Animals in Fall (Week of October 31st)

We concluded our Fall theme with a discussion of what animals do in the Fall to prepare for winter. We focused on the gray squirrels that we see outside our own homes and animals that hibernate.

Using the book The Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tafuri students discovered some of the things that squirrels are gathering for winter such as berries and nuts.  The students learned that squirrels hide acorns in the ground to save for the winter.  They also eat a lot to plump up so they can keep warm for the winter.  We, on the other hand, wear coats and hats and mittens to keep warm.

The children sponge painted their own gray squirrel to go along with our poem:

Gray squirrel, gray squirrel,

Swish your busy tail.

Gray squirrel, gray squirrel,

Swish your busy tail.

Wrinkle up your little nose.

Hide a nut between your toes.

Gray squirrel, gray squirrel,

Swish your busy tail.

After looking at pictures of actual squirrels and discussing their habitat and characteristics, the children had a chance to practice being a squirrel balancing carefully on a tree branch (balance beam) and hopping from fence post to fence post (colored mats).

 The children also played the Sneaky Snacky Squirrel game which allowed them to practice color recognition and fine motor skills.

 Dot Painting Squirrels and Acorns

Next, we briefly touched upon hibernation and read the story Time to Sleep by Denise Fleming.  The children learned that bears are like squirrels and eat a lot to fatten up for the winter and then they sleep for a long time.  We learned that other animals hibernate as well, such as turtles, skunks and woodchucks.

Also this week, the students entered the classroom only to discover that their cubby and check-in pictures were replaced with name tags.  Many of the children are beginning to recognize the first letters in their names and some their entire name.  Removing their picture will encourage name recognition, similar to how children "read" a stop sign.

We also changed our calendar routine a bit this month.  Instead of focusing on just one week, we are now looking at the entire month at a time.  As a class we are counting the days and working on AB patterns as the calendar pictures for November alternate between turkey and pumpkin.

Other skills we worked on this week were sound discrimination, using blocks to build the first letter in our name, using a balance scale to compare the weights of objects in nature, 1:1 counting, lacing beads, AB patterns with colored cubes and the concepts of long/short.

Our second mystery reader visited our classroom as well.  The children were very excited to guess who it might be!  Thank you for sharing your morning with us!