Category Archives: Uncategorized

Here are a few great pictures of what the Scott twins, Graham and Sydney have been up to this summer! They took a nice family trip to North Carolina and Virginia this summer! What has your family been up to? Send me your photos to share with our families!

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I hope this blog post finds you well! It is a sizzling day here in Chicago! What are you doing to stay cool this summer? Have you and your family done anything fun since school got out? Email me your pictures and I will post them here on our blog! klhopkins@cps.edu

If you get a chance, please take a look at our September 2014 page to be updated on the beginning of the school year activities!

Below is a picture of Mr. Shanafield and I at a Cubs baseball game! They actually won! Go Cubs Go! We were between third base and home plate! My friend, Ms. Fisher’s grandpa turned 96 years old and got to bring out the game ball to the pitchers mound! It was a fun day! The second picture below is the view from our deck at my family’s lake house in Ohio. I have been spending a few weekends here and there, and will be there for one week in August! It is very relaxing and always a great time spending time with my family! Don’t forget to send me your pictures of your summer fun!

Love,

Miss Hopkins

Wow! What an amazing year of growing, learning and playing. I am so honored to have been these kiddos preschool teacher, along with Miss Santiago! It truly is a gift to see 40 little kiddos walk through my classroom door each and everyday. Their excitement to come to school and learn is what makes my job one of the best jobs in the world! Thank you for sharing your little ones with us this year! Have a super and safe summer! 

Great Expectations

It’s time to say good-bye                                                                     

Our year has come to an end.                                                                     

I’ve made more cherished memories,                                                       

and many more new friends.

I’ve watched your child learn and grow                                                

and change from day to day.                                                                      

I hope that all the things we’ve done                                                          

have helped in some small way.

So it’s with happy memories                                                                 

I send them out the door,                                                                      

with great hope and expectations                                                 

for what next year holds in store.

I’ve worked with your flower,                                                              

and helped it to grow.                                                                                

I’m returning it now,                                                                                  

but I want you to know…

This flower of yours is precious                                                          

as dear as can be.                                                                                                

Love it, take care of it                                                                                

and you will see a bright new bloom with everyday;                                    

it grows in such a special way.                                                                 

In September, a bud;                                                                          

Midterm a bloom;                                                                                            

Now, a lovely blossom                                                                          

comes home to you in June.

Remember this flower                                                                         

as dear as can be,                                                                                    

though rightfully yours…                                                                                 

part belongs to me!

Love,

Miss Hopkins

On May 9th we hosted a Preschool Poetry Tea for our families. This was to showcase our favorite poems that we have learned throughout the school year. After our performance there was light refreshments served. A huge THANK YOU to photographer Evan Thomas for his amazing photos that he took during our AM Class performance. His son Grady Thomas is in the AM Class. The photos are beautiful and capture many of the sweet moments throughout the program! Please visit Evan’s website at http://photo.studiothomas.org/index.php to see more of his awesome work! I hope you enjoy the slideshow from our program! 

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Throughout the past month, the children have been studying the life cycle of plants and flowers. The children have been so much fun to watch as they have been guiding their learning through observation, experimentation, and questioning.

We began shortly after we came back from spring break with listening to the classic tale of “Jack and the Beanstalk”. We read three different versions and decided which one we liked the best. The children then planted their own “Jack bean” in a small plastic bag with a wet cotton ball. We taped their bags to the classroom windows so that the kids could watch the bean swell and begin to form its root. Once the first root appeared, the children began to slowly transfer their bean into their cup of soil. We used clear cups so the children could observe the roots and stem emerge over a period of several days! We kept an observational journal entry where they children drew a picture of their “beanstalk” plant over a period of four weeks. It was really a neat project!

At the end of April we also started our classroom greenhouse where we planted three different kinds of flowers! Each child had the choice of which type of flower seed they wanted to plant: Morning Glory, Blue Forget-Me-Not’s, or Purple Forget-Me-Not’s! They were responsible for watering and making sure their flowers were getting enough sun light and water. The students had a blast “watching their garden grow”! I was able to capture a few sweet moments of them during this part of our unit! (It was a messy unit with usually dirt or mud all over my hands, so it was hard to take pictures with my camera!)

Another favorite part of this unit was that we visited our TWO school gardens when the weather was cooperating. We read several stories out in the learning garden, and transferred our flowers from our greenhouse into new pots and soil in the ABC garden in the front of our school. We also had 8 of our families in room 121 join Student Council in late April for our school’s annual playground clean-up day! Thank you for making our school grounds cleaner and brighter for all to enjoy!

We’ve had a wonderful time watching your children grow this year!

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Our class took an amazing field trip back in April to the Chicago Children’s Museum to visit the FORTS and architect exhibits that were temporary exhibits this past winter/early Spring. For two months the children in both AM and PM classes were extremely interested in learning about how things around them were built, the materials that we use to build things, and what makes sound structures. I was amazed at the intelligent and critical thinking skills the children had throughout this entire unit. Our room was a bit crowded for awhile with all the boxes and materials to build with in class, but it was well worth it! The learning that took place was just amazing! Enjoy our pictures!

Hello PreK Families in Room 121!

Sorry for the long break of my blogging! Just when I got my password fixed, we became super busy in Preschool! I hope that you have been able to keep up with all of the happenings in our classroom with our monthly newsletters and small notes sent home every week. We have been learning SO much in our classroom this past month! 

Our plant/seed study unit was AMAZING!!! The children really had a neat experience watching two different seeds grow, and watching the life cycle take place over the course of the last 30 days. In the middle of our plant/seed study unit we had the arrival of our caterpillars! Oh what fun that has been! Today our afternoon class released two of our butterflies, and tomorrow our morning class will release the other two! (Our fifth one did not make it! RIP #5). I have tons of pictures to post, and hope to upload them sometime this week! 

Our preschool picnic is coming up on Wednesday, June 4th from 8-11:00 am! Please make sure to mark your calendar! Each family is asked to bring their own picnic lunch to have after our games and pinata! We look forward to celebrating our end of the year with you and your family! 

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On February 25th we had the opportunity to visit the IDEA FACTORY at the Museum of Science and Industry! One of the best parts about living in the city of Chicago is the amazing museums our children can visit and explore!

During our visit the children were engaged through play learning about cause/effect, measurement and weight, problem solving with the gear wall and puzzle area, air force and velocity, and just plain having a good old time!

After our hour visit to the IDEA FACTORY we headed up to the Genetics wing where we witnessed the hatching of three baby chicks! It was so exciting, and the children were in awe at how beautiful life is! We cheered and clapped when they came out of their shell.

We had a fantastic time! Thank you to all of our parents who came along for the trip too!