The preschoolers have just finished the systems of the body unit. The students made body vest and brain headbands representing each of the systems (nervous, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, muscular, and skeletal) that they learned about during the unit. They learned that we are all the same on the inside and that all our systems work together to keep us healthy.

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Two preschoolers share their human body vests and brain headbands. The yellow pompom is a bite of food in their stomachs.

Next month, we will be learning about different world holidays and traditions. We started our celebration of lights last week learning about the Hindu holiday of Diwali. A time of year when we celebrate light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance.

The preschoolers made paper Diya’s lamps for Diwali.

The preschoolers will also learn about and celebrate Saint Nicholas Day, Santa Lucia, Hanukkah, and the winter solstice. We will make clove oranges, cut stripes for evergreen trees, and listen to Russian and German fairy tales.

We have been learning about community helpers. The dramatic play area has a post office, humane society, and farmer’s produce stand. For community helpers, we’ve been working through a children’s book series called “Whose Is It?” looking at the different tools, hats, hands, and clothes that people use for different types of jobs. The preschoolers are finding that every person’s job affects the next person and that all jobs are important no matter how big or how small!

We are now focusing on democracy. The preschoolers had a “king” rule the classroom and make every decision even what they got to eat for snack! The king ate chocolate kisses and the students got one string bean! “No Fair!” Democracy, the voice of the people, was heard and they voted for everyone to get a chocolate too! We also looked at how diversity played into democracy by looking at how different groups of people were allowed the right to vote at different times.

Next the students will learn about the Mexican holiday of Dia de los Muertos or also known as the Day of the Dead. Not to be confused with Halloween. Dia de los Muertos is about honoring and connecting with ancestors who have passed. We will be decorating sugar skulls and dancing skeletons.

Hello families!

It has been a fantastic 26 days of school!! During circle time, your kids and I have been having lots of fun. We’ve done some invitation to create crafts that have produced very cute projects. We’ve learned about ours and others’ unique qualities. We’ve also been playing some games encouraging cooperative play and good sportsmanship. And of course, we start each circle with a good book to read. A couple of my and there favorites have been “There’s a Monster in your Book!” by Tom Fletcher and “One” by Kathryn Otoshi.

I will be loosely following the preschool curriculum as I lead the circles. Therefore, we did a lot of apple activities and learned about the letter “M”. The next couple of weeks we will be having fun with leaves.

 A long, long, long time ago…..is how we started our unit on ancient Greece with the preschoolers. Our 3 and 4 year old students are studying ancient Greece with the rest of the student body at Rivendell. They first learned the definition of ancient and then moved on to map skills to find Greece and Crete.

Working on map skills: coloring Greece and Crete with green and brown crayons and then painting water with blue watercolor.

 The preschoolers learned about the science of archeology and the tools- paint brushes that  are used to discover about the past. 

A young student exploring the work of an archeological dig with tools and artifacts.

We looked at mosaics and pottery of the ancient Greeks and made our own mosaics and pinch pots. 

Creating ancient Greek mosaics of scary blue dolphins.

We will go on to compare and contrast the past and presents examining home life, family structure, community helpers, and the marketplace. We will bead “gold” and “lapis” necklaces, try some greek food, and write a journal page on what they learned. 

Exploration and integration of ideas and concepts of ancient Greece.

But before we leave the topic of ancient Greece, we will learn of Athena and her gift to Athens and we’ll escape the Minotour’s labyrinth with a ball of yarn!. 

With the warmer weather, the preschoolers have been getting more creative with their play on the playground.

We have also added some new trucks, pails, and shovels to our sandbox area.

The preschool teachers bought traffic signs for the playground with money raised from the Rivendell Fun Run.

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The preschoolers are making new friends on the playground and creating new dance moves together.

Hello families!

This was the first week that we began to delve into our newest thematic unit-Westward Expansion. We made predictions about what we might want to take with us as we travel across the country. We also explored life at that time, common objects, and the pioneer experience through our dramatic play centers. Students have become so creative as they try out these new centers.

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In P.E. we have started a new unit-juggling! We began with scarves and bean bags. This is another way for us to incorporate our conceptual lens-balance-into our day to day activities. Although it is challenging, it sure is fun!

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Hope you have a great week!

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Last week we took a break after finishing our unit on Asia. We worked on our silent auction project for the spring fundraiser. Each classroom at our school is putting together a special project to be auctioned off at the spring event. The spring fundraiser is a fun (adults only) night to help raise money for our school. This year, the spring event will be held on Saturday, April 18.

This week, we are starting our new thematic unit. We will be learning all about Westward Expansion. We will learn about life on the wagon train and homesteading in the western United States.

We know it is difficult to juggle having 3 types of shoes at school this time of the year, however, we want students to be safe and able to fully participate in P.E. Snow boots are clunky and causing students to trip and fall. Please make sure that your child is prepared with appropriate footwear for P.E. days.

This week we have spent a lot of time learning about kindness in the classroom. We have time with Jessica in true colors to help us learn new words to say when we need a little something extra from a friend. We have been learning kindness songs in Music with Tina. Some of us even got to perform these songs in front of the school during group sing.

Spirit week was a hit! We all loved seeing the crayon colors, favorite sports teams, mix-matching outfits, Rivendell t-shirts, and of course, pink, red, and hearts all week long. Rivendell has Heart week was a great sucess! Thanks you for all of the food donations to the food bank as well.

With all the kindness learning, we had Valentine’s Day to prep for. All week long, we were excited seeing the cards we were recieving in out Valentine’s Day sacks. Of course, the hit of the week was the Valentine’s Day party. Thank you to all who helped set up and make it such a fun experience for our preschoolers.

Check out the Valentine’s Day party video!

Don’t forget to follow us on social media.
https://m.facebook.com/RivendellSchool/
Instagram: rivendellschoolnoco

We’ve been talking a lot about play this week in preschool. There is more to play than just passing leisure time. The preschoolers learn so much about how the world works around them.

The subtle give and take of playing cooperative imaginative games are learned and refined. 

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Fine motor skills and engineering skills are practiced and put to the test when building with Legos.

Spacial awareness and strategies are being applied when working on puzzles.

Social and emotional skills are being applied and tested.

Creativity and imagination are being explored and discovered.

So get there and Play!!

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We have been busy traveling to different countries in Asia for the past two weeks. We traveled to Northern Russia, Mongolia, South Korea, and China. Preschoolers have been learning about the geography, cuisine, animals and flags of each country we visit.

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We celebrated Chinese New Year (a day early) on Friday. Both preschool classes paraded around the school and then finished with Ramen noodles for snack time! The noodles were a huge hit!