Tuesday, September 27

Group Meeting:  We used fabric leaves to learn a new song.  We sang along with the music to "The Leaves are Falling Down" and tossed the leaves into the air.  

Story:  The story for today was The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming.  Squirrel thinks that someone is stealing his leaves.  Bird, mouse, and woodpecker have leaves, but they do not belong to squirrel.  Bird helps squirrel realize that his leaves have not been stolen.  So, where are they going?  Ask your child to tell you what squirrel discovers.

Large Group:  The children went to the Outdoor Classroom.  We noticed that the tree across the street is starting to turn red.

Snack:  The snack for today was cinnamon bread, butter, milk, and water.

Tonight is Family Night.  We have a game for your family to play together with treats to follow.

Monday, September 26

Group Meeting: This week, we will learn about changes that are taking place with the leaves on the trees. We started by learning  the song “Autumn Leaves are Falling Down”.

Story: The story for today was I am a Leaf by Jean Marzollo. This story is told by a leaf.  He explains how he changes from spring to summer, fall and winter. Leaves have a job. Ask your child to tell you what it is. We learned a big word: chlorophyll. Ask your child to tell you what it does.

Small Groups: The children dropped liquid watercolor onto leaves cut from diffuser paper. The paper allows the colors to blend and create new colors. 

Large Group: The children went to the Outdoor Classroom. We are starting to look for leaves that are changing colors.

Snack: The snack was Scooby Snacks, juice and water.

A reminder note about picture day was sent home in their folders.

Thursday, September 22

Group Meeting:  Today is the first day of  Fall.  We have been noticing the change in temperatures.  We've also noticed the acorns falling off of our oak tree.  I know that some of you have noticed this, too:)  We will be learning about Fall changes for the next two weeks.

Story:  The story for today was Love is a Family by Roma Downey.  Lily is getting ready for Family Night at school.  She's a little worried that her family might be different because it is just her and her mom.  Her friend next door has lots of siblings and two parents.  When she arrives at school, she finds that not all families are the same.  Even though there are only 2 in her family, it is a family of love, and that's what families are all about.

We looked at the family pictures that were returned today.  We are looking forward to seeing more.

Small Groups:  The children were invited to participate in an art project using the some of the acorns from outside.  The children put a piece of paper on a cookie sheet.  Puddles of paint were squeezed onto the paper.  Acorns were put on the paint.  The children moved the cookie sheet allowing the acorns to roll through the paint to create a picture.  These will be on display in the hallway.

Large Group:  Our Let's Find Out magazine was about animals using their five sense to explore their environment.  We did not complete the back page.  I thought it was a little hard to do in a large group.  You and your child can complete it together.  Here's the link to go online letsfindout.com  Log in as a student and use the password redeemer.

Snack:  The morning class had English muffins, butter, milk and water.  The afternoon class had bagels, cream cheese, milk and water.  

Wednesday, September 21

 Group Meeting:  The children can paint every day at our paint easel.  Today, we learned how to do this a little more independently.   I demonstrated how to put on a paint shirt, pick the color of paper on which to paint, and how to clean paint off of hands with wet wipes.  

Story:  The story for today was Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCluskey.  Sal and her mother are picking blueberries to can for the winter. But when Sal wanders to the other side of Blueberry Hill, she discovers a mama bear preparing for her own long winter.  Meanwhile Sal's mother is being followed by a small bear who also likes to eat berries! Will each mother go home with the right little one?  Ask your child to tell you how this ends.

Large Group:  We spent a long time in the Outdoor Classroom.  Tomorrow is the first day of Fall and the weather will be getting cooler.  Therefore, we wanted to spend a good amount of time outside while we can.

Snack:  The snack for today was apple cinnamon rice cakes, milk and water.

A little homework was sent in your child's folder today.  We are making a classroom book about our families.  This does not need to be returned immediately, but we would like to have it back within the next week or so.

Tuesday, September 20

Group Meeting:  We started Group Meeting by moving to "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" as sung by the Learning Station.  They add another verse of "Neck, Elbow, Hips and Feet".  The music got faster and faster.

Story:  The story for today was Little Gorilla by Ruth Bornstein.   Just about everybody in the great green forest loves Little Gorilla. His mother loves him. His father loves him. Even Big Boa Constrictor loves him. But Little Gorilla begins to grow . . . and Grow . . . and GROW. And then, when Little Gorilla isn’t so little anymore—everyone still loves him!  We used this to start a discussion about how much we have grown and how our family loves us still.

Small Groups:  The children traced the first letter of their name.

Large Group:  The morning class went to the Outdoor Classroom.  In the afternoon, it was too hot.  We stayed inside and learned how to play London Bridge.

Snack:  The snack for today was cottage cheese, pretzels, and water.

Monday, September 19th

 Group Meeting:  We have been learning two "fall" songs.  Ask your child if they know any of the words to "The Acorn Song" and "Way Up High in an Apple Tree".

Story:  The story for today was The Little Red Hen retold by Bonnie Dobkin.  In this classic tale, the Little Red Hen has found a bag of wheat seeds.  She asks her friends if they will help her plant, harvest, mill the wheat into flour, and bake the bread.  The dog, cat, and goose all have excuses for not helping her, and she has to do all of the work by herself.  When the bread is freshly baked, the friends want to eat it with the Little Red Hen.  Ask your child to tell you if she gives them any bread.

After this story, we talked about helping friends and teachers at school.  At clean up time, I have some really good helpers, but there's always a few that have some excuses :)  We are going to try to be good helpers.

Small Groups:  This week, we will begin working on name printing.  We are starting with the first letter.  The children traced the capital letter that begins their name.

Large Group:  The morning class did not have enough time to go to the Outdoor Classroom, so we played a rhyming words game.  The afternoon class did go to the Outdoor Classroom.  We'll switch tomorrow.

Snack:  The snack for today was applesauce, Sun Chips, milk and water.

Thursday, September 15

Group Meeting:  Today was Birthday Day.  We do not have any September birthdays so we called it Cooking Day instead.  We baked snacks and spent a long time in the Outdoor Classroom.

Story:  The story for today was Peeny Butter Fudge by Toni Morrison.  In this story, three children are going to spend the day with their Nana.  Mom has a list of things for them to do, but Nana has other ideas.  The children do puzzles, read stories, dance, play doctor, and have gunny sack races with Nana.  Now Nana wants to teach the children her secret recipe for Peeny Butter Fudge.  Will they be able to get the fudge done before mother comes home?  Ask your child to tell what happens when mom comes home.

Small Groups:  The children made a snack of cinnamon biscuits.  The children dipped buttermilk biscuit dough into butter and cinnamon sugar.  We baked them in the oven.

Large Group:  The Let's Find Out magazine was about how all of us are individual and unique, and yet we make up a wonderful community.  You can find more resources at letsfindout.com  Log in as a student and use the password redeemer.

Snack:  The children enjoyed the cinnamon biscuits with birthday brownies.