Group Meeting:  A few children brought rocks to show.  We are setting up a display area for the rocks that the children want to bring in.  We will have them labeled so that the rocks are returned to the right owners.  We're getting a good variety so far.  We'd love to have more.

Story:  The story for today was If You Find a Rock by Peggy Christian.  This is a book of photographs of different kinds of rocks that children have found.  Some rocks are for skipping, some for splashing, some rocks make chalk drawings on the ground, and some are for memories.  We are hoping to find all of the kinds of rocks in our study.

Letter Learning:  The letter for today was T.

Large Group:  The children went to the Outdoor Classroom.  We took paper and crayons to make leaf rubbings.  Our play area is filled with leaves right now.  

Snack:  The snack for today was waffles, maple butter, milk, and water.

Monday, November 1

Group Meeting:  We are starting a new month today was well as a new study.  I told the children that we would be starting a study of rocks this week.  Please read the note that was sent home in the folders today.

Story:  The story for today was Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig.  Sylvester can’t believe his luck when he finds a magic pebble that can make wishes come true. But when a lion jumps out at him on his way home, Sylvester hastily wishes that he was a rock so that the lion could not eat him.  How will Sylvester return to being a donkey again?  Ask your child to tell you how this ends.

Letter Learning:  The letter for today was H.

Large Group:  The children went to the Outdoor Classroom.  It looks like we have been blessed with another week of warm weather.  We'll take advantage of that as much as we can.

Snack:  The snack for today was sliced peaches, milk, and water.

Wednesday, October 26

Group Meeting:  We are so excited for our Halloween party.   I've asked the children to keep their costumes a secret so that we can be surprised.

Story:  The story for today was Crankenstein by Samantha Berger.  He may look like any ordinary boy, but when faced with a rainy day, a melting popsicle, or an early bedtime, this little boy transforms into a mumbling, grumbling Crankenstein. When Crankenstein meets his match in a fellow Crankenstein, it could be just what he needs to brighten his day!  Before reading the story, we talked about what it means to be cranky.  After the story, we discussed that having a friend can help us feel happy instead of cranky.

Small Groups:  Today, we learned that all words have parts.  Some words have just one part and some words have many.  We call them syllables.  To find out how many parts are in a word, we clap when we say it.  To start, we clapped everyone's name.  Ask your child to show you how.  After that, we clapped Halloween words.  Next, we used dot-a-dot markers to stamp the number of syllables in the Halloween words.

Letter Learning:  The letter for today was E.

Snack:  The snack for today was blueberry Belvita bars, juice and water.

Tuesday, October 25

Group Meeting:  We have learned a few songs to sing for Senior Star.  We practice them a little every day. 

Story:  The story for today was Little Boo by Stephen Wunderli.  A little seed wants to be scary.  He tries to scare a leaf, a grub, and snowflakes. However, he is so cute and tiny that he is not scary at all.  During the winter, he falls asleep in the garden and is covered with soil.  When spring arrives, he wakes up and starts to grow.  Ask your child to tell you what takes place to make the little seed become scary.

Small Groups:  The children participated in a science/art activity.  They were given a tray of shaving cream and two colors of liquid watercolor: yellow and red.  The children sprinkled the watercolors on the shaving cream and swirled them together to make a new color.  Then they pressed a piece of paper onto the shaving cream.  Tomorrow, we will turn this paper into something else.

Letter Learning:  The letter for today was F.  We made the letter using our Wet, Dry, Try boards.

Large Group:  The children played Halloween Musical Chairs.  They walked around chairs while Halloween music played.  When the music stopped, they could sit on any chair except the witches chair.  If you didn't have a chair, you had to sit in the middle (witches cauldron) for one turn.  What was funny to me was that everyone wanted to sit in the witches cauldron :) 

Snacks:  The snack for today was white cheddar rice cakes, juice and water.

Monday, October 24

Group Meeting:  "What will you be for Halloween?: This was the question that was asked in our movement song for today.  I have asked the children to keep their costume a secret for now.  I want to be surprised on Thursday.  I am keeping mine a secret as well.

Story:  The story for today was Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell.  Tim has a Jack-o-lantern that he has appropriately named Jack.  He loves watching Jack glow at night time.  When Halloween is over, Tim's mother tells him that the pumpkin is rotting and needs to be thrown out.  Tim doesn't want to throw Jack in the trash can, so he puts him in the garden instead.  He watches Jack slowly fall apart until there is almost nothing left.   After winter, Tim finds Jack's shell and a few seeds.  He covers it.  In the Spring, Tim makes a discovery.  Ask your child to tell you what Tim finds.  

Letter Learning:  We are starting with the letter L.  I demonstrated how to the make the L with a big line and a little line using the wooden pieces.  I made the L sound and the children echoed it back to me.  Next, we practiced printing the L with our Wet, Dry, Try chalkboards.  The L is already printed on the board with chalk.  The children use a wet sponge to erase the L.  When it dries, they use chalk to make the L.  This is the method that we will use for the first time that we go through the alphabet.  Right now, we will only do the uppercase letters, but will later add the lowercase letters.

Large Group:  The children played "Marching Around the Alphabet".  We placed large letters on the floor all over the classroom.  While the music played, they marched around the room.  When the whistle blew, the children stopped at a letter and tried to identify it.  If they did not know the letter, we identified it. 

Snack:  The snack for today was cinnamon raisin bread, juice and water.

Thursday, October 20

Group Meeting:  At parent/teacher conferences, I mentioned to a few parents that we do fine motor activities at the beginning of the session.  At the sensory table, we have put some Halloween things in the table for the children to use.  A favorite item is pretend witch fingers with long fingernails that they can put over their own fingers.  They have had so much fun putting these on and wiggling their fingers.  As silly as it is, it is a great way for them to build strength in their fingers.  

Story:  The story for today was Nightsong by Ari Berk and Loren Long.  This is the story of a little bat named Chiro.  Chiro's mother is ready for him to fly out of the cave on his own.  He is not sure he's ready to fly without her.  Chiro's mother assures him that if he sings his song, he will know where to go.  Chiro flies through obstacles using his song (echolocation) and finds the pond.  Ask your child to tell you what he eats at the pond.

Small Groups:  The children are preparing to make lines for the letters we will be learning next week by tracing bird legs and fence posts.  

Large Group:  Our Let's Find Out Magazine was about bats.  We watched a very good video about bats.  We learned that they are nocturnal and use echolocation to find bugs to eat.  There was also a game to play online in which the children had to find words that matched with bat.  If you'd like to try it, go to the website, log in as a student and use the password redeemer.   Here's the link letsfindout.com

Snacks:  The snack for today was Berry Cheerios, milk, and water.

We went to the Outdoor Classroom for play time today.

Wednesday, October 19

Group Meeting:  We are starting to include Halloween activities in our routine.  We've been using Halloween movement songs, reading Halloween stories, and playing Halloween games.

Story:  The story for today was Big Pumpkin by Erika Silverman.  A witch wants to grow a pumpkin so that she can make pumpkin pie on Halloween.  The pumpkin grows and grows.  On Halloween, the witch tries to take the pumpkin off of the vine, but it is too big.  A ghost, vampire, and mummy try to take the pumpkin off as well but cannot.  A bat comes along and wants to try.  Will he be able to get the pumpkin off of the vine?  Ask your child to tell you.

Small Groups:  During the past few days, we have learned the song, "The Ant, the Bug and the Bee".  Bugs can walk up and down the walls without falling.  We use this song and it's activities to learn to make lines up and down.  This will help us with letter formation.

Large Group:  The children were given a paper with the numerals 1-10.  The had to search the room for numeral cards and pictures that I had placed in random places.  Once they found a numeral, they printed it on the paper.

Snack:  The snack for today was Goldfish, cheese sticks, and water.