October 17th - 21st

Ryder and Abby making their f

Rowan, Sydney & Grady

Lia

Last week in class we focused on the letter f.  The children wrote the letter f, lined their snacks up on it, traced it, and made an f from playdoh.  They "read" the What Am I? book that was sent home with them.  They loved reading their very own book! 

On the whale day the students used triangle shapes to create a whale picture.  We discussed how the whale breathes and compared sea life that gets oxygen from the water and sea life that gets oxygen from the surface.  The kids created a whale with a spout and water coming out.  We began to discuss the food chain and talked about baleen whales.

On our octopus day the students got to taste salt water (a very small taste).  We read "How the Sea is Salty" A Philippine Folktale.  They started an octopus made from paper (to be finished next week), and experimented with suction cups- meant to simulate the suction on the legs of an octopus.  We talked about how an octopus escapes from a predator and played with ocean matching cards (similar to memory).

On the dolphin day we completed our What Am I? book.  We completed patterns with sea cards (a sea creature on each card).  I make a pattern for them that they need to finish and then they make a pattern for me that I need to finish.  They practiced jumping and spinning like spinner dolphins.  We discussed how smart dolphins are and practiced moving things with our noses like a dolphin does.  We started our "caring tree" (the coat rack) and discussed 'loving'.  Each child gave examples of how they show loving and hung a loving feather on the tree.  We will be discussing these themes off and on, next week we will discuss the concept of polite.

Shark day was fun as we talked about shark teeth and bodies.  The kids made a shark puppet and we observed and explored poky objects.  I brought in wild cucumber which has super poked seed pods that the kids got to feel.  We will finish up our sharks next week.  We read shark books and talked about how sharks will eat almost anything.

We are looking forward to our Halloween Parade tomorrow and I can't wait to see all the costumes!!

October 10-14



The Elm Park kids listening to the presentation

Rowan with Brownie

Ryder's fish scene

Makena and Ryder writing e

In the pumpkin patch

This week the children continued to learn about sea life.  The kids read books about fish, learned about the layers of the ocean, and learned to "crab walk".  They created a fish scene and a seahorse book.  We worked on learning the letter e (vowels get 2 weeks) and the number 3.  The shape for the month is the triangle so we hunted for triangles, made triangles, and defined triangles!  The kids learned about the many uses for kelp and we read books about 'Rainbow Fish'.  We visited the pumpkin patch on Tuesday which was great fun.  The kids learned about pumpkins and gourds, saw goats, rode on a tractor, got lost in a corn maze, and got to pick a pumpkin.

Week of October 3-7

Ryder drawing self portrait

Keitaro drawing

On the way to the mailbox

Abby and Ryder making the number 3

Sydney creating an e

Rowan creating an e

Rowan happy at snack

Grady's e

Lia on one of our new play structures

Makena drawing self portrait

 This week we discussed the letter E, the color blue, leaves and fall, and ocean creatures.  The kids created an “ocean tube” to observe the dynamics of waves.  We also dissected an apple, naming the parts, predicting the number of seeds, and tasting both apples and applesauce.  We then created an apple book with different textures inside.  We talked about healthy foods and decided what is healthy and unhealthy; we finished up by creating a plate collage with healthy foods.  The older children wrote postcards and we discussed how they are mailed.  We then created postcards for our families and mailed them in the mailbox.  We made nature art with leaves, sticks, and other outdoor stuff.  And finally, we created an itsy bitsy ocean book and created a sea star watercolor picture.

Week of September 26-30

The kids at chapel

The kids at chapel

Last week at Elm Park was a busy one!  We adopted a HUGE caterpillar plucked from my neighbor's garden.  We tried to care for it, hoping for a chrysalid, but he was looking unhealthy by the end of the week so we let him go.  We talked a lot about fall, leaves, pumpkins, and apples.  In addition to our monthly themes, we talked about taking care of the human body.  Specifically, we discussed washing hands, brushing teeth, and getting enough sleep.  These themes were carried into many activities from science to art!

The letter of the week was D.  As usual, we wrote the letter D in many mediums.  We thought of D words and searched for Ds in a sentence.  The M/W/F kids created a book that they practiced reading.  The whole group cut and glued D words.

In PE we continued soccer.  The kids are having fun with that and learning some soccer rules.  We worked on passing and dribbling (and trying not to touch the ball). 

In art we created a pants collage.  We also created a soap drawing with watercolor (after exploring the soap in a science themed lesson).

In science the kids had a "tea party".  We watched tea brew in a plastic bag as we guessed the outcome.  We charted our preferences for tea pants (to wear to a tea party). 

Friday the kids talked about sleep and created a pillow.  We also began measuring and created a chart with measurements of various objects.  They loved measuring!!

A BIG thank you goes out to everyone supporting our bake sale at the Oktoberfest.  We earned $120 towards our play structure and baked goods not sold have been frozen and will be sold after church the next few weeks.  Everyone was so supportive and I thank you all for that!!

Our pumpkin patch field trip is next Tuesday.  It should be a wonderful trip!

Hope you all have a great week,
Ms. Jen

"This Little Light of Mine..."

Children in circle time

Children in circle time