Welcome to Preschool!



Mrs. Keri Powell, Teacher



Ms. Julie Schneider, Associate Teacher




Welcome to Preschool

at

Lincoln Elementary!!!

2011/2012

Welcome to the GSRP Program at Lincoln Elementary School! We are very excited to begin this school year, and look forward to meeting all of our students and families. We hope you have had an enjoyable summer, and are ready to "Swim into Preschool" with us!

About Mrs. Powell: 

I am a certified elementary teacher for grades K-5, all subject matters, and grades K-8 self contained, with a major in Laguage Arts. I have a ZA endorsement which certifies me to teach early childhood, such as preschool. I am also working toward a Master Degree in reading and literacy PreK-6th grades. I have taught Kindergarten, Jr. Kindergarten, and GSRP/Preschool. I absolutely love working with young children, have feel passionately about making each school day a successful and enjoyable experience for every child.

I have a beautiful family - my husband, and three children. My oldest son is entering 3rd grade, and my boy/girl twins are entering Kindergarten this year! We love the outdoors and take many opportunities to rollerblade, bike, downhill ski, swim, boat, play, and relax! I love watching my children play sports and participate in local group activities at the YMCA. In my free time, I enjoy reading a veriety of novels by various authors, and creating photo books to remember all of the great memories and milestones for my family!

I have one dog, Cocoa. He is a mini-poodle, and we love him very much!!

About Ms. Schneider:

I have been in the the GSRP Program as an Associate Teacher for six years. I have an Associate Degree, that allows me to work with preschoolers. I enjoy working with young children very much. Each day is a new day of discovery and learning for them - and it is very exciting to watch them learn and grow throughout the school year!

I have three wonderful children - who are all grown up and becoming independent adults! My oldest Ben, lives in Florida and has recently graduated college with a business degree. My daughter, Molly, attends Ferris State University, and is pursuing a degree in the medical field. My youngest son, Zach, recently graduated from Cadillac High School, and will be attending college in the fall. I am very proud of all of my children and their accomplishments. I look forward to everything the future holds for them!

When I am not working in the classroom, I enjoy many newfound hobbies and interests. I enjoy reading, spending time with my family and friends, turkey hunting, riding my mountain bike and learning new trails in the area, going to the beach, relaxing in the sun, walking, and traveling to new places.

We hope that you will utilize this blog to keep updated on all classroom happenings and events. We like to post pictures of the students working and playing - so that you can see your child in action in the classroom! The children really enjoy seeing themselves on the computer as well. Be sure to check our blog often, as we will update it frequently with photos/videos/information.

Please feel free to call, stop in, email if you have any questions/concerns regarding your child, his/her progress, or our program. We have an open door policy and welcome you any time!

Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your child's first educational classroom experience! It's going to be a fantastic year!!!

Keri Powell & Julie Schneider

Classroom: 231.876.5445

keri.powell@cadillac.k12.mi.us

Hatched!!!

Our chicks have hatched!! I am sure you have already heard. It has been a very exciting day for everyone! Without further delay, here are videos and photos that show the excitement! 

This chick began hatching on Saturday night. It took until sometime after 7pm Sunday to fully emerge from the egg! It's an Easter chick, and we named him "Bunny"! (How creative are we?!) 

Happy Birthday, Bunny! 

 

Aren't they cute?! Be thankful you can't smell them through your computer! 

                                               Getting out!                 Final Chick Update!

Thank you for checking in with our project! And a special THANK YOU to all the parents whom have stopped in to see the chicks, too! We are very pleased that you can share this experience and excitement with your child! Being involved in their education is a great gift---of time, enthusiasm for their interests, and value of education. 

Please continue to check our blog! We will post more for the remaining few weeks of preschool! 

    

Peep Peep!!!!

Peep! Peep! Peep!!! This is my all time favorite part of our chick hatching project---hearing the chicks peep inside their eggs! It's so cute. Some of the chicks have begun to crack their egg shells. To all of our students----do you remember what the chicks use to break the shell? Their egg tooth!! 


We will soon have baby chicks! I am really hoping they wait until Monday, when we are all back at school. Here's a great video (listen closely & turn your volume up). The chicks are peeping!!!

Isn't it adorable?! 

Here's another video of our friends, Isabella and Anna being weather reporters! We've been learning about the different seasons and types of weather. We sure hope that snow is not truly in the forecast as these amateur reporters predict!! Bring on the spring/summer weather, please!

The Chicks Are Growing!!

The chicks are growing, growing! We check on them daily and look at pictures of their growth and development. We are on day 16!! They should begin hatching on Monday after Easter! 
Here's Logaen, Hefrani, and friends from our AM class doing our Chick Update!! It's a little fuzzy (that'll teach me to forget my camera!)...but the conversation is great! 

Here's a peek at what the chick looks like inside the eggs as it grows and develops! 

Down on the Farm!!

As we are waiting for our chicks to hatch, we are finding more ways to explore the farm!!

 

We milk Bessie Jean, our classroom dairy cow!! Yes, that's real milk in those udders! 

We also play in garden soil with farm equipment, shovels, buckets, and plastic farm animals!! Farming is a messy job, but someone has to do it! I'm glad we have all these friends to help keep our farm going! 

Have you ever heard the saying: "happier than a pig in mud?" Well, we are happier than pigs in mud....actually, we ARE the pigs in the mud! 

At the beginning of our theme, we had a writing/brainstorm session to write down some student questions about what they wanted to learn about a farm. One of the questions was: "How and what does a pig eat?!" Good question....we'll be happy to help you answer that question! 

 

So....we learned that pigs eat slop! Anything from corn, scraps, left overs, or garbage! They eat it all! Above, are some students who are really "pigging out" on this FUN snack! It's our healthy version of slop (yogurt, dried fruit, and granola)....sans the spoon! Other cautious piggies were given a spoon to ease any worries about this super silly, sloppy snack!! 

Thanks for checking in on our farm! Y'all come back now, ya hear?! YEEEEEE----HAW! 

We're ready!!

We are ready to learn about the life cycle of chicks! Here, Mrs. Schneider reads a non-fiction book that explains this process. We learned that it takes about 21 days for chicks to grow and hatch! 

To keep track of our chicks' growth process, we will look at a picture each day that shows their development. We will hang the pictures on the number line to observe as we go! 

   

The children were VERY excited to learn about our chick eggs. They could hardly believe they were real. We hope you check back often for our updates and other farm theme pictures....just wait until you see Bessie Jean (our milking cow!!). You've probably heard all about her! 

  

Follow Our Chick Hatching Project!!!

We are so excited to be blogging about our chick hatching project! We hope that as parents of preschool students that you will use this page to connect with what your child is learning (and very excited) about in the classroom! Check back often...we will have new updates frequently. This is a very EGG-citing 18-21 day science project. Watching the chicks hatch is an amazing experience that we hope your child never forgets! We have 24 eggs, and are hoping that the majority of them survive the growth period. Stay tuned...we will candle them to check for viability in a week! 

Here is our incubator. It stays at 99.5-100 degrees at all times!

We have a variety of eggs. Different colored eggs will give us a variety of chicks!