November 28th- December 9th

Such a great two weeks!! Last week the children read "The Mitten" and learned about the Ukraine. We even made a Ukrainian potato pancake with a sour cream dip (I'm pretty sure only 1 child liked it!). The children made their own cotton ball mittens, decorated our "tree", made a count-down-to-Christmas chain, and talked about the excitment, and the Reason, for the Christmas celebration. They also learned the letter "M" sound, and the numbers 11 & 12.

This week we went on two outings! First we concentrated on working on our learning packets with the letter "S", and number review, then we read the book "The Snowy Day" (one of my favorites!). The children loved cutting out "tortilla snowflakes", then frying them in butter and topping with powdered sugar "snow"! Yum! On Wednesday we walked to the library for children's storytime- it was all about silly bears. They danced to Raffi music and created unique designs with foam pattern blocks. Friday was a blast! We took the children to Mobius Science Museum in Riverpark Square. The current exhibit is -magic- and there was so much more to explore and do! They also loved the Christmas decorations, and ginormous tree, in the mall. We definitely plan to take the children again in the spring.

Next week is Christmas prep! Our playschool will be taking a two week break, following the public school calendar, December 19th through January 2nd. We decided to go ahead and follow the school breaks, as I now have 5 children in school. :o)

Be sure to visit PhotoBucket! Lots more pictures!

Week of October 31st-November 4th

What a fun week of review and Fall celebration! We started off our week with a mini-celebration of Fall... trying our hand at cupcake baking, making orange frosting, and carving our classroom pumpkin. Then we went right into reviewing popcorn science, autumn changes, and the vowels that we learned over the past 5 weeks, and working through numbers 1-5. On Wednesday the children attempted to create fall pictures using wax paper, crayon shavings and fall leaves- they weren't very pretty but they had fun trying. :o) Friday we took the children for a nature walk to pick Maple leaves, the leaves they found were so big they decided that we should dry them out and paint them. So that we will attempt next week.

For next week- Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car (transportation), the letter C, and continuing with numbers 1-5.

Week of October 24th-28th

Popcorn and the letter O! This week the children enjoyed playing with "knights and damsels" finger puppets, drawing a fall picture (from our visit to the Arboretum last week) in their nature journals, and making "popcorn on the cob". We read some fantastic books about fall and popcorn, learning the science behind the yummy treat, and finished our vowels with O! We also continued with leaf and tree identification, and the changes that Autumn bring to our neighborhood.

Next week will bring a Fall celebration and review of what we've learned this month!

Weeks 10th-14th and 17th-21st October

These past two weeks just flew by, so you're getting two week reviews in one :o).

The week of the 10th we had so much fun working alongside the book, "Fish Out of Water", if you haven't read this book with your child yet- you should! The children learned about fresh and salt water, lakes, rivers and oceans. We talked about the miracles of Jesus- focusing on the miracle of bread loaves- then each of the children made their own fresh loaf of bread! We also covered the letter "E", and played with new fine motor/ sensory games. The children were thrilled to get our very own classroom goldfish, "Otto".

The week of the 17th we studied the letter "U", squirrels, and autumn using the book, "Have You Seen Trees?" (a beautiful book!). On Monday, the children pretended they were squirrels and hunted for (marshmallow) nuts outside, they loved playing the fox and the squirrel tag game as well. We made deliciously fresh pumpkin cookies for snack, so good with hot cocoa! During art the children made "trees", using their arms as the trunk and branches, and ripped colorful tissue paper for the leaves. They had a blast getting paint all over their arms, on purpose, and the trees turned out to be very expressive of personalities... Friday we took the children to the Finch Arboretum, where they spent the entire time climbing trees, throwing leaves, playing alongside the creek, chasing each other, and having a healthy snack- all way better than the lesson we had planned for them there!

This next week, "Popcorn!", in honor of 'Popcorn Poppin' Month'. We look forward to finishing up our vowels, and exploring the fun of popcorn with your children.

Don't forget to check all the fun pictures, on Photobucket, that Kristianna took:

http://s1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd374/blueskiesplayschool/

October 3rd-7th

What a fun week learning about bears! Rawr! Of course, our bears were cuddly and cute. We went on a bear hunt and found a bear cub hiding in the kitchen! The children enjoyed making their own bears to "scare" eachother with, some using buttons for belly buttons and others using ears for feet. Lots of creativity! Books we read and explored together: We're Going on a Bear Hunt, We're Going on a Lion Hunt, Jesse Bear's Family Tree, Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat, The Big Hungry Bear and the Red Ripe Strawberry and a follow up book on Mary Cassat (our American artist). We also continued our letter study with the vowels, adding "U".

On Friday we went to the pumpkin patch at Hidden Acres. The children had so much fun petting the goats and pig "Porkchop", running through the teepees, finding their way out of the haystack maze, picking pumpkins from the patch, going on a hayride, eating HUGE yummy apples and, of course, getting lots of fresh air and sunshine.

Next week: fish and the letter "E"!

*For more pictures visit our Photobucket.