Dear parents,
We began our week reading about our amazing bodies, inside and out. We looked at pictures of where our hearts are and got to listen with a stethoscope to each other's beating heart. We ran around the big room and listened again to see if there was any change. We introduced our
doctor kit to the classroom and found out that many of us didn't feel well, and needed shots. Thank goodness for all the doctors in the house.
On Halloween we drew pumpkin faces to get ideas for carving our pumpkin. We talked about the different shapes of eyes, noses, and mouths. After the pumpkin was carved, the children helped scoop its insides out. We lit a candle, sang some Halloween songs, and read some not too spooky books. Some of us could hardly wait to get in the big room to run and act out our costume characters. We realized every day is like Halloween around here. We had orange snacks and pumpkin bread.
We read more books about our body and examined Mr. Bones. We felt our own bodies for bones we saw on our classroom skeletons. We felt our spines in our backs and sat up straight and tall.
While half the class was in yoga, we read about how our lungs are similar to balloons. We blew up a few balloons to demonstrate. We played a game of trying to keep the balloons in our circle and off the ground. It was fun and filled with laughter.
Pastor Meeter took us on a tour of Old First Church. We went up and down many stairs, we saw stained glass windows, two chandeliers, two organs, Pastor Meeter's cassock, and his office. He also played both organs for us. He told us air makes the pipes work and we could hear it hissing. Someone said it sounded like water.
Friday we had a small class. Six people were out, of those, five were not feeling well. One more person went home early who said their head hurt.
We assembled our Me books and read them during circle. The children are excited to bring them home next week.
We read I Was So Mad by Mercer Mayer. We reviewed our list of what to do when we feel angry and added take a deep breath. We looked at our feeling chart and people gave more examples of what makes us feel sad or excited. We noticed the person in the book went from angry to happy. What helped to change their feelings? The children answered, friends. We thought about how to change our feelings when we feel sad or mad. The children agreed friends help.
We did our first one minute meditation. We closed our eyes, sat quietly, and thought about our breathing.
Please, oh please, bring a family photo (4x6 is a fine size) for our family tree.
Next week, we continue talking about friends and begin our family tree.
Have a chilly weekend,
Therese