Halloween is coming!

After learning about pumpkins last week, we transitioned right into Halloween with Jack-o-lanterns and the letter "J" this week! 

 All the children really enjoyed this week's variation to our letter of the week song:  jumping each time we sang the sound of the letter "J"!  Using multiple senses while learning is very effective in helping to remember what we've learned.

One of the kids' favorite stories from this week was "The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything" by Linda Williams.  The children LOVED interacting with this story with each item that the little old lady comes across on her walk in the woods ending with a Jack-o-lantern saying "Boo! Boo!".

We made our own Jack-o-lanterns out of play-doh using triangles, rectangles, ovals, and circles.  This was a great activity to strengthen the children's ability to name shapes and to use their creativity in creating an individual Jack-o-lantern.  It was delightful to see just how different each jack-o-lantern was and the variations each child created!

 After creating a play-doh jack-o-lantern, we used cookie cutters to make more Halloween shapes and creatures!  Playing together with the children creates a great environment for the children to share with each other and the teachers and to build friendships and rapport with one another!

This week we also played some number games with candy corns and pumpkins.  Practicing one-to-once correspondence, number recognition, and counting skills were our focus with these games!

 

 Last week we painted our own pumpkins and then turned those pumpkins into Jack-o-lanterns this week!  It was quite fascinating to explore the many different faces of Jack-o-lanterns and how much of a part of Halloween they are! The kids' Jack-o-lanterns are adorable!

We brought our sensory table in for Halloween time this week!  It was really fun to see the preschoolers experiment with the various funnel sizes and the corn and the other Halloween items in the mix!  This was a very popular center this week!  Next week we'll add more items for the kids to continue exploring and discovering!

Susie Safari stopped in for a Halloween visit this week!  She delighted the kids with learning about spiders and her puppet of the old woman who swallowed a fly and so many other things!

Lastly, I wanted to share how proud I am of my Pre-K students!  Each day we recite the "Pledge of Allegiance" in our Pre-K classes and after working on this over the last couple of months, these kids have it down!  They are doing a wonderful job and stand and recite those powerful words so respectfully!  I love seeing these children learn and grow and become!

Pumpkin week!

This week was truly magical as we studied all about pumpkins!

 The kids loved getting to see inside the pumpkins and thoroughly enjoyed smelling, holding, and feeling the pumpkins and their seeds!

 

 

      Hands-on learning is so wonderful as it uses multiple senses and really solidifies and personalizes what we've been learning as a class!  It was fun to hear what some of them said the pumpkins smelled like: apricots and peaches were some of the different responses!  It was fun for the kids to be able to take pumpkin seeds home as well as a mini pumpkin!

One of our wonderful assistant teachers, Ms. Ann, had a fun passing game for the kids to play during our music time!  The kids always love this game, but thought it was extra fun playing with a real pumpkin!

Miss Emily had the kids be part of a little band as she read them a music story and led them in a little parade!

We learned about the color orange this week--very appropriate for pumpkin week!

 
The Pre-K classes mixed red and yellow to make orange!  Some wanted their pumpkins red-orange and others wanted yellow-orange.  They liked seeing that we could make different shades of orange on our pumpkin projects!

 Next week we'll be turning those cute painted pumpkins into Jack-o-lanterns!  

We also learned the letter "P".  The Pre-K classes used pumpkin seeds to make the letter "P" on  their orange pumpkin!  

And then we got to use more pumpkin seeds to count with!  We're continually working on number recognition and one-to-one correspondence with counting.

It just takes a little effort at home to review numbers and letters we've been learning in class, but it really helps the children remember them!  As you're driving, reading a book together, cooking with kids, or even shopping--point out numbers and letters to your children!   It takes kids multiple times of being exposed to the same number or letter before they really learn it.

We hope you are enjoying Fall Break with your darling kids!  They are learning so much and we're  having the time of our lives in the process!

"It's autumntime, it's autumntime, the leaves are falling down!"

This week we learned about leaves!  After learning about fall last week it was fun to study leaves this week!  We learned about what happens to those lush green summer leaves when they are done working for the tree and turn to beautiful fall colors!  As part of our learning, we examined real leaves and saw how leaves are different shapes and sizes and turn different colors in the fall.

We looked at the book "Fall Walk" by Virginia Brimhall Snow to see how different trees have different leaves!  It is a fun book for kids to see how leaves look for a variety of leaves! 

The children loved adding some fall leaves to our school tree!  I love how excited these kids are to participate and get in on the action of learning!

 

We had some fun leaf art projects this week!  We rubbed crayons over real leaves and saw how they magically appeared on our paper! I love hearing that some students loved this activity so much that they have been finding their own leaves and making more leaf art!
 

Then we made our own colorful fall leaf!

All week we have been singing a little song called "It's Autumntime"!  The kids have loved learning this song!  These kids are so smart and learn so quickly!  I hope they continue singing it at home as they observe the autumn colors and leaves for themselves!
 

"Centers" is always an important part of each day when the children can play together and enjoy each others' company.  Children learn so much through play!

Social skills are a big part of preschool.  We are always working on improving those skills by being kind and sharing with one another and having fun together!

This week we focused on the letter "L."  The Pre-K classes practiced their cutting skills as well as their coloring skills (both wonderful fine motor development activities) as we made our own little "Itsy Bitsy Ll Books"! 

 The kids each got a turn to pull something out of our special bag that started with the letter "L"!

 
This week the kids were surprised when Monster Goose came to visit our classroom instead of Mother Goose!  She told us Mother Goose was very busy helping some of the children in Mother Goose land and needed Monster Goose to take her place this month!  It was a fun Halloween visit complete with stories, songs, and rhymes!  It is always such a magical, anticipated time when we get to have a special visitor!

We had a lovely week!  I love these little kids!  They are so sweet and smart!  It is so amazing to see them learn and grow!

Fall!

 What a perfect week weather-wise to start our Fall theme!  This is such an exciting time of year with the leaves changing color, the air getting crisp, and Halloween fast-approaching!  This week we learned all about fall and how it fits in with the other seasons.

We explored patterns this week!  Pattern-making is an important skill for preschoolers to explore and play with as it helps them in their later math development.  Try to point out simple patterns with your child and help them to identify the repeated pattern!  This can be a very fun activity!

The Pre-K classes made their own patterns with candy corn and pumpkins!  Patterns can be made out of anything!  Encourage your kids to continue this activity at home with something you have around the house.

 Not only do patterns help with math, but this activity was a good fine motor skill-builder as well and it was perfect for the season!

 The 3-year-old classes matched up their candy corns on pre-made pattern sheets. 

 They were so excited when they completed their pattern! : )

At centers we continued our pattern exploring with bead stringing!

 These children had an enjoyable time playing, building, and creating together during centers!

 As part of our "fall" week, we made our own scarecrows!  We read "Clifford's Puppy Days: The Silly Scarecrow" and talked about the characters in the story and the sequencing of different parts of the story line.  Retelling stories and identifying the main characters help build reading comprehension skills.

 

 The kids really enjoyed this fun, hands-on project!

 Our assistant teacher, Ms. Ann, had a fun music and movement activity for the kids this week as they pretended to drive a car and go on a fun outing!

 

 We also enjoyed some large-motor movement while learning "It's Autumntime."  Floating fall leaves were so intriguing!  Singing songs is a wonderful way to give children the opportunity to memorize poems, rhymes, and songs!

"F" was the letter of the week!  These fun and fancy letters were a lot fun complete with flowers, feathers, and fish!

 These children were searching for the letter "F" in our story books!

 

And last, but not least, the kids were thrilled when our friend Suzy Safari stopped in for a delightful visit!  She taught us about bugs this time!

Next week we'll learn all about LEAVES!
Enjoy this beautiful time of year with your little ones!