Saturday, October 3, 2009

October 3

Hello Everyone!

Despite the fact that we had a four day week, so many things have been happening in our young 4's classroom. Has anyone been hearing anything about five little ghosts going out to play? With Halloween approaching, ghosts, pumpkins and costumes have been on the minds of many of your children. But, rest assured, we all made sure that everyone knows ghosts are just pretend. And even though we don't actually celebrate Halloween in school, we're still having fun talking to our friends about dressing up in costume to pretend we're something or someone different-- there have been a lot of spooky ghosts wandering around lately...

Some of the kids have also noted not only the change of season, but also the change of month. More and more, we have been learning the days of the week and the order of the months and seasons. The kids learned, to their surprise, the teachers don't actually live in school and are not there on the weekends, either. Crazy thought!!

Anyway, with the change of season and the start of a new month comes many other changes around us. We took a trip to central park to notice some of the things that started falling to the ground, hence the name of our current seasn, FALL! The children collected various types of seeds, sticks and leaves to further investigate in our classroom. Some of the kids have been thinking about other ways to use these natural materials including making a leaf pile, a treehouse, and a leaf monster. We even had a volunteer to be the aparatus for which to glue the leaves on.

We have been continuing to observe with our magnifying glasses, but this week we cut open an apple and a small cactus plant. Those who observed found that the apple contains seeds on the inside-- for others, they were not seeds, but coffee beans. That's my kind of apple :D They also explored the different textures, smells and colors of each, and how they are different on the inside compared to the outside.

With plant disection and Fall on our minds, the kids came up with the idea to cut open a pumpkin to see what is inside. Some think cheese, some think peas, and some think we should use what is inside to make a pumpkin pie. We can eat pumpkin!! It is my intent to explore with your children the many ways in which to eat and use a pumpkin. Ohh, the possibilities.

This week, we introduced a few new specials to our schedule. The kids met our new, fantastic music teacher, Lorna-Beth, and had the opportunity to learn a few new songs, dance, and play with musical instruments. We also began writing in our journals. The kids learned that we can use our journals however we'd like in order to express ourselves. We can write about our feelings, our day, or maybe write about something we like or don't like. We can also draw pictures to show how we feel. The children will be able to reflect in their journals once a week, or more upon their request.

On Friday, we had the chance to use our aprons for the first time. After reading "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" earlier in the week, we got to make our own cinnamon apple muffins. The kids had such a great time adding the ingredients and, of course, mixing them together. Very good fraction exposure, by the way. They will all get a chance to eat and enjoy them for snack on monday. Thank you to Alissa and Gonzalo for your great help.

You can get a sense that mathematical concepts have been creeping into our day in many different ways. During story time, the kids have been voting on which book they would like to read. So, if 12 people want to read book A, and 5 people want to read book B, and all 17 kids in our class voted, how many votes should we have all together? Which book has more votes? Which book has less votes? Or, if there are only 16 votes in total, how many are missing? It is really exciting to see your children begin to grasp the fundamentals of math.

Lastly, our bookshelves are overflowing with your kid's hand made books AND new library books. That means they've done such a great job taking care of their books and they're ready to use our library books again. I'm also pleased to say that the children are very well adjusted to the routine of our day. They are raising their hands with out many reminders, are respectful of others and our classroom, and are really enjoying our jam-packed days. You should all be so proud!!

Have a great rest of the weekend, and I will be uploading more pictures ASAP. An e mail will be sent once they're posted.

Amanda

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