Welcome New Friends!

We are so excited for another year of pre-k at MLT!   Everyone wants to know how's it going?  

Take a peek....

We are learning how to manage our backpack and folder.

Fun fine motor centers!

Learning about numbers and shapes with new faces.

We met Mat Man.

Harvested crop from the courtyard garden.   Look for our pumpkin at the County Fair !!

The playground at MLT is THE BEST!!!

We love going to specials like music.


So far, so good - we're off to a great start!

Our Trip to Buttermilk Lane

Mrs. Holden we can't thank you enough for hosting such a wonderful day on Buttermilk Lane.

We met a few chickens.  

We saw Cotton (not pictured), one of the chicks that hatched at MLT last year!

Baby goats - what are they called?

KIDS!

The famous "Cupcake".  

 Here is Petunia....look at her belly,  she is going to have babies any day now!

We got to help feed this little lamb.  

We learned calves grow fast - it's hard to believe this guy is only a couple months old!

We had a lot of fun!

Quick Chicks

You may remember we also had chicks hatch last year.  This year MLT hosted a hatchery again, but the incubation period was much shorter.    None the less students and staff alike enjoyed the experience.

First we had eggs in an incubator.

After days of egg turning,  the chicks began to hatch.

Once the chicks had dry feathers they moved into the pen under the light.

Soon the chicks had feathers and they were ready to go to the farm.  

Bye-Bye Chicks!

What's the Weather?

To culminate a learning unit about weather,  WTNH Channel 8 had a visit from their mobile weather lab scheduled.  Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate  the day of the visit - it poured (and poured).  Instead Sam Kantrow and Mary L. Tracy Alumnus Kevin Arnone (who happened to be celebrating a birthday that same day) presented an age appropriate slide show.  Using introduced weather vocabulary, Sam and Kevin spoke to all the MLT students about different kinds of weather, the four seasons, and students were given an opportunity to ask questions.   Nice Job gentlemen!

Thanks Sam and Kevin for visiting.

Y is for Yoga

What better way to learn about yoga than from Ms. Lani from Full of Joy Yoga?  She visited our school when we were learning about the letter Y to offer students a yoga for preschoolers class. 

The class was clearly designed especially for the imaginative preschooler.  Lani used props, music, and stories all to enhance language development, motor coordination and play skills. 

Students had the chance to do standard yoga poses but with a fun little twist.  The  class consists of active poses and then a relaxation at the end.  

Namaste

N.E.W. Visits MLT

All the students of Mary L. Tracy School were generously treated by the PTO to an  amazing author visit from local children's author and illustrator, Nancy Elizabeth Wallace.   

Ms. Wallace met with each class and read us her book, A Taste of Honey.  In the story Lily asks her Poppy where honey comes from and together  they trace  the  source of the honey from the jar  all the way back to the little bees that first made it. 

Hi Miss Liza!  You can see all of us, but its hard for  us to see you under there.

Nancy brought a bee keeper helmet with her and she showed us how bee keepers use protective clothing  when handling bees.

She also talked to us about her craft.  

Then students also had an opportunity to see some of Nancy's original artwork all cut out of paper (and a few other recycled materials).   Wow!  

Then our little inspired artists were given scissors, glue and some special paper to make their own masterpieces!

Walk the halls of our school and you'll see all of the students beautiful work.

It was truly a wonderful experience for the children.  Thank you so much to Nancy for visiting and to all of the supporters that helped to make this special visit happen.

Have Bones, Will Travel (Pre-k version)

The brilliant Linda Pellico from Yale School of Nursing visited the 4s classes with her Have Bones, Will Travel program.  She covered basic human anatomy while emphasizing how students can keep their body safe and healthy.

Our students were instantly captivated by Linda.

Real human lungs.   Whoa!
We saw how they get bigger when they are filled with air and could
easily see how they change color if a person smokes (the black lung was pretty stinky too).

We saw and handled real bones.

Then we not only learned that X is for x-ray, Linda gave us a lesson on reading x-rays.

Sooo cool!  Thanks so much for visiting Linda!  We love science!

(Don't worry, 3s Linda already said she'd come back again next year:)