It has been a very busy few weeks and this blog post is long over due! Since our last post, there was a wedding, apple picking event, trunk-or-treating, curriculum night, a few Patriot's victories, a full moon and halloween! So as you can see, it's been quite busy! But I am more than happy to back in the blog routine! As we wrap up October and get excited for November, there is so much to get ready for!
November will bring us brand new studies on the mighty moose and nature's engineer, the beaver! We will also talk a lot about what we are thankful for and the traditions of Thanksgiving. The Shutterfly account is also up and running for this school year and the pictures from last school year are finally complete! Check your email for the link and check out the pictures! Look forward to monthly picture updates from our classroom!
A note from Ms. Heather:
"This week, pre-k learned about bats, fire safety and celebrated Halloween. The children were introduced to the story, "Bat Loves the Night" by Nichola Davies. This book inspired the children to create a drawing of a bat complete with a name, what they eat and where is lives. The answers were very imaginative and included living in the jungle, a bee hive and a tree hole. These bats also liked to eat oreos, banana bread and ham!
Did you know October is fire safely month? We read the story, "Stop, Drop and Roll" by Margery Cuyler and made a fire safety book. The children also practiced the stop, drop and roll sequence in our classroom.
Next week, the children will begin to trace and practice forming numbers!"
A note from Mary Beth:
"The preschool class began the week by reading the story, "Three Little Ghosties" by Pippa Goodhart. This story inspired a sensory project using cotton balls to create their own three little ghosties. The children pulled the cotton ball in all directions and put some cute little faces on the ghosts. Most went home this week so take a peek at your child's artwork! We also talked about the number 3 and went on a classroom scavenger hunt. The children found 3 wheels on the tricycle, 3 circles on our wall, and a whole bunch of friends that are 3 years old! Great work preschoolers!
During Music and Movement class, the children warmed up their bodies to the song "This is Halloween" from the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack. After talking about costumes and trick or treating, the children transformed their bodies into various halloween characters while dancing to The Monster Mash. For example:
Frankenstein has stiff, strong steps
The black cat has low and slow movements
The bat has quick and high movements
The ghost has flawy and slow movements
The witches has quick and small movements
Being able to move from one movement quality to another was a fun yet challenging motor planning activity!"
During Music and Movement class, the children warmed up their bodies to the song "This is Halloween" from the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack. After talking about costumes and trick or treating, the children transformed their bodies into various halloween characters while dancing to The Monster Mash. For example:
Frankenstein has stiff, strong steps
The black cat has low and slow movements
The bat has quick and high movements
The ghost has flawy and slow movements
The witches has quick and small movements
Being able to move from one movement quality to another was a fun yet challenging motor planning activity!"
A note from Mrs. M:
"The children are always asking for science experiments so I have been trying to incorporate more experiments into each school week. This week's experiment was all about air! The children were first asked a few questions about air, "can you see air?" "does air have color?" and "why do we need air?" It is always fun to hear the children's answers! Some of the answers included, "we need air because it makes you alive" and "it helps you breathe." I then presented the children with a hallowed out, uncarved pumpkin and a carved jack-o-lantern. I asked the children what would happen if we put a candle with a flame inside both pumpkins and put the tops back on. Most children said the candle will continue to burn. So we tried it out and discovered that the jack-o-lantern's candle continued to burn because it had lots of air to keep it going. The uncarved pumpkin's candle quickly went out because there was not enough air to keep the candle going. It was fun to hear all of the children's observations and theories on the the flame. We tried a similar experiment with candles and different size mason jars. The candle covered with the smallest jar went out first and the candle covered with the largest jar went out last because there was more air in the large jar. I can't wait to introduce the children to more experiments!"
Important Dates and Reminders:
November 2: November tuition is due
November 11: SEE will be closed for Veteran's Day
November 22: Monthly Gathering at Winchester Gymnastics
November 22: Monthly Gathering at Winchester Gymnastics
November 25: SEE will close at 3:00pm
November 26-27: SEE will be closed for Thanksgiving break
Check out a few pictures from this week:
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| "Three Little Ghosties" project |
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| Cleaning out the pumpkin for our experiment |
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| Separating the seeds to bake next week |
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| The air experiment in progress I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Halloween! I can't wait to hear about about it on Monday! Joanna |
