Big Ernie's New Home: A Story for Young Children Who Are Moving by Teresa Martin: As Big Ernie gradually discovers familiar comforts and exciting adventures in his new home, young readers may be encouraged to do the same in theirs.
The Wonderful Things You Will Be by Emily Winfield Martin: A celebration of potential. 

The week of june 8th through 12th

Hi Everyone,

Our new study on "Transformation" ask the questions: "What changes around me?", "How can objects change?", "What kind of changes happen in nature?", and "How will I continue to change and grow?". 

Seesaw Activities:

Math:
Missing Teen Number
Counting by 2's

ELA:
Does it Ryhme?
Write Words the Rhyme

Science:
High in the Sky or Low to the Ground

Books
Double Happiness by Nancy Tupper Ling: The difficulty of transition and celebration of the ways in which love and family provide strength.
First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger: Which came first? The chicken or the egg?
Froodle by Antoinette Portis: Little Brown Bird’s new tune shakes up the neighborhood.
From Milk to Ice Cream by Stacy Taus-Bolstad: How does milk turn into frosty ice cream?
Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley: Watch the Big Green Monster grow and then when you’re ready to show him who's in charge turn the remaining pages and watch him disappear!
 
 

Important Dates:

Monday, June 8th @ 12:00 - Virtual Workshop with our social worker Karen.  The topic is "Getting Ready for Kindergarten"

Monday, June 8th - Friday, June 12th - Parent-Teacher Phone Conferences.

Friday, June 19th - Last day of school / End of the Year Celebration!!!!  Please save this date!

June 1st through june 5th

SEESAW ACTIVITIES:
Science:  
Life cycle of a Butterfly (video and activity)

Math:
More or Less (2 activities)

Languages and Arts:
Please read -  The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (Art activity directly related to this book). 

Books:
*Caterpillar to Butterfly by Laura Marsh: An upclose look at exactly how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly.
*First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger: Which came first? The chicken or the egg? 
*In the Small, Small Pond by Denise Fleming: A frog's-eye view of life in a pond throughout the seasons.
*Watching the Seasons by Edana Eckart: Weather changes from day to day and over the seasons, and there are ways by which weather can be measured.





                       
The week of May 25th through may 29th

Hi Everyone,

We are finished with our exploration of "Babies".  I believe they have learned a number of things.  Our focus now is on how I can help your child enter kindergarten easily and be secure with themselves.

  This is what is hopefully achieved for Pre-kindergartens to complete this year:   

                       1.  Identify letters in their own name (only).  More is better.
                       2.  Be able to count and recognize numbers from 1 to 20.
                       3.  Be able to recognize basic colors.
                       4.  Be able to recognize basic shapes.
                       5.  Be able to dress and undress themselves.

I am trying to go furher then this list.  
 

The week of May 18th through may 22nd

Hi Everyone,
We will continue to work on Babies this week.  The question we are asking is "What can we learn about animal babies?"  The first thing that comes to mind is they look exactly like their mothers/parents.  Where as, human babies can look very different from their parents, to us.  

Some valuable vocabulary words:    adult, big, calf, coo, cow, duck, duckling, egg, elephant, frog, gentle, grow. habitat, hatch, small, tadpole, veterinarian, zoologist.

Seesaw Activities:

The Week of May 4th Through May 7th 

Hi Everyone,

Activities on Seesaw: 

Language and Arts: 

 - Read and Find 
 - YouYube video of the song "Baby Shark"  (dance and movement)

The week of april 27 through May 1st

Hi Everyone,

We are completing our unit on "Plants" this week. I have assigned 2 Language and Art projects, 2 Math activities, and a science activity.  They will show up on your Seesaw assinments throughout the week.  Remember this is not meant to be stressful, just a fun way of learning so take your time, I know most of you are juggling a great deal in your life right now.  Our next unit of study will be "Babies" and that should be interesting. 

Seesaw Activities:

Language and Art:

   - Make a Leaf Person
   - Animal Clues
Math:
   - Counting up to 15
   - Animal Sort Train
Science:
   - Living and non-living

                      The week of April 20th through april 24th

Hi Everyone,

                          The week of April 6th through April 10th

                       sunny    shadey   rainy    cloudy    snowy    windy
 

On the Seesaw website you will find activities in:

Mathematics
   - Fill the 10 Frame
   - Number writing Practice (1 to 20)

Science
   - Weather Words
   - How do Plants Grow?  (5 min. video)

Language Arts and Literature
   - Beginning Sounds
   - Color ID
   - Rainbow Letters Match

Movement:  
     It's important to move around as often as possible.  Here are a few ideas: 
            - Daily excercise of jumping jacks, stretching, running in place, and dancing.  Some dance                        music we use in class are (which can be found on Youtube):  Koo Koo Kanga Roo,
                    Freeze dance, We're Going on a Bear Hunt, and many more.  Have fun!
            - We have started yoga in class and a great website is Cosmic Kids Yoga.
            

   The week of March 30 - April 3rd

Hi Everyone,

We have set up your child on a learning website.  It is called Seesaw.  I have sent you information about this website in an email that went out today.  I will be sending individual emails with your individual codes shortly.  We are assigning work on a weekly basis.  You have all week to complete it and we will be able to review your progress.  We will add new projects and activities every week.  I feel this website is very manageable to navigate, however, I'm always available through my email.

During the month of April, we will discuss, observe, and explore the essential question, "How do plants grow and why are they important?"  The first week, our focus question is "What are plants?" 

Our reading material is: 

Up in the Garden Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner
The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli
If You Plant a Seed by Kidar Nelson
Green Kid's Guide to Composting by Richard Lay
From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons 
The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
Planting a Rainbow byLois Ehlert


On the website, you will find activities for mathematics, literature and literacy, and science:
Math:                  -10 Apples Up on Top
                           -Apple Sort
                           -Number Tracing

Science:             -Plant Parts
                           -From Seed to Flower

Language and Literacy:
                           - Chicka Ckicka Boom Boom Alphabet Order
                           - Letters and Sounds I Know 

Art:

Leaf Rubbing:
Supply leaves and crayons for you child to use in creating leaf rubbings. Remove the paper casing from the crayons, place the leaves under a piece of paper and invite your child to rub the side of the crayon over the paper and watch for the shape of the leaf to emerge. Encourage children to persist until the entire leaf is visible.

Family Activity:
Now would be a nice time to plant either herbs of flowers from seed at home.  You can watch the process and progress, then record it.  Maybe put one seed in a pot, then water.  Experiment with and without sun and see what happens.

March

During the month of March, we will observe, discuss, and explore WATER in our classroom. The first week we will ask the question "Where can we find water?"  The second week, we will discuss "What happens to water when it changes temperature?"  The third week, we will discuss "What happens when we put things in water?" Finally, we ask "How does water help us?"  It will be a fun and exciting month with many science experiments and plenty of learning.

Things to do at home while we are not in school:

First let me say it's fine with me if you say "Mrs. Graham wants you to..."

 -  Wash your hands with soap and water and count to 20 before you finish washing them.

 -  Write your name every day.  Upper case with the first letter and lower case with the rest.

Movement:  
     It's important to move around as often as possible.  Here are a few ideas: 
            - Daily excercise of jumping jacks, stretching, running in place, and dancing.  Some dance                        music we use in class are which can be found on Youtube:  Koo Koo Kanga Roo,
              Freeze dance, We're Going on a Bear Hunt, and many more.  Have fun!
            - We have started yoga in class and a great website is Cosmic Kids Yoga.
            - Take a walk if possible.
Science:
      Discuss water and how it changes.  For example, we were going to introduce them to thermometers and why they go up and down.  A home experiment would be to put water in a glass with ice and put water in another glass without ice.  Then use the thermometer to see the difference.  Your questions would be:  Why is there a difference?  What caused the difference?  You can also point out when liquids are put in the freezer they change properties (from a liquid to a solid).

      Experiement : Using celery stalks, glasses of water, and food coloring 
                      Put different colored water in different glasses - then trim the bottom of stalks of celery - put one celery stalk in each colored water glass and watch what happens.  Plant leaves get their food and nutrients from their roots.  The leaves will eventually change color to the color of the water.  

Art:  Ice Cube Painting   
      Make colored ice cubes out of water and food coloring.  Create a handle using tooth picks or popcycle sticks.  Before they start painting, ask them "What do you think is going to happen?"  "How is the paint going to work?"  

Literature:  Here is a list of some reading materials that pertain to water:

A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Water by Walter Wick
It Looks Like Spilt Milk by Charles Shaw
It's Raining by Gail Gibbons
Little Bird Takes a Bath by Marisabina Russo
Save Water Everyday by Mari Schuh
A Cool Drink of Water by Barbara Kerley

When reading books it is a good idea to ask questions like "Who is the main character?"  "What do you think will happen next?" and "What would you do if this happened to you?" to name a few.  

Mathematics:
Counting as many things that are alike around your house is helpful.  For example, count the amount of silverware on the table, count the amount of socks that go into the washing machine and make sure the same amount comes out, or count the floors in you building or steps in your house.  

Having them write the numbers is good practice also.

Important Dates:

Monday March 16th -  April 20th - School Closed 

Link for Pre K Learn At Home instructional Resources from DOE:
https://cdn-blob-prd.azureedge.net/prd-pws/docs/default-source/default-document-library/learn-at-home-2020/early-childhood-family-activities-accessible.pdf


Request:

We are requesting donations of paper towels and tissues for our classroom, thank you in advance.