Academy of the Sacred Heart
Preschool Specials Newsletter
May 2006
Religion - Jeanie Perrilliat and Jennifer Tompkins
The Little Hearts celebrated Jesus' new life during the Easter season. We have been singing "If I Was a Butterfly" and other songs about the signs of new life surrounding us. The children honored Mary at a sweet May Crowning.
In Pre School religion we made Lenten promises, heard the stories of Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the Last Supper, the Way of the Cross, His death and resurrection. Jesus dies on a "sad cross" and then changes the "sad cross to a happy cross" when He rises from the dead to bring us new life! We celebrated Easter with songs of new life! We tried to be more like Mary during the month of May and brought her flowers at our May Crowning.
Art - Susan Nichols
The nursery, prek, and kindergarten girls have been busy making up for lost time in art class this trimester. We have continued to use a variety of materials, and the girls have gradually become much more adept and patient. After looking at a number of Picasso paintings they drew their own mixed-up faces. We talked about Picasso’s style, and how his distorted faces do not mean he was a “bad” artist! We drew bubblegum machines after looking at the work of Wayne Thiebaud, an artist whose favorite subjects for painting were junk food and toys! The prek girls also made beautiful oil pastel butterflies with water color backgrounds and continued to have “free draw” in their sketchbooks.
The kindergarteners worked together in small groups to make the colorful birdhouses that decorated the tables at Spring Fling. They also drew adorable pictures of themselves as queens during Mardi Gras. The girls recently completed streetcar pictures using black pen and water colors. We talked about simple perspective; things that are farther away are smaller. We also practiced mixing colors to get specific shades, such as the green of the streetcar. We have had a busy but very fun trimester!
Foreign Languages- Madame Gail Klauder-Vaz
The girls in preschool have been hearing quite a lot of French. They enjoy imitating the sounds of French and repeating the words. When I am trying to get everyone quiet, some girls will turn to their classmates and say: “Taisez-vous, les filles.” (“Quiet down, Girls”) Somehow this sounds very funny coming from a four or five year-old. In class, we have continued to play games with the colors and numbers. We continue to sing songs that are lively, often funny, and the girls enjoy acting out the lyrics.
The girls have developed in the few short months I have been at Sacred Heart. They are able to stay on task a little longer, can stay focused a little better, and get back to work after a distraction. This natural growing up process has of course helped them learn more readily. The girls have learned many new words and they seem proud of what they know. I hope they continue to enjoy French - I have really enjoyed teaching them this year.
Library - Kathy Flowers and Carrel Gueringer
In library the preschool girls learned finger plays and enjoyed holiday books, nursery rhymes and singing games for Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day and Easter. They practiced their library vocabulary: title , author, illustrator, title page and publisher. Our puppet Rufus, the dog, continues to forget and the girls help him to remember important library lessons.
Little Hearts classes learned many new finger plays. Favorites are: Five Little Monkeys, and Old Aunt Lulu. These activities teach hand and verbal coordination skills, as well as counting skills and vocabulary building. They enjoyed many delightful books that teach about the sea and the farm. They have mastered forming circles to play singing games. A new favorite is A-Tisket, A-Tasket.
Nursery girls have learned finger plays: Five Green and Speckled Frogs, Five Little Monkeys, Five Little Peas and many others. They enjoy reciting Mother Goose rhymes. After hearing stories like Henny Penny, and the Three Pigs, they acted the story out. The Three Billy Goats Gruff continues to be a favorite nursery tale to perform. They learned new singing games, Old Aunt Lulu and A-Tisket, A-Tasket. Their vocabulary and listening skills continue to blossom.
Prekindergarten learned new finger plays: Five Green and Speckled Frogs, Five Little Monkeys, and Five Little Peas and many others. They enjoyed hearing folktales from different cultures and countries which we located on a globe. Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit was enjoyed and acted out, as well as many other stories for spring. Old favorites like Three Billy Goats Gruff and Too Much Talk are still preformed. New singing games Old Aunt Lulu and A-Tisket, A-Tasket were also learned. They have mastered their library vocabulary: author, title, illustrator and title page.
Kindergarten girls have been using their library vocabulary, and have practiced alphabetical order, which is important when looking for a book. Finger plays, singing games, Mother Goose Rhymes and acting out plays like The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Epossumondas continue to improve their verbal skills and vocabulary development. They have practiced using OPAC, which is our library’s electronic catalog system. They can search for books using author, title, subject, or keyword. They visited the website of author Jan Brett and explored the wonderful activities on her site and watched videos in which she teaches drawing.
MUSIC - Jodi McWilliams
NURSERY
The nursery girls learned a set of Scripture songs to perform for their families at our school Congé in April. We learned motions and acted out “The Shoemaker,” a Danish folksong. The girls worked on keeping a steady beat with different types of non-pitched instruments: woods, skins and metals. We marched around in a circle, keeping a steady beat, and the girls learned to which family each instrument belonged. We did more work with instruments by learning and performing “I’m a Little Wood Block.” We learned about waltzes and danced with scarves to “Did you ever see a Lassie?” and learned a great Woody Guthrie song “Howdi Do!” The nursery girls joined the Little Heart Toddlers in a beautiful May Crowning in May, a beautiful event for us all.
PREKINDERGARTEN
The prek girls are learning to read simple rhythms and rests and we added bells and sticks to the task: they really loved it. We have been working on keeping a steady beat playing stick games, something quite challenging for the girls. The girls learned a poem called “Ooey, Gooey” to which we added non-pitched instruments on key words. We practiced moving, at all body levels, to illustrate some poetry. We had two special studies this spring, one about Cowgirls and the music of the Wild West as it was being tamed and the incomparable piano compositions of Chopin. We learned “Cumbayah” with some beautiful hand motions, we sang for our school Congé in April and held a most sacred and beautiful May Crowning in the Rosary Chapel.
KINDERGARTEN
The kindergarten girls work on note values, steady beat, diverse tempi and dynamics in nearly every music class. This spring, the girls learned and performed for various liturgies and concerts.
The girls sang for our Preschool Grandparents’ Breakfast, the Congé and the Preschool May Crowning in the Rosary Chapel. The girls sang two French songs for our Congé and one of their Spring Fling songs. The kindergarten girls performed a musical as part of the performance for their Spring Fling and I was so proud of them. The girls sing beautifully and set fine examples for the younger preschool girls. The girls will love the new musical adventures awaiting them in Lower School next year!
PHYSICAL EDUCATION – Alice Atkinson
As we approach the end of the year, the girls have become very accustomed to our class routine: stretching, warm-ups, and our daily lesson. The girls continue to improve their large motor skills by skipping, galloping, and running to the lively music. They seem to enjoy this portion of the class, and their endurance level has steadily improved.
During this trimester, Preschool focused on the skills of throwing, tossing, catching, and dribbling while participating in various games and activities. Their favorites seem to be Sock it to Me, Hoops on a Cone, bouncing dribbling, and shooting basketballs. Little Hearts experimented with the various types of equipment: the parachute, mini trampoline, hippity hops, walking stilts, beach balls, scooters, and hula hoops. The Preschool girls enjoyed the unit on movement when they danced to the “Conga,” “Virginia Reel,” and “Mexican Hat Dance,” while Little Hearts learned the “Chicken Dance” and the “Limbo Rock.”
The highlight of the trimester for the Preschool was their Jump Rope for the Heart event and Field Day. The girls had a great time jumping as they raised money for the American Heart Association. Some of the most exciting events during Field Day were the Hippity Hop races, Alligators and Chickens on the scooters, and Hop Scotch. Enjoying a popsicle snack was also high on the list, of course! Everyone participated and showed her Sacred Heart spirit, and all received a lavender ribbon.
Please encourage your child to continue exercising over the summer to keep her heart healthy. Have a fabulous summer!
