November School Happenings

Here is a look at some of the things Jake and his classmates have been up to:

• Yankee candle fund raiser was delivered- Thanks for all who purchased an item or more to raise money for additional items for the preschool playground and a new gazebo


• The children learned about the life cycle of pumpkins


• At the water table the children sorted fruits and vegetables (FYI- fruit snacks are provided every Wednesday through a grant the school has); they also played with boats


• Played in the apple orchard for dramatic play; and were busy getting ready for the holiday feast (cleaning house, preparing food, and enjoying the meal)


• In art, they mixed red and yellow to finger paint pumpkins and also used a small gourd to make prints in a pumpkin patch


• They helped make pumpkin bread by measuring and mixing all of the ingredients!


• They learned about different types of apples (and also tasted an assortment) and created a chart about the characteristics of the apple slices; they also made applesauce and charted its characteristics-then compared the two


• In the sand table (and in their own cup), they planted apple seeds, made apple instruments in art (Jake's was yellow), baked apple pie with play dough, and measured the lengths of different objects with apples; they also played with mixed beans at this station; and carved sculptures


• They learned a bit about estimation by estimating how many paper apple prints would fit along the perimeter of the apples.


• In celebration of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, the kids made mashed potatoes, fruit salad, and butter! They also went on a turkey hunt through the classroom (looking for colored turkeys and the child that had the colored match)


• Designs were made with rice and they also painted with feathers and sponge shaped feathers.


• Block area had Lincoln Logs!


• One subject they touched on was eating healthy (healthy food vs. junk, etc.)
• Feelings and emotions were discussed. In art, they kids cut out different pictures displaying a range of emotions to make a feelings collage. They also had to pick a feeling and represent that feeling while making a stick puppet. In their journals, they talked and drew about a time they felt a strong emotion. A hula hoop game was also played where the children had to express whichever feeling was in the hoop.