Let's Gret Ready for Halloween

Group Meeting:  It's time for us to make plans for Halloween.  The children will be making decorations for the hallway, planning games to play, and planning a snack for our party.  If you have signed up to bring something to the party, we will be letting you know soon what is needed.

Small Groups:  The activities for this week and schedule for today are listed below.
Activity #1 (Red Group)  The children played a game called "Who Will Win the Syllable Race?"  The board for this game has two race tracks on it.  One race track is for Ghost.  The word ghost has one syllable.  The other track is for Monster.  Monster has two syllables.  To play the game, the children select picture cards and determine if the word has one or two syllables in it.  Then, they place it on the correct track.  Who will get the most cards, Ghost or Monster?
Activity #2 (Yellow Group)  The children practiced making orange glue dots on a pumpkin.  This is called "Dot, Dot, Not a Lot".  It is a way for the children to gain fine motor control over the glue bottle and strengthen their hand muscles a little. 
Activity #3 (Green Group)  The children played the game "What's Missing?" using Halloween characters.  Seven Halloween characters were displayed.  One was taken away.  The children tried to remember which character was missing.  We removed one item, then two, then three.

Story:  The story for today was Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman.  A witch would like to eat pumpkin pie for Halloween.  She plants a pumpkin seed.  It grows into a big pumpkin.  How will she get that big pumpkin to her house for pumpkin pie?  Ask you child to tell you how her friends help her. 
Following the story, the morning class wanted to know how you make pie out of a pumpkin.  Tomorrow, we are going to open a pumpkin, take the seeds out, and roast it in the oven.  Everyone can try a bite!

Large Group:  The children made a list of possible snacks and games for the Halloween party.  Tomorrow, we will vote on our favorites.

Letter Learning:  The letter for today was Tt.

Snacks:  The snack person for the morning class was Dominic.   He brought white cheddar puffs and juice.  The afternoon snack person was Charlie.  She brought bread, peanut butter, jelly, Teddy Grahams, and juice.  Thank you, Dominic and Charlie!