Dinosaurs

I am so excited we are welcoming three new friends this week!  Today we got to play with two of our new friends!  Ask your child tonight if they can name something that starts with the letter D.  They are getting so good at naming things that begin with our letter at Circle Time.  They are also getting very good at signing our letter of the week.  Ask them to show you a letter D in Sign Language :o)  Dinosaurs have taken over our classroom!  (Thank You to Tracy and Mason for adding to our Dinosaur Collection)  We took dinosaurs to the playground, and during Table Time I sat out markers, crayons, paper and dinosaurs for the children to create their own dinosaurs.  We created a little dinosaur habitat for the children to play with, and even added dinosaurs to our play dough.  Our book was When Dinosaurs Came with Everything, it is a fun read!

Dinosaurs

This week we are learning about Dinosaurs, and the children are so excited!  Dinosaurs are one of their favorite themes!  Today we read a silly book called Dinosaurs Love Underpants.   We are also learning about the letter D.  At circle time we learned D in sign language and did our ABC song.  We shared 2 more bags of Fall, and shared our VIP’s Bulletin Board and one of his favorite things.  We painted with dinosaurs for table time!  Thank You to our VIP’s daddy for joining us for morning playtime and breakfast!

Leaf Art

We went outside to see if we could find signs of Autumn around our school. We found a few changing leaves, but most were still green. We collected some leaves to use in our artwork today. The children created art with the leaves and then I showed them how to do leaf rubbing with a crayon. We had fun exploring Autumn/Fall this week! Have a wonderful weekend!

Paper Bag Fall Trees

We created Fall Trees with brown paper bags, and finished our hand/arm trees we started at the beginning of the week.  I do believe children get more out of process art and I try to do mostly process art, but sometimes product art is just too cute to pass up!  Who doesn’t love cute handprint art!  Process art is when you lay out materials and don’t give children a direction to go.  You let them use their own creativity to create whatever they wish. If every art project looks the same then it was probably more the work of the teacher and not the child, and that isn’t teaching children much.  So, Yes today was all product art, but the children did get some fine motor practice in; they also enjoyed the process and none of them look exactly alike :o)  Here is a link to a handout about Process vs. Product http://www.ooeygooey.com/handouts/art.pdf

Painted Fall Trees

Dress-Up Center was the popular area today!  We looked at and talked about the three homework bags that were brought back.  We then added all of the items to baskets and put them in our Science Center.  We painted a tree template with fall paint colors and cotton swaps.  We stacked our plastic apples, Big Emilea holds the record of 4 apples stacked!  Don’t forget, if you haven’t already done so,  to go on a walk with your child and help them look for signs of Autumn and collect some items for their bag.   Our VIP shared her Frozen bag with us, and we got another Grandparent letter!

Torn Paper Trees

We read When the Leaf Blew in today.  That one leaf caused a lot of trouble for the farm animals!  We shared our VIP’s adventures with Norman the Bear and she shared her Dallas Cowboy’s hair bow.  She also had a special visitor for lunch that also happened to be having a Birthday today!  Thank you to our VIP’s Grandma for joining us for lunch and sharing some Birthday Cupcakes with us! We made torn paper fall trees and added plastic apples and baskets to our fall Science Center.

Happy First Night Of Fall!

Autumn officially begins tonight, and I am so excited!  Autumn is my favorite season!  I love everything pumpkin, the crisp air, the beautiful fall colors, and just about everything else that has to do with Fall!  This week our Theme will be Autumn/Fall and we do not have a letter of the week.  Today we shared our VIP’s Bulletin Board and a few special items she brought from home.  We painted our arm and hand for a special fall tree project, and painted with pumpkins and gourds.  We have added some gourds and pumpkins to the Science Center.  Well… that is where they started and finished, but during center time they were used in the Kitchen Center to make “pumpkin soup.”  The geo-boards were popular today!

He loved the magic paint so much from last week he asked if he could do it again.  I shared my secret and he created his own secret message!

Eggs

Our last day of Egg week, and it has been a fun week!  Today we read An Extraordinary Egg It is a silly book about 3 frogs that find what they think is a chicken egg, but is really an alligator egg.  We revisited some of our favorite activities from this week and drew a picture of an oviparous animal, cut out and egg, and put it on top of it to look like it had hatched.  We wrote in our journals and enjoyed the beautiful morning weather.  Have a wonderful Weekend!

 

Oviparous

Ask your child tonight if they can tell you what Oviparous means.  I taught my mom a new word today, maybe they can teach you one too :o)  We read Chickens Aren’t The Only Ones.  We learned that there are many oviparous animals, or animals that lay eggs.  I gave all of the children 3 pictures of animals and we sorted them by Oviparous or Not Oviparous.  They are fast learners and if they did have trouble their friends were very willing helpers.  We made and walked on a balance beam at the playground.  At the table we did “magic painting” or color resistant painting I wrote each child’s name in white crayon on an egg and the children used water color to paint over and reveal a secret message.  They were so excited when they realized it was a word they knew how to read!  Our VIP shared a fun game with us!

   

Walking on Eggs

What a fun day we had today!  We walked on eggs!  As long as the eggs are pointed up and not sideways children can walk across them without breaking them!  Read the science behind it here… http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/walking-on-eggshells They loved this so much!  I am sorry if they are wanting to play with all of your eggs at home now, but hey, at least they are excited about learning!!  We also tried to put Humpty Dumpty back together again using bandages.  You may think this is a huge waste of bandages and yes it kind of is, but it is a wonderful fine motor skill.  It is hard getting those bandages open!  And I got 3 boxes for under $3.00 so totally worth it!  Our VIP shared her letters from her mom and dad today.  We have also received a few more grandparent letters!