10/20 - Fairy tale Unit (Prince, Princess, and Pumpkin)

P is for Princess, Prince, and Pumpkins!!!!!  We had a blast today.  Our color of the day was Orange (upon reflection I probably should have chosen Pink - oh well), our letter was 'P', our shape was Circle, and our number was 6.  We started our day outside.  I made these "jousting sticks" last week to go along with our lesson on Knights.  They are so fun, safe, and kids love playing with them.  It's just a pool noodle cut in half.

 It's a fun way to get our energy out before we go in for circle time.

 At circle time we sang songs, learned about the letter P, and did a short game.  Then we went over to the kitchen table to learn about Pumpkins.

 I had already cut the top off.  The children all got to pull some of the insides out.  They each got a portion of the insides of the pumpkin.  We counted seeds, described the feel and smell.  It was wonderful!  I got words like "stringy" "wet" "ropes" and "yucky!"

 While I finished carving the jack-o-lantern, the children created their own with markers and foam cut-outs.  I think they liked that better than the messy real one.

 They got to finish as our funny jack-o-lantern looked on.  :)

 After our foam pumpkins we made some mini-pumpkin cookies.  The children put them on the cookie sheets and off to the oven they went.

While the cookies were baking we went upstairs for centers.  I think they felt like they didn't get enough center time today - we had so many things to do.

 After centers we had snack time and decorated prince and princess crowns.  Then we went downstairs to frost our pumpkin cookies.  The children worked really hard to frost them.  They got a little frustrated at times but it's really good for them to do it on their own.  They used chocolate chips to make the jack-o-lantern faces.

 They worked really hard and did a great job.

 We were a little pressed for time today so we had story-time while we ate our cookies at the table.  These are the stories we read.

 We're really getting excited for Halloween!  Don't forget about the upcoming field trip to the farm next Tuesday.  Next Thursday the 29th, the children can wear their Halloween costume to school and we will have a halloween themed school day.