WE ARE A BUCKETFILLING CLASSROOM...WE FILL BUCKETS...NO DIPPING! STAY TUNED-

Mrs. Aldridge is ready to meet her new "School Family!"

I am gearing up for an exciting year looking to round up some special cowpoke Pre-K friends in my classroom. I hope everyone has had a wonderful summer and that you are as excited as I am about our new school year. There has been much to be thankful for in continuing our North Carolina Pre-K in knowing we will be here another year to support your children and your family. I will look to notify all parents about our upcoming parent orientation and open house, a long with our school calendar. Get ready to Kick Up Your Heels for some special learning~I can't wait to see returning friends and have new friends join our "school family" here at Mt View Elementary. There will be updated information posted on our classroom webpage and blog, a long with other directions as needed. Please email me at stephanie_aldridge@catawbaschools.net, or call me at 294-2020 x405 if you have questions (I am beginning to prepare our classroom this week). Summer is flying by quickly and I look forward to seeing you soon. Stay tuned for special cowboy and cowgirl contact to your corral as soon as I get proper communication.

Happiness,

Mrs. Aldridge

A Great Summer Full of Adventure!

I have been very blessed to travel to Bangkok Thailand and Vietnam with family, a long with visiting my home away from home Jekyll Island in Georgia. It is amazing to see another world away from home and equally amazing to come home and know we are part of a very special country in our America. I have had an enriched and exciting summer enjoying time with family and always reflecting on new ideas to bring forth in our classroom. I am sooo excited about having this time this summer and especially excited that our programs in NC Pre-K have made it another year-see you soon~

Creating Snowflakes~Using Our Fine Motor Skills and Just Creating and Exploring~

Mrs. Dancy and Mrs. Smith Visit Our Class to Help Us Connect to Holiday Season~We Appreciate You So Much!

Construction and Cement in Our Sand Table-Nolan and Connor Work Together to Create!

Pre-K I Love You Rituals

Why Do I Love You Rituals? There are four goals: I Love You Rituals optimize your child's brain for success at school and in life, increase your learning potential and effectiveness through touch, create loving rituals that hold families together even through the roughest times (you are a family at home and we have a "school family" here at school), and I Love You Rituals strengthen the bond between adults and children that insulates children from drugs, violence and peer pressure, laying the foundation for mental and emotional health. It is also interesting to compare and contrast the differences in the traditional rhymes and our I Love You Ritual Changes, a long with some great connections to phonemic awareness. We will connect with many I Love You Rituals in class and take time to share with you within our Pre-K Poetry Journals.

Bryson and Connor have a Creative Moment to Share~

Emily, Laurianne, Maggie, and Trinity Sing for Mrs. Aldridge-"It Takes the Best of Both Worlds"

Pre-K Continues to Work on Using Our Words, and Resolving Conflicts-Great Job Pre-K!

Our Timeline for learning to use our words and work out moments that upset us~

Conscious Discipline is a wonderful program through Dr. Becky Bailey that allows us to work on our emotions (expressing our selves in the better ways-emotional literacy), use our words, and revisit items that have hurt our feelings, or made us angry.

Driving Cars in Pre-K?

This is one of our most favorite songs in Pre-K-we love to drive cars anytime of day!

Rituals and Routines are Really Special in PreK

We start each circle time meeting-"Brainsmart Start," "Circle of Friends" with a special song to say hello-this is just one of our favorites~

October 2010-Shadow Dancing

Pre-K enjoyed exploring outdoors with friends when discovered that the sun reflects on surfaces and makes our shadow-this was fun comparing each friend's shadows while standing up and on our riding toys. Are we the same, or are we different? How tall, and how short are we?

October 2010-Pumpkin Party Fun

We had a great day talking about our Fall season, pumpkin cycle in reading Pumpkin, Pumpkin and celebrating friendship with a party centered around pumpkins directly after lunch. We connected to different traditions celebrated on October 31st for Halloween.

October 2010-Learning About Bus Safety and Costumes in One Day

We had a great day dressing up in our favorite costumes in the celebration of imagination. We talked about Pumpkin Growth and had party on this day. We made some connections to Halloween and some of the traditions some families like to celebrate through pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns. We had Ms. Gonzales take us on a fun bus ride around our parking lot to help us connect and discuss the importance of being safe on our school bus at school and away from school.

Math Moment in Pre-K

We will spend much time working in Math Centers within our classroom sorting, classifying, and connecting to math concepts. We will also work on tactile projects with numbers, rote counting, one to one corresponsdence, patterns, grids, and games. There is no better interaction than to watch all of your children to take natural moments to "learn through play."

Friends celebrating their own birthday fun~

Friends are having great fun making cake, adding to cake, adding candles, counting, "adding fire" as one friend stated to candles and blowing out candles. We love to watch the imagination of all our children each day as they grown in each developmental domain of learning (domains include social/emotional, physical, cognitive, and language). We are lucky teachers to see this kind of interaction each day~

Beginning of School Reading Kick Off

This was our first assembly! We were so excited!

Happy New Year 2011!

It has truly been an exciting time getting to know your children and your family each and everyday since school started. We have spent a total of twelve weeks on social/emotional routines in connecting with friends and building our own "school family." We have also worked hard to make better connections with friends in expressing ourselves in positive ways when we are upset, learning better ways to calm down when we are upset, and how to express ourselves through emotional literacy. We have worked very hard to understand how our classroom and school work inside and outside-your children truly "rock" in all they have learned by showin gus each day they can make great choices in helping Mrs. Aldridge be a better "safekeeper." We are making wonderful connections throughout our classroom with letters, numbers, literacy, langugage, social studies, music, art, and science as well. We are so proud of your children in seeing right before our eyes how much they have grown.

We are working in small groups, large groups, and individually with your children to support any items that need extra care in supporting our developmental domains of social/emotional, cognitive, physical, and langugage. This in turn will give more strength in being better prepared when transitions to Kindergarten are made. I am so appreciative of each parent's support within our classroom. Please continue to check BEARS daily and watch for those special items that your children need minimal support with. Don't forget to return Reading Logs at the end of each month for a special surprise~I cannot tell parents enough how valuable it is when you have this time to read for joy with your children in teaching them that reading is not only fun, but necessary in life. Books are truly special! Your children are special too! I have finally updated our blog with some great items-stay tuned as I continue to keep some fun moments updated thorughout the rest of our school year~

Happiness,

Mrs. Aldridge
Ms. Gonzales