Preschool Fieldtrip! 10/15

Our first fieldtrip and of course it was to the Craven Farms pumpkin patch! All week we've had fun learning about pumpkins and what a fun way to end the lesson and week.

Unfortunately poor Tatum came down with a stomach bug and couldn't go. We really missed her and wished she could've joined us. :(

Our first stop was a cookie and a 'farm story'. Then we were ushered out to look at some animals.

The kid's really enjoyed playing on all the fun outdoor things they had. Megan had some issues sharing and even after a time out was a little grump all day.

Megs and Isaiah tromped to the very END of the patch to find their perfect pumpkins.

They were so cute watching them walk together and discuss which pumpkins looked best. :)

Trying to get a cute picture of all of them with their pumpkins and Megan did NOT want to stand next to them. I'm not sure where this newfound independance is coming from but I'm pretty sure I don't like it.

She was in the picture but on her own terms. haha

It was such a fun day and I thank all the mommies (and grandparents!) that came.

Preschool 10/13

Theme:
Pumpkins

Circle Time

Books: Haunted Party, Berenstein Bears and the Prize Pumpkin

We had our pumpkin friend back again today and passed him around as all the kids wanted a turn in holding it!

We guessed if we thought the pumpkin weighed heavier or lighter than us. Then they each stepped on the scale to weigh themselves.

Tatum - 32 lbs
Megan - 55 lbs
Isaiah - 47 lbs
Lola - 37 lbs
Pumpkin - 16 lbs

Played some file folder games - matching pumpkin faces and Pumpkin ABC's

Art

We listened to Raffi's '5 Little Pumpkins' song and then did our own art project to it. They all really liked putting this one together!

Later we did an open-ended art project with tissue paper circles (pumpkins), pipe cleaner (vine) and real pumpkin seeds. Lola chose not to participate in this one. She was too engrossed in playing something else at the time.

Snack

We made individual pumpkin pies. The kids helped measure the ingredients, mix it all up and scoop it into their own bowls. I had planned to have them eat this right away but didn't see before in the directions it had to set up in the fridge.

So we had saltines and string cheese, went outside to play, finished our day in the preschool room and came back down stairs to have the pies at the end of our day. I think in the end they all only at the whip cream on top! Oh well!

Preschool 10/12

Theme:
Pumpkins

Letter: D
Number: 5
Color: Black and Orange

We had sort of a mixed up day today. It was a make-up day since we didn't have school Monday for Columbus Day. Lola wasn't here and Tatum came 1/2 way through our morning.

Books: Whooo's There?

Megs, Isaiah and I made some pumpkin pie playdoh that smelled SO YUMMY!

We did some observations of our in class pumpkin. They drew it in their journals and then they held it and touched it noting how smooth and cold it was.

Art

For art they did still life with the pumpkin. I think they did pretty well with a non-directional project, just some paint, paper and here ya go! Tatum and Isaiah liked seeing how their colors mixed together.

Centers

We played in the sensory tub again and scooped marbles and sorted them. They played with the kitchen and pretended to make pumpkin pies.

Snack

String cheese and fish crackers

Preschool 10/8

Theme:
Fall

We talked more about squirrels today and where we think they might live. We made a bear cave under the table and they enjoyed hiding out under there.

Centers
Had fun playing with the Halloween sensory bin. Digging through black beans and orange rice is so mesmerising! Even I love feeling it pour through my hands over and over. :)

Color matching with paint samples.

We played a dice game with leaves. They took turns rolling the big dice, counting out how many it landed on and then choosing that many leaves from the pile to stick onto their tree. We did about 2 rounds of this before their patience started to wear thin and they all started just grabbing leaves to stick on. The concept was good though! It was good for them though because they all needed to practice getting the paper off the backs of the stickers.

They traced some lines I had written on paper also. Curved, wiggly and straight. Good practice in preparing to write letters.

Snack

Carrots & crackers (both orange like our color of the month!)

Tatum likes showing me what she's eating. :)

Preschool 10/6

Theme:

Fall Is Here!, day 2

Today we talked a lot about squirrels. How they gather nuts, where they live, and what they eat.

Art

Painting with our hands with Fall colors.

We also made our own squirrels. They colored the squirrel template and then cut & glued on pieces of grey yarn for the fur.

Afterwards I told them they were going to pretend to be squirrels and I was going to hide, ok scatter nuts around the room and they had to hurry and gather them and bring back to the nest (the bowl). They were quick at this!

Afterwards we observed all the different nuts - shapes, size, texture. We sorted them out and in doing so Megan found an almond that was easy to open. Out popped a yucky looking old nut. She wanted to eat it but I told her no. So we went downstairs and tried some fresh almonds I had in the fridge.

Afterwards we enjoyed some playtime outside!

Snack

Fish crackers & cheese

Preschool 10/4

Theme: Fall Is Here!

Letter of the week: C

Number: 4

Color of the month: Orange

Shape of the month: Triangle

Circle Time

Introduced theme of the week and talked about leaves changing colors, falling from the trees, jumping in piles of leaves, what animals start gathering food for the winter, etc.

We sang a song about leaves falling down and we also sang Eensy Weensy Spider & Where is Thumbkin? per Tatum's request.

Centers

This week enjoyed the Concentration game. I know it's pretty advanced for them but they worked hard at getting the right shapes in and then we'd start the timer and wait for them all to pop up.

Dancing to music!

We did some beading, patterns & sorting.

We played a game where 1 person sat in a circle on the floor (I made it with a jump rope). We all counted to 4 and and threw the leaves in the air. The person in the circle had to count how many landed in the circle with them.

They each enjoyed having a turn!

Silly faces!

Snack

Crackers & peanut butter

Art

We did our letter of the week - C is for caterpillar. They glued pom-poms onto the letter C to make a caterpillar and then added some googly eyes. I guess I didn't get a picture of them; some art projects need a lot of guidance and I don't always have the time to snap a picture! This one required lots of gluing so I'm guessing I was busy with overseeing the use of too much glue. ;)

We also did some dot a dot with the letter C & caterpillars. And then we did some practice cutting. Lola loves to cut so she was pretty happy.

Left to Right: Megan, Tatum, Lola, Isaiah

Preschool 10/1

Theme:
Animals of the Forest, Day 3

Circle Time
We discussed what animals in the forest eat - berries, leaves, bugs, & other small animals. We read the books below:

Then we played a matching game.
Tatum and Megan patiently wait for me to explain the rules. I must've been long winded because by the time I was done they were all laying on their tummies.

Snack

Animal crackers and string cheese

Art

We did raccoon paper bag puppets but I never took a picture of them I guess.

We also did a messy project outside stamping apples onto the letter A.

After we were done they all needed to be cleaned up so I dumped some water and dish soap in the water table. It was perfect! Then they wanted to wash the apples. :)

It was a beautiful day so we took full advantage and had a lot of outside play time on the swings, trampoline and just running around.