Family Letter (august 18)

Dear Families,
Plants will be the focus of our next unit. Through the unit, the children will become aware of the origin and parts of a plant. They will also discover where plants can be grown and what plants can be grown and what plants can be eaten. They will be exposed to the parts of plants, plant growth sites, as well as foods that are edible plants.
At school:
Some of the learning experiences related to plants will include:
1. Listening to the story “My Garden”
2. Sprouting sesame seeds to add to a salad.
3. Walking around our play yard to collect plants.
4. Playing hopscotch in the shape of a flower.
At home:
There are many ways to foster the concepts of this unit at home. If you have plants, let your child help water them. If you are planning to start a garden, section off a small portion for your child to grow plants.
At mealtimes, identify various plants that can be eaten. For example, we eat the leaves of lettuce, the stem of celery, the roots of carrot and so on.
Plants some flower seeds with your child! Or perhaps you could root a vegetable. To do this, place a potato or a carrot in a jar, root end down so that one-third is covered by water. A potato can be held upright by inserting toothpicks or small nails at three points so that the vegetable can be rested on the rim of the jar. Encourage your child to water the vegetable as needed. Label the plant. Roots should grow out from the bottom of the vegetable. Likewise, shoots will grow from the top.
Enjoy your child!



Teacher Irene

How Children Learn....

Children learn best when they can control and interact with their environment. Thus, many opportunities should be available for active learning - seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, self-expression and problem solving. Children need an inviting environment with an abundance of hands-on, minds-on, and feelings-on learning experiences. They also beed materials, equipment and choices. To construct knowledge, they need to actively manipulate their environment. To provide these opportunities, the teacher's primary role is first to assess the children's needs, interests, abilities, experiences and learning styles.