Happy Halloween!

Bug Week

I thought it would be a perfect topic to discover, with Halloween just around the corner.

We learned the characteristics of an insect and made a giant insect for our classroom with all the right parts!

We took our knowledge out for a Bug Walk and made observational drawings of different insects, spiders, and all types of critters we found. Here the students are carefully observing an ant and drawing the different parts they see on their clipboards.

Later we practiced our Roly Poly skills on the hill.

Nice form!

Our Balanced Literacy book this week was about Spiders - make sure to read it with your child. We also made our own bug books, and snuck in a lesson on color words. We'll be doing more with color words in the next couple of weeks.

Thursday was Show & Teach. All the students did a great job teaching us their skill! Connor helped everyone make their own calendar flower- which the students were so excited about. I"ll have to take a picture of our big calendar flower so you know what they're talking about.

Reese brought her bicycle and taught us how to ride without training wheels! The children were in awe :)

And of course...

our Halloween Party was this week!

What cuties I have in my class!

We had lots of fun treats...

We made our own Halloween cookies and decorated them.

And we played lots of fun games!

Ellie was a pro at throwing those rings on the witches hat.

Monster Musical Chairs was a favorite

Logan was the Supreme Monster - he won every time!

We sure had a fun week!

I hope your children enjoy their Trick-or-Treat bags and the books inside!

Next week continues our Fantastic Fall Unit: Leaves!

Just a heads up:

No preschool the last week in November (29th, 30th, and Dec 1st)

Our Thanksgiving Feast will be Tuesday, November 22nd - and there will be no preschool the rest of that week (Nov 23rd or 24th).

Pumpkin Week

We had a GREAT Pumpkin Week!

Even though we didn't go to a real pumpkin patch - we sure had fun at

Miss Jessica's Preschool Pumpkin Patch!

We had a great variety of pumpkins to observe and explore- all different colors and sizes!

Perhaps you've heard your child talk about what job they have in our classroom? This is our job chart.

Each week we take turns fulfilling a job for our class. The student's love being in charge of something! It's a great opportunity for them to learn responsibility and practice leadership skills.

This week, Reese was the "Good Deed" girl -as she calls herself :). When you have the Good Deed job, it's your responsibility to acknowledge stellar behavior in other students and reward them. I have stamps and stickers they get to use. In this picture she's rewarding Kensington with a stamp for singing our October song so well.

Ask your child what job they had this week!

You have probably heard of "Centers" - it's the children's favorite activity of the day! This week, the children were assigned a group and Center. We had blocks, dress-ups, and story telling. Each day the groups rotated through the three centers.

With the groups small (2-3 children), center time becomes a great tool in social development.

It's fun to see social skills in action as classmates continue to develop friendships.

Here, Ellie and Kensington are working together to re-tell the story of Johnny Appleseed.

Whiteboards! The kids love getting to use dry erase markers and write on their own little whiteboard! Every day we use whiteboards to practice correct letter and number formation. It's a very effective way for me to visually assess each student's knowledge or understanding of the concept we are talking about.

This week, we began our math unit on patterns. I started an AAB pattern on my board, and asked the children to continue the pattern on their whiteboards. In this picture, Logan and Connor correctly continued the pattern. You'll see more pattern work through the next couple of weeks.

We were pumpkin scientists this week. Each student chose a pumpkin to weigh, measure, and make note of other distinguishing characteristics.

Today, they brought home the book in which they recorded their observations. Make sure to take a look!

Therrific Thursday was the day we were all looking forward to! We each got our own pumpkin to bring home AND we got to cut open a huge pumpkin to see what was inside!

Before opening the pumpkin we touched and shook it and guessed what might be inside (I heard a lot of past pumpkin carving experiences involving slime). After I cut it open, we made an observational drawing of both the inside and the outside of the pumpkin. We each picked our own seed out. Let me warn you now - there are great hopes and dreams of a magnificent pumpkin patch growing in each of your backyards :)

We talked about Jack-O-Lanterns - make sure to check out your child's "Jack-O" book they brought home today - they all did a great job on them!!

We had such a fun week! Next week we look forward to more Fantastic Fall as we talk about insects!

Thursday we'll have a Halloween Party . . . Don't forget to have your child wear a costume! AND, it's Show N' Teach!

We Love Apples!

This week began our Fantastic Fall unit - one of my most favorite times of the year!

It's so exciting to talk about the characteristics of Fall, then go outside and have the students experience it first hand!

Each month we have a song, helping us learn how to spell the name of the month. Here is the song for October:

Just for fun we add a "Boo!" to the end:)

This week was all about apples!

After learning the growth cycle of an apple, we painted our own apple trees.

We talked about Johnny Appleseed and his role in the spread of apple trees and the many varieties available.

Of course, we had to make our own coon hats!

To top off the week we had an Apple Day Celebration on Thursday.

The kids had so much fun! We read books and feasted on apples!

We had five different varieties of apples to taste. If the children liked the flavor, they colored the happy face. If they didn't care for the flavor, they colored the frowny face. Most of us loved all the flavors, although the Granny Smith was a little too tart for some:)

We learned a special way to cut an apple, where a star appears inside.

We used apple stamps to paint an apple tree.

Looking forward to more fall fun: next week we'll explore pumpkins!

Safety Week

We had a great start to the week by celebrating Connor's Birthday!

We talked about Playground Safety and tested our skills on a real playground!

This is as good as a group picture can get for preschool - believe me, I tried!

We also talked about Fire Safety.

Here's another gem I've stolen away for portfolio's.

We watched a fun movie, full of fire safety tips, while eating popcorn.

Thursday was all about Traffic Safety.

We played Red light, Green light to "practice" our newly learned skills!

Next week begins the unit: Fantastic Fall! We'll begin with Apples, Apples, and more Apples! Thursday we'll have an Apple Celebration day. The kids can bring 5 of their favorite books, wear their jammies, and bring their sleeping bag/blanket, and pillow. We'll be trying all different kinds of apples while having a reading marathon. I'll be sending home the information for this fun activity - make sure to check your child's folder!

Have a great weekend!