Wow! What a week:)
The JK kids did a great on the field trip. We stayed together and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Thank you to all of our chaperones! I was so pleased to have you there with us and help keep us safe. Jaimie's father made a DVD to commemorate our special day. They were put in your mailboxes on Friday.
Here are the photos that I took at the pumpkin patch!
The children have really been enjoying receiving stickers when they are showing safe bodies, quiet lips, and respectful choices when we gather on the rug. They are able to choose to put their sticker on the back of their hand, on their shirt, or on their sit upon. If you see more stickers on one child's sit upon versus your own child, do not be discouraged. All of the children are receiving stickers at one point or another. These help reinforce and quiet them down while we get ready for a whole group activity. More than not they will correct their behavior while stickers are being passed out! Remember that each child is an individual and we don't want to compare them to one another.
We focused our circle time instruction on Halloween books this week. We read a story about a mouse that was afraid to trick or treat but with his best friends help he found the fun in the special night. The JK kids loved this story but were more excited to share with everyone what they were dressing up as for Halloween!
Our beloved Old Lady that swallows just about everything returned to the classroom this week too. This time in the adventure, There Was An Old Lady that Swallowed a Bat! These classic tales about the old lady are terrific to help develop predictions, understanding predictable and repetitive texts, and making rhymes as we read.
We also read a story about an old lady that wasn't afraid of anything. The JK students loved chiming in and helping me read this "scary" story of a scarecrow that was out to scare people but he just couldn't scare the little old lady! She put him back together and made good use of him in her garden scaring the crows away.
We read a story about a witch on a magical broom and all the helpers she had called, Room on a Broom. The children enjoyed the book and we worked on rhyming words after we finished the story.
In our reading center the children worked on a variety of skills while reading a story about what animals like to do. Many worked on turning the pages from left to right. They were introduced to the sight words, like and to. They worked on the predictable and repetitive text. They were sounding out the beginning of words and making contextual guesses to what the animals liked to do. Everyone was asked to use their magic reading finger (index finger) to track the words as we read aloud. These little mini-books help everyone to work and learn at their own pace.
In our art center this week, the children were asked to cut out a bat that was created when they had their hands and fingers traced. Working on these scissors skills with the help of a teacher was a great way to learn, tie into our circle time book, There Was An Old Lady that Swallowed a Fly, and have fun while focusing on the exciting Halloween holiday.
The children were able to write in their journals this week about the fun trip to Didier Farms. They were asked to share their favorite parts of the trip. Some of their favorite activities were written down on little pumpkins and the children were able to label their drawings after they drew a picture.
Friday's carnival day was a big hit! Thank you to all that volunteered your time and all the goodies! We had five centers for the children to play games and then trick or treat with the adults at those centers. They played a candy corn sorting game, spun a wheel for Jack-O-Lantern pieces, played number bingo on pumpkin boards, decorated yummy sugar cookies, and colored an Itsy Bitsy Spider haunted house! They were able to choose which center(s) they went to. Some stayed at one center, some repeated the same one or two centers, and some went to all five centers several times!
I think all of the morning JK kids loved staying for a really early lunch and the carnival was great fun!
I am having some technical difficulties with loading a second movie here. Here are a few pictures. I will keep working on uploading them all!
Next week is a short week due the faculty going to the ISACS conference downtown on Thursday and Friday. We only have three days of classes, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. EDP will NOT be available on Thursday and Friday.
The following week is Parent - Teacher conferences. If you did not send your form in please see me about available times for the conferences. There is no school on Friday.
Grandparents day is around the corner! We will be busy getting ready for their visit and for the Thanksgiving Holiday.
Next weeks centers will focus on writing "magic C" letters in shaving cream, drawing a self portrait, and reading and math assessments with Ms. Wahl in a one on one setting or a group of two.
Please remember to take home your child's sleepy stuff on Fridays if they are a full day kid! Their sleepy things should come back on Monday clean and put back in their cubbies located by the bathrooms.
FYI: so all the families are aware, we will not be playing superhero games at Roycemore for the JK kids anymore. Too many kids are getting their feelings and bodies hurt. The children have been asked to come up with other games that do not involve shooting, swords, punching the air (or each other), etc. We are trying to keep everyone safe in the JK!
Thank you for your support on this topic.
I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the weekend! It sure has been beautiful.
JK had a quick but fun week. The students put their scientist hats back on and investigated a pumpkin. They heard a story called The Greatest Pumpkin and learned about how to care for a pumpkin from seed to full grown (and this pumpkin was enormous from all of the TLC it got!) They helped fill out a Venn Diagram together comparing and contrasting the life of an apple vs. the life of a pumpkin. The class made predictions whether a heavy pumpkin would sink or float. When we put the pumpkin in the tub of water, everyone was amazed at the pumpkins buoyancy. 
The kids investigated by pushing on the pumpkin to feel how it floats on water. We opened the pumpkin up to discover that the pumpkin is hollow with seeds and some guts. The kids helped me dig out the guts and seeds. Everyone got some seeds to count to practice their one to one correspondence. Once they are dry we will count out the total number of seeds inside that pumpkin. 
