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!
