What a wonderful and exciting first week of school! We have truly loved getting to know your children and welcoming their bright energy into our classroom. This week was all about making our classroom feel like a safe and fun place to learn. You can check out some photos in our Google album at this link. 

Highlights from Our First Week

Our primary focus was on creating a strong foundation by learning our new routines and expectations. The children did an amazing job with this! We spent time on the following key areas:

• Establishing Routines: We practiced our morning routine, including how to find our cubbies and hang up our backpacks. We also learned how to transition smoothly from one activity to the next, like from Choice Time to Large Group time, and from the classroom to the playground and vice versa. 
• Sitting on the carpet, listening and following directions: We practiced how to sit on the carpet safely (criss-cross apple sauce; no rolling over, no feet up in the air, keeping our hands and feet to ourselves), and listening respectfully when a teacher or a friend is speaking during group time. The children are also getting the hang of our cleanup routine, working together to put materials back in their proper places.
• Health and Safety: We focused on important health habits, such as washing our hands before snack time and after using the restroom; wiping our noses whenever that’s needed, and putting the dirty towels in the trash can. 

Looking Ahead to Next Week

Next week, we’ll continue to reinforce these crucial routines and build on them with more structured activities. We will be introducing some of our learning centers—like the Block Area, Dramatic Play, Library, Art, Discovery, Toys and Games, and Small Worlds —and teaching the children how to use them independently and cooperatively. This will allow them to begin exploring their interests and engaging in more focused, creative play. 

We are also excited to learn more about the families in our classroom and explore how our unique, wonderful selves are contributing to building an amazing classroom community. We are also creating a wall of Our Families – please send in a physical family photo on Tuesday for this purpose! This photo will stay in the classroom on display until the end of the school year. 

Thank you so much for all your support in helping your children prepare for their first week. It’s clear they felt comfortable and ready to learn, and we couldn’t have done it without you.

We are so impressed with how well they are adjusting to preschool, and we can’t wait to see what they accomplish next week! We could also use your continued support in the mornings with lining up before class along the wall, putting snacks in the snack bin, and lunch bags in the lunch wagon. Your help is very much appreciated. 

Enjoy the weekend with your adorable littles!

Kindly,

Annie