What a fabulous week in Pre-K! The Halloween centers and Carnival ran so smoothly and the children were engaged in a variety of games, art activities, and even a moon bounce! It was exciting to see how independent they were and willing to try new activities. Thank you to the parents who volunteered in the classroom and for bringing in a creative costume for your child. I appreciate all your hard work. The children loved dressing up and sharing what they were with friends. Many laughs and good times were shared this week. 

Carnival

PK Halloween Party

SPOoky Science with the Upper School Students

This week we began our spiders unit. Here is a look at the week:

Centers

Language Arts- The children played a game where they used their fly swatters to squish the spider based on the letter called and shown to them.

Art- The children created spider webs using glitter and crafted their own spider out of construction paper. 

Math- Spiders counting book. The children had to recognize the number and create that many spiders on their web. We also learned the popcorn words, ‘I’ and ‘see’. These stories are great to read at home and reinforce their learning.  

Fine motor- Beading and play dough with our Halloween scene mats.

Reminders/Next Week

CONFERENCES- November 1-4. Please sign up for a 30 minute session using the link sent in the email.

Grandparents Day- November 22

Pumpkin Carving Night

It was great seeing so many families at Pumpkin Carving Night! Thank you for coming and all your support.  It was a nice turn out and the kiddos really enjoyed themselves.

Morning Meeting

In morning meetings we had a variety of whole group activities.  In the beginning of the week, we labeled the parts of the pumpkin, used picture cards to sequence the lifecycle, and sang many songs! The children enjoyed watching the life cycle video online as well as the story, Franklin’s Pumpkin for a fiction tale. 

We also took a closer look at a pumpkin using our five senses.  We counted the lines, measured the pumpkin with cubes, touched the prickly stem, opened up the pumpkin and touched the pulp and slippery seeds! It was great to see the children’s reaction.  The kiddos came up with a list of adjectives to share their thinking.

Centers

Language Arts- The children read the lifestyle of a pumpkin emergent readers. 

Next, they completed a sequencing activity where they could color the pictures and show how a pumpkin grows.  

Art- The children mixed shaving cream, orange paint, and glue to make a gooey mixture to create a pumpkin.  Next, they cut shapes out of construction paper to make a Jack-O-Lantern face!  These were fun to make and the kids enjoyed getting their hands messy.

Fine Motor-The kiddos rolled play dough on fall play dough mats to make different shapes.  They added leaves to the trees, made faces for the Jack-O-lanterns, and faces for different scarecrows. 

Math- Counting games with pumpkin manipulatives. 

Playing with friends on the playground.  

P.E

THIS WEEK:

PK/JK Halloween Party- Friday, October 28th from 9:30-10:30  Please remember to bring in food/treats that you signed up for!  It is very much appreciated :)

Spooky Science with the Upper School students on Thursday!

This week the PK children began their pumpkin unit.  Here is a recap of the week!

Morning Meeting

The children acted out the story of the 5 little Pumpkins.  They took turns playing the role of the different characters in the story and being ‘on stage.’  This is a great, fun way to have them perform in front of a large audience!  Also, we made a schema chart to see all the facts we know about pumpkins and this will guide future learning.  We also did a picture sort with the letter P.  

Centers

In reading groups, we read the story, Orange Pumpkin, Orange Pumpkin.  This is a version of Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin Jr.  We colored the pictures based on the description and circled the new popcorn words “I” and “see.” 

Also, the kiddos did a letter matching activity. 

Art- The children made silly scarecrows and worked on following multi step directions.  You can see their silly faces and creations posted on the classroom door! 

Math- Fall patterns and counting using candy corn and pumpkin manipulatives. 

Fine motor- Fall play dough mat scenes

Journal- The prompt was, ‘One upon a time, a pumpkin..’

Spanish

We had a tasty end of the week treat- homemade pumpkin muffins!

Next, week we will dive into more depth and learn how pumpkins grow and will follow up with a few science experiments.

Important Dates and Reminders

Pumpkin Carving Night- Friday, October 21st- 10 dollars per ticket. This includes dinner and a pumpkin to carve!

PK Halloween Party- Friday, October 28th

Halloween Carnival- Friday, October 28th