Pre-K

Teacher: Joan McDonald-Smith                                     
Email Me!

 Our school year is quickly coming to an end. I am very proud of the wonderful Shooting Stars and Ducklings! 

  By the end of May, we will finish writing and reviewing the letters of the alphabet. In Art, we will be busy making gifts for Mother's Day and doing crafts related to spring. In Math, we have been working on addition and will work on subtraction later in the month. In Science, we were thrilled to get our Painted Lady caterpillars. We have been observing their growth and when they become chrysallis, we will move them into our Butterfly garden and wait for them to emerge as butterflies. We will go to the Science lab and learn about microscopes and view various insect slides.  Our Weekly Reader in May prepares us for summer with many interesting topics. Our center times have different activities to choose such as painting at the easels and building with various materials. During circle time, we read a great book every day and have wonderful discussions, as well as playing phonetic games. We also use this time to have daily class meetings and to discuss our Peaceful school monthly themes. We can now say sentences in Spanish related to clothing and colors. We enjoy PE class with Mrs. Tamburro every Monday and Music lessons with Mrs. Springer every Tuesday. In addition to our special classes, we have Yoga/Playground everyday. We sing daily with alphabet or holiday related songs.

   We are excited about events in May. A librarian from Phoenixville Library will again visit on Tuesday, May 8th to read to us and to loan us some books from the library. We have enjoyed her visits. Screening for Kindergarten will be on Thursday, May 3rd so there are no classes for Pre-K. We are looking forward to Fiesta Day, Pet Show Day, and Beach Day! We will end May with a visit to the classroom by the Kimberton Fire Company.

 The last day for the Ducklings is Thursday, June 7th. On Friday, June 8th, parents are invited to the classroom at 10:30 am for the distribution of report cards and certificates and a celebration for the fantastic school year we had!

   It has been my pleasure to work with the wonderful Pre-K students this year! I thank all of them and their kind and supportive parents for a memorable school year! You will always be in my heart!

   Wish List                         

   That all my students and their families have a safe and happy summer!

The Pre-Kindergarten has two programs – the Pre-K 4 year olds (the Shooting Stars) and the Pre-K 3 year olds (the Ducklings). Classes for the Shooting Stars are five days a week from 8:30 am to 11:30 am. Classes for the Ducklings are on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 am to 11:30 am. There is a lunch buddy program for Shooting Stars morning only students so that they may stay for recess and lunch until 12:30 pm for a nominal fee. We also have an optional full day program for the Shooting Stars, which ends at 2:50 pm. In the afternoons, we have reinforcement lessons from the morning, crafts everyday, computer, educational games and once a week we have been going to the gym for hand and eye coordination games.

For the Ducklings and the Shooting Stars, we have Religion, Art, alphabet lessons, Math, Music, Yoga and low impact aerobics, Center time filled with many activities, Snack, and Circle time. Our Circle time involves books, book discussions, phonetics, short games, and songs. In addition to that, the Shooting Stars have a Physical Education lessons and Science. Our Science program is quite extensive and provides more than basic concepts. We learn much about plants, the human body, winter-themed concepts such as static electricity, matter, and how to use microscopes.

Parents receive a weekly newsletter as well as a class monthly calendar. Pictures are constantly added to our Snapfish album  of classroom activities.