I Like When My Friend…

Dear Parents,

On Monday we finished off our body tracings by adding gold and silver sparkles.

We read Will I Have A Friend?, My Friend and I, and I Like It When. We asked the children to complete this sentence: I like when my friend… We wrote down all the responses and hung them on the wall. This list becomes our classroom rules. We thought about how we like to be treated and how we can treat others.

We read The Leaf Man, Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf, Have You Seen Trees?, Trees, and A Tree Is Nice. We brainstormed trees we know, wrote them down, and then voted on which tree to create for our family tree. Everyone took turns voting and writing in their choice. Coconut tree and apple tree tied with four votes each so we had a runoff. Beforehand we had a little debate for friends to tell the group why everyone should vote for their choice. Three people said they had never tasted coconut before and that’s why we should pick coconut. Others said they really like eating apples and that’s why they would vote for apples. One friend said they planted an apple tree in their neighbor’s yard and that’s why they would vote for the apple tree. Ask your children which tree won by one vote.

During circle, we pretended to be seeds. After drinking pretend water and getting some sun, we sprouted slowly and grew into trees. The children said our feet were the roots, our bodies the trunk, our arms the branches, and our hands the leaves. We swayed in the wind a bit, and then went to snack time.

On Friday we started working on the trunk of our tree. We used brown paper and brown paint. We talked about all the things we could make with apples: apple juice, apple cider, apple pie, apple muffins, apple noodles, and apple cake. Oh, and someone mentioned apple bobbing. They explained what it was and someone else said they didn’t want to do it because they didn’t want to put their face in the water.

Speaking of family trees, please bring 3x5 or 4x6 family photos to add to our family tree!

Have a crunchy weekend,

Therese

Hearts, Lungs, and Halloween

Dear Parents,
We began our week by reading My Heart and My Amazing Body. We felt where we thought our hearts were. Some people placed hands on chests and some on bellies. We took out a stethoscope and said the word “stethoscope” aloud. We all got turns to listen to our own hearts. Some said it sounded like the ocean but many said they couldn’t hear anything. After snacks we ran around the jungle gym three times and listened again. This time everyone said they heard it! Some wanted to run more and listen again and again. It was just like the book said, our hearts beat faster with more activity.

On Tuesday we took deep breaths to feel our lungs fill with air. We read My Nose And Mouth. We watched a teacher blow up a balloon to show how our lungs work and then played with balloons in the big room. We also played with our little wooden blocks in groups of four or five. We examined the pictures on the shelves of each block to see where they would return when we were finished building. The children were excited about being able to locate the proper shelves and spent most of the time taking them out and then putting them back.

We used our easel this week. The children mixed red and yellow or blue and yellow to create paintings. We set them to dry while we took turns playing with our doctor kit in the classroom. Many friends suddenly needed shots.

Our second yoga class was a tiny bit more exciting. We heard the children moving and singing. While half the class was in yoga, the other half helped carve and scoop seeds out of our pumpkin. We read Pumpkin Time and copied the same face from the story onto our pumpkin. After yoga class we put a candle in them and watched the glow. We read three more pumpkin books. Some children told us their pumpkins at home had already rotted and attracted flies so they threw them out. We sang Five Little Pumpkins and Stirring Our Brew.

Outside we used our breath to take turns blowing bubbles. It caused lots of laughter and running about.

On Thursday and Friday we worked on our body tracings. Everyone took turns lying down and getting their entire body traced. We colored them with coloring crayons and then oil pastels. We added ink stamps and watercolors too. They are quite colorful.

On our Halloween celebration day we ate oranges that had faces drawn on them to match our pumpkin. We said maybe our pumpkin had babies (?) but the children knew they were really oranges. After snacks we did a little disco dancing and then went into the big room to build with blocks, ride wheels, and climb in the jungle gym.

Have a Halloween-y weekend!

Therese