School's Out!

Can you believe the break is here???!!!!  It's hard to believe!

Today was filled with fun and the children were so excited to wear their PJs today!  Ms. Carol and I went as casual as we could......yoga pants!  We watched Evan's skeleton PJs which glowed in the dark.  Everyone watched as he danced- just like a skeleton.

We began with each child using felt characters to retell the Gingerbread Story- everyone knows it by heart.  Ask your child to tell you the story.

We took a good look at the calendar today- when we return every piece will have changed- the day of the week, month, year and season!  The kids KEEP asking when fall ends and winter begins- we counted today and it's only 5 days away, though it feels more like spring today.

During circle, we read If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff.  This adorable little book told of a high-maintenance mouse.  There are many, many fun activities that can accompany this story, but we only had time to talk about the chaos that this mouse causes!

Following our outside play, we divided into groups, with Ms. Carol leading an articulation and language (matching) game.  I spent some one-on-one time with the children, assessing some math and language skills. 

Ms. Carol brought gifts for the children, which we turned into a language and social activity, opening each one at a time.  Thank you, Ms. Carol!  

Finally, we a short movie during lunch.  Following lunch, we sang Happy Birthday to Beau, who celebrates a birthday next week. 

I hope each of you have the happiest of holidays.  If you get a chance, write about the holiday in your journal.

Many thanks again for the super awesome gifts!  You guys are the best and I'm delighted to be able to work with your family.  Ellen

Holiday Program and Community Sale

You're Invited.....

A Gift for a Friend!

Today was filled with happy holiday cheer.  The children noticed right away that the room was different.....it's set up in four different 'stores' as part of our community sale. 

This morning we began with play practice and assigned roles for the 'merchants'.  The children practiced greeting 'customers', counting the number of items, and receiving money.  What great language and social skill practice!  They are excited for the real 'customers' to come tomorrow! 

  Today's story was The Night Before Christmas, which has many opportunities for vocabulary development (chimney, haste, dash, flash (fast), hoof/hooves, creature, St. Nicholas, nestled, visions, kerchief, clatter, and shutter).  Since it's a poem we also focused on rhyming words.  Using Boardmaker, we completed a vocabulary game on the computer.  The children have excellent computer/mouse skills!

  The greatest event today was the peer gift exchange.  Each child brought a gift for a friend and exchanged it one by one.  As a language activity, it was a hit!  The children waited patiently for their turn, opening the gifts one at a time.  The children named the gift then thanked their friends.  What a great way to send holiday greetings to our friends!  Great idea, parents!

  We look forward to seeing you at 10:30 tomorrow for the play and community sale.  Thank you for your help with our holiday celebrations! 

The Holidays Are Here!

Our class was abuzz with sights, sounds, and smells of the holiday.  The children's voices are ringing with holiday songs as we practice for Thursday's show (and just have fun!). 

We began our morning with play practice, letting the children choose their parts.  It all worked out without any fussing!  Everyone is excited for their part.  Play practice ran straight to Ms. Michelle's OT session.  She set the room up into centers of a long fabric tunnel and pipettes and colored water.  The children enjoyed using fine motor skills to pick water up in their pipette and placing it on a individual platters with small circles.  It took one pinch of the pipette to to fill each circle.  What colorful, messy fun!  Finally, we presented Ms. Michelle, a strong supporter of our program, with a TSGI t-shirt and handmade cloth wreath banner.  We can't wait for her to return after Christmas.

Following a short outside time with our DUMC friends, we returned to the classroom to make sock snakes to stock our 'Pet Store' on Thursday.  The children followed directions to pull apart small pieces of polyfill and stuff it into the bottom of their selected sock.  This took concentration, fine motor skills, and lots of hard work.  Once the sock was stuffed, we tied it off with yarn and added eyes.  These will make slithery pets for our community store!

Because of the holiday activities, we read our story, Merry Christmas Big Hungry Bear, after lunch.  The children were huddled over in anticipation as Little Mouse bravely took presents to Big Hungry Bear because he never gets presents.  In the end, Little Mouse went home with a big present, a nice reward for his bravery and kind gesture.  This book presented many opportunities for questioning of inferences, answering wh- questions, and predicting. 

Tomorrow we are reading The Night Before Christmas, have a dress rehearsal for our play, and our gift exchange.  Holiday fun! 

Baking Gingerbread Men

Gingerbread Men!

Today we finished learning all about the Gingerbread Man. 

This morning, we practiced identifying everyone's last name and counting the number of syllables in each name.  It's fun to see the progress the children have already made in learning each other's last names.  During morning circle, we also sing a days of the week song and month of the year song.  The month song repeats the months FOUR times.  Today, the children continued to sing the song even after the end, so we sang the months FIVE times!

  We continue to practice our play each day.  The children know the words now and many can 'read' the play book independently (using the pictures as cues). 

  During math, we practiced counting pennies to match a particular number of ornaments, and asking someone to 'pay' for each item.  We have a few more days to practice, so hopefully they will get the hang of it by Thursday.  

  Today, the playground was abuzz with talk with our partner class at DUMC.  I heard the children asking each other for help, offering to help, commenting, and questioning.  Because they see the same peers each day, they are learning to befriend each other.  It was really, really cold out there today.  I think it's supposed to be a little warmer for the rest of the week.  Feel free to send gloves when the weather is as cold as today. 

  Once we returned from outside, we set to work on our sequencing/language activity:  making gingerbread cookies!  First, Joseph added the mix, then Tucker added a stick of butter, Evan added water and Beau added the egg.  We all took turns stirring and cutting out gingerbread men (and trains).  While the cookies baked, we read Tucker's book:  Gingerbread Pirates.  It's an adorable story about gingerbread cookies shaped as pirates who try to avoid being eaten by Santa.  It's full of opportunities for wh- questions and inference questions. 

  Ms. Ellen isn't a baker- she placed the men too close and the stuck together!  Oh, well.....they still tasted great!  Ask your child to tell you the sequence to baking gingerbread cookies. 

 

Menorah math

Happy Hanukkah!

One of our social studies goals is to learn about a variety of traditions and cultures.  Today Ms. Carol made this goal come to life with studies of Hanukkah. 

During our morning circle, she read "Light One Candle", a counting book about the menorah.  She brought two menorahs, a beautiful silver one that she uses at home and a cloth one with cloth candles and fire.  The children each took turns placing cloth candles and fire on the cloth menorah.  We learned that, since we have four children and eight candles, each child gets to place two on the menorah.  Ms. Carol's book taught about the traditions of Hanukkah, special foods, gifts, and being with family. 

For art, we made our own menorahs, counting out the candles needed for each child.  She also brought dreidel and helped us use fine motor skills to peel and stick stickers to decorate them.  After playing outside, Ms. Carol taught us how to play the dreidel game, showing us the meaning of each side.  It's actually a math game.  The children were so excited when she brought out an electronic laser dreidel!  I was able to do some independent work with each child while the dreidel game was played.

There is a cute dreidle song we heard during lunch.  You can listen here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQL55Y2v5Ng 

Following lunch and journals, Tucker brought a Gingerbread Pirate book to share.  He told us what happened on each page.  Evan shared a lego creation with us, sharing it with his friends.

It's hard to believe there's only one more week of school!  Next week will be busy, busy with the community sale and pajama day!

Have a great weekend and I can't wait for all the fun next week!

The Singing Bears

Fun, fun, fun!

Out & About to see the Singing Christmas Bears

Oh what fun we had today!  We were joined by many parent who helped make today's out and about so much fun!   I couldn't help but think that this is the most fun I've had in a job.....EVER!

We began right away with a walk to the train station this morning.  All of our friends were such good listeners and great friends to welcome Connor, our special visitor.  He fit right in! 

Once at the train station, we waited a few minutes, then jumped on the train to uptown.  Seating was limited, so the children stood.  The children giggled with excitement and talked with each other about all the things they were seeing. 

Susannah's dad was instrumental in helping us navigate the uptown streets and corridors.  He showed us secret back doors and helped us find our way in the uptown maze.  We all crowded into elevators- at least 6 times!  We even took the escalator twice.  All without incident! On our way to the bears, we saw a huge Christmas Tree. 

We finally arrived at the stage, where we found another preschool, who walked in on a rope as well.  The children enjoyed a snack of apples and Chex while we waited for the show to start.  Fianlly, the bears and their conductor started singing.  The children attended for a while, but it was a long show with some less-than-popular children's songs.  So, their attention did give out (understandably).  We left early, about 30 minutes into the show.  We regrouped, toured another massive Christmas Tree, found the potty, then headed back to the train station. 

When we arrived back at school we had a few minutes to complete our journals, with each child giving three details about the events of the day.   We ended with a short circle that focused on math skills.

Today was such a success that we will plan another train adventure soon!  We look forward to a great day tomorrow. 

Christmas Crafts!

Good Afternoon!  Today was filled with fun preparing for our Christmas community sale.  We completed several art projects for the sale working together and using patterning skills. 

We continued practicing our play by reading our new text, Brown Reindeer, Brown Reindeer.  With each reading the children are more confident and more excited about the production.  On Tuesday, a copy will come home for you to practice with your child at home. 

  Without doubt, the highlight of today was Ms. Angela's visit.  Because of the rain she set up physical stations in a room across the hall.  Following our warm-up and review of last week's lesson on baseball (we have some really good batters), the children were allowed to select their choice of centers.  Center choices included:  throwing, jumping, crawling through a tunnel, spinning center, balancing, kicking, batting, and the favorite- ribbon sticks.  Ms. Angela stayed for nearly an hour- double her normal time- which was great since the weather was so yucky!  Since we will not have another visit from Ms. Angela for much of the winter, we presented her with a holiday gift of a hand-print wreath.  She loved our hand-made gift and we will miss her. 

 During circle today, we acted out The Gingerbread Story using felt characters- without using the book or other cues!  The children have memorized the text and can retell the story very well.  Ask your child to tell you the story.

  We continue working hard to prepare for the community sale.  Today we put the finishing touches on a secret special project and made another project.  We can't wait to share these with you.

  Following show and tell (during which our children gave great details and asked appropriate questions), we prepared for tomorrow's Out & About.  Ms. Cortney shared a social story about riding the train.  Each child brought home a copy- read it over breakfast!

  Dress warmly and we will see you in the morning!  Reminder- no lunch- snack provided by us. 

Getting ready.....

The days are so busy as we prepare for next week's community sale.  We can barely get it all done!

We re-read our Gingerbread Man story, with the children more confident than ever when reading their parts.  Later this week, we will explore other versions of the Gingerbread Man story and discuss the similarities and differences.  Alternate text includes:  Gingerbread Baby and Gingerbread Friends, all by Jan Brett.  Gingerbread play is beginning to trickle into playground play, with the boys each taking a part and playing chase.  It's fun to hear literature come alive!

As we will do every day this week, we introduced last names, presenting each name by itself on a card.  The children guess whose name is written on each card, then we spell the name aloud.  It's going to take a lot of practice, but it's a lot of fun!

  We began practicing for next week's play, Brown Reindeer, Brown Reindeer.  First, we all learn all the parts, then we will make assignments.  It's so cute!

  Today's big treat was brought by Ms. Cortney.  Just like Mrs. Clause, she's quite the baker!  She helped us make a surprise art project that involved following directions, waiting for turns, sensory experiences, thematic vocabulary, and retelling a sequence of events.  I wish I could share more details, but it's top secret.....you'll just have to wait to see!  Thanks, Ms. Cortney.

  We began a math patterning art activity that we will complete tomorrow.

  Today was a lot of fun- we look forward to a great tomorrow!

 

 

Run, Run, as Fast as You Can!

Today we started a new theme- The Gingerbread Man!  We all enjoyed reading this text and, by the second reading, we all helped Ms. Ellen 'read' the repetitive verses!  "Stop, stop- you look good to eat!"  Then, "Run, run, as fast as you can.  You can't stop me.  I'm the Gingerbread Man!"  It was so much fun to hear everyone reading together.

Tucker pointed out rhyming words in our story, which was the perfect segway to our rhyming activity.  Using written words with picture cues, we found rhyming words for the -an word family:  man, can, tan, ran, van, and fan.  We will continue to practice these this week.

We also used a variety of holiday cookie cutters to trace, just like the gingerbread man.  Then we decorated the men with eyes and buttons, just like the old lady did in our story.

Using four sequences from the story, we were able to cut out the story parts, order them, then glue them in order.  Retelling the story is the most important part!  Help your child tell you the story.  

Ms. Carol helped each of the children make ornaments, which we will sell in our community store next week.  They are beautiful!

Today we introduced each child's last name, guessing the owner of the name, spelling it, and writing it.  We will continue to work on last names throughout the week.

Thank you for sharing your wonderful children and I look forward to a great day tomorrow! 

Fun, fun, quiet and peace!

Friday, December 2, 2011

  Today was a calm, quiet, and productive day.  We began with our new Hello Neighbor Song.  Today we re-read our "A Fireman" book (everyone is a master by now).  We were excited to introduce a new book, "People Who Help".  This book focuses on the pronouns 'he' and 'she' while giving a great review of many community helpers.  After quite a few readings today, the kids were able to each 'read' it to me!  I enjoyed listening to each of the stories.  We've also focused on the parts of books:  front, back, and spine.  Ask your child to show you each of those three important parts.  The spine is everyone's favorite word to say!

  During math centers, we worked with firefighters and fire trucks to create patterns, count, and match the digit to the correct number.  Finally, we made ABA patterns using colored blocks.  Ms. Carol and Ms. Ellen each worked with two students, so the individual attention was great.

  After we returned inside from the playground, we each made our own 'People Who Help' small book to take home.  Help your child read it to you!

  Today we began crafts for the holidays.  Ms. Carol helped us to paint our hands and stamp them on fabric to make a wreath.  We will use these as gifts for our special friends- DUMC, Ms. Michelle, Ms. Angela, and a few church staff.

  It's hard to believe there are only two more weeks left of school this year!  We will be very busy with crafts for the community sale and play practice for the play.  More details to come!  We will embed our language, literacy, and math goals in these activities.  Have a great weekend and I look forward to spending Monday with my little friends. 

Visit with Officer Wade and his Cool Car!

Officer Wade was a big hit today!  Oddly enough, the children LOVED being handcuffed!  Maybe Officer Wade will let Ms. Ellen borrow the cuffs for use in our classroom (just kidding)! 

  We were honored to be joined by a special friend, Ms. Leigh, who helped our class today in Ms. Cortney's absence.  Ms. Cortney is on her way to New Your for a big weekend.  Ms. Leigh jumped right in and was a good new friend.  Thanks, Ms. Leigh!

  Today we read "A Visit to the Police Station" by Patrica Murphy.  This book has simple text and clear pictures.  The children were on the edge of their seats with excitement just to hear the story.  The story helped us learn what police officers do, showed us special tools police officers use, and gave a look inside the places police officers work.  We touched on police vocabulary words:  squad car, commander, station, jail, handcuffs, and uniform.

  We finally found time to make our Firefighter Take-home books.  In school, we have practiced pointing to each word as we read it (and everyone can 'read' most every page!).  Have your child 'read' the book to you.
 
  We learned a new big word 'Scavnanger Hunt'.  Ms. Ellen is a big fan of Scavenger Hunts because of the literacy component, so we will use them often.  Today's hunt was of police car vocabulary, and it gave the children a particular job (of finding the items).  While the kids were climbing around (in and on) Officer Wade's car, I heard, "Ms. Ellen, I found a mirror!", "I found the computer!", "I see the blue lights!".  We kept record of each item on a clipboard then transferred the data to individual sheets once back in the classroom.

  Finally, we ended with show and tell and our daily journals.  If you have any daily journal sheets at home, send them in and we will keep them in the classroom until the end of the year.

  Have a great afternoon and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.  We will review all the community helpers and complete a few activities that we haven't had time to complete this week.  

 

Deuces Wild!

Day 55- Fire Station # 2 Visit

What a fun day we had on our Neighborhood Walk to Fire Station #2!

As usual, we began our day with our Welcome Circle.  I continue to be amazed at the length of the children's attention spans.  This circle was 30 minutes!  We focused on reading our friends and teacher's names with the picture cue hidden.  Once we all guessed the name, we uncovered the picture to see if we were right. 


  Our book today was 'A Fireman', an easy reader with a simple repetitive pattern and several Everyday Words.  We have small individual copies for each child, but haven't had time to make them.  We will send them home tomorrow for the children to color and read at home. 


  Ms. Angela was a big hit today.  She taught us how to play baseball,  We learned the name of all the bases, including 'home', which really did look like a house!  We each took turns hitting the ball and running all the bases.  After we sang our closing song, we closed our huddle with a huge "baseball" cheer!


 Then we were on our way to Fire Station #2!  The fire fighters allowed us to climb around in Engine #2, showed us their bedrooms, bathroom, and kitchen.  We watched Fire Fighter Joe put on his gear:  boots, pants, jacket, mask, backpack, and hat.  We heard him breathing and learned what to do in case of fire:  crawl and scream!  See our adorable picture in front of Ladder #2 below.


  While on our walk we were overcome by three wonderful smells:  the donut factory, the pizza shop, and lunch cooking in fire station kitchen.  Needless to say, when we arrived back at school we were all starving!  After lunch, we completed our journals.  Ms. Tiffany helped us practice 'stop, drop and roll' and we acted out a fire scene.  A short 'show and tell' and our day was done!


  We look forward to visiting with Officer Wade and his cool car tomorrow!

Fun at Fire Station #2!

Science exploration- fire

Here's a glimpse of our science experiment today. On the way we saw another community helper- the SaniCan driver!

OT Fun with Ms. Michelle

Playing in the 'snow' was so much fun!

Stop, Drop, & Roll- Firefighters

Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Good afternoon!

  Consistency is important in establishing our new routines.  Today we began with a choice of sensory and a firefighter puzzle.

  I'm amazed at the length of our circletimes- especially the first circle, "Morning Meeting".  Much of this circle involves math concepts- day of the week, month, season, year, counting to 30, and patterns (ABA).  We also touch on social skills (Hello Neighbor song involves shaking hands properly (right hand) and greeting others).  Today, we again reviewed our New Teacher Social Story.  The boys giggled as the saw themselves in the book- they really think they are superstars!

  We met two new "Everyday Words":  'A' and 'the'.  We sang a song about the words, spelled them and found them in our book.  When you read with your child at home, pause and let him read these words!


  Ms. Michelle and her helper, Ms. Erin brought fun 'snow'.  First, we put 'snow' (large cotton balls) on a parachute, bounced and caught the balls.  Then, we played in pretend snow, digging to find hidden treasures.  Finally, the children glued marshmallows in the shape of a snowman.  They worked on touching a variety of textures, working together, asking for supplies, describing pictures, and following directions.  Plus, it was a lot of fun!

  Though it was chilly, we bundled up and headed to the park for a science experiment.  Before we left we observed a piece of paper, talking about the shape, color, and texture.  Each child drew a picture of it in their science journal.  At the park, we predicted what would happen while the paper burns.  We watched the paper as it caught on fire and burned to a crisp.  Once back in the classroom, we talked about the differences before and after and recorded the changes in our journal.  We sent the journal entry home so that your child can talk with you about the changes.  Please return it to school and we will add it to our journal. 

  We joined our green friends to make firefighter hats.  We had fun painting a bowl and a a plate bright red.
Some of us enjoyed it a lot.....getting it all over!  We'll take a picture of them tomorrow before sending them home.

  Throughout this weekly theme, we are talking about fire safety.  Only adults light and handle fire.  It's hot and can burn.  Only adults touch lighters and matches.  We've talked about and practiced 'stop, drop, and roll' and calling 911.

  Tomorrow we're headed to Fire Station #2 to see the fire fighters, trucks, and the special equipment.  Dress warmly! 

This Week's Everyday Words- A, The

Welcome Ms. Ellen!

Hello TK!
Day 53- Transition to Ms. Ellen!


  I must start by telling you how fortunate I am to return to my favorite classroom- with my favorite kids!  Thank you for the warm welcome this morning.  It's truly my honor to be here and I look forward to finishing out the year with a bang!

  Today was a day full of happy changes and transitions.  First, we noticed our classroom was a little bit different.  One table and the circle spot were switched, giving us a wall for our new calendar, sound board, friend wall, and schedule.  It was as if it had always been that way- no one missed a beat coming to circle.  In fact, everyone attended so well- 40 minutes of instruction flew by!  I never thought our circle would be so long!!! 

  To kick off our lesson learning about Firefighters, we experimented with.....FIRE (outside, of course)!  We carefully observed a new white candle, discussing and recording our observations in our science journals.  We noticed that it was white with white wick on the top.  We all predicted what would happen when lit.  Then, Ms. Ellen lit the candle and we watched the flame.  We noticed that the flame was a a beautiful orange.  After a minute, we noticed that part of the candle was melting.  After blowing it out we observed the burnt candle, noting that it had changed- the top was black, the middle was liquid.  We recorded the changes in our science journals.  Ask me to tell you about my drawing and the observations I made before, during, and after the experiment.  Tomorrow, we will watch paper burn!

  We also made a circle map of prior knowledge about fires and firefighters.  The children each knew something to add to the circle map.  We love thinking maps that help us organize our thoughts. 

  We were also able to act out a fire scene.  It was impressive how quickly everyone picked up on their parts- with verbal instruction only.  Ask your child to tell you the story of the house on fire.

  You might notice a small break in the end-of-the-day journals, but we are back on track with day 53- today.  Please help your child tell you a few things about the day and help your child write a few words about the day.  Return these sheets and we will compile them in a book at the end of the year- a great way to review the year and see the progress your child has made.
 
  We had a great day in TK today and learned many things.

  Dress warmly tomorrow- we are going to walk to the park for our science experiment- with more......FIRE!!!

  Thank you again for the opportunity to work with and learn from your family.  Ellen

FIREFIGHTERS

"Tractor Tipping"

"Taste of Thanksgiving"

A Taste of Thanksgiving

What a fun way to spend a day! The kids cooked up a storm this morning, making turkey and ham roll ups, stuffing, a vegetable tray, and homemade butter. Joseph and his mom contributed a 'turkey' made with fruit, which was a big hit. A fun,chocolately surprise for dessert was brought by Evan and his mom to round out our 'Taste of Thanksgiving'.

The kids greeted their families wearing a pilgrim hat or native american head band with feathers. Their big, plump paper turkeys were in the hallway so everyone could see the things that they were thankful for written on the feathers.

We all enjoyed the feast before the kids' production of "The Little Brown Turkey". They couldn't have been more cute! They each are becoming more comfortable in a larger group, speaking up so every one can hear them.

I think I need a rest from this Thanksgiving feast before I start preparing my own this week!

'Fix-It Plans'

Happy Friday to everyone! As Beau said as got into the car, "See you on Monday!".

"Gem of the Day": Watching Joseph be the 'Little Brown Turkey' during our group's rendition of the story. One of those 'priceless moments'.

While we have been working all along on problem solving skills, I thought I would give a few examples from today of the 'fix-it plans' that we came up with during the course of the day.

1. Problem: A back-pack just won't go on and it is becoming very frustrating. 'Fix-It plan': Stop, find a teacher, use words to say 'my backpack won't go on', ask for help.

2. Problem: Sometime, someone is talking just too loud in the classroom! 'Fix-It Plan': Say the person's name, say "Would you be more quiet?"

3. Problem: Two people want the same toy at the same time. "Fix-It Plan": Stop, say, "I want a turn.", ask a teacher to turn a timer on for each person to play with the toy. (only one solution!)

Ms. Carol, Ms. Cortney and I try to take any opportunity in which a child is mad, frustrated, or sad and turn it into a problem solving time. We will say, "Stop. Use your words. Tell me the problem." After the child has put words to their problem, the degree of emotion decreases (most of the time). We ask the child, "What is a fix-it plan? What can you do to fix the problem?" Depending on the child, the time of day, the context of the problem, we will offer different degrees of scaffolding. We can see a difference from the beginning of the year when so many instances were highly supported!

We spent time making some things for Monday. While they worked on find motor skills involving coloring, tracing and cutting, we snuck some letter identification into the activity.

Using our experience with retelling "The Little Red Hen", we told the story of "The Little Brown Turkey" taking turns being the different characters. Hmmmm....I wonder if you are going to see the play on Monday?

Have a great weekend!

Thanksgiving is coming!

As we prepare for our 'Taste of Thanksgiving' next Monday, we spent time reading two books, "The Story of Thanksgiving" (Nancy Skarmeas)and "Celebrating Thanksgiving" (Joel Kupperstein). The books introduced the Pilgrims, their trip over the great big ocean, the Native Americans and how they helped the Pilgrims, and then the feast they shared for being so thankful for all of the food that they had. We talked about how this happened a long time ago, but we still celebrate Thanksgiving because we are thankful for so many things. The kids were excited to share the things for which they are thankful.

We started painting the body and feathers for a turkey and will finish our product tomorrow.

Using the IPad, the kids used an alphabet application to reinforce letter identification while they practiced taking turns.

Our 'gem of the day' was when Tucker observed the playground today and commented, "Ms. Gail, this isn't a real playground. It's a wet playground!" Indeed it was, but we had fun finding all different kinds of leaves of all different colors.

We joined the three and four year old class at the end of the day to listen to the things that they are thankful for and sing songs with them. It was a little hard for the kids to understand that we were having our "party", as they called it, next Monday. But, everything turned out okay and we will be busy making our decorations for Monday. Please see your email with details about Monday.

Fireman Fun!

Day 47!

Ms. Gail was not here today!  The boys all noticed right away that she was missing!  We certainly hope she is able to join us tomorrow….but, she would be proud of all the learning we did while she was gone!!

Ms. Cortney led our circle time today, where we continued to learn about firemen.  We talked about a fireman being a very important helper in our community and learned about some of the special equipment that they use.  Each friend picked two cards and described the tool on the card and told how a fireman might use it.  Evan told us that a hat protects the fireman’s head.  Joseph shared that a uniform keeps the fireman safe.  Beau told everyone about the fire hose shooting out water and Tucker shared that an alarm lets the fireman know that there is a fire.  After we talked about all the cards, we put them in the correct order that a fireman might need to use them.  For example, the alarm sounds before the fireman puts on his hat.  Evan also spontaneously reminded the group about the stop, drop, and roll rule and we all enjoyed practicing it.  We hope we never need it for real, but if we do, we are ready.

The kids also had some sensory fun and learning today with paint.  They each got to take their shoes off, step in some “smoke” colored paint and run down the paper trail to create a smoke wall.  The paint was squishy on our feet and in our toes and our footprints were fun to look out.  We talked about when you are in a smoky room, how important it is to stay low to the ground and crawl out to the closest door.

After working so hard, each child helped to “build” a fire truck.  Everyone told one fact they learned or remembered from today, and got a wheel to put on the truck.  For a special treat, we went around a second time for more fun facts, and everyone got to “earn’ their fireman hat! 

Ms. Angela came today. She had some fun warm up games where we all had to listen to the music and do the action that it told us to do. Walking, crawling, jumping, running, tip toeing, skipping, and galloping......it might have been the longest song ever created, but the kids certainly enjoyed it! The main lesson today was about hockey and hitting a puck with a small hockey stick. Everyone got a turn to pass the puck to their friends. They all waited and cheered on their friends so nicely! As a reward for such great listening skills, Ms. Angela took orange swimming noodles and stacked them up in a pile. The kids took turns jumping over the pile. It was fun to see the kids expressions when they cleared the jump, and when they knocked all the noodles down! Either way, we all left Ms. Angela laughing!

Outside time started off with a light sprinkle. The kids are getting used to being out in the rain. They hardly noticed. The funny part was that today the Weekday teachers saw us outside and hurried out to join us! We are rubbing off!! Now, I must tell you that they left.....very quickly.....when the sprinkling rain got a little heavier! We, in true TSGI fashion, waited until all the kids were seeking shelter under the climbing equipment to call it a day!! A little rain never hurt anybody!! Fingers crossed that tomorrow the Thursday curse won't continue.....we would love to finally mark pictures off the list.....but it doesn't look like the weather is going to cooperate!! We'll see......

Day 46:

Oops! I made a mistake! The tune to our fire fighter song isn't "Clementine"! It's the one that goes with "Hi, Ho, the Derry-O". The kids practiced today and just about have it memorized. While memorizing isn't really that important, we do work on sequencing, complete sentence structures, and conceptual knowledge when we repeat the song often!

Our 'buildings' that we made out of small boxes were dry and the kids put pictures of what each building is suppose to be on top. After matching the building with word on our floor mat, the kids got the cars and trucks out to play together.

Using shaving cream and paint (red, orange, and yellow), the kids made ''fire' on their individual mats. We took the opportunity to write letters in the shaving cream, especially the upper and lower case 'f'. Donning our fire hats, we took the 'fire mats' out to the playground, setting them against the fence. Before spraying their fires with their water squirters, the kids went up the playground ladder, slid down the slide, climbed over the dome and ran to the fire. This activity gave us so much to talk about during and after the squirting!

As we watched "Elmo's Neighborhood" about the fire fighters, I stopped the video at random points and took turns retelling what we saw or answering 'wh' questions.

We practiced tracing lines and shapes to get ready for our writing. The kids were told to get their red, orange and yellow markers out and draw a fire in their writing journal. They each drew their own kind of fire and it was great. Drawing upon all of our activities, each child had so much to dictate about the topic.

There's always a 'gem of the day' that I hear, but I usually don't write it down and forget it by blog time. I am going to earnestly try to write them down and share them with you. The 'gem' for the day came from Evan who told Suzanna, after she showed us the picture she drew, was, "Susanna, you are such a great artist!" More gems to come in other blogs.

Day 45: Fire fighters!

"Fire fighters are strong!

Fire fighters are fast!

Fire fighters put out the fires

and drive the big, red trucks!"

Yes, I am a song writer as long as I use the tune to "Clementine" and make some one word syllables stretch into two syllables!

Hopefully, the kids can sing this with you and add the hand motions that we are used in school today. Not only did we sing about fire fighters, we lived and breathed fire fighters today!

When the kids arrived today, they took turns riding on the bottom of Mr. Jimmy's cart (the fire truck), and then pulling the cart as the fireman. You should have seen their faces when I told them to sit on the cart!

Since fire fighters drive red trucks, two of the kids painted a box red that we will turn into a truck tomorrow. The other two kids painted another box blue to get ready to a police officer on Wednesday. They LOVE to paint!

Since fire fighters are strong and fast, the kids practiced jumping off the chair, lifting weights, running outside, and climbing. The kids each earned their own red, metallic spray bottle to take outside. Wearing red fire coats and fire hats, the kids ran outside to put out all of the fires! Of course, we had to sound like the truck siren as we ran from place to place. I had given them quite the talk about what they could spray and what would happen if they sprayed a friend before we went outside. I have the cutest picture of them standing in the pretend fire truck, heads peeking out of the top, spraying water into the air like real firemen with a hose. At the very end of the activity, Ms. Carol and I surprised them by letting them chase us with the spray bottles for one minute. I don't know who had more fu; we were all laughing so hard!

Instead of reading a book to the kids today, we all spread out on the floor and looked at books about fire fighters and police officers that had a lot of pictures. We took turns telling what we saw in the pictures tapping into prior knowledge, taking turns with the books, formulating complete sentences, answering questions, and learning new vocabulary. When we saw the pictures of the walkie-talkies, we held a conversation like we were fire fighters on the way to a fire. As Evan said, "Roger that!" Can you see why I get such a kick out of being with your kids?

For a math activity, we asked the question, "Would you like to be a fire fighter or police officer when you group up?", in order to graph our preferences. The kids asked each other, and then we walked the hallway and found other people to ask. The kids said, "Excuse me, will you answer a question?" and then asked our graphing question. They needed to look at the person and speak loudly enough for everyone to hear. When the person gave their answer, the kids would 'figure out' the first sound/letter of the person's name and write it on the graph. Our results indicated that more people wanted to be fire fighters!

Please see the weekly note in your child's take home folder to see what other math concept and literacy concept on which we are focusing this week.

Day 43: "Feelings, whoa, whoa, feelings'......

The kids looked so cute this morning for pictures! They all were proud of their clothes, telling me that they couldn't get them dirty!

We learned a poem about brushing our teeth today.

"I know how to brush my teeth.

On the top and underneath.

Up like a rocket and down like a plane,

back and forth like a choo-choo train."

After each child was able to say the last two lines, he 'earned' toothpaste to put on his toothbrush and practice brushing his teeth. I have no idea what it's like for them brush their teeth at home, but they seem to love doing it at school!

We finished our Dr. Suess story, Green Eggs and Ham, giving everyone a chance to complete sentences with the rhyming word. I enjoy that word play and I think the kids did too.

Feeling words and faces were introduced today (happy, sad, mad, tired, scared and sick). We pretended to be feeling each of those feelings, making faces and changing our voices. They giggled so much which I just hadn't anticipated! We used the old stand by song, "If You're ___ and You Know It, _____", using words and actions to depict the feeling. (happy=smiling, throw up your arms; sad=pretending to cry, wipe your tears; mad=growling face, stomp your feet; tired=yawning, stretch your arms; scared=wide eyes and shake voice, shaking our hands; and sick=moaning, hold your stomach). Your child might enjoy singing this at home!

As we read 'Green Eggs and Ham', we would look at the character's face and decide how he felt. I wanted to break out into song with "Feelings" by Barry Manilow (hopefully you remember that song and I am not THAT old!), but didn't put the kids through my rendition!

As an experiment, I asked the kids to draw any picture that they wanted to using pencils, crayons and markers. To my delight everyone went right to work with absolutely no hesitation. Their ability to visualize something and draw it on paper has improved so much since the beginning of the year. Their confidence level has increased! After dictating phrases/sentences about their pictures, the kids sat in the "Super Star' chair to tell each other about their pictures.

I opened up the last part of the day for free play to see what they would gravitate toward and just observe their play/interaction with each other.

They immediately went to the dentist/doctor box, working out who would go first. All of the kids used the various items as the dentist/doctor, talking to each other. We were past the parallel play and onto symbolic play today. Isn't that exciting?

Several kids started to play with the calendar numbers, board pictures or books. They were given a chance to put the calendar numbers in the correct sequence, talk about the dentist pictures we have been using, and read to each other. The end of a really wonderful day:)

Day 42:

The kids started off the day with picking a heavy brick, walking in a box with letters, crawling under a bridge with their block and then jumping on bubble wrap. On the way in, we worked on identifying the letters and on the way out the kids told us the sound of the letters! When they got down to the end of the obstacle course, the kids worked with a new peg board, counting as they went OR upper and lower case stamps to make their names and write the letters that we are working on in class.

When it was time to sing our 'hello song' about the dentist, they were ready to sit and focus. I was very impressed with what they are remembered about the dentist and putting their ideas into sentences. Every time we finished an activity, we put one piece from our 'dentist box' into a bag to use later in the day. They earned the bag before lunch time and were able to take turns playing dentist. We were very lucky that Even brought in a doctor bag along with his hamster, Pickles, so we could also play vet. I saw more playing 'together' in the last few days which was very exciting!

The kids threw basketballs...they threw bean bags...they threw tennis balls....and they threw balls to each other with Ms. Angela today. She had four stations set up and the kids went from one to the next. I suggested that the kids choose before they go and then rotate with a timer, but they didn't need that at all! Ms. Angela let them stand up and go wherever they wanted. I was very impressed with the kids.

Walking back into the room, the kids found letters on their chair and we thought of words that started with the corresponding sound. I help a lot with kind of activity now, but I can tell we are going to get better and better at this phonological awareness skill.

We are learning the 3 months of Fall (and, yes, I know that part of December is technically Fall, but we aren't going to be technical about this one!) We say the names together, the kids take turns finding the month and putting it on the board, and then put pictures of what happens in that month on the board to build a context for them to remember.

Ms. Cortney started to read the book, "Green Eggs and Ham", focusing on the rhyming words. It's such a fun book and gives the kids plenty of opportunities to hearing and playing with different rhymes. Reading Dr. Suess books with your kids at home would a great way to have fun with words.

Day 41: The Veterinarian

We started our day by exploring our new math manipulatives. I wanted the kids to have some open ended experiences with all of them before we used them for specific instructions. They played with all of the following: a balancing scale with blocks, wood shapes of all different colors, big tweezers and little frogs, the geoboard (to makes shapes out of rubber bands), and number tracing cards. It was fun to see the kids figure out what they would do with each set of manipulatives.

Tucker brought a book, "Amazing Airplanes", to share with the class today. We all sat on the floor, taking turns telling what we saw on each page of the book. Seeing that it was a perfect opportunity to ask 'who, what, where' questions, Ms. Cortney took notes while I asked the questions. Before putting the book away, we all pretended to be a pilot and told everyone to where we were flying. Then, we were airplanes that zoomed down the hallway, making a safe landing as we descended down to the floor. (I do believe that my body has become more flexible as I move up and down and all around with the kids. An added bonus for me!)

To reinforce the things that we are learning about a dentist, the group worked together to make our vocabulary chart. As each child put their picture on the chart, he formulated a sentence about how this picture goes with a dentist.

Ms. Michelle had the kids painting trees with apples, crawling through a long tunnel, and doing some relaxing yoga poses. I have got to find a tunnel like hers because it seems to be magical!!

As you know, we saw a veterinarian today at his office. The kids so enjoyed Dr. Wheelock as he showed them how to examine his dog with different instruments. Each child had a chance to look into my eye with a very, very bright light and then use a stethoscope to hear their heart beating. Eyes lit up when Dr. Wheelock brought out his lizards! We all touched the big lizard with our two fingers, knowing that we needed to be quiet or we would scare the lizard!

I am so grateful for this beautiful Fall weather!

Day 40: New Sensory Processing Activities Tried Out!

On Friday, I attended a conference about sensory processing disorder and using play in our teaching by Carol Kranowitz. Evan's mom, Amanda, was there also and we got play and sing and dance while we learned about different ways to address sensory processing problems. We were busy writing and discussing some fun activities that we could use at home and in school. These type of conferences can put a 'bee in my bonnet' and I am excited about bringing new activities into our class.

Over the weekend, I wrapped bricks (yes, actual bricks) in different colored duct tape. The kids lifted them, moved them and pushed boxes that had the bricks on top which provided the heavy lifting/pushing to help regulate alertness....and just to have fun! We did it as a group, but if someone needed a sensory break later in the day, Ms. Carol would take them to push their 'car' down the hallway.

We read the book, "If I Were a ......", again today, focusing on the kids answering 'who, what, and where' questions. Since I wasn't getting answers that were totally on target, we revisited the book later in the day. Each child chose a picture of a community helper off of a chart and said the sentence, "If I were a ____, I would ______." We landed on dentists, which I cleverly chose so that I could introduce our next activity!

To facilitate imaginative play, cooperation, turn taking, and event recounting, we pretended that we were dentists. First, I was the dentist and each child took a turn being the patient. Every time we started over I would say: "A dentist washes his hands."; "A dentist wears gloves."; "A dentist uses a mirror to look in the patient's mouth."; "A dentist cleans the mirror." As I interacted with the patient I would use the same questions and sentences to provide a script or modeling for the kids. When it was their turn, the kids did use some of the same questions and sentences and followed what the dentist does to a tee! It really was so much fun. We should have a little time in they morning to play again!

Looking forward to seeing the vet tomorrow! I'm sure we will be playing 'vet' later this week!

Day 39:

I am officially confused over the exact number of days we have been in school, BUT I have decided to stick with Day 39 and move on from here!

Day 39ish started off with the kids walking down the hallway on number mats. They identified the numbers with Ms. Cortney and then we all gathered around a sensory box filled with different pasta shapes. After finding the different lids that had a numeral on top, each child identified the numeral and counted out exactly that amount to put in a container. Putting those stubborn lids on the containers made all of finger muscles get stronger! We lined the containers up in sequential order, but two were missing (on purpose!). The kids had to figure out what number came after or before another number to decide which numbers were missing.

Outside we went, to play with Ms. Angela. Throwing and catching balls with a partner, the kids laughed and had a great time. What was even better was throwing little plastic balls over a net at the teachers, pretending that they were snowballs. There are some good arms in this crew!

We wrapped our science experiment up today by observing the different eggs and comparing their color to how the egg looked before we put it into the liquid. The egg in the orange juice was orange and the egg in the Coke was brown. The other eggs were still white. We colored pictures of eggs to show the changes on our results chart. We decided that we don't want our teeth to be orange or brown it is very important to brush our teeth after we drink things juice and soda. Using our new toothbrushes we practiced brushing pretend teeth (upside down yellow egg cartons) by brushing up and down and then across while we put the words to a fun tune. We took our other toothbrushes, that were clean, and brushed our teeth with a little squirt of toothpaste. At the last minute, we decided to paint our pretend teeth with white paint using our toothbrush.

We broke our group of four kids into two groups for writing journal time. Ms. Cortney had one group and I had the other. The kids chose a picture of a community helper to glue onto their page and write about it. Some of the community helpers that we are talking about include: police officer, dentist, doctor, fireman, waitress, veterinarian, banker, construction worker.

I hope that you have fun on the four day weekend from school!

If anyone has a doctor kit, firetrucks, fire station, and/or police cars that we might borrow next week, we could add them to our station for playing. Thanks!

Great day in the TK!

During the 'hello song' today, we each held a circle with a letter on it (d, s, t, p). We asked each other " What letter is that?", "What sound does it make?", and "Can you think of a word that starts with __?". One sound-symbol association that the kids need to review is for the 'd'. They tend to say the 'b' sound. If this happens for you, tell them that the 'd' is the 'tongue tapper' sound which will help them to remember to put their tongue up instead of using the'lip popper' sound of 'b'!

We made our way down the hall to find the letters, 'd, b, k, g, t, p, f, v', in a box of rice. As the kids found the letters we practiced their sounds and put them on magnetic boards. When we got back to the room, the kids took one letter at a time, identifying it and writing it on a big piece of butcher block paper. I was able to assess if they knew the sounds of the letters while everyone kept busy.
I am thinking back to September and appreciating how far we have all come!

As you saw when you picked your child up today, they each made a sensory box with Ms. Michelle and Ms. Erin during our OT time. Ms. Erin put a lot of time and energy into gathering all the materials and organizing this activity. Thank you so much, Ms. Erin.

We are going to start having our "morning circle' a little later in the day. This time includes:
1) reading a morning message together which allows us to work on print awareness, identifying target letters and their sounds, sight words, day of the week, and answering questions, 2) weather which includes science and math state standards, along with formulating complete sentences about the weather using the conjunction 'and', 3) calendar which incorporates patterning, rote counting, identifying numerals, days of the week, months, identifying 'yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and saying the date. On some days, we will include a graphing activity and/or measuring activity during this time also.

Today, we listened and watched a story, "The Berenstein Bears Go To The Dentist", on youtube. You can find it on youtube just by typing in the title of the book. Today was an overview of the book, allowing each child to tell us about their experience at the dentist. Tomorrow, we will answer 'who, what, where' questions while we listen to the story.

We made a trip down to the kitchen today to look at our science experiment. We took the eggs out of their cup and described what we saw using the questions: "Is it the same color as yesterday?" and "Are there any cracks in the egg?". The one in the juice looks orange and the one in coke has turned a lovely shade of brown. The eggs in the water or milk are still white and don't have any cracks. We made a hypothesis about whether each liquid would help or hurt the egg. Since the word hypothesis is new to the kids, we clapped out the syllables while saying it and talked about what it meant. We will be writing our results tomorrow!

Since we had a few minutes before lunch time, everyone worked on lacing the big paper tooth to work on fine motor and visual motor skills.

We had a really calm day, moving from one activity to another. Looking forward to tomorrow and seeing what happens in our science experiment!

Day 38: I love my job!

We miss Tucker! His three friends at school kept asking about him, thinking he was going to walk through the door at any moment. Hope his mom had 'fun' running the marathon in D.C. this past weekend. We are looking forward to seeing Tucker tomorrow and hearing about his trip to D.C.

I was able to work on curriculum based assessment today with one child at a time as Ms. Carol worked with the other two children. The kids worked on pumpkin patterns, a maze, writing their name, matching upper and lower case letters, and lacing yarn through a big paper tooth. I noticed that there were times the kids were working more independently than I have seen up to this point!

The mystery box was a great way to introduce our weekly theme of dentists which is part of our monthly theme of community helpers. I described what was in the box using our chart: they can be many different colors, they are skinny, part of it feels hard and part of it feels rough, you can find it in a bathroom, you brush with it, and we all should use it. After the kids guessed that it was a toothbrush, they each got one and we sang the 'hello song'. Each child asked the person next to him what he had, where do you find it and what do you use it for. We quickly put the toothbrushes into plastic bags with the plan to practice brushing our teeth tomorrow.

We introduced 'community helpers' by brainstorming all of the different kinds of jobs we could think of together. Using an idea web, we put pictures of 10 different jobs around the words 'community helpers'. After the chart was all done, we asked each other 'who' and 'what' questions about each helper.

Since this week we are focusing on the dentist, we started our science experiment about teeth. Our science questions were "Which liquid will make our teeth strong? Which liquid can hurt our teeth." Using hard boiled eggs and pretending that each one was a tooth, the kids put the four eggs into cups of either milk, water, juice, or Coke. They each made a hypothesis by circling one of two pictures for each of the different kinds of liquids. I mentioned that we would be able to see the results on Wednesday, and someone asked, "What are results?". I love that the kids are asking questions about the new words they are hearing. The activity prompted another child to tell us about the eggs, milk and juice they have at home. It's great when the kids are making connections with their life outside of the immediate activity!

We finally finished our paper bag jack-o-lanterns! Evan started to tell us about his jack-o-lantern, giving it a name. Well, we didn't want to miss that opportunity. So, quickly pulling out paper and marker, the kids dictated answers to 'who, what, where, when' questions about their jack-o-lantern. I will turn these into books and the kids can read them to the preschoolers, with their jack-o-lantern sitting right there beside them. I love my job:)

Day 37: Jack-O-Lantern and Pumpkin Pie

Did your child tell you about taking our jack-o-lantern into the restroom? That sounds strange!

We finished carving our jack-o-lantern this morning and put the battery powered 'candles' inside. Since the room wasn't dark enough, Beau suggested that we take it to the restroom where we could turn the lights off and have it very, very dark. So, that is what we did! Took me back to a long ago time! We read Halloween books and had a great time.

We hid little 'lima bean' ghosts in the pumpkin spice play doe and had our friends find them, counting how many they found.

Our big project was making a very simple pumpkin pie with pudding, pumpkin, and little graham cracker pie crusts. I think that I may have introduced a wonderful taste treat to your kids when I brought out the canned whipping cream. Since they hadn't seen it before, I put a smidgen on their finger to lick off. Ooooooh..lala...their eyes got very wide with excitement as they exclaimed, "Wow, this is good!" They had a blast squeezing it onto the little pumpkin pies, but alas only one child was interested in the pie itself. We gave Mr. Jimmy and Ms. Carol a pie for their Friday treat.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Day 36: Pumpkin Patch Fun

I hope you have a chance to hear about the 'pumpkin patch' from your child this afternoon! It was such a beautiful day today and we enjoyed being able to got from pumpkin to pumpkin in the sunshine. After looking at and touching each pumpkin (or nearly every pumpkin!), we picked out our favorite pumpkin. The kids also got to choose a small gourd to bring back to school so we can explore them.

Our walks during 'Out and About' are getting easier! I think the kids are gaining endurance as we walked between 6-8 blocks today with a good deal of energy. Thanks to Ms. Tiffany's mom who drove all of the gear back to the school for us. We did take the classroom pumpkin to the park. I cut the top off and we explored all the inner workings of the inside of the pumpkin. "Oooooh! This is gross!" was a common response while the kids dug the seeds out and put them in a bowl. We did learn the word 'pulp', but somehow the word was changed the minute we stopped practicing it. Ask me if you want to knows! We plan to carve the eyes, knows and mouth tomorrow and put a little light inside. Our plan is to read Halloween books by the glow of the jack-o-lantern!

The kids loved playing at the park after the pumpkin activity. Up and down and all around! Running, chasing, climbing, sliding, peeking, swinging! Lots of great gross motor action going on!

Lunch is always quiet after our long walks. However, the kids were alert during show and tell as they waited for their promised treat bags. Evan handed his treat bags to all of his friends. It was SO hard to wait to open them until they were in the car with mommy. Thank you, Evan!

Dress the kids warmly tomorrow as the temperature is dropping. It might be a bit cool in the room and we sure would love to get some exercise on the playground too!

Day 35: What glorious messes we made today!

What a grand time we had today making orange messes! The kids painted their paper bag pumpkins with as much orange paint as I would give them! Even through this activity Ms. Cortney and I gained insight into how each child approaches a task and completes it. We have to wait until tomorrow to make the pumpkin into the jack-o-lantern since the bags need plenty of time to dry!

The kids were all surprised when they came back from cleaning their paint brushes to find individual trays of shaving cream and orange paint! Some kids loved the sensory experience and some gradually warmed up. Ms. Cortney and I showed the kids letters which they made in the shaving cream and told us what sounds they made. The kids got to have a turn being the teacher and telling us what to write! We were able to work on 'after' and 'before' by drawing a letter or number and asking the child to write the letter/number that comes after or before the ones we drew! We really all enjoyed working on sound-symbol association this way:)

To back up a little, we left the touch and feel pool to find different letters on each of our chairs. We sang the 'hello song' by asking each other what letter he/she had and the sound it made. Some kids even thought of words that started with their letter! Finally we match the lower case letter to its upper case letter.

We tried something different for circle time in which each child had their own job. Each child was given a chart and pictures for their job to do independently at first. Beau was in charge of the weather chart. Joseph worked on the season chart. Tucker put the days of the week in order to tell us yesterday, today and tomorrow. Evan counted all of the numbers on the calendar with me and then told everyone the date (October 26, 2011). After each child was finished, they told the group what they did and we made changes if needed.

The kids were spell bound as Ms. Cortney read our book, "The Little Old Woman Who Was Not Afraid of Anything!". There was clomping..... wiggling..... shaking.... nodding....and one more! Oh, my gosh what was it? We will have to find out tomorrow! Each child will have a turn bringing this book home to read to their family. Your child can sequence what happened in the book as they describe the how the little, old woman saw a pair of shoes, some pants, a shirt, a pair of gloves, and a hat that did not scare her at all. BUT....then she saw something that scared her! What happened next? I bet your child could tell you!

Ms. Angela brought her soccer balls again today! We were so busy having fun with our story that we (well....I) lost track of time and missed half of the activities. The kids did get to kick and trap the soccer ball though!

Thanks for having your kids bring something for show and tell that relate to the theme this week. Joseph did a great job telling us about his costume, which I want to call "Captain Miracle", but I may need him to remind me again tomorrow. Tucker brought a ghost! He started out by saying "I brought a ghost." and then added one more detail all on his own. Little by little, all of the kids are improving in their ability to tell us about their show and tell without depending on teacher questions. I also noted today that the kids asked several questions without any prompting. Yeah!

At the end of show and tell, the kids earned a Halloween pin to wear is they 1. sat on their bottom, 2. sat 'criss cross', and 3. listened quietly. Thanks to Tucker's mom, we had a pumpkin for the kids to reach into and pull out their prize! The wife of Mr. Gary, a church staff member,
made these pins for us!

OKAY! Tomorrow is our 'pumpkin patch' day! Meet you there!

Day 34: Practice, Practice, Practice!

Our poem book for "The Ten Little Pumpkins" let us work on the following skills:

• counting with one-to-0ne correspondence
• counting backward from 10-0
• identifying and saying rhyming words
  
• 'reading' from left to right and top to bottom using the pictures and words
  
• identifying and reading sight words ('the')
• identifying and saying the letter 'p' and its corresponding sound (upper and lower case)
• formulating complete sentences
• waiting patiently while we wait for our turn to count or read without interrupting someone else (a tough one!)
• saying the syllables to words while clapping for each syllable
• just having some 'language fun'!

Isn't that amazing? I was frustrated with myself when I realized that I forgot to send home the books and rhyming words today! Hopefully, tomorrow!

We reread our story about Dora and then the kids took turns retelling parts of the story using a 'big book' I made with all the important pictures. Somehow, wearing our magic glasses makes it even more fun!

Evan brought a great book today titled, "Pumpkins"! I am going to remember this book for next year. We saw big pumpkins, little pumpkins, green and yellow and orange pumpkins, flat pumpkins and round pumpkins. Best of all, the pictures of the life cycle of the pumpkin were great. Think I will add an activity tomorrow about the life cycle!

We started making our pumpkins out of paper bags today. After stuffing paper bags with a TON of paper towels, we made a stem by wrapping a green pipe cleaner around the middle of the bag. Tomorrow, we paint and then make it into a jack-o-lantern!

Fall leaves were the vehicles for Ms. Michelle's activities today. The kids used crayons on their sides to make leaf rubbings which helps to work on hand strength. After gathering leaves in their decorated bag, the kids glued the leaves onto their picture. Then.....Ms. Michelle brought out the enormous (our new word today) bowl of cooked spaghetti! We dug our hands in and different objects. Oh, it was sticky and delightful! In all honesty, some kids dove right in and some needed to be coaxed, but EVERYONE became involved!

Day 33: Pumpkin Poems, Pumpkin 'Hello Songs" and Pumpkin Books!

Yes, the theme this week is 'Pumpkins and Halloween'!

Before we sang our 'hello song' today, the kids had to guess what was in the mystery box. I gave clues using a chart and they all guessed that there were little pumpkins in the box. I will send the chart home with the kids tomorrow for you to keep at home. The clues were: It's a kind of vegetable. It is orange. You can make pie with it. It grows in a garden. A farmer grows it. You can make a jack-o-lantern with it. The ones in here are little.

We used many of the same clues to describe a pumpkin using pictures on our pumpkin web, which was sent home today. After the kids put the pictures on the web, they each had a chance to tell us about a pumpkin using sentences and good articulation. We wore our magic glasses to help us point to each picture.

Today and tomorrow we will be reading the book, "Dora and the Perfect Pumpkin", which tells us about Dora and her friend, Boots, finding the perfect size pumpkin for her grandma to make pumpkin pie. Before they could cross the bridge to get to the farm, the grumpy old troll asked them what season it was. When they could tell the troll that it was Fall, Dora and Boots found the pumpkin patch. The first pumpkin was too big. The second pumpkin was too little. And, of course, the last pumpkin was just right. Using pictures that depicted the events in the story, the kids retold the story as a group. Tomorrow, they will have their own book to bring home and tell the story to you!

We had planned to open up different kinds of squashes today and compare them to a pumpkin, but when we came to school today we saw something wonderful! Three of our seeds had grown into sprouts. We looked at the sprouts and dictated sentences which I wrote down. The kids took turns reading their sentences to each other before we replanted the sprouts into the worm house. (Yes, we still have the worm house!)

Oops! I forgot to tell you about our pumpkin poem, "The Ten Little Pumpkins"! Using a book with a different number on each page, we read and reread about different Halloween characters taking one pumpkin away at a time. We not only worked on counting backward, but worked on identifying numbers, reading left to right and top to bottom, and rhyming words! I will be able to send two copies of these books home each day and then we can rotate. They will be added to our book basket for the kids to check out in the future.

Using the numbers from our pumpkin poem, we matched rhyming words to the numbers on a big board. The pictures could be added or taken off as we discovered what rhymed with what!

Using lima beans as ghosts, the kids each opened a small container with the ghosts. After counting their ghosts, they found the corresponding number. We traded our containers and passed them on so every one could count different numbers.

So, I am 'pumpkin-ed out' for the day!