11-26: Autumn theme (stone soup day!)

Yay!!!!  It's stone soup day!  I will be perfectly honest, this was my favorite day so far of instruction.  It was pretty magical!  I didn't get very many pictures of our wonderful day because we were too involved in what we were doing but I did get a few.  During circle time we listened to the narrated version of the book, "Stone Soup."  If you don't know the story I highly recommend reading it during this time of the year.  The basic theme is Sharing.  If everyone shares the little they have, then everyone has more.  Anyway, then we moved over to the table and our own personal magic stone was revealed.  I wish you could have seen their little faces!  They had so much fun pouring their ingredient in and taking turns stirring the soup.

 You have all made simply lovely children!  Good job!

 While the soup was cooking downstairs we went up to the classroom for centers.

 We had a stone soup themed water activity.  It was a hit - maybe too big!  Sorry if a few came home with wet sleeves!

 During individual learning the children colored ingredients that they were to cut out and paste in the pot sheet at home.

 After centers we went downstairs for our feast.  I snuck down earlier and set the table so it was all ready for them.  The house smelled amazing!  I am incredibly proud of them!  Every single one tried the soup.  Not all of them finished it but they all tasted it.  Great job guys!

It was a beautiful day!

11-24: Autumn Theme (T is for Turkey)

 We are having so much fun this month!  One of our activities today was to make turkey cupcakes.  I had meant to have candy corn for them to use but found out it is a Halloween candy and couldn't get it.  Oh well, Mike & Ike's worked fine.  :)

 I am so proud of these little guys. They had lots of fun putting these together.

 They had more fun eating them!  The funny thing though is that none of them would eat it until they had removed the eye candy.  lol!

 After the cupcakes we did a coffee filter painting.  The watercolor spreads to make beautiful pictures!

 The boys were bonding over linkin' logs during centers.

 The library is getting utilized more and more and that makes me so happy!

 During individual learning we practiced writing our names.  Some are getting the hang of it more easily than others and that's ok.  Please work with your little ones on holding a writing utensil and tracing their names.

 We had lots of fun in centers and then we played with play dough.  Again, cutting it with the scissors is great practice for their little fingers.

Stone Soup!

Instead of having a Thanksgiving dinner at school, we are going to use the book, "Stone Soup" as our theme.  I think you will find it extremely appropriate for the season.  This is the book I will use.

It is a really sweet story about travelers that come to a city in the winter seeking a hot meal.  The villagers tell the traveler that they are starving and have nothing to give him.  The traveler promises to make them "Stone Soup."  In the end, each villager finds a little something to put in the pot with the stone and they all end up with a marvelous soup and they are happy.  It is basically a story about sharing.  I love it!  

To go along with this theme, I will be giving each child an assignment to bring a vegetable to put in our "stone soup."  We will read the story and then make the soup.  I will provide cheese and fruit to go with it in case someone isn't willing to try it.  Please start prepping your child for this event.  I really would love for everyone to try the soup.  If they do, they get a stone that says, "I tried stone soup!"  

I will send home notices but here are the assignments:

Jaxon: 1 small bag frozen diced carrots (or fresh diced very small)

Kaisley: Beef Bullion (2-3 cubes)

Branson: 1 small bag frozen peas

Sloan: 1 small bag frozen corn

Harper: 1/2 small onion, diced very fine

Everly: 1 small bag of frozen diced potatoes (or fresh diced very small)

Luke: 1 small package of dinner rolls

Kynslee: plastic spoons and napkins (just enough for 10)

Kambree: Small pasta - like alphabets or small shells (something that will cook fast)

This event will be the day before Thanksgiving on Wednesday.  Our letter of the week will be S.  If you can't be there, please let me know in advance.  In this case you can either arrange to have someone else cover your item or you can drop it ahead of time.

Thank for your help!  I think that they will really enjoy it.   

11-12 - Autumn theme

Today was another great day.  We had a lot of fun creating things for the season.  I didn't get very many pictures today because we were just too busy.  We started our day outside.  The weather is getting quite cold so please send your child in a jacket or a coat.  We will be playing outside every day so it is important that they dress for that.  Thanks!
After circle time we read stories about fall and then came over to the table.  We made caramel apples!  If you have never tried caramel apple wraps, you definitely should!  They are so easy and fun.  The main point of the apples is that they were to take them home and share them with you.  This whole month has an underlying "sharing" theme.

 I loved this because they were able to do it almost completely autonomously.  The only thing they really needed help on was the stick and wrapping it in plastic to take home.  I love projects like this that can really build their confidence.

 We had so much fun making them.  If you happened to get a picture of eating it with them, I would love a copy of that for the blog.  Thanksgiving really is about sharing.  I love it!

 While we waited for the caramel to soften in the warm oven we colored Thanksgiving pictures.  Some like to color and others are done in 2 seconds so I always tell them that they can finish at home.

 We had time for centers, played a thanksgiving picnic game, and in individual learning we made turkeys with our hands.  I think they turned out absolutely darling!

We had snack, played outside, created another "hand" craft and had a great time with each other.

We have been having some behavior issues that the picture chart is not solving so I decided to implement some positive reinforcement.  I will be choosing one student each day to celebrate.  The student who demonstrates the best behavior will receive a sticker ribbon.  I understand that this may cause some tears at first but I am hoping that it will be more of an incentive.  I will make sure that every single student is honored by the time school ends.  If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me privately.  Thanks!

Miss Becca