The Map Quest Continues

 

What's happening in the morning???

The Little Giants continue to be fascinated with maps and the teachers are enjoying walking down this path of discovery with them.   Mrs. Nemcek brought in a book about a gingerbread man called The Gingerbread Man Lost in the School, and in the book the students make a gingerbread man and while they are out of the classroom, the gingerbread man wakes up and wonders out into the school to find the kids. The kids go on a search to find the gingerbread man following clues that he left.
After reading this book, the kids decided they wanted to make a gingerbread man from studio materials. The next day the children arrived to find the gingerbread man gone and a note that said "I woke up and no one was here, so I went out to look for you." The children then took turns using a school map and clues to find the gingerbread man. He was finally found taking a nap in the back room:)



Emmett and Hana using their maps
and clues to find our lost gingerbread man.

Tommy, Kate, Heike & Ava finding our lost gingerbread man!




Sophia with the gingerbread man, measuring to
 see how tall he is using unifix cubes

The story about the gingerbread man getting lost in the school started an extension activity to compare and contrast other gingerbread inspired books, such as The Gingerbread Boy, The Gingerbread Baby, The Gingerbread Girl, The Gingerbread Pirates, etc. The children also decided to build a gingerbread village, first by mapping out the roads, at lake, a park and mountains, then they each decorated gingerbread houses made of graham crackers, icing and candy. They are now have a 3-D gingerbread village and are using cars, animals and other materials in the classroom to pretend play.

Kate, Emmett, Tommy, Ava and Niko decorating their gingerbread houses and buildings.

 



Our 3-D Gingerbread Village!

Brooke and Niko using cars and animals to pretend play with our gingerbread village.



 

 Other map activities....


Mrs. Pallarino read a book called Harold and the Purple Crayon which inspired this group map.

Ava creates an "earth" inspired map.

 Mrs. Pallarino and Mrs. Nemcek give the children maps of the first floor of the HS and took the children on a discovery walk.  Using the map, we looked for room numbers, letters and words and discovered new and exciting places, like, the auditorium, the chickens, and the sports trophies.

Niko, Ava, Kate & Emmett using their maps.

Niko, Tommy & Ava, "we found a room number!"

Kate, Emmett, Ava & Niko finding words.

Ava circling a symbol for "stairs" on her map.

 

What's happening in the afternoon?

The map interest and exploration continues in the afternoon with Mrs. Carlson and Mrs. Fieldman.

Kate creates her own maps to different real and magical places.
 

She then combines them to proudly make her own atlas!

Ava takes on the challenge of looking for maps in the newspaper.
She and her friends find 21 maps!

 Afternoon "Excellent Adventures"

 

 In lieu of going outside on very cold or messy days, the afternoon kids often go exploring the HS on what we call an "excellent adventure".  It's always a journey of discovery and fun.  We've ventured the hallways and discovered all sorts of things, including...

• Lots and lots of exit signs
• Display cases with trophies and art and other interesting things
• An office with a green "x" on the floor (but we were disappointed to find out it didn't mean there was treasure there)
• A swimming pool!
• Turtles on the walls in the science wing
• A huge auditorium that has neat lights and a pit where the orchestra plays (we saw some staging for the HS musical)



One day we came upon a the daughter of a friend of Mrs. Carlson's doing a photo shoot
and we got to watch and then get our picture taken too!

 Charity Drive

Every year all of the students in the high school choose and raise money for a charity in need. This year it is for Children's Oncology Services The Little Giants are joining in the fund raising effort by selling valentines that they've made before and after school. To promote our efforts, the children were invited to make a commercial with Mr. V., the Film/Media teacher. They sang a cute Valentine's Day song then did a pitch for our valentine's sale. It was adorable and we''ll see what we can do to post it ASAP.



Getting ready to shoot the commercial



Mr. V. gives instruction

 

 

Selling valentines before school

 

 

For more info. about Charity Drive see: http://hphs.dist113.org/Documents/2013CharityDriveLetter.pdf 



 And, of course, we continue to play...



Tommy builds a house and shares it with friends, Graham and Daniel.

Later the boys add a bucket on top and practice bouncing ping pong balls into it.



Heike plays with duplo blocks.

Almost all creativity involves purposeful play.

Abraham Maslow
American psychologist
1908–1970

 

Tommy and Brooke practice cutting.

  

The children put loose objects together to create their own climber.

Our Baby Shower for Mrs. Pallarino 

 

The Little Giants are giving Mrs. Pallarino a baby shower on Wed., Feb. 27th from 10:30 to 11:00 a.m.  We will have a special treat, play a couple of games and give Mrs. Pallarino a special gift we've prepared especially for her.  Any parents who would like to join us are welcome.

 

Valentine's Day Activities!

 

Heart shaped pancake and strawberry breakfast!

Emmett, Kate and Brooke loved the strawberry milk!

Passing out Valentine's to our friends!

 

 



 

SAVE THE DATE!

2013 Annual Benefit

 

Friday, April 26th
at the Deer Path Inn, Lake Forest

Please save the date for HP Community's Annual Benefit.  It's a lovely evening with dinner, entertainment, raffle drawings and a live auction all in the company of our fellow Community friends, family and staff.  This year we will also be honoring our wonderful director, Jean Wallace-Baker, as she retires after 31 years of faithful service to our school. Invitations will be in the mail shortly.

 

Also, each family is being asked to PLEASE help the benefit be a great success by making a tax-deductible donation of goods and/or services to be included in our raffle packages or by purchasing ad space in our program book.  If you can't personally make a contribution, we kindly ask that you ask places you patronize, friends, family, co-workers, etc. if they would give a gift card or certificate or buy ad space to benefit our school. Perhaps a restaurant your family frequents will offer a gift certificate or a friend who works for the travel industry might be able to donate something that would complement our travel raffle package.  Mrs. Carlson's dad owns a time share and he is donating a week's stay in 2 bedroom/2bath condo in Orlando!  You never know unless you ask!  If we got just one item from each family, big or small, our raffle packages would be more enticing and the more raffle tickets we'd sell. Be creative!  Think out of the box! Community needs you!

 

In recent years, funding for educational programs has dramatically diminished, challenging us to secure revenue from alternative sources.  We rely heavily on the greater community, including individuals and businesses, to sustain our programs and retain staff.   The money we make will go directly to helping our school continue to do all the wonderful things it does to support and care for children and families at both the main site and the Little Giants site.

If you haven't already received one at school, donation letters and tax receipt forms are available at school by the sign-in sheets. The deadline for donations is Feb. 15.

 

THANK YOU!   THANK YOU!!!   THANK YOU!!!!!     THANK YOU!!    THANK YOU!!

 

Little Giants Update

The Little Giants have done so much since the last posting which has included having a holiday pajama party, engaging in a train explorations, learning about winter weather and snow, welcoming a new student, beginning a new project on maps and much, much more!  Here's a summary of the past few weeks...

AM time, the children...                                                

• have been focusing on winter weather through books such as Snow Amazing, The Snowy Day, and Learn About Weather; Snow.
• what makes snow/snowflakes, how many sides they have, are they the same or different, etc. The Little Snowflake
• discussed what the animals do during the winter weather and what animals hibernate. Read books such as Bear Snores On and Don't Wake Up the Bear.
• What do we wear during the cold winter weather and...
• what activities do we do during Winter; build snowmen, sled, ski, snowball fights, etc.
• been learning the letters Ww and Mm
• been exploring patterns by exploring our environment and doing calendar activities
• have begun to explore maps and location through books such as The Gingerbread Village and Somewhere in the World Right Now.

Together the children made a gingerbread man using studio materials.

PM time, the children...

• made some beautiful name plates as holiday gifts for our newly married Mrs. Pallarino and Mrs. Nemcek
• have listened to many great stories such as The Wing Shop and Fedge the Dragon
• have been building with loose objects out on the playground and creating a fun, messy, imaginative hullabaloo.
• learned to play shape/color bingo.
• explored the school and stopped in to physics teacher, Mr. Fay's, room where he let us play with his "toys"--roller coasters!  And we saw his worm farm!  His worms eat trash!!!
• wrote and delivered a thank you note to Mr. Fay
• have been exploring maps--atlas pages, maps in books, and the idea that maps lead us to special things, like buried treasure!  This is our latest exploration and here is how it evolved...

The Map Project

On a cold, wet day in early January, the Little Giants set out on an “excellent adventure” to explore the high school.  Intrigued with the EXIT signs we’d seen on a previous venture out, the children were excited to go out again and find and count more EXIT signs. While out, we counted EXIT signs and tallied the number on a sheet of paper.  We also explored and discovered many new things about the high school such as…

   *There are EXIT signs all over the school!!!  We counted 20!
   *There is a courtyard with real chickens in it! 

         *There are turtles on the walls! (not real)

   *There are classrooms with desks everywhere!
   *Mr. Fay, the physics teacher, is very nice and has cool toys and worms that eat his trash!

 

Upon returning to the classroom, the children were asked to draw about the experience.  Some drew chickens and roller coasters (one of the “toys” Mr. Fay let us play with) but quickly the overriding theme became maps.  The children began drawing maps to show how to get to places, such as places with hidden treasure.  The teachers can only infer that venturing out of the classroom into the “unknown” (along with other experiences they've had unbeknownst to us) spurred the idea of maps with the children, and given their excitement, we have begun to explore the idea from a 3-5 year old perspective.

Early on, the teachers ask the question....

What is a map? (Or what is it for?)

Sophia:  It leads you to stuff.

Tommy:  So you can find lots of hidden treasure.

Hana:  Actually, you find diamonds and gold coins.

Ava:  Maps help you get home.

Heike:  They lead you to places, to different places to walk at.

Brooke:  It’s for stuff you have to get and you look at the map to see where you are going.

Emmett:  Somewhere you don’t know where it is so you use a map to find it.

Graham:  You look at it to see where you want to go so you can find the buried treasure at the end of it.

Kate:  If you forget where you’re going or lose your way.

Niko:  If you have a map…to find the right house to go to, you use a map.

Jonah:  Something you can find a treasure under the yellow X.

Later the children are presented with pages from an atlas and asked "What do you see?" (The teachers are trying to ascertain what the children already know, get them to share information, listen to each other and build knowledge and understanding together.)

Mrs. Carlson:  What do you see?

Child:  Maps

Mrs. C.:  How do you know they are maps?

C:  We can see the roads! (lines on map)

C:  And blue is water!

Mrs. C.:  If blue is water, which map has the most water?

Children compare and talk about which have more and less water.

C: (pointing to the outline of the U.S.) Look, this shows where we live!

(pointing to an outline of Asia)  And this shows where we don’t live!

Mrs. C.:  You may choose one of these maps for your very own.

C:  But how will we know if we have a map of where we want to go?

Mrs. C.:  I don’t have maps of all places so we’ll just have to make do with these maps for now.

You can have these and do what you want with them, even draw on them if you want.

Children each take a map.  Two put them in their cubbies.  Many draw on them w/ blackline markers, making lines and x’s.  They walk around the room with them, look at them with magnifying glasses, and “use” them to go places.

 

                                       Brooke uses her a magnifying glass while playing with her map.

See our evolving display of the project, along with the children's work, on the bulletin board in our classroom!

Welcome, Caleb!

Please join us in welcoming Caleb to our class!  Caleb and his mom and dad, Stephanie and David, live in Highland Park.  He is with us on Tues., Wed. and Fri.  Welcome to the Little Giants, Caleb!
 

Valentine's Day Festivities

 

We will be celebrating Valentine’s Day on Thursday, February 14th.  For this occasion we ask that your child please make a Valentine for each child in the room. Sign your child’s name on each Valentine, but please do not address them individually. For example, “to my friend, from Kayla” would be fine, but not “to Anna, from Kayla.” Not having the cards individually addressed allows for the children to pass them out on their own, rather than requiring the help of a teacher. There are 13 children and 4 teachers in the class.  Please include a Valentine for your child from your child, as it tends to be confusing if they are not allowed to put a Valentine into their own bag. 

Mrs. Pallarino's Baby Plans

 

Mrs. Pallarino's baby boy is due on Wednesday, March 13th! Depending on how everyone is feeling, she will begin her maternity leave on Monday, March 11th. While she is away, the other 3 teachers are going to change their schedule to accommodate Mrs. Pallarino being out.

Mrs. Nemcek will be opening everyday at 7am. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays she will be leaving to go over to the other school at 11:15 & on Tuesday and Thursdays at 11:45.

Mrs. Fieldman will be coming everyday from 8am until 4pm.

 

Mrs. Carlson will be coming at 11:15 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays & 11:45 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She will stay and close everyday at 5pm.

Conferences
February is conference month for the Little Giants.  Throughout the month, Mrs. Pallarino, Mrs. Nemcek and Mrs. Carlson will each be meeting with different families to have a dialogue about your child's experiences and progress in the program so far this year.  Conferences last approximately 30 mins. and are held without the child present.  Teachers will soon talk to families individually to schedule a conference.

 

Playground Development Team Update

The Playground Team has met twice, done a lot of talking/brainstorming and research and is making plans to enhance our playground to be not only a playground, but an outdoor classroom.  An outdoor classroom is a place where rich discovery, exploratory, and creative experiences can happen in addition to gross motor exercise and activity.    Soon we will be adding "trial" elements to the playground to see how the children respond.  By the spring, we should have some solid plans in place.  Many thanks to the team members Jean, Amy, David, Cathy, Pam, and Eileen.

The children use "loose parts" to create a continually changing climber.

Tommy uses "loose parts" to create a ball machine.

More pictures:

Looking at books with Mrs. Pallarino

Sorting with Mrs. Nemcek

Tommy and Graham paly with duplos.

A picture with our grasshopper, Carla

Playing scarves during music w/ Ms. Carol

 

 

Reminders:

 

***We are closed on Feb. 18th

 

 

In the morning...

Trains, trains and more trains! Since early on in the school year, the children have shown interest and curiosity about trains. The toy trains and track in the classroom have been a popular constant at playtime as children build and rebuild and pretend to take trips. It is also a wonderful activity in which children constantly have the opportunity to practice problem-solving as they work through learning to share materials, space and ideas.

Train related activities recently include:

· reading books about trains such as; Freight Train, Tracks, The Little Engine That Could, etc.

· observing firsthand the Metra train that passes by the school many times daily

· focusing on the letter "t" for train, "r" for railroad and "c" for train cars & coal and....

· building a "child size" train using cardboard boxes, materials from our new Art Studio and much more!

Niko, Kate, Ava and Sophia painting the engine of our "child size" train.

Graham building a train track through the block center and housekeeping.

Niko and Tommy building the same train track.

Sophia and Ava drawing a train track after watching the Metra Train pass by.

 

 

In the afternoon...

·         In the afternoon, after we get up from nap/rest time, we have a rug time when we do the calendar, the weather and listen to a story read by Mrs. Fieldman. Recently she's read Hey, Get off Our Train, Olivia and I Love Trains to us. When Mrs. Carlson arrives, we all go outside to play, enjoying the mild weather lately as we ride bikes, play tag, play ball, and engage in imaginative play like "hospital" and "super helpers".

·         When we come inside, we sometimes listen to another short story read by Mrs. Carlson which recently has included the Little Bear books as well as The Wolf's Chicken Stew. Then we have project time and play indoor play time. Our projects lately have included marble painting and watercolor as well as drawing a mural of our playground. Mrs. Carlson is having the children to this to get some ideas of what's important to them as the Playground Development Team works to revamp the playground. Many thanks to parents Eileen, David, Cathy, Amy and Tyrone for volunteering to be a part of the team.

 

Mrs. Silverman, Heike, Graham, Sophia, Brooke, Niko, Ava, Kate and Tommy drawing a mural of the playground.

Ava, Heike, Niko, Sophia and Tommy adding detail to the mural of our playground.

 

 

Introducing..... Jonah!

Jonah and his family have been part of the "Community" family for years. Jonah's older sister, Maya, attended Community for Nursery School and after-Kindergarten enrichment, is mother, AJ, has participated on the school board and Jonah has been a part of Community's Reggio inspired Nursery School program. And now Jonah has joined us here at Little Giants on Tuesday and Friday mornings.


 

 

 

Little Giants Needs Your Help Spreading the Word!



Now is the time of year when people are registering for school and day care for next fall. Will you please help us spread the word about our program? Please let people you know (especially District 113 employees) that we're here and what kind of experience your child has had with us. For our program to sustain itself, we must do our best to make full enrollment next year (which is 20). If you have any ideas about ways we can more effectively get the word out, please let us know!



Holiday Pajama Party

On Thursday, December 20th, our last day before Winter Break, we are having a Pajama Party. On this day your child is welcome to wear his/her pajama's to school. Please make sure that your child is dressed appropriately for the weather, for example, girls wearing nightgowns should have leggings on. We will be "riding" a pretend train, reading The Polar Express, drinking hot chocolate, and other fun activities.

Reminders:
*Please remember that all toys (except lovies) need to stay at home! It is becoming a little bit of a problem, they have trouble sharing, kids are taking toys out of other kids cubbies, small toys are getting lost, etc. Thanks for your support!
*A nurse from the Lake County Health Department will be here next Tuesday, December 11th, to check all the kids vision and hearing. The vision test is...each child says which way the "table or E" is pointing by saying bird, boy, rabbit/bunny or girl. Please practice this with your child, I sent home a sample. The hearing test is....each child puts on a set of headphones and raises his/her hand when they hear a "beep" sound. We will let you know if your child passes or needs further evaluation from your Pediatrician.
*Tuition is due December 10th.
*A staff meeting is scheduled for Monday, December 17th, please pick up your child by 4:00 if possible, so that all of the staff can attend the meeting.
*Little Giants Day Care Center will be closed Friday, December 21st through Friday, January 4th, for the Winter Break. We will reopen Monday, January 7th.
*Please remember that every child must have a pair of snow pants and snow boots, so we can play in the snow as soon as it is here:)
*The Gift Card Fundraisers are due tomorrow, Thursday. If you forget to turn them in tomorrow, you can still turn them into the other school, 1850 Green Bay, on Friday, but no later then 5:30.
*Scholastic book orders are due by Friday, December 7th.