Friday, September 28

We had a lot of fun with all of our manipulatives at our morning work stations today.  Some of us continued to explore the light table, some built ladders, some decorated felt cookies, and others worked puzzles. 

At our centers, we had our last day of playing with hand puppets and castle blocks on the rug.  We might have to get out our finger puppets for next week since our hand puppets were such a hit!  At Mrs. Hennessy's center we worked on our October placemats, gluing down our pumpkins and then peeling leaf stickers to finish it off.  At Miss Kathleen's center we played a game recognizing names and faces from our class and then we practiced drawing a face.  First we made a round shape (circle or oval) then put on two eyes, one nose, one mouth, and two ears.  Some of us even added hair!  We talked about shapes and counting and colors.

After centers and our outside time, we sang Happy Birthday to our birthday girls and then had some delicious birthday snacks!  We loved them!

Wednesday, September 26

After our Morning Work and Circle Time, we headed for our centers.  At our rug center, we continued playing with our puppets and our castle blocks.  Today we incorporated time-out chairs for our puppets who couldn't be nice to their friends.  (One of the rules with puppets is that they aren't allowed to be used for hitting, fighting,etc.  Today the children unstacked our green plastic kitchen chairs and had some of the puppets who weren't following the rules in time-out!)

At Mrs. Hennessy's center we made our October calendars.  Please note that there is no school for children on Monday, October 8th.  Look for an email later today with information on signing up for a parent conference.  Also, on Wednesday 10/24 we have our field trip to the Island's Y Pumpkin Patch.  

Our class does not come to school on that day.  Instead we meet at the Y at about 10:00 wearing our pumpkin patch t-shirts.  (If you haven't yet sent in a plain white child's t-shirt, please do that ASAP!  We’ll be sending these home by Friday 10/19.) Each child needs to be accompanied by an adult in order to participate.  Cost per child is $8.00.  We watch a skit, ride a hayride, make a craft, eat lunch (hot dogs), and pick a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch.  We finish at about 12:10 and leave from the Y to go home.  (Cost for a parent is $4.75 if you choose to eat lunch with your child.  If you also want to pick a pumpkin, your cost is the same as your child's, $8.00.)

At Miss Kathleen's center we explored the light table and the light box.  We had caterpillars, butterflies, and all kinds of jewels and shapes that we sorted, compared, and combined on the lighted surfaces.  

Monday, September 24

We had a silly day today!  As soon as we finished our morning work, we went over to let Miss Lori take our pictures.  (Look for information soon on a web link for quick ordering!)  Because we were right next to the playground, we just went over and had our outside time right away!  Then we came in and ate our snack!  We did all of this before we even said the Pledge of Allegiance or had our centers!

We didn't forget about any of that though.  We were especially excited since we had all new centers today!  At our rug center we played with puppets and built with castle blocks; at Mrs. Hennessy's center we colored, cut, and taped; and at Miss Kathleen's center we explored our sensory tub full of oatmeal.

It was a great way to start the week!

Lots of puppets!

You can play baby dolls with puppets!

All of the castle blocks have a dot on them.

If you use your hands and your feet, you can have four puppets at a time!

You can make mushrooms with the castle blocks too!

Tape is sticky!

We really enjoyed scooping and shoveling the oatmeal!

Friday, September 21

Stringing beads...

Practicing patience...

Following patterns...

Making choices...

Using tweezers to strengthen our grip--and fine motor skills...

Enjoying a healthy snack!

Wednesday, September 19

We practiced our cutting and gluing skills at Miss Kathleen's center.  It was interesting to see how each  of us approached the task in our own way.  We had some cutters, some tearers, some glue everywhere and everything, some just put a little glue on the colored paper...But we all had fun!  At Mrs. Hennessy's center we played with Moon Sand for the first time.  In addition to building and smushing, we had some of our animals out to bury and find.  We continued to play with our giant legos and our Noah's Ark at our rug center.  We also spent some time singing and dancing to "Who Built the Ark" this morning.  (While this isn't the version we listen to, if you'd like to hear the tune you can check out this youtube link  http://youtu.be/3Ei5nSfKFws )

We also had some fun outside time with our friends--and a delicious healthy snack!  Most of us loved the fruit kabobs and wafer cookies!

Monday, September 17

During Morning Work today, some of us played with Noah's Ark, some of us worked at tables, and some of us danced!

At our rug center, we built with our giant Legos and played with our Noah's Ark.  At Mrs. Hennessy's center we worked on our fine motor skills with tracing and coloring.  At Miss Kathleen's center we explored our magnifying glasses and magnets.

At snack we continued our Noah's Ark theme by having animal crackers--with Cheerios!