Week of October 18-22

 

 In the fine motor center the children had some fun with some ghosts that fell in the mud!  They got them all clean using tweezers and picking up cotton balls and dipping them in white paint.  Not only did they have fun but they were strengthening their hands which will help their writing skills.

In circle time, I shared a fun poem with the JK kids about 8 giggling ghosts and the fun they had on Halloween Night!

 In the Language Arts Center, the groups worked on matching pictures and consonant-vowel-consonant (cvc) words.  As always the lessons were differentiated to fit each individual's needs.  Some of the children worked on beginning sounds, others ending sounds, and some worked on the short vowel "a" sound.  Each group also shared a story titled, A Cat. This story showed predictable text,where the children were able to look at the pictures to tell what was happening in the story.  The children picked out sight words, and sounded simple cvc words out.  Every used their "reading" fingers (index) to track the words from left to right and follow a story in a guided reading group. These little books were sent home with your child for reading fun at home.

In the math center, the JK kids worked on measuring a variety of objects using unifix cubes.  They were careful to measure at the start of each object and put together unifix cubes to the other side of the object.  They compared a variety of objects like blocks, animals, apples, and pumpkins.  They counted, "how many" cubes it takes to measure each object.

 In the Art center, everyone marble painted a spider web to go with their spiders hanging in the classroom.

In the Independent center, the JK students listened to a book about bats on tape or listened to stories on the Leap Pads. 

During circle time this week, the students also heard a story about the little green worm looking for a red home with no windows, no doors, and a star in the middle.  Ask your JK son or daughter what kind of home the worm found.

In small groups the children worked on a apple counting booklet, putting "apples" in bushel on each page.  Each student worked on their own level and at their own pace for this project, some adding numbers together, some counting numbers 1-10, and others working on creating numbers 11-20.  Also, the JK kids made apple prints with the core of an apple and they stamped different fall sponge shapes in tempera paint.  Their beautiful creations are hanging in the classroom.  Putting on their scientific hats,the JK kids compared a variety of apples.  They explored size, texture, and weight.  They sorted heaviest to lightest.  They compared shades of colors and described how each apple smelled too. 

A Few Apple Descriptive Words
heavy'
light
smooth
sweet
red
yellow and green
hard
squishy in places



Way up high in an apple tree.

Ten little apples smiled at me.

I shook that tree as hard as I could,

One apple fell and mmmm, it was good!

How many are left?


 The children seem to be enjoying the latest song they learned during circle time.  They worked on subtracting different numbers from 10 in this song and are learning mathematical language like, how many are left. 

 The class tasted three apples, Granny Smith, Red Delicious, and Golden Delicious and voted on which apple they liked best.  Golden Delicious was the big winner!

 To round out the study of apples in the Fall, the JK kids made applesauce.  First they peeled apples, sliced them, added cinnamon, sugar, and water to a crock pot and cooked it for three hours.   They helped stir and mush the apples in the crock pot to make it more mushy like the store bought kind. 

      

After the applesauce cooked all Friday morning, most of them tried it.  I asked each snack table if they liked the homemade applesauce...some thumbs up and some thumbs down! Either way, they did a great job cooking and following directions.

The Applesauce Recipe

About 10 apples - wash, peel, core, and cut into small chunks

Add 1/2 c. of sugar

Add cinnamon to taste (I like a lot)

Put mixture in the crock pot. 

Add 1 c. water

Cook for 3-4 hours stirring occasionally

Smash the apples as they soften

Let cool and Enjoy!

We had a special guest in the room on Friday, my son, Niko.  He was thrilled to be a "teacher assistant" and he helped hand out stickers and read a Scooby Doo story to the JK kids.  He also participated in reading buddy time and stamping with the apple cores and fall sponges.  

 

JK enjoyed another great Friday morning with the 7th grade reading buddies.  We are loving having one on one time with our Roycemore friends.

Recess Fun

We took the trikes out on Wednesday.  Everyone did a great job taking turns. 

  We needed a "fixin' station" to take care of the "flat tires" on the trikes... great imagination!

Many of the JK kids enjoyed watching a few of the Upper School students play basketball... I think the big kids liked having fans on the sidelines cheering them on.

Week of October 11 - 15

A Peek at the Week

Happy Fall!  It sure has been a beautiful fall so far.  The JK students have been busy watching the weather each day and have been happy to report 10 sunny school days this month! 

The JK kids started the week by taking a walk around the outside of the building on a leaf hunt!  Everyone collected lots of leaves from the courtyard where they are now proudly on display and have been a focus point of discussion.

The JK kids also participated in the Lower School kindness week and added a leaf to the "Fall Into Kindness" Tree.  If you want to see your child's leaf, it is on the bulletin board between the EDP room and the 2nd grade classroom.

We read several stories about the season of Autumn and learned that animals use the fallen leaves to make their homes more cozy and warm for the winter.  The children created puppets during theme study time recreating and retelling the story of the old lady who swallowed some leaves.  Everyone worked diligently on their Fall Words books that they colored and inspired lots of talk about Fall.  All children were able to write in their journals too using words and ideas about Fall.  During circle time, we read a book called, "The Leaves are Falling."  The book is written like the lyrics of the song, "The Ants Go Marching."  We all enjoyed singing the words in the book and then played a word matching game with leaves falling.    Each leaf had a Fall word written on it and two leaves had the same Fall word.  The children and I sang the song and threw the leaves in the air.  The children caught the leaves and found the person with the same word.  It was great fun and we hope to play again next week!

We will meet with the third grade class every other Thursday for reading buddies.  Here are some pictures for our first day with our new pals!

For the art center this week everyone created a spider, working on following the lines on the paper to cut out circles for the body and long rectangles for the legs.  They made sure to count out eight legs for their spiders (although some decided that spiders need less than eight legs).  Everyone was introduced to the listening center this week, where they listened to songs and poems on CD and listened to books with our Leap Pads.  In the math center, the children played Slap It.  This game targeted skills such as recognizing and counting numbers to 12 and relating numbers to sets of objects.  To differentiate the lesson, some children worked on just counting objects and others worked on adding objects together.  All had fun taking the hand wands and slapping the number cards!  In the fine motor center, the children rolled out long playdoh snakes and made letters using the Handwriting Without Tears language and formation.  Some spelled out their names and other words while others worked on letter identification and letter sounds.  In the language arts center, the students worked on letter identification, letter sounds, and reading words using picture/word cards.  After identifying a letter and practicing the sound, they matched the sound with a picture that began with that sound and completed the picture/word card with the beginning sound.  This was a good chance to see how each letter produces a sound and then connect that letter to a word.

 
The Fall backpacks have been going home with the children.  Please try to complete the activities inside the bag with your child.  If you don't, no worries.  Please return the bag the next day so the other children can have their turn.  The children will get a chance to share what they did with the class and then pass the bag onto the next child.

In the mornings, I have been working with small groups on a variety of things.  Last week we focused on letters and number identification.  This week we worked on predictable books and sight word recognition.  If I did not work with your child on these things yet I will!  My goal is to keep each child challenged and engaged through the whole day.

Trick or Treat for Unicef

In your child's mailbox was a flyer and box for participation in Trick or Treating for Unicef. 

This week we celebrated three birthdays!!!  We had great fun singing to the boys and loved their yummy treats.  Eli's mom stayed and read a story to us too.  Thanks so much to the parents for allowing us to celebrate as a class.

Happy Birthday Hikaru! Happy Birthday Eli! Happy Birthday Hunter!

  

  

Scholastic book orders are due on Friday, October 29.  You can go online to order or turn your order in to me with a check to Scholastic Books.

Volunteers

We have enough volunters for the Didier Farm Field Trip, Thank you!

We are in need of volunteers for The Fall Workshop on Friday morning before the school carnival.  We will need help changing into costumes after lunch.  We will need many volunteers to take the children around to the carnival.

More Upcoming Events

Mrs. Orzoff sent out an email and letter about Parent Teacher conferences that are approaching soon.  Please be sure to get your form in.

Lower School Pumpkin carving night is next Friday!  We hope to see you there.

A Peek Into Next Week

Next week, we will be focusing on the life cycle of the apple.  The children will be able to explore where an apple comes from, what's inside an apple, and how different apples taste!  Learning centers will be math, language arts, art, fine motor, and listening.  I will continue working with children in the morning on a variety of skills.  If you don't see me right away look up on the stage.  This is the best place for me to work with the kids.