Ms. Cynthia Cerda

PreK 2 - 3K
[email protected]
(when sending emails please include child's name and grade in subject line)

October Newsletter

Unit: Our Bodies                                            

Essential Questions: What are ways to keep our bodies safe and healthy? What are some of our physical characteristics?

Book: "Llama, Llama Home with Mama" By Anna Dewdney 

Important Dates: October 27, 2022- School Pictures. Dress to Impress. Forms have been sent home. Please return immediately. 

Family Partnerships: Complete the Scavenger Hunt below and send pictures of your child completing the activity. 



 

November Newsletter

Unit: Our Community
Learning Objective: Children will have the opportunity to explore their emerging sense of belonging. 
Essential Questions:

• Grownups/Adults-Who are the adults in my classroom and throughout the building? 
• Class-How can we get to know our peers? 
• Building-How can we safely explore our school building?
• Caring-How can we take care of our friends? 

Vocabulary Week 1-help, gone, care, here , you, strangers
Read Aloud Week 1- The Berenstain Bears Learn About Strangers

Family Partnerships
 Week 1- Ask your child about the teachers and or the faculty in the school. Ask your child to describe their teachers? Which room do they work in? Have them a picture to bring back to school. 

***Reading and sharing stories can help help your child get to know sounds, words, language and develop early literacy skills. Let's read at least 30 minutes everyday. 

Vocabulary Week 2-us, community, others, thoughtful
Read Aloud Week 2- Rainbow Fish By Marcus Pfister

Family Partnerships 
Week 2- Friendship Poem
Using a search engine of your choice, find a poem about friendship that can be returned to be read and shared in the classroom. OR Create your own poem about friendship about your friends in your classroom. 

Important Dates
Tuesday, November 8, 2022- Professional Development Day-School will be closed. 
Friday, November 11, 2022- Veteran's Day-School will be closed.

***It is recommended for young children to have a daily routine. Set timers and remember the 3 B's; Bath, Book, Bed. With structured routines, children will understand concept of time with bedtime. Along with bedtime, you can have a morning routine as well!

Vocabulary Week 3-community, care, support, us, others, help
Read Aloud Week 3- The Three Little Pigs 

Family Partnerships
Week 3- Recreate the school
Children can recreate the structure of the school using recyclables from home. Ask your child the following questions;What materials is the school made from? How many stories is your school? What colors do you see? How about the inside of the school? What colors are the floors? Children can take a picture with their structure and email it to teacher. 

Important Dates
Thursday, November 24, 2022-Thanksgiving Day-School will be closed.
Friday, November 25, 2022-Thanksgiving Recess-School will be closed.

Please return ASQ-3 questionnaire as soon as possible!

***It is important to read daily with child for 15 minutes to build on child's literacy skills. 

Vocabulary Week 4- buddy, pal, others, care
Read Aloud Week 4- "Should I Share My Ice Cream?" By Mo Willems

Family Partnerships
Week 4- Ask your child to identify their friend(s) from school. Then proceed to ask them; What do you like about your friend? What is special about your friend? What kind of activities do they do together? What are ways we can make our friends feel special? Using paper and writing utensil of their choice, have your child draw your friend. This can either be posted on Seesaw, sent in backpack or emailed to me. 

Important Dates
Friday, December 2,2022,- Parent Teacher Conferences

QR Codes have been sent home for the learning application, SeeSaw. If you need any assistance, please email me. 

*It is advised completing "Family Partnerships" projects weekly in order to reinforce what your child has learned in school.

December Newsletter 

Unit: Our Environment  
Essential Question: What can we discover about our community? 
Learning Objectives: 

• Objects All Arounds Us- How can we use our sense of sight to experience and interact with my environment?
• Eyes- How can we use our sense of sight?
• Our Physical Characteristics- How can I use my sense of sight to notice my physical characteristics? 
• Seeing-What can we discover about our community?

Vocabulary Week 1- notice, neighborhood, eyes, spot, sun, cloud, spy, bright, binoculars

Read Aloud Week 1-  "I Spy" By Jean Marzollo

Family Partnerships

Week 1- Create your own binoculars-Using recyclables from home, create your binoculars. After creating your own binoculars go on a neigborhood walk and find three things. What is this object? 
How does it look? What colors can you notice? Can you describe the object? What unique features does it have? You can take pictures of your findings and post it on Seesaw.

Important Dates-Friday , December 2, 2022- Early Dismissal and Parent Teacher Conferences

Vocabulary Week 2- observe, moon, spot, sun, magnify,bright, vision
Read Aloud Week 2- "I Spy Animals" By Adam Harris 

Family Partnerships
Week 2- Invite families to look outside their windows and discuss with their children what do they see at various times of the day?What do you see during the morning? What do you see in the afternoon? What do you see at night? When do you see the sun?When do you see the moon?What occurs when the season changes? Is it darker? When is there more people? Morning or night? Can either be posted on Seesaw or brought back to school to share with peers. 

Important Reminders-Emails will be sent out in regards to Immunizations Requirements and permission to receive Kindergarten information. 

***It is important to read daily with child for 15 minutes to build on child's literacy skills. Visit your local library and borrow books.***

Vocabulary Week 3-eyes,eyesight,look,goggles,blind 
Read Aloud Week 3- "My Five Senses" By Aliki

Family Partnerships
Week 3- My Special Features

Have the children look in the mirror and examine themselves. Have the children identify features that makes them unique. What color are your eyes? What shapes is their nose? How can does your hair look? Draw a picture of yourself to bring back to school or be posted on Seesaw. 

Vocabulary Week 4-  eyes,eyesight, sight, look,notice,see,look
Read Aloud Week 4- "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, "What Do You See?" By: Bill Martin Jr.
 
Family Partnerships
Week 4-Encourage parents to have a discussion about the sense of sight. 
Take pictures of things you see or cut out pictures from magazines of things you see with your eyes. Paste pictures on paper and bring it to school to share with peers.  

Important Dates-December 23,2022-January2,2023- Christmas Break
Classes Resume- Tuesday,January 3,2023.

January Newsletter

Unit: Our Environment 
Learning Objective: Children will have the opportunity to explore and study the environment around them. 
Essential Questions:

• What to Investigate-What were we most interested last month?
• Look Closely-How can we look closely and notice details abou materials?
• Express and Test Ideas-How can we express and test ideas about materials?
• Make and Share Conclusions-How can we make and share conclusions about materials? 

Vocabulary Week 1- record, thoughts,share ideas
Read Aloud Week 1- "Step Out Gently" By Helen Frost

Family Partnerships
Week 1-"I Spy on the way home/school/neighborhood walk"- Children with the assistance of their parents should search for three different objects on a walk. Ask your child the following questions; What is the name of the object? What is their function? What shapes/colors do you see? What senses are you using to experience the object? Take a picture either send back to school or post on Seesaw. 

Vocabulary Week 2-research, idea, describe, share, thoughts, materials 
Read Aloud Week 2- “Wait” By: Antoinette Portis 

Family Partnerships
Week 2- Research insect of choice. Find three distinctive features of the insect you are researching. Child can find a picture online or draw picture to accompanying information of insect. Bring back to classroom to be shared with peers.  

Vocabulary Week 3-share, describe,suspect,predict
Read Aloud Week 3- "Best in Snow" By: April Pulley Sayre

Family Partnerships
Week 3- Compare and contrast insects that fly versus that crawl. Find features that these insects that are different and features that they in common. You can use a Venn diagram or a simple list as a way to organize ideas and to express your ideas. You can either find pictures of these insects or draw them yourself. Please post on Seesaw or bring project to share with friends. 

Vocabulary Week 4- tools,detective,describe,idea
Read Aloud Week 4- "My Little Cities: New York" By: Jennifer Adams

Family Partnerships
Week 4- Conduct an experiment on your own. Pose a question before starting your experiment. (What do you think will happen?) List out the different materials you will be utilizing. Make predictions of what will occur. Carry out experiment. Was your hypothesis correct? What were your findings?  Take pictures on post them on Seesaw or print out to share with peers. 

February Newsletter

Unit: Building
Learning Objective: What can we discover about our community? 
Essential Questions: 

• Noticing Buildings - What types of buildings do we notice around our school's environment?
• Investigating Buildings- What do we notice about the buildings and structures in the environment?
• Building (Materials)- What materials can I utilize to construct buildings? 
• Construction (tools)-What is interesting about construction and how can i explore this?

Vocabulary Week 1-buildings,cement,strong,sturdy,door,window
Read Aloud Week 1- "All the Buildings in New York: That I've Drawn so Far" By:James Gulliver Hancock

Family Partnerships
Week 1-Using a search engine,find a picture of building/structure of your choice. Describe the structure/building. What do you notice about it? What shapes can you find in the building? Write down answers and bring back to school to share with peers. 

Important Dates-
Catholic Schools Week will take place the week of January,30th. Below will be list of activities your child is invited to participate in.
Monday, January 30,2023: Favorite Character Day; Students may come to school wearing clothing with their favorite storybook, tv show or movie character. (No costumes please)
Tuesday, January 31,2023: Sports Day; Students may come to school dressed in their favorite sports team clothing.
Wednesday, February 1,2023: Wacky Wednesday; Students may come to school dressed in a silly hat, silly shirt or silly socks.
Thursday, February 2,2023: Valentine's Day Cards; Students will be creating Valentine's cards for our community helpers.
Friday, February 3,2023: Movie Day; students will enjoy a short movie with friends.

Vocabulary Week 2-bricks, roof, door, foundation, nut, bolts, washer 
Read Aloud Week 2- "Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Buildings" By: Christy Hale 

Family Partnerships
Week 2- Using recyclables from home, build a building/structure of choice. Bring back to school or post pictures on Seesaw.  

Vocabulary Week 3-scredriver, shovel,trowel,hard hat, hammer,drill
Read Aloud Week 3-"The Mixed Up Truck' By: Stephen Savage

Family Partnerships
Week 3- Let's Build Your Home:Construct your home using recyclables from home or create a blueprint. Ask your child the following questions:Do you live in a an apartment house or building? How many stories are at your home? How many bedrooms? ?What materials is your house built from?

Vocabulary Week 4- measure,sturdy, vest, surface,long,short
Read Aloud Week 4-"Mighty, Mighty Construction Site" By: Sherri Dusky Rinker 

Family Partnerships-
Week 4- Create own construction site sign. Bring back to school

March Newsletter 

Unit: Movement 
Learning Objective: What can we discover about our community?
Essential Questions: 

• Investigating How Bodies Move-How can I notice and explore movement of my body?
• Investigating How we Move Through the City- How can I explore the ways to travel around the city?
• Noticing Things That Move-How can I notie things that move?
• Investigating Vehicles-How can i notice the vehicles in my environment?

Vocabulary Week 1-hop, jump,run,roll,walk,turn,twist
Read Aloud Week 1- "Clap Your Hands" By: Lorinda Bryan Cauley

Family Partnerships
Week 1- Talk to your child about the different movements that can be done with your body. Have the child model the different types of movements. A different movement should be explored each day. Take a video or pictures to be sent via Seesaw. 

Vocabulary Week 3- quickly, push, pull,gasoline,engine
Read Aloud Week 3- "Let's Go For a Drive" By Mo Willems 

Family Partnerships
Week 3-Find an object at home which moves. Describe what it does. What is it used for? Children can either draw it or find a picture of it online? 

Vocabulary Week 4-motor, ride, train, bicycle, car, airplane
Read Aloud Week 4- "Subway" By: Anatasia Suen

Family Partnerships
Week 4- Have a discussion of what makes a car. Can the child identify the different parts of a car. Where are the tires of the car located? Where is the hood of the car? How about the windows and the doors, where is it located? Jot down the answers of the children and draw a picture of a car to accompany their answers. Bring back to school or post on Seesaw.

April Newsletter 

Unit: Care 
Learning Objective: How do my actions impact growth and change? 
Essential Questions: 

• ​​​Self-How am I helping the children notice items that can be used for care? How am I helping them explore these materials?
• Others-How am I helping the children noticw ways they can care for others? How am I helping them explore their ideas?
• World- How am I helping the children notice the ways they can care for their environment? How am I helping them explore their ideas? 

Vocabulary Week 1- bathe,feed, clean, soap, wash, feel
Read Aloud Week 1- "The Pigeon Needs a Bath!" By: Mo Willems

Family Partnerships- Encourage children with the assistance of their parents to search for items that they use to take care of themselves. Then create a list of these items. Have your child identify each item and what is it used for. Then encourage your child to count the number of items on their list. Find an item for each day of the week. Please take a picture and share via the Seesaw app.