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!
