Dear Peacocks parents,
Information from us:
We would like to welcome Valter to the Peacocks class! We hope he will find our group to be fun and challenging! This week we’ve continued to build with the children’s math and English skill. The children are very aware of the languages that their class mates and teachers speak. Even when a child cannot speak Swedish of English, the children try their best to communicate and interact. It was great to see most of you at our parent-teacher meeting. Hopefully we answered a lot of your questions. As you requested in the meeting, here is a list of the iPad applications we have been using on a daily basis.
iMimic– Some of you may remember the game ‘’Simon’’. We play this game for the purpose of training the children’s memory. Taking into account that not everyone remembers things or learns in the same way, the children have a few options they can utilize to try and remember the games patterns. This game requires a great deal of attention so we don’t play this every day.
Little Writer– We use this application to train the children’s ability to write and recognize shapes and symbols. This application is not so much of a game but it is still fun for the children. The interface presents the children with letters, numbers, shapes, and words that are meant to be traced with the finger. It also helps the children to trace these things in the right way.
4 in a row (connect 4)- This is a application where the children play ‘’connect 4’’. This is a way to challenge their minds to problem solving and also a bit of mathematics. The object of the game is to manage to get four of your colored checker pieces in a vertical, horizontal, or diagonal line. With every turn the children must count and decide if they should try to add one more checker to get to four in a row or if they must use a checker to block the other player from getting four in a row. The children really like this game!
Memory king– this application is used to train the children’s memory. The children are presented with ‘’cards’’ that are face down. They must attempt to remember what they see when others turn cards over in an attempt to turn over two of the same cards when it is their turn. We play this game with 4 children at a time. Each child is identified by a color. So, with this they are also learning to take turns. This game is also a big hit with the Peacocks!
Todo Math– This is a mathematics application. The children have the option to play 7 different games inside of this application. There are games for tracing numbers, counting, simple math, and more. The best thing about this app is its demonstration of the math problems. Not only does it display the problem with numbers but also with objects such as cookies.
For example, the animation may display 5-3= and also a total of 5 cookies and 3 being taken away by a little bear hand. So even for those who cannot quite identify the numbers yet, they still manage to figure out the problem by seeing the animation.
The children all have a chance to play these iPad games for about 10 minutes a day. They are supervised while playing the games and they are in groups that do not exceed 4 children at a time.
The children are also encouraged to use their fingers to count and to count out loud. Even though we have an iPad to work with, that is not a common thing. They always have their fingers with them!
Our learning
Circle time: This week in circle time we began with studying Holland which is where Monique is from! The children enjoyed talking about the Tulips, windmills, and bicycles. They also learned a Dutch song about windmills. We also found Holland on the map and asked the children to figure out if Holland was a cold or warm country according to how close it is to the equator. For our activity having to do with Holland, the children colored some tulips, windmills, and bicycles
Art: For our activity having to do with Holland, the children colored some tulips, windmills, and bicycles. The children’s artwork is now on display in our upstairs construction room.
Math: We have continued to take advantage of the time just after lunch to play math games on the iPad. We are planning to do a math scavenger hunt around the whole school where the children will be responsible for finding a list of objects that are bunched in numbers.
Science: We used our Friday circle time to talk a bit about science. Christoffer brought in a science experiment for the class to see and also to try for themselvs. Christoffer had put together two bottles, one of which was filled with water. When the water is allowed to run down into the empty bottle, it created a tornado. We also talked a bit about how windmills are not only used to ground flour and corn, but bow they are used today to harness energy from blowing wind or rushing water to make electricity.
Clothing: As well all know, the weather has taken a cold turn. Most of the children have rain clothes, but they also need some heavier clothes to go under them. Even though it is getting colder we will still be playing outside for at least 2 hours a day so please bring proper clothing for your children.
Important dates
Meetings:
None Scheduled
Friday 4th of October
Peacocks and Flamingos will participate in the 2nd Annual Futura Olympics at
Östermalms IP.
More information to to come
Thursday 10th of October
Peacocks will go to Junibacken
Arrive at the pre-school by 8:15
Friday 11th of October
Chemistry day
Every class will make a chemistry/science experiment in the morning and the results and pictures/documentation will be displayed in the Math room/Construction room during the afternoon (after lunch)
Tuesday 15th&16th of October
Class Photo
Please dress children nicely.
Thursday 31st of October
Halloween-Parents coffee break 15:00 to 17:00
Children are encouraged to dress up in Halloween costumes. We will ‘’trick or treat’’ between the classrooms
Monday 11th of November
Staff development day
School will be closed
Contact Adriana by October 15th if you should need child care.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to email, call or, talk to us.
Regards,
The Peacocks