Trees Are Alive

Dear Parents,

We began our week brainstorming trees we know. We made a list: maple, oak, banana, coconut, plum, sweet gum, apple, and pine. We crossed a few off the list that have been family trees in recent years. We read Trees and A Tree Can Be… 

We also read Good Days Bad Days, The Nice Book, When Sophie Gets Angry, and When I Feel Angry. We made a list of things we can do when we feel angry. The list included: run, take deep breaths, go be alone, play with toys, and talk to someone. 

We asked the class if trees are alive. They responded, “Yes!” and “No!” We talked about how trees grow, what makes them move, and how they communicate through their roots. 

On Wednesday while half the class posed in yoga class, in the classroom we took turns voting on which tree to create. Banana won by a landslide. It was a yellow tsunami!  We looked at pictures of banana trees to get an idea of what they looked like. The children noticed the leaves were big, and that on some trees the bananas were green. 

We read I Like It When…. and the children took turns telling us what they liked. The answers will be in their Me books when they bring them home.

We made our classroom rules on Friday. We asked the class to finish the sentence, I like when my friend_______. Most children said they liked when friends played with them. Someone said they liked it when their friend listened to them, and another said they liked it when friends share. We read My Friend and I, I Like Myself, and Yo! Yes?

We continue to work on listening to teachers' and friends' words, listening eyes and ears, using our own heads to make the right choices, and using our words to speak up. 

We’ve been doing lots of investigating of leaves to figure out which trees they fell from. We played a leaf match game in circle. The first time there were too many leaves to choose between, the second time, everyone succeeded in matching. We used tiny clothes pins, and our fine motor skills, to try to pick up the leaves and put them in a box. 

Next week, we’ll finish our Me books and begin building our family tree. 

Have a wet weekend,

Therese

Red Light and Mr. Wolf

Dear Parents,

On Monday we started our week coloring our All About Me Book covers. Children chose a color of construction paper and colored it with crayons. 

Afterwards we went into the big room to play Red Light, Green Light. We used a Stop/Go sign to indicate what to do. The children walked like children, ran like cheetahs, stomped like elephants, crawled like kittens, hopped like bunnies, slithered like snakes, floated like ghosts, rode broomsticks like witches, and more. The class was excited to come up with different ways to cross the room so the game lasted a while. 

The next day we played Mr. Wolf. The class excitedly shouted, “Mr. Wolf, Mr. Wolf, What time is it?” Children then count out the number of steps according to what time the wolf says. 

These games are great practice using looking eyes and listening ears, being body aware, gross motor skills, and following one and two step directions. 

Everyone gave ideas about what shape eyes, nose, and mouth to carve into our pumpkin. On Wednesday while half the class posed in yoga class with Julietta, the other half helped carve our pumpkin. We put the seeds to bake in the oven and played while we waited. We ate them for snacks on Friday.

Our trip to the fire station was disrupted by a call for the firemen to go to Manhattan. We left the fire station to wait and watch for the big exit, which was then cancelled. We filed back into the station to see a pick axe and the “Jaws of Life”. The firemen told us that their truck was brand new, just delivered this week. It was shiny! Children got to turn on  the oxygen mask tank, and look through a heat sensor camera. Much to everyone’s excitement, one fireman slid down the pole. They gave us coloring books and we headed back to Old First to play outside. 

On Friday we wore our Halloween costumes. Need we say more?!

Reminder to bring in a 3x5 or 4x6 family photo!

Have a spooky weekend,

Therese