In an effort to communicate highlights of each day’s activities, parent teachers, children, and Teacher Penny will create a Daily Journal. Each adult will contribute an entry on a quarter of the day’s journal page. Entries will vary according to the authors. You might add quotations from children’s conversations, sketches of block structures, dictated stories,…
Read MoreWe encourage you to parent teach on the school day nearest your child’s birthday. Children with August birthdays will celebrate in September. Children with June or July birthdays will celebrate in May. The birthday child will make a crown that morning, and the class will sing “Happy Birthday” at group time. We ask that you…
Read MoreHPPK Kindergarten birthday celebrations center around small ways for the students to feel special throughout the day. Students will start the day by decorating a birthday crown at Creation Station, and they are welcome to wear it all day if they like. Birthday students will get to be the line leader for the day, and…
Read MoreParent Teachers’ duties have been tweaked slightly from last year as we have rearranged duties to ensure that all classrooms and shared spaces are well supervised, clean, and safe. Even if you have been with us for several years, you will need to refer to the updated parent teacher duty cards, wall charts, and your…
Read MoreThe use of photographs is an important learning tool at HPPK. Since children learn by connecting new experiences to previous experiences we use photographs to help them reflect on current and previous understandings. We also use photos to help children connect with each other, to develop a sense of community, to move from concrete to…
Read Moreadapted from Family-Friendly Communication for Early childhood Programs It is difficult for young children to recall and describe what they did during their school day. Children are active and busy for the entire time, but they sometimes lack the words to tell others about their activities – or by the time you pick them up,…
Read MoreWe know that young children learn best by exploring their world using multiple senses while being supported and challenged by peers and adults. We also know that each child develops uniquely within a general pattern of development. For these reasons you will not see the following in our preschool classrooms: · One teacher lecturing the…
Read MoreYou may have heard me say that my approach to teaching preschool is inspired by the schools of Reggio Emilio. The preschools of Reggio Emilio in north central Italy were started by a group of parents shortly after World War II. The people of Italy had been living under the rule of dictator Mussolini and…
Read More(Submitted by Sandy, Librarian) Welcome to the new school year! My son Robbie will be in the Green class this year. We frequently visit the Brookwood library and read roughly 30 books a week. We love to explore new titles by grabbing the first 10 books we see at the library. There are some hits…
Read MoreAdapted from Family-Friendly Communication for Early Childhood Programs Once school starts you will probably notice that our classroom has a lot of bustle and noise, that children are up doing things, talking, playing, and exploring. Such a classroom environment differs from the old grade-school images of a teacher doing a lot of talking at a…
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