Happy Thanksgiving!

Group Meeting:  The children shared their plans for Thanksgiving.  Some of us are traveling and some are staying home.  Many children mentioned being excited about seeing cousins or friends that they haven't seen in awhile. 

Story:  We watched a filmstrip of Clifford's Thanksgiving.  Yes, you read right, a filmstrip.  When I first started teaching many years ago, filmstrips were very popular.   I've kept them over the years and am always amazed at how much the children enjoy them.  In today's story, Emily Elizabeth is going to visit her grandparents for Thanksgiving.  Clifford, her big red dog, is staying with the neighbors.  Clifford decides to go to the city to visit his mother.  Ask your child to tell you what he sees when he gets to the city. 

Small Group:  We created the turkey that your child brought home today.  This was a good exercise in following directions. 

Large Group:  We played the game "The Farmer and the Turkey".  We learned this game last week and enjoyed it again today.

Art:  This week, we put balloons in the paint at the easel and used them to create wonderful pictures.  

Snacks:  The morning class had crackers, cheese and juice brought by Evie.  The afternoon class had carrots, grapes, and juice brought by Ryan.  Thank you!

I'm sorry for the late post today.  I had to be absent this afternoon. My mother is experiencing some medical issues and I wanted to be with her.  I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Turkey Time

Group Meeting:  To follow up on our field trip, we made a list of things that we learned at the food pantry.  I think it may be hard for children to comprehend that some families don't have food or money to buy food, however, if we start teaching them at an early age to give to others, it will continue when they are older.

Story:  Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving is the story of a class of children on a field trip.  While traveling down the road, they hear a noise.  When they stop to investigate, they discover a small turkey farm.  They have fun with the turkeys until they find out what the farmer plans to do with them on Thanksgiving.  They come up with a plan to save the turkeys.  Ask your child to tell you the plan!

Small Group:  We put paper turkeys in order according to the number on their feathers.  They were numbered 0-13. 

Large Group:  We played Marching Around the Alphabet.  I placed letters on the floor in the shape of a circle.  The CD song tells the children to march around the circle until they hear the whistle.  When the whistle blows, the children are to pick up a letter and tell the teacher what it is.

Snacks:  The morning class had cheese sticks and juice brought by Luca.  The afternoon class had cheese crackers and juice brought by Chloe D.  Thank you!

Field Trip

We learned a lot at our field trip today.   I will put together some of the information that we learned today along with a few notes that Barb Emerson shared with me following our visit.  Several parents commented to me that this is something that we sometimes forget about, and I'm afraid that I'm guilty of that as well.  I am thinking about having a collection once a month of particular items to take to the Food Pantry.  I'll let you know more about that as well.

Snacks:  The morning class had Teddy Grahams and juice brought by Jordyn.  The afternoon class had Cheese Ritz Bits and juice brought by Mason.  Thank you!

Field Trip Tomorrow

Group Meeting:  We are preparing for the field trip to the food pantry.  We talked about how thankful we are for a warm house, good food, and clothes to wear.  However, I told them that not everyone has those things.  We want to help the people that do not have food or have enough money to buy food.  Tomorrow, we will take food to the food pantry to help those who do not have enough.

Story:  We read a Thanksgiving story called I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie.  This is a book that uses the same story line as There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.  However, the things that she eats are Thanksgiving items.  She eats so much that she grows rather large.  Ask your child to tell you what happens to her at the end.

Small Group:  I wanted to see how many children would be able to retell the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.   I gave the children picture cards of the story and asked them to put them into the correct order.  We talked about how a story has a beginning and end.  The parts in the middle have to be in the correct order, or the story doesn't make sense.

Large Group:  The morning class played the game "The Farmer and the Turkey".  However, in the afternoon, we had birthdays to celebrate, so we didn't have enough time.  We will plan to play it next week.

Snacks:  Today was Birthday Day.  We made turkey sandwiches, but they were not what you'd think.  We took a piece of bread and used a turkey cookie cutter to make a turkey shape.  We spread butter on the turkey, sprinkled it with cinnamon sugar, and added Froot Loops to make a colorful tail.  We also had Birthday Brownies.  The morning class did not have any children celebrating in November.  In the afternoon class, we celebrated Allison and Mason's birthdays. 

I am Thankful

Group Meeting:  We discussed what it means to be thankful.  I have a book that shows children expressing thankfulness for family, friends, home, etc.  We read the book and named things for which we are thankful.  I think this would be a great discussion to have at home.  Tell your child what you will be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
 
Story:  Today, we had a Thanksgiving story.  Who Will Carve the Thanksgiving Turkey?  is the story of a boy who is wondering who could help his mother carve the turkey.  He thinks of some animals that could help such as a shark, elephant, seal, but there are always reasons that these animals may not be just right.  Ask you child to tell you who carves the turkey at the end of the story.
 
Small Group:  After our discussion at Group Meeting, I gave each of the children a hand shaped cutout.  I asked them to draw a picture of something for which they were thankful.  We looked at each other's pictures and added words.  Then, we took our hand shapes out into the hallway where I have a large turkey on the bulletin board.  We used the hand shapes in the place of feathers for the turkey's tail and wings.
 
Large Group:  We went to the Outdoor Classroom one more time.  I think the rain forecast will put the end to our chance to get outdoors for a few days. 
 
Snacks:  The morning class had carrots, dip, and juice brought by Reese.  The afternoon class had cheese sticks and juice brought by Evelyn.  Thank you!

Thanksgiving Time

Group Meeting:  We will be talking about the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday for the next week.  We started today by making a list of everything that we know about Thanksgiving.  I asked the children if they knew where they would be spending Thanksgiving.  A few said "at home" or "at grandmas".  I told them to ask their parents tonight and report to the group tomorrow.

Story:  To give us some information about the holiday, we read Thanksgiving Day.  In this book, a class of preschoolers is putting on a play about Thanksgiving.  Some are dressed up as Pilgrims and others as Wampanoags.  They tell about the Mayflower, starting new homes in America, and helping each other.  It ends with a turkey dinner for all.

Small Group:  We are making a big sign for our grocery store.  The children cut out pictures of food items from the newspaper ads and glued them onto a large piece of paper.  I helped them label the food.  I noticed that some children have cut with a scissors before and some have not.   This is something that you can work on at home.  I used to give my kids the coupon section from the Sunday paper and have them cut coupons for me.  Even if I didn't use them, they felt that they were helping me. 

Large Group:  We went to the Outdoor Classroom.  We added hoops, balls and jump ropes. 

Art:  We are using water colors at the easel and feathers were added to our collage items.

Snacks:  The morning class had oranges and juice brought by Mason.  The afternoon class had banana bread and milk brought by Lana.  Thank you!

Tanglefoot Lane is open. Hooray! Please use this entrance now and make the curve to the north.  See the Parent Handbook if you have any questions.  Thanks for your patience!

The Grocery Store is Open

Group Meeting:  We had a lot of activity at the grocery store today.  One child commented that "there are sure a lot of people here".   We went over the rules of the store and talked about taking turns being the clerk and bagger.  We will have the grocery store around for a while, so we told the children not to worry about getting a turn.

Story:  The children enjoyed Goldilocks and the Three Bear so much yesterday, that we decided to revisit it today.  This time, I used flannel board pieces to retell the story.  The children may use these pieces in the media center on Monday. 

Large Group:  The children acted out the story of Goldilocks.  I have paper masks of the characters.  We made a few primitive props.  It was great.  The children knew their lines without any prompting.  Ask your child to tell you which character he or she portrayed.  Her's a few pictures to give you an idea of what we did.

Small Group:  Because of the new grocery store and interest in the art center today, we did not have a small group activity. 

Snacks:  The morning class had graham crackers and juice brought by Maddie.  The afternoon class had applesauce and milk brought by Leah Z.  Thank you!

Grocery Store Grand Opening Tomorrow!

Group Meeting:  Items for the grocery store are starting to come in.  We will begin play tomorrow.  During our group meeting, I asked the children to help me make rules for the grocery store.  I told them to think about what they do when they are with their parents at the store.  Some of the rules that they thought of were walk with the cart, wait a turn in line, children must stay with their parents, quiet voices, and no pets.  We will make a list of these rules and post them in our store.

Story:  We read Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  I'm sure that most of you are familiar with this story.  There are a lot of good things in this story to begin discussions.  We talked about opposites, hot/cold, hard/soft, and high/low.  Someone mentioned that Goldilocks did not follow her mothers instructions about staying out of the forest.  Someone else said that she shouldn't have walked into a strangers house. Lots to talk about! We will visit this story again tomorrow.

Small Group:  We practiced making the letter C with our wet, dry, try boards. 

Large Group:  We played a game called "Walk Around the Shapes".  I placed shapes (circles, triangles, squares, and rectangles) on the floor.  The children walked around the shapes as the music played.  When the music stopped, they had to stop by a shape.  There was always one shape to many.  If you had a shape that was just like the remaining shape, you had to do a movement.  Ask your child to tell you what that was!

Snacks:  The morning class had blueberry muffins and milk brought by Lucy.  The afternoon class had grapes, cheese, and milk brought by Marlie.  Thank you!

Growing and Changing

Group Meeting:  I used a non-fiction book to show how trees change throughout the seasons.  We talked about how trees grow and change.  We also talked about how we grow and change.  I asked the children if they had ever seen pictures of their parents as children.  Did the parents grow and change?

Story:  We read A Tree for Pablo.  It is Pablo's birthday.  Every year, Pablo spends the night after his birthday with his Grandfather.  Grandfather planted a tree for Pablo when he was a baby.  Grandfather decorates the tree for Pablo's birthday.  Pablo and Grandfather talk about the different ways the tree has been decorated each year.  The pictures show Pablo growing and the tree growing as well.

Small Groups:  We used Geoboards.  Geoboards are plastic squares that have little pegs on them.  The children stretch rubber bands over the pegs to make lines, shapes, letters and numbers. 

Large Group:  We sang and tapped big lines to the song Tap, Tap, Tap from Handwriting Without Tears. 

Snacks:  The morning class and the afternoon class had the same snacks today.  Logan and Chloe S. brought cheese sticks and juice.  Thank you!
 
The children are bringing home a note about the Grocery Store that we are adding to the Housekeeping Area. 

Group Meeting:  We had a lot to talk about as we started our day.  We are going to create a grocery store in the Housekeeping Area.  I wanted the children to think of all of the things that we will need to get the store up and running.  We made a list and tomorrow I will send home a note asking for the things that we need.  I completed the name book/directory that we started on Thursday.  I told the children that they could use it to practice printing the names of their classmates or if they wanted write a letter to a friend.   I also told the children that they would be meeting a new friend today, Magic C Bunny (see below).

Story:  The story I read today was If Big Can...Little Can.  During small group time, we talked about trees growing, so I used this book to talk about how they are growing and changing as well.  In the story, Little Koala is trying to keep up with Little Bear.  We compared this to big siblings and little siblings.  There are some things that Little Bear can do that Little Koala can't do yet.  However, there are also things that Little Koala can do that Little Bear has outgrown.  At the end, the find that friends need to find things that both can do together.

Small Group:  I brought in some tree cookies (slices of tree trunk) so that we could look at the rings.  I explained to the children that every year, the tree grows and adds a ring to the outside.  If we want to know how old the tree is, we have to count the rings.  The tree cookies had many, many little rings.  Instead of trying to count all of them, we drew our own tree sections and counted the rings that we drew.

Large Group:  We are learning about the letter C.  The Handwriting Without Tears program has a special bunny to help the children remember how to make the letter C.  Magic C bunny lives in a magician's hat.  He reminds us to make the letter C with the curve going to the left, under the smiley face.  It may seem like the letter C is not difficult to make, but for a lot of children, making curves and making them go the right way is hard.  Magic C bunny helps!

Art:  We added new painting sponges to the easel and colored sticks and tape to the table.

Snacks:  The morning class had mandarin oranges and milk brought by Max.  The afternoon class had bananas and juice brought by Lucy.  Thank you!

Who takes care of trees?

Group Meeting:  We made two lists today.  The first list was of people who care for us.  The second list was people who care for trees.  We compared lists.  Our story helped us add to the second list.

Story:  Growing Trees is a non-fiction book about how trees grow, and the people who take care of them.  We learned some big words.  A forester is a person who cares for trees in the forest.  A nursery worker cares for trees on a tree farm or tree store.  An arborist is a person who cares for trees if they become sick or injured. 

Small Group:  The children have become interested in making projects or letters for their friends.  We decided to make a book with names and pictures of our classmates so that we can print each others names on things that we are making.  Today, the children wrote their names and had a picture taken to put into the book.  I will print the pictures and laminate the pages tomorrow.

Large Group:  We went outside to the Outdoor Classroom.  A little cold, but not too bad!

Snacks:  The morning class had graham crackers and juice brought by Addisyn.  The afternoon class had cheese crackers and juice brought by Jameson.  Jameson's favorite snack is pickles.  He brought a jar along to see if anyone else liked pickles.  A few children did.  I saw some sour looking faces! Thank you!

Group Meeting:  We have learned about foods that grow on trees.  Now we will shift our focus to how people grow and take care of trees. 

Story:  Yesterday, our story was about how animals plant trees.  Today, our story was about a person who liked to plant apple seeds.  His name was Johnny Appleseed.  We learned about how Johnny liked apples and growing apple trees.  He traveled west with the wagon trains and planted apple trees along the way.  When we finished the story, we discussed how easy it is for us to get apples and how hard it must have been for people long ago to have to wait for apples to grow.

Small Group:  We are learning how to make the letter U.  We practiced today using our wet, dry, try boards.

Large Group:  We did a variety of gross motor skills today.  I have square mats that have pictures of children on them performing a skill.  We took turns looking at the different mats and performing the action that was on the mat such as skipping, jumping, crab walking, balancing, etc.

Snacks:  The morning class had animal crackers and milk brought by Addison.  The afternoon class had apples and milk brought by Noah.  Thank you!

November is here

Group Meeting:  We looked at the November calendar today to note the important dates for this month.  There are no birthdays in the morning class, but two children in the afternoon have November birthdays.  We talked about the field trip that will take place on November 21st.  We also noted that we will be absent from school for two days to celebrate Thanksgiving. 

Story:  We read Who Will Plant a Tree?  During our tree study, we have talked about planting trees from seeds.  In this story, we found out that animals plant trees too, but it's usually by accident.  Squirrels dig holes and hide nuts in the ground.  If they forget where the nuts are, they grow into  trees.  Sometimes an animal gets seeds stuck to their fur.  When the seeds fall off, a tree is planted.  Sometimes animals eat seeds and poop them out.  A tree is planted.  Some children thought this was gross, others thought it was hilarious.  In the end, we decided that animals are very important to the tree population.

Small  Group:  We sorted play food into groups according to beginning sounds.  For example, one group was banana, bread, broccoli and beans.  Another was pineapple, peas, and pretzel.

Large Group:  Since we couldn't go outside today, we got out the parachute.  We put silk fall leaves in the center and tossed them up.  Then we took turns running under the parachute.  Fun!

Snacks:  The morning class had Go-gurt and juice brought by Dawson.  The afternoon class snack was brought by Wyatt.  Thank you!

What do we eat that grows on a tree?

Group Meeting:  During the past few school days, we have made two lists.  One list is of the things that grow on trees that animals like to eat.  The other list is of things that grow on a tree that people like to eat.  Today, we compared the list to see what things we both liked to eat. 

Story:  We reread Henny Penny.  This time, I left out several words to see if the children could fill in the missing words.  I stopped when we got to Foxy Loxy and asked the children what they would tell Henny Penny if they could.  Many of them yelled, "stop, don't go with Foxy Loxy".  At the end of the story, one little girl said, "this story has a sad ending".  I agree.

Small Group:  I brought several fruits from the grocery store that we had listed on our "Grows on Trees" list.  We cut them open to find the seeds and tasted a few.  However, we could not get the coconut open.  I asked the children to think of a way that we could open it.  Some suggested a hammer.  Some thought we should drop it from the roof.  I'll bring a hammer tomorrow and we'll see what happens.

Large Group:  We tried to go outdoors this morning, but it was raining.  We stayed inside and played "Animal Action".  However, we did get outside this afternoon.  I feel like our days of outdoor play are slipping away!

Art:  We have added Nuudles at the art table and sponge paints to the easel.

Snacks:  The morning class had animals crackers and juice brought by Grace.   The afternoon class had pretzels and juice brought by Leigha.  Thank you!