Thursday, November 13th

Since we are talking about harvest, we learned about animals that harvest. We talked about where they store their food and what they eat.
We also practiced counting cars. We practiced writing the number seven and everyone did a great job. Our craft was to make a basket of goodies. The children had to cut a leaf in half to make their corn stalk.
I traced each of their hands and then they made a turkey out of it. We sang “The Turkey Trot” which is very silly with fun movements. They wanted to sing it twice. The day ended with some outside time.

Tuesday, November 11th

Today we learned about the letter I and it’s sound. We also reviewed all the letters we have learned so far (A-H). The kids also completed a writing worksheet on the letter I.

We started talking about Thanksgiving. I asked the kids what they do on Thanksgiving and these are their replies:
Tyler - “Eat squash.”
Gavin – “Eat chicken that has a stick on the bottom of it.”
Renée – “I don’t squish pumpkins.”
Sydney – “Passes out cards and go to other peoples houses to give them princess cards.”
Cameron – “Puts ears and mouth on a pumpkin.”

I think some of them are getting the holidays confused. As I was writing their responses, I realized that most of them don’t remember Thanksgiving from last year. We will keep working on it. I did tell them about the Pilgrims, Indians, all the food that they grew, and the feast that they had to celebrate.

We sang “Oats, Peas, Beans” and learned to clap and pat our legs to the rhythm. They then added feathers to their turkey on the worksheet “Turkey Feathers.”

They also made Fluffy Turkeys with napkins and a wooden stick. They turned out really cute.

After snack we sang “Over the River” and used baby food jars filled with buttons as shakers. They liked them so much we sang the song twice.

We then built log cabins out the popsicle sticks. They got to cut for the craft and everyone’s cutting skills have improved.

We finished the day by playing chair ball, which involved rolling a ball through the legs of a chair and yelling, “Chair Ball” when someone got it through.

Thursday, November 6th

We learned about the number 6. We also reviewed the other numbers that we learned so far. We also practiced writing the number 6.

Today was Daniel Boone day. He birthday is on November 2nd, so we learned a little about him. We sang “Comin’ Round the Mountain” with actions. We also went on a pretend bear hunt since Daniel Boone was a hunter.

We made a Hooty Owl for our craft. Then we learned a version of square dancing since this is what pioneers did for fun. We mostly skipped around with a partner. We also make coonskin caps, just like Daniel Boone’s.

Tuesday, November 4th

Today in preschool we learned how to make bread. I showed them wheat grains and then they watched as the wheat grinder ground them into flour. Next we took turns putting ingredients into the bread maker.

We did a science experiment. We mixed yeast, sugar, and water in a ketchup bottle and put a balloon on top. The yeast gas filled the balloon with air.

We learned how to write and say the H sound. Everyone practiced writing it.

I used the flannel board to tell the story of the Little Red Hen. Then the children made their own Little Red Hen books.

We had homemade bread with butter and jam for our snack!

We pretended to be yeast while staying the rhyme:
Wake up, little yeast
So tiny and small,
Rise up! Rise up!
And stand up tall!
Reach up high
And stretch to the sky!

We sang “Down at the Bakery.” When the bread dough was ready, we all helped roll it out. We did some puzzles at Tyler’s request and then played outside.

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.