Mrs. Jankowski's Preschool

Welcome!

Thanks for visiting the website for Mrs. Jankowski's GSRP Preschool at Harvey Swanson Elementary School. Parents and students should use this site to keep up to date with what's going on in my classroom.

Weekly Update

(5/14-5/18)

• We learned about the author Laura Numeroff.
• For handwriting, we worked on writing the numbers 0-10. Please remind your child to start at the top when beginning to write.
• On Tuesday, our balloon pop was a treasure hunt. The children followed the clues all around the school ended up in Ms. Sarah's room to find the treasure.

(5/7-5/11)

• We spent all week getting ready for Muffins with Moms.
• The children wrote invitations, grew flowers and painted hands as memories.

(4/30- 5/4)

• Please send with your child a water bottle labeled with his or her name. It gets very hot and the line for the drinking fountain is long.
• We will be having spontaneous “water days” as the weather permits. Please send a towel and swim suit or extra change of clothes to stay at school.
• If you would like sunscreen to be applied to your child throughout the school day, please fill out a “non-prescribed medication form” and send in the sunscreen labeled with your child’s first and last name. Please send in spray sunscreen if possible.

(4/23-4/26)

• Our classroom was quite a zoo this week.
• We made patterns out of zoo animals, made zebra paintings and sorted animals based on where they live (the farm or the zoo).
• Thursday was our field trip to the Detroit Zoo. What an amazing day it was, beautiful weather and all of the animals were out!

(4/16-4/19)

• This week the children painted flower pots. Next week, they will plant seeds and observe them as they grow.
• Monday, we visited Ms. Fran. She read stories about frogs and the children had the opportunity to decorate a frog puppet.
• The children searched for their word wall words in their poetry books and practiced writing the words.

(4/9-4/13)

• Welcome back. I hope you enjoyed your time off with one another.
• We have started to really practice for our end of the year concert.
• Fine motor - buttons and playdoh as well as painting and working with wiki sticks.
• Sight words - a, I, mom, dad, love, cat, & dog.

(3/5-2/9)

• This week we made fruit salad and baked cookie pie.
• We made self portraits while we sang "Mat Man" to make sure all of the body parts were accounted for . We also talked about skin color and had the opportunity to use different “skin” crayons. The children loved how they are “apricot,” “tan,” “burnt sienna,” “peach,” and “mahogany.”
• Our class read several different versions of the three little pigs. The children worked together to build the different houses (straw, sticks and bricks).

(2/26- 3/2)

• We kicked off March is Reading Month by having a dance party https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9XtDyDUjIU
• Our class was introduced to out new author for the month Robert Munsch. We read the story "Just One Goal." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJinfIfPxPg
• This week we celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday and did several activities that go along with his books.
• We cooked hamburger mac and broccoli casserole.

(2/19-2/23)

• This week we made vanilla cupcakes. The children loved decorating them!
• Handwriting - the letter "A" and the number "7"
• We built letters out of Popsicle sticks.
• The children measured how tall they were using blocks. Ask your child how many blocks tall they are.

(2/12-2/16)

• Our class spent the week getting ready for our Valentine's celebration.
  • Shared valentine boxes.
  • Graphed conversation hearts
  • Predicted and then tested out how many conversation hearts they would be able to hold in one hand.
• Handwriting - the letter "S" and the number "6"
• Cooking - We made tacos and snicker doodle bread.

(2/5-2/9)

• Handwriting - we worked on "G" and the number "5."
• Our class read "The Day It Rained Hearts" and then used staplers to make hearts falling from a cloud.
• Cooking - Steamed pork buns and chocolate chip cookies.
• The children used water color paint to find the hidden message on their paper.

(1/29-2/2)

• We worked with different mediums to make art this week. The students used aluminum foil as well as toothpicks and marshmallows.
• For cooking, we made cocktail wieners and personalized pancakes.
• The children worked on "Q" and the number "4" for handwriting this week.

(1/22-1/26)

• For handwriting, we worked on the letter "O" and the number "3."
• We have started our cooking adventures. This week, we made quesadillas and chocolate marble gooey butter cake!
• On our trip to the museum, we made slime!

(1/15-1/19)

• We have started practicing songs for our end of the year concert. We will sing Crazy Abc's. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF8-qXEOE-c
• This week we used cotton balls to stand for "snow." We used our snowballs to represent a number.
• Our class worked on the number 2 and the letter "C" this week.

(1/8- 1/12)

• On Tuesday, Ms. Nancy from Dr. Delaney’s pediatric dental office came to teach us about how to have healthy teeth.
• We read, “If You Give a Moose a Marshmallow” and then wrote about what we would do if we were given a marshmallow.
• For Handwriting, we worked on the letter "Z" and the number 1.

(1/1-1/5)

• Welcome back! We had a quick week for our return.
• This week we learned about a new author, Jan Brett. We read “The Mitten” and then wrote about what we would put into our mitten.
• Due to the cold weather, we have been doing yoga. Be sure to check out cosmickids.org for more yoga adventures!

(12/18-12/22)

• Ms. Fran from the Brandon Public Library came to visit us this week. She read stories about reindeer.
• On Wednesday, the students pretended that they were one of Santa's reindeer. They ran forward, ran backward, stomped their hooves, pranced and galloped around the classroom.
• Thank you to everyone who came to support our class at their concert. The children were so proud to show off what they had been working on.

(12/11-12/15)

• This week we read several stories about The Gingerbread Man.
• The children took 1 bite of a gingerbread cookie and then graphed their first bite (head, arm or body).
• Concert reminder - the concert will be TUESDAY, December 19 at 2 pm in the Harvey Swanson gym.

(12/4-12/8)

• It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas in our classroom. The children made Christmas trees using tissue paper and contact paper.
• We worked on our fine motor skills by wrapping presents (things we found around the classroom).
• Our class danced to a new song called "Brrrrr." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjd7Z_7DdU4

(11/27-12/1)

• This week, we learned about the author Eric Carle. We read several of his stories.
• After reading "Little Cloud," the children ripped paper and talked about what their cloud became.
• We learned two rhyming chants, "Willaby Wallaby Woo" and "Jack be Nimble."

(11/20-11/24)

• We went to visit Ms. Fran on Monday. She read us Thanksgiving stories and we checked out new books.
• The children used feathers with the letters of their names on it to make turkey's.
• Our letters that we worked on writing for the week are "H" and "K."

(11/13- 11/17)

• To get ready for Thanksgiving, we started to talk "turkey." We read several stories about Thanksgiving and even learned the "Turkey Wobble." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhxVexWtE-4
• The November family project was to disguise a turkey. We read the story "The Great Turkey Race" by Steve Metzger to find out why the turkeys were running away and needing to hide.
• Our author this month is Eric Litwin. He writes the books about "Pete the Cat."

(11/6-11/10)

• This week we did several activities to get ready for "Donuts with Dudes."
• We have been working on making AB patterns. The children used different colored ties to make a pattern their own pattern.
• To keep with the theme of "donuts" the children predicted and then graphed how many donuts they though their dude would eat.

(10/30- 11/3)

• We learned about the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" this week. We sang the nursery rhyme and then sequenced the events.
• The children made spider webs using white crayons and paper. They then used water color paint to see their masterpieces.
• Our class has been representing information using picture graphs. This week we graphed our favorite candy (chocolate or fruity) and we graphed if we thought a spider would make a good pet or not.
• The first Thanksgiving song and dance we have learned is "Gobble Gobble Turkey Waddle" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhxVexWtE-4

(10/23-10/27)

• We danced to "Monster Moves" by Koo Koo Kangaroo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxKb_VHCYdc
• The students learned about measuring. We measured height with cubes, circumference with links and we even recorded our own height by counting on leaves!
• We used many different types of corn this week. The students built letters using candy corn and played with dried corn in the sensory table.

(10/16 - 10/20)

• The students received their library card this week. Each month the students will have the opportunity to check out a book from Brandon Public Library to keep in their classroom book box. The library offers several resources and events. Be sure to check out http://www.plymouthrockets.com/michiganactivitypass/ for passes to local museums and parks through the library.
• We learned about animals that live on farms and vegetables that grow from farms. The students tasted different vegetables and then graphed their favorite. Carrots won as the most liked vegetable in our classroom.
• Our class put on our architecture hats this week and designed different homes for animals using marshmallows and toothpicks. When building, we talked about shapes and what makes up each shape (sides, corners, curved and straight lines).

(10/9 - 10/13)

• This week we learned about people in our community. We even had a police officer come in to talk to our class about safety.
• We learned about the letter "L" and how to write letters - we always start at the top. We sing "Where do you start your letters" before we begin writing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um096Twf3lQ
• While learning about firefighters, we practiced putting out fires by putting drops onto the paper flames. This helped us work on one to one correspondence, matching sets with the numeral and our fine motor skills.

(10/2- 10/6)

• This week we learned about the author Mo Willems. He writes the books about Pigeon and Knufflebunny. The children graphed if they would let the pigeon drive the bus or not. Most of the votes wanted the pigeon to drive the bus!
• During large group, we danced to the "Dinosaur Stomp."https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imhi98dHa5w&list=PLAciiU8IP2qbuAuof_wiyfdOxvtQokv6q&index=4
• For math we learned about tally marks. We learned the poem, "1, 2, 3, 4 number 5 shuts the door. 6, 7, 8, 9, number 10 draws the line." This poem helps us write the marks down correctly.

(9/25-9/29)

• This week we had Nurse Debbie come in and talk to us about cancer. We also watched a short video about a child named Finn who gets his cancer treated in the hospital. Nurse Debbie helped to reassure us that you can't catch cancer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw3vHPHox7U
• We spent most of our time this week learning about apples. We even did a taste test - ask your child which color apple was his or her favorite.
• For math, we learned about AB patterns. We danced to "Banana, Banana, Meatball" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ9q4U2P3ig and we used paper apples to make color patterns.

(9/18-9/22)

• This week in school we were introduced to "Mat Man." Mat Man is from Handwriting Without Tears and he helps us learn to draw a self portrait. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec7J57YewxQ
• While working on math, we practiced counting to 10. We also pretended we were a rocket ship getting ready to take off while we counted back from 10.
• Each student is working to learn the letters in his or her first name.
• We shared our "All About Me" pages and learned that one of our classmates has cancer. We read several stories about cancer and talked about how we can wear hats to school just like our friend.

(9/11-9/15)

• This week in school we learned about our classroom rules and routines.
• For math, we started practicing counting to 10.
• We have been working on writing our first name. Please practice at home by encouraging your child to use a capital letter for the first letter, lowercase letters for the rest and to always start the letters at the top.
• "All About Me" pages are due, please turn them in as soon as possible.

Reminders

• Preschool Open House - Saturday, March 10 from 10-2
• Please sign up for spring conferences - http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090545a5a623a5fc1-spring
• Field trip to the zoo - April 26