Thursday, October 30th

Happy Halloween! We started our day by reading The Berenstain Bears and the Prize Pumpkin. Then we learned that pumpkins grow on vines. We pretended to be pumpkins seeds and acted out being planted and growing. Our craft was to make Petey Pumpkin.

We had special pumpkin sugar cookies for our snack and then put on our Halloween costumes. We did the fingerplay My pumpkin. We played drop the pennies into the jack-o-lantern. I read them Trick or Treat in Outer Space. Our last game was called squash the pumpkin. I put out six pillows and hid a paper pumpkin under one of them. Who ever sat on the pillow with the pumpkin under it got to hide the pumpkin next. I think this was their favorite game so far this year!

Tuesday, October 28th

Today we learned all about pumpkins; what shape they are, their color, how each pumpkin a different. We even made our own jack-o-lantern with the paper that we painted orange. Everyone got to cut their pumpkin out. Some needed a little extra help after cutting big chunks out of their pumpkins or cutting their paper in half. Everyone had fun, though.

We read Apples and Pumpkins. We sang “One Little, Two Little Pumpkins,” to practice our counting. We also worked on the concept of in and on. Using a paper pumpkin, we practiced putting our pumpkins in the circle or on our heads.

Our craft was to make a scruffy scarecrow. I can’t tell you how much the children loved these. They wanted to play with them for the rest of class.

Thursday, October 23rd

To review Recycling I read The Berenstain Bears Don’t Pollute. Then we learned about the letter G. Gavin was excited that we were doing his letter.

Today was orange and black day! We reviewed what the colors looked like and then mixed yellow and red paint to make orange. We will use their orange papers for a future craft. The children got to use their hands, which they loved. We sang Ten Little Halloween Witches and we used streamers to do a ribbon dance while singing.

Alycia taught the Orange and Black Wreath craft while I was gone and read The Hallo-wiener. The children finished class with puzzles.

Tuesday, October 21st

We reviewed the letters A-E and learned the sound and how to write F.

Today we learned all about Recycling and how to take care of our earth. They listened to a story that I used flannel board pictures to illustrate. Then they made a recycle sculpture as their craft. We also talked about ways that kids can help care for the earth.

We sang Rig-A-Jig-Jig and then I read the story The Dead Tree. It told all the animals that thrived when a tree died in the forest and how a new tree grew in its place. We finished our class by using water color paints to paint our own trees. (I love how Tyler is painting with his mouth.)

Thursday, October 16th

We learned how to count to five and how to write a five. Then we practiced our writing.

Today was circle day. Didn’t Renée and Sydney pick out the perfect outfits! We looked at different objects that were circles and then made a circle by holding hands. We were able to make our circle larger and smaller by spreading out or getting closer.

We made A Rainbow of Circles Hat. That is two hats in one week. It only took gluing and everyone is good at that now.

I wrote numbers one through six on paper plates. When I called out a number the children ran to that paper plate and put there foot on it. They are getting better at recognizing their numbers.

We looked at the picture book So Many Circles, So Many Squares. It was all photographs where we could find circles. We closed by drawing circles in a lot of colors on our paper.

Things you can review with your child: letters A-E, numbers 1-5, and the circle. A great source for worksheets is learningpage.com. Just remember to use D'Nealian because that is what the Keller ISD uses.

Tuesday, October 14th

We learned the E sound and how to write it. E is for elephant so we walked around swinging our trunks (arms).

Today was Fire Prevention day. We talked about good fires and bad fires (fires that are out of control). We make Fire Engine Hats. The children love making hats! We used the flannel board to discuss the tools that fire fighters use. Then we did the finger play Five Brave Firefighters.

Everyone loved practicing Stop! Drop! And Roll! We practiced several times and they loved it. We closed we an activity page where they had to match the community helpers that they have already learned about.

Thursday, October 9th

We practiced counting to four and then writing it. Then we did The Number Cheer. We had an outside time because everyone was a little rowdy and after about 20 minutes outside, they calmed down, a little.

Our Community Helper of the day was the librarian. We talked about all the things a librarian does and how they help us. Then we pretended to be at story time at the library and I read What I Want to Be When I Grow Up by Carol Burnett. Our craft was to make book marks.

We sorted books by topics and everyone took a turn picking two books that matched. We made our own books and colored all the pictures. Then we had a book race. There was a pile of books on one side of the room and when I said, “Go!” they had to take the books one at a time and place them in a pile on the other side of the room. While each child took their turn, the others cheered, “Go Sydney!” (Or whoever was going). They cheered over and over again until the child going was done. It was really cute because I didn’t organize the cheering. Everyone wanted several turns playing the book race game. I am sure they were worn out by the time the mom’s came.

Tuesday, October 7th

We reviewed the letter D and practiced writing it.

We learned about out community helper, the veterinarian. We talked about what vets do and how they help our pets. We pretended to be veterinarians and each kid got to chose which stuffed animal they got to do a check up on.

Our craft was “At The Veterinary Hospital.” I can already tell a difference in the kids and their willingness to color and create. The boys, especially, will take more time and do a nice job.

I used a tape recorder and recorded the kids making different animal sounds and then played the sounds back to them. They loved it! Then we pretended to be animals on the way to the vet. They had to act out being different animals with different problems. I think they just really liked to crawl and make animal noises.

We finished with a story about a helpful kitten and outside play time.

Thursday, October 2nd

We are starting the Community Helpers unit. The kids will learn
· Community helpers are people who work in the community.
· There are many kinds of community helpers.
· Each type of community helper is important to the community.
· Some community helpers wear special clothing or uniforms at their jobs.
· People in a community depend on each other for the things that they need.
· Some community helpers must have special training or education to do their work.
· Most community helper jobs may be done by either men or women.

Today the letter D was introduced and I went over the sound. Then we counted Dominoes for D. stacking them up, and knocking them down.

Then we started our discussion on community helpers. We discussed who you call when you have something broken in your house. When asked who you call if you telephone was broken, they informed me that you couldn’t call anyone because the phone was broken. Smart kids! We talked about what our dad’s do for work and what we want to be when we grow up. Tyler wants to be Buzz Lightyear, but after a little more thought decided that he wanted to build jets. Renée wants to be a mermaid and then Sydney said she wanted to be a mermaid too. Cameron wants to be a cowboy. Gavin wants to be a dad and work on robots. . We made “My Dino Phone” and they had a great time playing with it.

We pretended to be birds on a wire and had to walk sideways across a measuring tape. Then we sang, “Who do you think I am?” We finished with a story and outside time.