We started the week by tasting the pumpkins seeds from our jack-o-lantern. Mrs. Samuel roasted them with a variety of spices. The ate one seed with each flavor including salt, garlic and cinnamon sugar. MmMm Good! Then they filled in a bar graph that corresponded to their favorite flavor. Ask your child which flavor they liked best!!
Artwork is often done with paper, crayons, glue, and so much more. At other times we draw on chalk boards and dry erase boards.
Toss the turkey was an indoor throwing game the children played. We encouraged them to throw underhand.
We opened up the listening center this week. The children listened to It's Mine by Leo Lionni in pairs. This is a delightful story of 3 frogs fighting to sit on rock island. In the end teamwork prevails!
We talked about Thanksgiving and decorated paper to form a Native American teepee. We looked at pictures of teepees and Seminole Indian Chickees in books. We talked about how the Native Americans in Florida built their chickees and added palm fronds on the roof.
In the teepee, books, dolls, a loom, and musical instruments are there for the children to use as tools for their imagination.
We used the gathering drum with Mrs. McIvor in music.
We talked about different ways that we tell time by using a clock, a calendar, a watch, and through the seasons. We learned the following poem:
Name the seasons
4 in all
Winter is when the weather is cold,
Spring is when the flowere grow,
Summer is when the weather is hot,
And Fall is when the leaves fall from the trees to the ground.
We checked the Magic Basket and found scissors. We practiced snipping strips of paper and glued the snips onto leaves to create "Fall" leaves.
Mixing red, orange, brown, and black paint with rollers on a banner paper was our center time activity on Thursday. This paper became the trunk of the classroom tree where our leaves are hanging. Take a minute to stop by the classroom to see it.
Mrs. Williams was our Mystery Reader. She read The Twelve Days of Winter by Deborah Lee Rose.
Exploring activities this week included using the gathering drum, decorating paper to create individual drums, and dancing with them. We created turkey hats and a turkey snack.
Mrs. Samuel goes to school! The classroom teachers attended the National Association for the Education of Young Children National Convention in Orlando. It was an amazing three days filled with sessions about brain research, teaching strategies, nationally known singers, and so much more. Mrs. Samuel takes a moment for a photograph with Dr. Drew. He is the inventor of blocks that we use throughout the year. The children use these blocks to create roads, corrals, buildings, a sleigh, and so much more.
~Dates to Remember ~
Poetry in the Park - 11/11 - 8:30 Lower Division Quad amongst the pine trees. Please bring a chair or a blanket to sit on. We ask that you drop your child off in car line. You may join us at snack time in the classroom at intermission.
Field trip to Publix - 11/14 - 9:15 - We need several parents to help with this trip.
Please email Mrs. Samuel or send in a note if you can help.
We will be touring and buying the food for our feast.
Thanksgiving Feast - 11/18 - 9:30 Exploring
Feast - 11:00 - The children will begin to eat at approximately this time.
We will need parents to help at exploring and others to help serve up the food. Thanks!
