Mrs. Darlene Dolan

PreK-4
stbrendanschoolbronx@gmail.com
(when sending emails please include child's name and grade in subject line)

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER  
*IMPORTANT NOTICE...SCHOOL WILL BE CLOSED THROUGH APRIL 30TH.  AS INFORMATION CHANGES WE WILL CONTINUE TO KEEP YOU UPDATED.  FOR NOW PLEASE SEE SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES THAT YOU CAN WORK ON AT HOME WITH YOUR CHILD.

*Child-Friendly Explanation of the Corona Virus (English PDF attached). It is available in multiple languages here: https://www.mindheart.co/descargabl

IMPORTANT ......

My email address is ddolan@stbrendanschoolbronx.org.  You can use this email to communicate with me.   Also, for those of you that have already signed on to SeeSaw, it is going great!  I am so happy with the cooperation and participation I've been seeing.  The children are doing great!  Please continue to check it daily for messages and activities.  For those who have not signed on yet, I strongly encourage you to do so.  It seems to be a great way to stay connected during this time.

UNIT/STUDY
PLANTS

The unit of study for the month of April is PLANTS!!  This is a fun, exciting, hands-on unit.  There are many activities for your child to do.  The focus questions for this week are:
"What are the parts of a plant?"
"Where can we find plants?"

FAMILY ENGAGEMENT 
ACTIVITIES/SUGGESTIONS: 

*Some conversation starters/questions of the day for this week are:
     "Can you name the parts of a plant?"  Point to the plant parts as you ask your child.
     "What is a garden?"
     "What would you grow in your garden?"
      "Where can you grow a garden?" OR "Where do gardens grow?"

                                                                   SCIENCE          
*Look at different pictures of plants in books, magazines, or on the computer.  Talk about them and identify the parts of a plant.  Have your child practice writing those words - leaves, stem, roots.
     
*Grow Your Own Garden:  There are many ways you can do this.  This can be a long -term project, for example over the Easter break.  Watch your garden grow every day.  Draw pictures and write what you see.
     
     (1)Planting Seeds: Put dirt in a bowl.  After you cut a fresh vegetable or fruit, put the seeds in the dirt.  Have your child plant the seeds in the dirt.  Use a spray bottle with water to water the seeds and observe their growth.  You can even keep a journal of the growth by having your child draw a picture of how it looks each day, every couple of days.
 
     (2)Some vegetable scraps such as carrot tops, scallions and celery (base) can be regrown by placing them in water. Put each vegetable in a small bowl or container, add a small amount of water and put in a location where the vegetable will get plenty of natural light. Ask your child to predict, observe and record what happens through drawing and writing.

     (3)Grow lima beans - Take 3 or 4 lima beans.  Plant them in moist soil in a cup.  If you don't have soil at home, put 3 or 4 lima beans in a plastic sandwich bag (Ziploc bag) with a wet paper towel.  Tape the bag with the paper towel and the lima beans to a sunny window.  Watch them grow!  

          *SeeSaw Activities: (1) I Can Label the Parts of a Plant,  (2)What Is Growing in Your Garden?  (3) Lima Bean Experiment

                                                                      ART   
*Floral Still Life: Provide or create a floral arrangement for children to carefully observe and then paint or draw what they see with various art materials.  Post it on SeeSaw.  
     
*Provide parts of plants such as flowers or leaves, have your child dip them into a small amount of paint and press them onto a piece of paper similar to a stamp. 

          *See Saw Activity: (1) Easter Egg Activity

                                                                    MATH 
*BUILDING BLOCKS WEEK 24 MATH ACTIVITY: Ask your child to draw a group of 3 objects and a separate group of 4 objects.  Then have him/her count and draw the number of objects that are there altogether.   This activity will be posted on See Saw.    

*Practice counting, recognizing and writing numbers 1 -15.  Have your child count out things at home during daily activities.  Play games with numbers...count out snacks, toys, etc.  Help set the table for mealtime.  Count out the right number of dishes, cups, etc.  Count the number of seeds in a piece of fruit, count the number of leaves on a plant....

*Provide an assortment of seeds as well as a large flat surface and ask your child to create patterns with the seeds. Explain that a pattern is made up of a core unit that repeats (for example: red, blue… red, blue… red, blue). Consider starting patterns and having your child finish it.      

 *Use playing cards to play number games  -  flip over a card and count out that many of an object - you can use anything at home(coins, cereal, toys, etc.)  Each person flips over a card - who has the higher number??

          *SeeSaw Activity: Making 7

                                              ELA (Language...Reading...Writing)
 *Our Letter of the Week this week is "G"..... have fun reinforcing this at home.  Have a scavenger hunt and find things that begin with "G" at home.  Practice writing this letter also. Practice the other letters of the alphabet as well.

*Have your child practice writing and identifying their first and LAST name. 

*Write letters on index cards. Provide seeds for your child to place on the letters. Talk with your child about the letters s/he chose to create and some of the words that start with those letters. Let your child glue the seeds on to the letters or do this activity without glue, then empty and reuse the cards after each use.      

*Try to make time daily to read with your child.  It only takes a few minutes to read a story.  Reading to your children will help them become better readers! If you have stories that have something to do with water share those with your child.  You can also go on YouTube to view read-aloud stories.  Some book suggestions are:
                   Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner
                   The Curious Garden by Peter Brown
                   An Orange in January by Dianna Hutts Aston
                   The Vegetables We Eat by Gail Gibbons 
                   Lola Plants a Garden by Anna McQuinn
                  A Seed is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston
                  Seed to Plant by Kristin Baird Rattini
                 Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z by Lois Ehlert

        *SeeSaw Activity: (1) Letter G

*Audible Kids is free while school is closed - there are many great stories on this site. Use the section Littlest Learners. Here is the link:

​https://stories.audible.com/start-listen<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__stories.audible.com_start-2Dlisten&d=DwMFaQ&c=xRhiN2BRwJUM6w5u-Ngs3w&r=pFJKsNhZi-fzHbfqbLX1pG6G9bi9Ro54I8k9vtZKn_4&m=Yoizv7P6EIEpBaJcE4G9u2mohILyLZw-RJzBBUcTpo4&s=hgTqHPlYbpk-EOlPu__4R6wtLfzz0T-fyz91EVqzsh0&e=>

*Some other great websites for math and language are:
     (1)starfall.com   
     (2)ABCmouse.com 
     (3)PBSkids.org
     (4)SCHOLASTIC.COM/LEARNATHOME (for daily activities, videos and read-alouds)
     (5)preschoolinspirations.com (for movement and action songs)
     (6)The Learning Station - we use this in class for indoor music and movement activities - the   kids love it!
     (7)Cosmic Kids Yoga - we use this in class too. Kid-friendly yoga with a story :)
 The kids love this also!   
     (8)GoNoodle - this is a great website for kids!

*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

MISCELLANEOUS

1. Please check your child's folder every day.

2.  Please be on time for school - arrival is at 8:15, dismissal is at 2:40

3.  Sheets and blankets will be sent home every Friday to be washed.  Please return them on Mondays.

Thank you for your cooperation,
Mrs. Dolan and Ms. Doreen