Sunday, October 31, 2010

Activities for Thursday, Oct. 29, 2010

We played outside, it was windy, but fun!

Willow room- T/Th class

We read "Pumpkin Time" by Kathleen Zoenfeld and we sorted our names by color today. Then we compare how many of each we have. This sorting activity helps the children learn to recognize their name and since we use different ways to sort them, it helps them learn about various attributes.
At our second circle we did a "3 little pumpkins" rhyme.

We made pumpkin prints using real pumpkins with orange glitter paint. We had black stamper cat shapes and black glitter paint at the easels.

We sang "pass the pumpkin" where the children passed the pumpkin around in circle and stopped when the music stopped. We also sanf 5 liitle pumpkins.

We made a special snack using orange colored cream cheese, on bagels with raisins for jack-o-lantern eyes.



Oak Room:


We read "Nothing at all" by Denys Cazet
We also read "Flip Flop saves the children"

We made scare crow type masks from paper plates- the children held them up to hide behind when the parents came to pick them up from school.


We had estimated how many pumpkin seeds were in our big pumpkin and today we counted them. Estimates ranged from 1 to 1000. There were 530 in our pumpkin. Then we used the seeds for an activity, we had pumpkin shapes with numbers and the children placed 10 seeds on the pumpkin with the number 10.

We also had out 4 letter word puzzles.

We sang "This old man" for music today.

We practiced writing the letter "G" on our dry erase boards.



Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Activities for Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2010

We had another very windy day, but some classes went outside and some stayed inside to play.

Willow Room- MWF class

We read "Clifford's 1st Halloween" by Norman Bridwell

Our question was "D you have a pet?"

We made pumpkin prints using a real pumpkin and orange glitter paint.

We had black cats and bats at the easel for making prints.

We played pass the pumpkin- the children passed the pumpkin around the circle and stopped when the music stopped. We also sang On Halloween, On Halloween and 3 little pumpkins on a hill

We turned our snack into pumpkin bagels and ate them....yummy


Maple Room:

We read Froggy's Halloween by Jonathan London

We used leaf shape cookie cutters to make prints with paint and glitter.

We had pumpkin shapes at the easel with orange paint and glue. We added some construction paper face pieces to add to the pumpkins.

We sang the October song, down around the corner at the pumpkin patch, pass the pumpkin and the Month's song.

We did a classroom experiment with a large pumpkin. Will a pumpkin sink or float? We made guesses at what we thought it would do and then we put the pumpkin in a large tub of water to see what would happen. We also put many other things in the water too, to see if they would sink or float. Some were smaller than a pumpkin, some were heavy and some were light weight.

We then carved a face in our pumpkin. The children voted on the features of the face.


Oak Room;We read "The little old lady who was not afraid of anything." By Linda Williams

We did pumpkin prints at the easel and we worked in our journals at the table- letter G words.

We had a graphing activity out today and number pegs. the children did a lot of building with blocks.

We did some spider rhymes and pumpkin rhymes.

we asked the children if they had a letter G' in their name.





Activities for Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2010

We stayed inside on this windy, windy day! We played in the gym with tunnels, trikes, an alligator see saw, and some tossing games.

Willow Room: T/TH class


We read "This is not a pumpkin" by Bob Stoake

Our questions was, "Have you ever carved a pumpkin?"

We made jack-o-lanterns (using paper pumpkins and paper pieces cut from paper to make a face)

We sang 1,2,3,4,5 little pumpkins
If you are happy and you know it
Hands are for clapping

We carved a real pumpkin. It was fun to see the seeds and insides. We got to feel it and smell it too.

Oak Room:

We read The pumpkin Patch by Margaret Mcnmara

We made jack-o-lanterns, we used orange paper and made cuts in it, then we added a black paper handle.

We sand pumpkin in the brown straw( a rhyming song), a jack-o-lantern went out to play, and pass the pumpkin.

We are talking about the letter "G" (and we had grape juice)

Monday, October 25, 2010

Monday, October 25, 2010

We went outside today to enjoy another great day on the playground.

Willow Room- MWF class

We read "This is not a pumpkin" by Bob Stoake

We asked the children if they had ever carved a pumpkin? We also carved a real pumpkin today. We talked about how it the "feel", "smell" and what the insides of a pumpkin look like.

we made paper jack-o-lanterns using pumpkin shapes and cut out face pieces.

We sang 1,2,3,4,5, little pumpkins
If you're happy and you know it
Hands are for clapping


Maple Room

We read "The little old lady who wasn't afraid of anything" by Linda WIlliams

We made prints on paper using real pumpkins cut in half.

At the easel we had pumpkin shapes with stampers

We sang 5 little pumpkins, scarecrow scarecrow can't sit still, we acted out a pumpkin song, and we sang the October song.


We practiced writing the letters we have learned so far, A,B, C, D and we spelled two words we can spell with those letters, Dad and Bad.

Oak Room:

We read "Stellaluna" by Janell Cannon

We made bat prints with blue paper and a bat shaped stamper dipped in black paint.

We sang "Come and buy a pumpkin" and "5 green and speckled frogs".

We are beginning to talk about the letter " G" and we are also starting our unit on Nocturnal animals (which are animals who are awake and active at night instead of the day)


Friday, October 22, 2010

Activities for Thursday, October 21, 2010

We went outside again today and enjoyed the playground.

We had a visit from Fire Man Jim from the Mount Prospect Fire Department. He talked about fire safety, put on all of his fire fighter gear and told the children that fire fighters are there to help them if there is ever a fire. He showed them how his voice sounds different and he looks different, but he is there to help. He let the children feel the material of his suit and gloves and touch his helmet.


Willow Room: TH class

We read about Fire fighters today, our story was "Firefighter Ted" by Andrea Beaty

We asked (before our visitor arrived) Have you ever seen a fire fighter? What does a fire fighter do?

We made paper fire fighter helmets and at the easel we put dots on a dog shape.

We sang "Hurry, hurry drive the fire truck", "The cool bear hunt", and "Brown Bear".

We used small pumpkins and Mr. Potato head pieces to make "Mr. Pumpkin heads".

Oak Room:

We read "The busy tree" by Jennifer Ward

We used water colors to paint on leaves and then pressed a paper on top to make a print of the leaf pattern.

We had snap together number cubes, a magnetic alphabet maze out and bead stringing.

We sang some fall rhymes songs, zip-i-dee- do- dah- a beginning letter sound.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Activities for Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010

Yea! another beautiful fall day on our playground. All classes went outside.

Willow Room- MWF class

We read "It's pumpkin time!" by Zoe hall and we asked the children if they bought a pumpkin .

We had orange chalk and black paper at the easel. At the art table we painted with orange paint with flour mixed in it to make a puffy paint.

We sang and danced to stomp and clap. We also did a phonics song called "the alphabet sound song" and we sang 5 little pumpkins.

We had pumpkin stampers at the free art table.

Maple Room

We read "The falling leave and the scarecrow" by Steve Metzger

We did marble painting, by placing a paper and marbles dipped in glitter paint in a box. The children rolled hte box back and forth to move the marbles and paint a picture.

We had acorn shapes with paint and corks at the easels.

We did letter "D" activities today.

We sang and danced to "underneath the broomstick" ( A limbo dancing song), and 5 pumpkins on a gate, 5 pumpkins, and the October song.

Oak Room:

We read "Red leaf, Yellow leaf" by Lois Elhert

We wrote in our journals today, we drew something htat begins with the letter "F"

We finger painted at the easels.

We sang "Herman the worm", Hello, My name is Joe" and "Itsy Bisty spider"

We read a book about the letter "F".

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Activities for Tuesday, October 19, 2010

All the kids went outside to the playground today again. We are loving this great weather.

Willow- T/TH

Our story today was The "Bumpy little Pumpkin" by Margery Cuyler

For our second circle we did "The pumpkin song"

For art today, we tore strips of orange paper and glued them onto paper plates cut into pumpkin shapes. We had black paint and orange paper at the easels.

We did the "Freeze dance" and used streamers to dance along to the music. We sang "Pumpkin in the red barn", a rhyming song.

We had leaves and pine cones in our sensory table and we counted hte pine cones too. We danced again with the catalpa pods during choice time.

Oak Room

"Autumn's First Fall" by Steve Metzger was the story we read today.

We did a fun art project today that we will turn into fall leaves. We first colored brown paper with fall colors. Then we painted over it with brown paint (which won't stick to the crayons). After it dries, we will crumple it up and cut them into leaf shapes.

We danced to a song called "animal actions".

We guessed which objects were hidden in the bag that start with the letter "F".

we ad a magnetic board game out today where we sorted people, places and things.






Monday, October 18, 2010

Mr. Apple Worm song

Have 5 apple shapes and a worm shape cut out of flannel (or paper). You could even use real apples.

(The tune to this is 5 little monkeys sitting in a tree)

Place 5 apple shapes out and sing:

5 little apples sitting in a tree, teasing Mr. Apple worm "You can't catch me, you can't catch me"
Along comes Mr. Apple Worm (slowly move worm shape around apples) as quiet as can be......
CRUNCH! ( and grab and remove one of the apples.) Now there are only 4 apples.

4 little apples...... repeat until all apples are gone.

The children enjoy this, especially if you really emphasize the CRUNCH.

Activities for Monday, Oct. 18, 2010

We played outside on the playground today. Let's keep this streak of nice fall days going!

Willow Room: MWF class

Our story today was called "Piggies in the pumpkin patch" by Mary Peterson

We asked the question "Are you a boy or a girl? and graphed the results.
During our second circle we did the apple worm rhyme, which I will put in a separate blog posting.

Today for art, the children cut strips of orange paper into little pieces and glued them onto a paper plate shaped like a pumpkin. we will use them to decorate our bulletin board.

At the easels we had orange paper and black paint with paint brushes.

We did the freeze dance using streamers to dance and freeze to the music. We also did "pumpkin in the red barn", which is a rhyming song. we ran out of time, so we ended with singing the ABC song.

We had leaves and magnifying glasses in our sensory table. Some of the children explored the properties of magnetic wads, seeing what they would stick to around the room.

We did dancing to music shaking catalpa pods.


Maple Room:

We read "There was an old lady who swallowed some leaves" by Lucille Colandro .

We made beautiful leaf prints today using real leaves and water colors. They are outside out classroom in the hallway. They children really enjoyed this project, some made several of them.

We had paint and brushes at the easel.

We sang "brightly colored leaves, October song amd 5 little pumpkins.

We worked on some letter "D" activities.

Oak Room:

We read "The falling leaves and the scarecrow" by Steve Metzger

We painted on bubble wrap with fall colors of paint. Then we pressed a piece of paper on the bubble wrap to make a print. We will cut them into corn on the cob shapes for our bulletin board.

We sang "Way up high in the apple tree", and "Leaves falling down"

We are talking about the letter "F"

Friday, October 15, 2010

Activities for Friday, October 15, 2010

Another beautiful day to spend some time on our playground! All classes went outside. Please remember jackets.

We practiced a fire drill today (the Willow room was already outside on the playground so they did not practice evacuating)


Willow Room: MWF class

We read a book called "The apple pie tree" by Zoe Hall. We asked the children what they like to eat that is made with apples.

We used pine cones to paint; we rolled them in a big empty plastic pretzel container. We did finger painting at the easel using our finger tips.

We sang "Hello everybody" " walking shoes," and "the Apple tree".

We looked at a seed pod from a catalpa tree. We shook it and heard the sounds of the seed rattling inside. We even used them as instruments during choice time as we sang and danced to music.

Maple Room-

We read "The Legend of spookey the square pumpkin" by Joe Troaino

We made pumpkin lanterns, it was a cutting project, the paper is folded in s a special way and when they children cut on the lines, and you open it, it becomes a lantern.
We sang "The October song", "5 little jack o lanterns (with actions), and "4 little leaves"

We practiced writing the letters we have learned, A,B,C in upper and lower case.

We had time to sit and do some of the table fine motor language and math games with individual children today.

Oak Room:

We read "The growing story" by Ruth Krauss

We finished up our "All about me books" we had the children draw a self portrait and also colored a picture using their favorite color. We bound the books and sent them home today.

We had out some activity cards called "My home" with words and pictures on them. The children use dry erase markers to write the words.

We had out the sound puzzles and some bugs to sort by color, or type.

We sang "Zip-i-de-do-dah- a letter sounds song. And "leaky umbrella" using maracas. We used our dry erase boards to write the letter "E" today.


Activities for Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010

All classes went outside for large motor time today!

Willow Room- T/TH class

We read "Hands are not for hitting" by Martine Agassi

Our question today was "How are you feeling today? The children placed their name under the face of their emotion.

We made "apples" at art today, we glued seeds and a star inside an apple.

We had finger painting at the easel.

Our music today was "Hello everybody", "The apple tree" and walking shoes"

We looked at a catalpa pod from the catalpa tree. We shook it and heard the seed inside rattle. we also used them as instruments during choice time as we sang and danced to music.


Oak Room:


We are working on our all about me books, so we read "I can do it myself" by Diane Adams .

we finger painted and then we made the children's handprints for our books.

We had a farm building block set out, and ABC puzzle where you had to complete the alphabet to make a picture. We also had the letter "E" puzzle and books out today.

We did the "rock and roll Freeze dance" using jingle belts. The children wear the belts and dance to the music; then "freeze in place" when the music stops.

We asked "What words start with the letter "E".


Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Activities for Wednesday, October 13, 2010

The Willow Room stayed inside due to some nearby passing storms, but by later in the morning, the storm had passed so the Maple room and the Oak room classes went outside to the playground.

Willow Room- MWF class

We went to the gym today and played with tossing games, a rocking alligator, some tricycles, and had so much fun.

Our story today was "Apples and Pumpkins" by Anne Rockwell. we graphed which kind of apple we like best too, red, yellow or green. We did an apple worm counting flannel board game too.

We used apple shape sponges to make prints on paper. We had watercolors at the easels.

We danced to "The list of dances" by Jim Gill and also by him "may there always be sunshine"

Maple Room- MWF class

We read "The mouse and the apple" by Stephen Butler

We used eye droppers to drop two colors onto paper towels to make a third color. We used Red, Yellow and Blue. We will make them into leaf shapes for our bulletin board.

We had leaf shapes at the easel.

We sang The October song, Leaf song, and a-p-p-l-e
We danced to List of dances, and under the broomstick

We played outside.

We did some Letter "C" activities and we played a rhyming game.

Oak Room:

We read the second book in the series "Even more parts" by Tedd Arnold

Today was a journal day, we traced a picture of something that starts with the letter "E" and practiced writing the letter.

We sang "Come and get a smiley face", "Hands are for clapping" and "When I was a little fish"

we took the children in small groups to play a game and we measured and weighed all the children today.

Activities for Tuesday, October 12, 2010

We played on the playground today. We looked at the leaves falling off the trees.

Willow Room:

We are talking about fall, apples, pumpkins and leaves. We read "apples and pumpkins" by Anne Rockwell
we asked what color apple do you like? We did apple sponge painting prints, we made red apple shapes on black paper.
We had watercolors at he easels.

We did "The list of dances" and "the apple tree song"

We used our new orange playdough with pumpkin shape cookie cutters.

Oak room:

We read "Parts" by Tedd Arnold

We did marble painting to make covers for our books.

We sang "Old McDonald had a band", using instruments; "pirate song" and "Today is Monday"

We are talking about the letter E this week.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Activities for Friday, October 8, 2010

Yea! We loved the beautiful day we had to enjoy again outside!

Willow Room- MWF class

We had the children guess how many seeds would be in the red, yellow and green apples. We read the story "10 apples up on top" by Theo Leseig Some of the children brought leaves that were changing colors in to show us.

We used corks to make prints that looked like apples on tree shape paper. We had paint brushes at the easels.

We sang "Way up high in the apple tree" and "Face the facts"

We added some scissors to our paper cutting int he sensory table. We have new orange playdough. While we were outside some of the children played ring around the rosie.

Maple Room:

we read "The biggest pumpkin ever" n=by Elizabeth Bennett

We made paper bag pumpkins- we stuffed lunch bags with paper, painted them and put on faces.

We sang The October song, played a musical "buy the apple game" and sang a funny fall song.

We practiced writing our letters we have studied- on dry erase boards- "A and B"

Oak Room:

We read "Rain" by Manya Stojic. A story about sing all 5 senses in the rain.

For art, the children painted a picture, then sprayed the picture with a spritzer bottle filled with water so see what the rain would do to our picture.

we had out some shape sorting puzzles, sound puzzles, and we played a game sorting pictures according to the 5 senses.

We did the list of dances song for music. We practiced writing the letter D

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Activities for Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010

What a beautiful day! We enjoyed our outside time in our playground again today.

Willow Room: Terrific 2's and 3's class

We read "Apple Farmer Annie" by Monica Wellington

We crunched up tissue paper and glued it onto apple shapes. We will use them to decorate our room. We had magnetic alphabet letters at the easel.

We sang "The fish song" and "Put your finger on"

We baked apple tarts today, we pressed dough into a muffin shape and added apple pie filling with cinnamon. We enjoyed them at snack time today. YUM!

Oak Room:

We are finishing up our unit on senses, and today we talked about our skin and sense of touch. We read "The skin you live in" by Michael Tyler

We also made a list of words that start with the letter "D"

We guessed the objects in a mystery box by feeling them, we had sound puzles, and a birthday cake puzzle out today. We sang a senses song, and "Toe, leg, knee"

For art today, we painted glue inside a stencil shape. Then we sprinkled the glue with colored sand to create a picture with texture.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Activities for Wednesday, October 6, 2010

We had a beautiful warm day to enjoy the outside playground again today.

Willow Room- MWF class

We read a story called "Apple Farmer Annie" by Monica Wellington. We asked the children if they like to bake? One of the children brought a mini pumpkin to show the class and another brought some leaves.

We baked apple tarts, we pressed some dough into muffin tins and added some apple pie filling and cinnamon sugar.
We glued tissue paper all crunched up on apple shapes to hang in our room. We had magnetic letters at the easel.

"List of dances", and "the fish song" was our music today.

Maple Room: MWF class

We read a story called "Applesauce Season" by Eden Ross Lipson

We cut and peeled apples today and made home made applesauce. We did dab a doo stampers at the easel.

We sang October song, A-P-P-L-E, and Way up high in the apple tree.

We did letter "D" activities today too.


Oak Room:

We were talking about our sense of touch. We read Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb

we worked on letter "D" pictures in our journal, and we did a graph about whether they had a letter "D" in their name.

We had out some texture puzzles, and touch and feel books.

We had a mixture of cornstarch and water and played with the unusual texture of this combination.


Activities for Tuesday, October 5, 2010

All classes went outside today to enjoy the beautiful fall weather.

Willow Room: T/TH class

We told the story of "A little red house with no doors and no windows and a star inside" which ends up being a story about an apple. When you cut an apple crosswise you will find a star inside. we used the cut apples to make a print. The star shows up on the paper.

We had markers at the easels.

We sang "sticky bubble gum" and "Tap your toe and follow me"

We filled our sensory table with colorful paper and we got to tear it up into little pieces. Tearing is a great fine motor skill and is a pre-cutting skill too.


Oak Room:

We read "Ten apples up on Top" by Theo LeSieg

We drew a picture of ourselves on the bottom of paper and then we used an apple shape stamper to stamp some apples on top of our heads like the story.

We played a game about how many apples up on top; we had a picture of a boy and a girl and the children rolled a dice and added that number of apples to the top of the heads.

we sang "Where is the worm hiding?" "Deep in the jungle" (with drums for a beat), "come and pick an apple"

We are talking about the five senses and the letter "D".

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Activities for Monday, October 4, 2010

We were able to go outside to enjoy another beautiful fall day. It was crisp and cool, but sunny and bright.

Willow Room- MWF class

We are talking about apples in our class. We told a story about The little red house with no doors and no windows but it has a star inside. The story is about an apple! If you cut an apple crosswise, you will find the seed pockets inside form a star. We then used the cut apples to paint with today. The star shape shows up in the pictures.

We asked the children if they haad ever seen a house that had no windows and no doors!

We also had some fun snipping paper and gluing it at the free art table.

We sang "Sticky, bubble gum", and "Tap your toe and follow me" for music today.


Maple Room:


We are talking about apples this week, and we read a story called " Little Mouse and the Big Red Apple by A.H. Benjamin and Gwyneth Williamson

We did tearing paper and gluing it onto an apple shape. We had glitter water colors at the easel.

We added some corn to our sensory table with scoops and cups.

We are learning about the letter "B". We do puzzles, stories, songs and other activities each week to study the letter.

We sang "the alphabet letter sounds song", "Today is Monday" and we sang our "October song".

Oak Room

We also did the "The apple story about a house with no doors or windows and a star inside" today.

We made applesauce, the children brought apples today and we peeled them, cut them, and cooked them to make delicious applesauce to eat with our snack. We also did a taste test of apples to see which one the children liked best. We compared the apples everyone brought in and saw that some are red, green, yellow, bigger, smaller, shaped in various ways too.

We sang "A-P-P-L-E" (like BINGO, but with the apple word), and "Way up high in the apple tree" .

We are talking about the letter "D" this week.



Monday, October 4, 2010

Activities for Friday, Oct. 2, 2010

All classes went outside Friday.

Willow Room- MWF class

We read "A color of his own" by Leo Lionni and our question today was "What is your favorite color?"
One of the children brought a big leaf in to show the class.

We did a group art project using do-a dot stamp painters - we used the stampers to fill in the circles we painted last week.

We had apple shape stencils and rollers at the easels.


We sang "couch potato pokey" "sticky bubble gum" and "Tommy Thumb".

We saw 25 geese when we were outside on the playground.

Maple Room:

We read "The apple pie tree" by Zoe Hall

We made apple trees today. We used tree shapes and stamped "apples" using corks. We used apple shapes with letter "A" stampers.

We sang "The October song", "Months of the year", and "Way up high in the apple tree"

We practiced writing the letter "A" today.

Oak room:

We read The "Noisy way to Bed"

We are talking about our sense of hearing and we decorated paper plates , stapled them together, with beans inside to make shakers. We used them later int eh morning for our music time. We danced and moved to the music with our shakers.


We also did a musical ABC matching game using upper and lower case letters. The child matched the upper and lower case letter, then rang a bell when they were done.

We did a guessing game with sounds on a tape. We practiced writing the letter "C" on dry erase boards.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Activities for Thursday, September 30, 2010

All classes went outside today to play on the playground.

Willow Room:

We read "Here are my hands" by Bill Martin

We painted with textured mittens. The mittens have different textures on the palms, the children wore them and painted. We used primary paint colors.

We had painting at the easels too, we used empty thread spools on rollers.

We sang "2 little black birds" and we did the "Hokey Pokey dance"

We had many children enjoying the free art table, we had a lot of creative gluing going on.


Oak Room:


We read "Little Blue and Little Yellow", a cute story by Leo Lionni anout how blue and yellow make green.

We are talking about senses and we use our sense of sight to see colors.

We cut out a circle shape and painted with yellow and blue paint to create green.

We had a light table out today with colored transparencies so we could use two colors to create a third.

We experimented with color mixing, we used liquid colors and took two to make a third; each child got to try it for themselves.

We did a Carl the clown color rhyme at music.

We are talking about the letter "C"; and we sing songs about it and read a book about the letter "C". We also put out some letter alphabet puzzles.