Forever Summer? Fall Fever.

It has certainly felt like summer with the weather.  We are all enjoying getting outside and viewing the changes happening around us.  The leaves on the trees have been beautiful and the children have been discovering all kinds of interesting objects (pine cones, nuts) and making observations.  As we move into November and the air becomes more crisp, I wanted to reflect upon the learning that has occurred in Room 3 over the past few weeks.

Since Halloween was approaching, we turned our focus to all things pumpkin.  First, we worked in small groups to complete a pumpkin investigation.  The students made predictions about the height and weight of a pumpkin and tested out their theories.  They also determined whether the pumpkin would sink or float and counted how many lines went around the pumpkin.  The children also handled the pumpkin and came up with ideas to describe the outside.

Then we cut open the pumpkin and the children dipped their hands in the goop.  They described what they felt for the class.

 

Since we began our study of pumpkins, the children have been chanting The Five Little Pumpkins at circle.  To extend upon the chant, I challenged them to create a gate out of blocks to hold five little pumpkins (5 caps).  Once the children were successful with this, they tested their gate with real pumpkins and made needed modifications so that their structure would hold.

As we moved closer to Halloween, the children engaged in Halloween themed activities.

Here children are practicing fine motor skills that will strengthen their fingers for writing and cutting by trying to capture spiders in a web using tweezers.

 

Students rolled playdoh to make spider legs and made balls for the eyes.  This also strengthens hand muscles.

Skills:  We are always working on pre-academic skills as well.  In math our focus has been on counting, number recognition, sorting, position words, and comparing lengths.  In literacy we've been focusing on letter recognition and formation, recognizing and beginning to write our names, and crayon grasp.  We also discuss book parts, making predictions and determining the beginning, middle and end during storytime.

We have switched up our calendar a bit.  Students are working on patters, counting, number recognition and identifying days of the week and months.  Our talk is not to drill these concepts, but to discuss them within our daily routine.

Finally, our check-in has been altered to include only letters.  Students must find their special letter and place their picture beneath it.

Mr. Ken's Music
Every other month we are fortunate to have a visit from Mr. Ken our music teacher.  Accompanied by his guitar, Mr. Ken engages the children in thematic songs and dance that they love.  This past week his songs took on a Fall/Halloween theme.

Mystery Reader:
We had another visit from another surprise Mystery Reader.  The children loved listening to the story Charlie on the M.T.A.  Did He Ever Return? by Julia Obrien-Merrill.

Gym Class

It was another fantastic week in gym.  The children participated in an obstacle course that allowed them to practice catching skills, balancing, throwing, jumping, and forward rolls.