It's Good to Be Back!

Group Meeting:  The children shared their holiday experiences as well as a few snow stories.  We will not be starting Christmas activities until next week.  This week, we will focus on what animals are doing to get ready for winter.

Small Groups:  The activities for this week are listed below as well as the schedule for today.
Activity #1  (Red Group)  The children used small plastic bear counters and a balance scale to weigh a few school supplies.  They also used to the bears to measure the length of the school supply.  The answers were recorded on a paper.
Activity #2 (Yellow Group)  The children made a book about animals that hibernate.  They used scissors to cut the pictures and glue to fasten them to the book pages.
Activity #3  (Green Group)  The children listened to a re-read of The Letters are Lost and completed an activity with rhyming words from the book. 

Story:  The story for today was Bear Can't Sleep by Marni McGee.  Bear is ready to hibernate, but can't seem to fall asleep.  His animals friend are trying to figure out why.  Ask your child to tell you why Bear can't sleep and what his friends do to help him.

Large Group:  The children watched a video about hibernation which was the topic of a Let's Find Out Magazine.  The morning class had time to complete the back page, but the afternoon class ran out of time.  They can complete it at home with a little help from an adult.

Letter Learning:  For this time around, we are learning about the letters in alphabetical order.  The children will be using dry erase markers to form the letters on boards.

Snacks:  Due to the cancellation of school yesterday, we had several snack choices today.  The morning class had cheese sticks, carrot coins, crackers, and milk brought by Noah and Rory.  The afternoon had plantain chips, apple slices, and milk brought by Willie and Zenie.  Thank you, everyone!

Thank you to everyone who provided transportation for our field trip today.  Starting in December, we will collecting a monthly food item to be donated to the pantry.  This will be included in the December newsletter.

Group Meeting:  Today was birthday day.  We went right to Small Groups so that we could get the muffins in the oven in time for snack time.

Small Groups:  The children got into groups to make banana bread.  They mashed the bananas, cracked an egg, and added that with flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and butter.  They put it into muffin cups. 

Story:  The story for today was a re-read of Our Tree Named Steve.  The children enjoyed this story the first time around and were excited to see it again.  This will end our tree study.  During the next two weeks, we will be preparing for Thanksgiving.

Large Group:  The children learned about Veteran's Day with a Let's Find Out Magazine. 

Letter Learning:  The letter for today was Pp.

Snacks:  The children ate the banana muffins with milk followed by Birthday Brownies. 

Group Meeting:  The excitement for the last day party was evident today:)  Tomorrow, we will be popping the last balloon!

Small Groups:  The children drew pictures of themselves in their writing journals.  They compared them to the drawings that they did on the first day.  We have seen much improvement in the fine motor skill area.  They also collected signatures of their friends.

Story:  The story I read today was Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats.    Peter has a dog named Willie.  He wishes that he could whistle to make him come to him.  He tries and tries.  Ask your child to tell you how this story ends.

Large Group:  The children practiced the program for tomorrow one more time.  Then, we went to the Outdoor Classroom.

Snacks:  The morning class had breadsticks, cheese, and juice brought by Kenedy.  The afternoon class had grapes, cheese sticks, and milk brought by Greta.  Thank you, Kenedy and Greta!

I truly cannot believe that the last day is here.  We have had such a great time getting to know these kids!  They will be missed!

Group Meeting:  We popped another balloon today.  Only two left!

Small Groups:  The children played Friend Bingo.  I made bingo cards with the children's pictures on them.  I help up cards with names printed on them.  They identified the name and found the matching picture.

Story:  The story for today was Little Red Riding Hood as retold by Bonnie Dobkin.  In this story, Red Riding Hood walks through the forest to her grandmother's house.  Her mother tells her to stay on the path, go straight to Grandmother's, and not to talk to strangers.  Does she listen?  Ask your child to tell you the rest!

Large Group:  The children went to the Outdoor Classroom.

Snacks:  The morning class had Teddy Grahams and juice brought by Julia.  The afternoon class had bananas and milk brought by Grace O.  Thank you, Julia and Grace!

The permission slips for the last day bounce houses need to be turned in by tomorrow.  If you have misplaced yours, please let Mrs. Heimendinger know when you drop off.

Group Meeting:  We are counting down to Thursday.  I have placed four balloons on the top of the message board.  Each day, we will pop a balloon.  Hopefully, this will help us keep the excitement in check:)

Small Groups:  The children got into their groups to work on something for the last day party. Sorry, I can't share the details here.

Story:   It seems that I always have more stories to share than days of the school year.  So, during this last week, I will be reading a few of my favorites that just didn't fit into our studies this year.  Today, I read Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina.  This book was originally copyrighted in 1940.  It is still a great story.  A peddler selling caps is walking through town with caps stacked on his head.  He walks into the country to rest under a tree.  When he wakes up from a nap, his caps are gone.  Ask your child to tell you what happened and how he got the caps back.

Large Group:  The children practiced a few songs that we will be singing during the last day program.

Snacks:  The morning class had Club crackers, Goldfish, blackberries, and juice brought by Jay.  The afternoon class had strawberries, carrots, ranch dip, vanilla wafers, and milk brought by Grace K.  Thank you, Jay and Grace!

Summer Birthday Day

Group Meeting:  During group meeting, we made a list of things that we learned at the farm.  I was very impressed with the things that the children had learned.    I love visiting that farm.  The gentleman that led the tour was great with kids.

Small Groups:  The children made Energy Balls to eat at snack time.  This week, we had learned about grains and proteins.  We used  oats, crispy rice, peanut butter, and honey.  We also added a few mini M&Ms to add to the taste.  After mixing the ingredients, the children used their hands to shape the balls.

Story:  The story for today was Yogurt and Cheeses and Ice Cream That Pleases by Brian P. Cleary. 
This cute book of rhymes taught us why dairy foods are good for us and different ways to enjoy them.  Ask your child to name one food from the dairy group.

Large Group:  We started working on our last day program by learning a new song to sing to you.

Snacks:  The children ate the Energy Bars and Birthday Brownies.  We had 6 birthdays to celebrate in each class. 

Next week will be our last week of school.  Hard to believe!