BLOG RETURNS JAN 4

I will do the blog again after the winter holiday break.

Activities for Fri, Dec. 11

We played in the gym today with trikes, alligator ride, balls and hoops.

Willow Room MWF class

Our story was "Who stole the cookies?" by Judith Moffat

We did a doughnuts at the bakery rhyme at circle time too

We used glitter paint water colors on muffin shapes

We did some counting activities using color chains and a holiday matching game
We practiced our Christmas songs



Maple room- MWF class

We read "The gingerbread girl" by Lisa Campbell Ernst

We baked cookies and at the easel we had trees with glue and sparkles

We practiced our holiday songs

Oak Room:
We read Rudolf the red nosed Reindeer and later we had a book on Cd called "snowmen at Christmas"

We made a picture by poking holes with a tack through a stencil to make a design.
We also did bead stringing on pipe cleaners, and shape matching.

We had our holiday party today.

Activities for Thursday, Dec. 10

Willow room:

Mr. Cookie Baker by MOnica Wellington was our story today.

We made gingerbread men using puffy paint and did stamper painting as part of a surprise for our parents. We also baked cookies today!

We had a color matching game out, some matching erasers, a puzzle book.

We practiced our holiday songs.

Oak Room:

Messy Bessey's Holidays by Patricia and Fredrick McKissack was our story today.

We baked cookies for our holiday party. We also did bead stringing on pipe cleaners.

We had a button sorting game out.

We rehearsed our music for the holiday party.

Activities for Wednesday, Dec. 9

All classes played in the gym today with scooters, tunnel, balls and hoops.

Willow Room: MWF class

We read "Snowmen at night" by Caralyn Buehner. This is a book on CD.

We asked the children if they made a snowman?

We made holiday wreaths by gluing green triangles on wreath shapes, we used silver glitter glue and crunched up red tissue paper to make "berries" for the wreaths.

We had out a shape puzzle book, a shape box and a game where you make a picture using colored dots.

We did a lot of pretending to make bread and cookies in our bakery shop.

We are still practicing our holiday songs for our party.

Maple Room- MWF class

We read "The gingerbread boy" by Paul Galdone

We made some wrapping paper to wrap our presents for our parents- we used holiday stampers and stamped designs on tissue paper. At the easel we had tree shapes with tissue and glue.

We practiced our December songs and our songs for our Holiday party.

Our gingerbread man escaped again and took several friends.....we found them hiding all over our room.


Oak Room-

We read "Gingerbread Mouse" by Kate Bratun and we also read "D.W."s Perfect Present" by Marc Brown

We worked in our journals today writing "L" words. We also took out small groups to do a patterning game.

Activities for Tuesday, Dec. 8

All classes played in the gym- it was a snowy day today! We had out hoppy balls, basketball hoop and balls, and balance beam.

Willow Room: T/TH class

Our story today was The gingerbread boy and our question today was "Do you like snow?"

We made gingerbread boys at art and painted them with puffy paint which is a mixture of salt, flour and paint. We had stocking shapes at the easels and painted them with glitter paint.

We had a number peg game, a shape match game and some shape puzzles out today.

We are having fun in our bakery and with our minty green soft playdough.

We practiced our holiday songs for our party.


Oak Room-

We read "Arthur's Christmas" by Marc Brown

We made stockings to hang by our classroom "fireplace". the children used foam letters to make their name.

We practiced our holiday songs for our party.

The children were playing in our bakery today.

Activities for Monday, December 7

All classes played in the gym today with the trikes, tunnel, basketballs and hoops

Willow Room: MWF

We are talking about "the gingerbread man" and we read "The gingerbread boy"

We had our first snow today too so we talked about snow- our question today was "Do you like the snow?" and at our 2nd circle we asked the children to tell us what they know about snow- it is posted outside the classroom.

We made gingerbread boys with puffy paint ( a salt and flour mixture mixed into the paint). We used pastel paint and it looks like frosting.

We had some color pegs out, letters and magnets and Mr. Potato head out on the tables today. Thge children are loving our bakery. We have corn flour in our sensory table.

We have minty green playdough.

Maple Room-

We are talking about the gingerbread man this week. We read "The gingerbread man story"

We made gingerbread men out of Cinnamon and applesauce. We took our gingerbread men down to the oven to bake, but when we went back to get them out, the biggest gingerbread man had escaped from the oven just like in the story. We went on a search around the building and found clues, but could not find the gingerbread man until we got back to our classroom- he was hiding in our room!

we had gingerbread shapes at the easel.

we practiced our songs for our holiday party.

Oak Room:

We read Arthur's Perfect Christmas " by Marc Brown

We were working on our frames for our ornaments, we glued winter itmes to the frames.

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

We practiced our holiday songs.

The children enjoyed the bakery today.

Activities for Friday, Dec. 4,

All classes played inside in the gym today. We had balls, bouncers, a tunnel, bowling and some other toss games out.

Willow Room: MWF class

Our book today was "If you give a cat a cupcake" by Laura Numeroff and our question today was "Do you like cupcakes?

We made candy canes to decorate our room- we used red glitter paint, they look so sparkly.

We also decorated the wrapping paper to wrap our presents we made for our parents. We used holiday stampers and red, green and yellow paint.

We had markers at the easels.

We had a cookie monster puzzle out, a Holiday matching game, and a Giant Brown Bear book.

We practiced our songs for our holiday party.

Maple Room:

"Mr. Cookie Baker" by Monica Wellington was our story today. We made special clay with the children today and used it to play with and then used holiday cookie cutters to make clay cookies for our bakery. We baked them in the oven and will paint them on Monday, It will be fun to have them be our special cookies for our classroom bakery. We had doughnut shapes at the easel and "frosted" them with paint.

We are having fun in our bakery.

We practiced our holiday songs. we also did our favorite- Jump, Jim, Joe.

Oak Room:

We read "Gingerbread Friends" by Jan Brett

We painted on foil that was first crinkled up and then opened up. We then made a print of the paint on the foil and will use it for a special project we are making for a gift for our parents.

We also made a salt/flour clay to make cookies for our bakery. We will paint them next week and use them in our class bakery.

We played a sequence game- 3 and 4 steps, what comes first, second third and fourth.

We practiced our songs for our holiday program.

Activities for Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009

All classes played in the gym today. We had trikes, balls, hula hoops and the rocking alligator out.

Willow Room: T/TH class

Our story today was Spot bakes a cake

We worked on our holiday gifts for our parents today.

We painted candy canes to decorate the room too.

We had some bakery puzzles, bead stringing, and a holiday sorting game out today.

We practiced our songs for our holiday party today.

Oak Room:

We read the Gingerbread Pirates by Kristin Kladstrup because we are taking about gingerbread men. There are many variations of this story and some fun extensions.

We decorated large gingerbread men cookie shape paper with a mixture of shaving cream and colored glue which we then embellished with buttons and beads.

We had a button sorting activity sorting buttons by shape. We practiced our songs for our holiday party.

we had new playdough- minty green and so soft.

The children are loving the bakery and have such fun wearing their baker hats.

Activities for Wednesday, Dec. 2

We were able to get outside again today- each day now is a bonus!

Willow Room: MWF class:

Our book today was "Spot bakes a cake" by Eric Hill

Our question today was "Have you been to a bakery? and what did you see there?" We have our bakery set up and we discuss with the children what a bakery is, what they make there and how it smells.

We are working on some special Holiday gifts for our art today- shhhh!
We had mitten stencils and markers at the easels.

For music we are practicing our holiday songs.

We have new soft minty green playdough with Holiday cookie cutters.

We have corn flour in our sensory table.

Maple Room:

"The Little Red Hen" by Paul Galdone

We did a gluing project to make our holiday project
At the easel we had round donut shape paper and puffy paint.

We practiced our songs for the holiday party, and we sang our December song and our winter song.

Oak Room:

We worked on our journals today drawing pictures of the letter "K". We also took small groups of children to another classroom and played some small group games working on letters, shapes, and some word recognition.

The children are loving the bakery and the special food puzzles we have too.

Activities for Tuesday, Dec. 1

All classes went outside again today-how wonderful to be able to still get outside for some fresh air and exercise.

Willow Room- T/TH class

Our story today was 'The best mouse cookie " by Laura Numeroff

We painted using prickly balls which make a dot pattern. We will be using these for a "special project" we are making.

We had puzzles, stacking cups, magnetic shapes, and a game of matching holiday objects out on the tables today.

We have fine ground corn meal in our sensory table- it feels soft.

Our dramatic corner has been transformed into a bakery and the children each have their own baker hats.

For music today we practiced our songs for our Holiday program.

Oak room:

We read "Froggy bakes a cake" by Jonathan London

We made snowflakes out of coffee filters using glitter and paint.

The children are enjoying our bakery in the dramatic corner and they are building with Legos.

We practiced our songs for our Holiday party.

Activities for Monday, Nov. 30

The Willow Room played inside the gym today, and The Maple Room and Oak Room went outdoors today. If it is sunny, dry, and above 40 degrees we go outside, so please send warm coats, hats, and gloves or mittens. Scarves too.

Willow Room: MWF class

We read "The best mouse cookie" by Laura Numeroff and our question today was "Do you like to bake?"

For art we used "prickle" balls to roll paint over paper in a box. It makes an interesting dot design.

We have some holiday shape cookie cutters at the playdough table. We have a dress a bear puzzle, magnetic shapes, stringing alphabet beads, some shape puzzles and a connect shapes to make a picture game.

We have changed our dramatic play into a bakery for December. The children will each have their own "chef" hat and we have fun playing with all of our pretend bakery food.

For music we will be practicing our songs for our holiday party.

We have corn meal in our sensory table.

Maple Room:

We read "Froggy bakes a cake" by Jonathan London

We did marble paint for art today. We had stampers at the easel.

We practiced our songs for our Holiday party and we sang our November song.

We started talking about he letter "F" today.

We changed our dramatic corner into a bakery and the children spent so much time in there having fun with their baker chef hats and all the new fun foods. We also decorated the sign for our bakery.

Oak Room

We red "The little Red Hen". For art today we decorated paper plates with green paint and tissue paper crumpled up. When dry, we will combine them all to make a Christmas tree for our bulletin board.

We practiced songs for our holiday party.

We are talking about he letter "K".

Activities for Wednesday, November 18

All classes played int he gym today- we had trikes, alligator see-saw, bouncy balls, and hoop tunnel

Willow room: MWF class

Our story today was "Thanksgiving is for giving thanks" by Margaret Sutherland
Our question today was "What are you thankful for?"

We painted using Thanksgiving and fall shapes and tempra paint.

We had some wooden shape puzzles, a color flower design game, some create a bear puzzles, and a seasons vocabulary classification board.

for music today we did the turkey hop, cool bear hunt, and skinnamarink.

Maple Room- MWF class

We read "Froggy Eats out" by Jonathan London

we painted with stampers to make our vests for our Thanksgiving feast. We had paint with brushes at the easels.

We sand "Today is Monday", and we did a Tom Turkey number match

We practiced writing letters today.

Oak Room:

We read "Clifford's Thanksgiving visit"

We worked on our journals today with pictures for the letter "J" and we took the children out of the room in small groups to play some small group games.

For music we did "turkey int he brown straw", and a match the letter to the turkey game.

We have had fun taking boxes and gluing various items make them look like igloos, cabins, and other types of buildings. The children enjoyed making them and we have been playing with them with play people.

Activities for Tuesday, November 17

All classes went outside today.

Willow Room- T/TH class

We read "Thanksgiving s for giving Thanks" by Margaret Sutherland

We glued feathers onto turkey shapes for art.

We sang "Turkey feathers" and Turkey Hop"

we had hay and animals in the sensory table.

Oak room:

We read "Jack's house" by Karen Magnuson Beil

We did painting with corn cobbs today.

We sang "Today is Monday", "Shake your sillies out" and "My hand says Hello"

Activities for Monday, November 16

We played in the gym today.

Willow room: MWF Class

We used magnetic farm animals to help us tell our story today. It was "Cat goes Fiddle - i- Fee" by Paul Guldone

Our question today was "Which farm animal do you like?" and at our second circle time- we sang "Turkey in the red barn"

For art today we glued feathers onto turkey shapes.

We had Mr. Potato heads out, magnetic letters, and a color dot game.

We sang "Turkey feathers song", and the turkey hop song

We had Hay and farm animals in our sensory table and pumpkin pie spice added to our playdough today.

Maple room: MWF class

We read "Froggy gets dressed" by Jonathan London

We did spool painting for to make our headbands for our Thanksgiving feast on Friday.
Our class will be the native americans and the other class will be the pilgrims.

We sang "November song", and "Alphabet turkey"

we talked about the first Thanksgiving and about Native Americans and Pilgrims; we looked at a globe to see how far they sailed to get to America.


Oak Room-

We read "In a people house" by Theo LeSieg and "There's no place like home" by Marc Brown


We made part of our outfit for our Thanksgiving feast- our class will be the Pilgrims. We used white paper and stamped them with fall shapes.

We sang "Shake your sillies out", "bubble gum" and "on the count of 5".

we are talking about the letter "J" this week.

Activities for Friday, Nov. 13

All classes went outside again today.

Willow room: MWF Class

We read "Nothing at all" by Deny's Cazet

Our questions today was "Do you think a scarecrow can talk?"

We had shape magnets at the easel and for art we made animal foot prints on a large piece of paper covering the whole table.

We had our muddy pigs using cornstarch, brown paint and water. We had farm puzzles, alphabet beads and our fun in our farm today.

We sang "Herman the worm"and "Brown Bear"

Maple Room: MWF class

Our stroy today was "The great Turkey race" by Steve Metzger

We made place mats for our Thanksgiving feast next Friday. The children wove paper strips to make the place mats. We had turkey shapes at the easel with dot painters.

We did our November song, Walking shoes song, and turkey feathers song.

We are talking about the letter "E".

Oak Room:

Our story today was "The three little wolves and the Big Bad Pig" by Helen Oxenbury

We made sculptures by dipping packing peanuts in colored glue and making building creations out of them. The children also used colored toothpicks to add another element to their designs. The children were very into this today.

We had some three letter word building puzzles out today. We also put a large box out and glued paper tubes to it to make a cabin. We asked the children if their name had a "letter I" in it.

We sang "Tap your toe and follow me"

Activities for Thursday, Nov. 12

All classes went outside today.

Willow Room:

Our story was "The little red hen" and our question today was "Do you like bread?

We painted with real wheat and with feathers. we had magnets at the easel.

We had some farm puzzles, animal puzzles, bead stringing for fine motor skills, and shape magnet boards.

We sang "animals on the farm" to the tune of wheels on the bus.
We did the "Turkey Hop".

We had our "muddy pigs out today- plastic pigs in a cornstarch, water and brown paint mixture. We had hay and farm animals in our sensory table.

Oak Room:

We read a variation of the 3 little pigs today. We made paper houses- when you open the door we glued pictures of pieces of furniture inside. We had turkey shapes at the easel with glue and colorful feathers.

We did some insect sorting in a tray, we had hammers and golf tees too.

We sang a syllable song- we tapped out syllables using rhythm sticks.

Activities for Wednesday, November 11

All classes went out to the playground today.

Willow Room- MWF

"The little red hen" was our story today. Our question today was :Do you help your mommy bake?

For art today we painted with feathers and with real stalks of wheat.

We had stringing beads and mice shape sorters.

We did bean bag boggie dance and turkey hop

We played with the muddy pigs again, we had fun in our farm, and with our hay and animals in the sensory table.

Maple Room:

"Sometimes it's turkey-sometimes it's feathers" by Lorna Bahan was our story today.

Our art activity today was to use oil pastels on brown paper with a red paint wash. We had turkey stencils with paint.

For music we did "November song", "turkey feathers", and we used jingle belts to sing the "freeze dance" and "Jump Jim Joe".

Oak room:

Each child took a turn acting out the story of the "Three little pigs"

We worked in journals today drawing pictures of words that begin with the letter "I".

We had an "I" puzzle out, magnetic building blocks, small group bingo games, and we had a hammer activity with plastic golf tees.

We sang 5 houses rhyme and cool bear hunt.

We also had a group activity of making an house from a cardboard box- an Igloo.

Activities for Tuesday, November 10

All classes went outside today.

willow room- t/th class

"We read the Farm Book" by Jan Pfloog. It talks about farm ife for children and all the chores they have to do before they go to school.

We did finger painting with chocolate pudding to create a process for our muddy pigs from our farm.

We had mosaic pattern picture boards out, magnetic letters, stringing beads, and a vocabulary classification board on the tables today.

We sang "Pass the bean bag" and "Couch potato pokey".

We have straw in our sensory table with farm animals.

Oak room:

We did the felt board story of the 3 little pigs. We then did our art project using "wind" like the wolf who blew down the houses. We put paint on paper and blew through a straw to move the paint around to create a design.

We have a construction site in our dramatic play corner.

For music we did "5 little pigs" and "Pigs in houses"

Activities for Monday, November 9

All classes went outside today.

Willow Room:MWF class

"The farm book" by Jan P Floog was our story toady. We also checked at circle to see if our pretend hen hatched her eggs.

We finger painted with chocolate pudding!

We had puzzles of various kinds, alphabet beads, vocabulary classification- colors.

Music:- 2 little blackbirds, pas the bean bag, couch potato pokey

Muddy pigs: We made a solution of cornstarch, water and paint and we put little pigs into the "mud pie" which was such messy fun.

We have straw/hay and farm animals in our sensory table.


Maple room:

Our story was"Run turkey run" by Diane Maur

We did corn roll painting- we rolled dried feed corn in a box with paint and made designs on the paper. We had toothbrush painting at the easels.

We did our "November song", "Letter sounds song", and "turkey in the straw" for music today.

We are talking about the letter "E"

Oak room:

We read "the 3 little pigs story" by Paul Galdone
We read the story, we retell the story and the children act out the story this week.

For our art project today, we had the children cut out three houses and glued them onto blue paper. They then added "straw", sticks, and bricks" to make houses like the three pigs made. We used a stamper to add pigs to our picture too.

We are talking abou the letter "I".

Activities for Friday, Nov. 6

All classes went outside today and enjoyed another beautiful fall day raking leaves, jumping in them , and just running around chasing one another too. We had a lot of fun going down the slides today too.

Willow Room- MWF class:

Our story today was "Big Fat Hen" and "Where do chickens come from?" We talked about eggs we eat and eggs on farms that hatch into chickens.

We did a group art picture by painting with corn husks today. We had magnetic letters at the easel.

Some of our table activities were farm animal puzzles, a number puzzle where once you put the numbers in order, you end up with a picture of a farm animal. WE also had out a farm animal sorting board.

For music we sang "Tap your toe and follow me.", "stinky cake", and "cows get up in the morning".

We had feeder corn in the sensory table, we have pretend eggs we are waiting to hatch into chickens. We have new farm puppets and farm animals in our Willow farm int eh dramatic corner.

Maple Room- MWF class

Pooh's Fall Harvest by Isabel Gaines was our story today. We always do our calendar, weather, days of the week, and a counting or patterning activity at circle time.

We painted with rubber bands today- we taped rubber bands to pencils, dipped them in paint and moved them around on paper. We had glitter watercolors at the easels.

For music we sang "Old McDonald had a band using instruments", November song", and "funny fall animals".

Oak Room-

We read "Sam and the firefly" by PD Eastman. It is a story about a firefly who makes words in the sky and gets into trouble.

Then for art, we took black paper and yellow paint and used alphabet stampers to make letters in the sky like the story.

We had magnetic blocks and and ABC magnetic puzzle out today.

The children helped change the dramatic corner materials today.

We did "list of dances" for music.

activities for Thursday, Nov. 6

All classes went out to the playground today. We are having fun raking leaves, jumping in the piles, and using big trucks to move them around.

Willow room-T/th class

We read cocka doodle moo! a Barnyard Hulabaloo by Bernard Most

We have a new dramatic corner set up- "the Willow Farm"- check it out.

We have various farm puzzles, sorting animals, magnetic alphabet, shape sorters, and we have puppets in our farm area too.

We sang "Old McDonald had a farm" and there is a dog in the farm song.

We made corn muffins this morning with the children and home made butter. We shook and shook a jar of cream until it turned into butter. We ate the muffins and butter for snack.

Oak Room:

"Wake up, Oliver" by Sue Hendra was our story. It is about an owl that stays up during the day and discovers the sun, and different animals. It is part of our theme on nocturnal animals.

We did nighttime pictures- dip nighttime shapes- star, moon, etc. in glue and then sprinkle glitter on top.

We had shapes puzzles out, a magnetic color maze, and snap together blocks. Our dramatic corner is changing into a vet office with stuffed animals.

for music, we did a new version of the hokey pokey.

Activities for Wednesday, November 4

All classes went out to the playground today- we had rakes for raking leaves, jumped in leaves, played with the sand and played on the climbers and played with trucks scooping the leaves.

Willow room- MWF class

We read "cock-a-doodle-doo!, A barnyard Hullabaloo" by Giles Andreae

Our question today was "If you could be an animal, which one would you be and why?

For art we made animal prints with tempra paint and stampers.
At free art- we had paper strips for snipping with scissors and for tearing.

We had sorting farm animals by color, puzzles, sorting activities, shape peg boards, and stencils.

We let the children pour their own juice at snack today.

We sang "Dog in school" ( we sang about farm animals in school) and "Old McDonald had a farm"

Maple room- MWF class-

We read "Clifford's first autumn " by Norman Bridwell

We used bubble wrap to make prints, first we painted on the bubble wrap, then we press paper onto it to make a print.
At the easel we had turkey shape paper and painted with feathers.

We sang our November song, and the months song. We also used instruments to sing "Old McDonald had a band."


Our estimating jar had 30 unifix cubes in it today.

Oak Room:

"The mixed up rooster" by Megan Lloyd was our story today.

We worked in our journals today drawing pictures that start with the letter "H".

For music we did "animal actions", "five green and speckled frogs", and "Herman the worm".

we are talking about the letter H.

Activities for Tuesday, Nov. 3

All classes went to the playground today and enjoyed the great day outside raking leaves and playing on the equipment.

Willow room- t/th

"Spot can count"by Eric Hill was our story today and we sang "Old McDonald Had a Farm". We changed our dramatic corner into a farm today.

Our art project today was to use water colors to paint coffee filters which we will turn into turkeys to decorate our rooms.

We have new orange playdough. We also played with some colorful farm animals which we sorted into color bowls.

We danced with ribbons to the freeze dance music, and we did an animal sounds song called "Good day song".

We have feeder corn in our sensory table.

Today was the first day we used the name tags as place cards at the snack table. The children did an excellent job of finding their place to sit.

Oak room:

"The dog who cried wolf" by Keiko Kasza was our story today.

For art we worked on a fall wreath. The process we used was to put yellow paper in a can with a lid. We added "prickle balls" dipped in paint and shook the can to spread the paint around on the paper.

We did the bean bag boogie, five green and speckled frogs for music today.

We also talked about nocturnal animals and the Letter "H".

Activities for Monday, November 2

Willow Room- MWF class

Our story today was "Spot can count" by Eric Hill and our questions today was "Which animals live on a farm?"

For art today we painted with water colors on coffee filters which we will turn into turkeys to decorate our room. We had markers and paper at the easels.

We had a farm floor puzzle out today, and some farm animal sorting by color. We also had out magnetic letters and alphabet beads for stringing.

We went to the playground and crunched leaves.

We have feeder corn in our sensory table.

We did the freeze dance with ribbons and good day song which is about animal sounds.

Maple room- MWF class

Our story today was :Thanks for Thanksgiving" by Julie Markes which is a story about things we are thankful for. Our art project today was to cut out "thankful" feathers and then dictate something to write on them that we are thankful for. We will put our turkey in the hall. At the easel we had fall colors of paint and tree shapes.

We went to the playground and raked leaves.

Our question of the day was "do you have a Letter "D" in your name?" we are starting to talk about the letter "D".

Our music today was "The November song", "Months of the year", "Pretty leaves" and "Jump Jim Joe. "

Oak Room:

Our story today was "Don't laugh Joe" and we cut out feathers to decorate our Thankful turkey int eh hall. The children dictated what they are thankful for.

We are talking about the letter "H".

We went outside today and we played in the leaves
For music today we did "Turkey in the brown straw", "animal actions", and "Herman the worm"

Activities for Thursday, Oct. 29

Willow Room- T/Th class

Our story was Pumpkin Time by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

We used Halloween stamper prints, bats, cats, and pumpkins and at free art we put stickers onto black paper.

We had a Halloween spider color match game, and animal sorting game and zoo animal puzzle out today. For music we sang "Pumpkin in the red barn" (a rhyme song) and "Over the deep blue sea" and action counting song.

We also played with Mr. Pumpkin Head- real pumpkins with Mr. Potato head pieces. We made a special snack today, mini bagels with orange cream cheese and raisins.

We went to the playground today.

Maple Room- Thursday class

Our story was "The old lady who wasn't afraid of anything" by Linda Williams.

For art we used shape stampers

We went to the playground today

We did kid's pick favorites for music, so we sang 5 little pumpkins, Itsy Bitsy Spider, ABC's , Jump Jim Joe, and Sticky Bubble Gum

The children helped change our calendar board to get ready for November.

Oak Room:

Our story was "Nothing at all" by Denys Cazet

We did an opposites match game at circle too.

We made a mask from paper plates, will it be a scarecrow or something else? We used them at the end of the day to hide our faces while our parents came in to the room.

We did some spider rhymes, and used spider rings as props. We also did a scarecrow rhyme. We played scarecrow bingo at the table to day.

We went to the playground.

activities for Wed. Oct. 28

All classes played in the gym today.

Willow room- mwf class

Our story today was "Clifford's Halloween" and we asked the children "What costume would you like to wear?"

We made Halloween stamper prints with cats, dogs and pumpkin stampers dipped in paint. At free art we had Halloween stickers the children could put on paper.

We had a number peg puzzle, bead stringing, for fine motor and counting activities and a shape shadow match for a visual perception activity.

We played "pass the pumpkin to music" and sang "Pumpkin in the red barn"

Maple Room

We read "Franklin's Halloween" by Paulette Bourgeois

We worked on our journals today and at the easel we had acorn shape paper with fall glitter colors and dot painters.

We sang out "October song" and "Jump Jim Joe" and I am a little scarecrow"

We had the estimating jar, we voted for the pumpkin face we wanted carved and we carved our class pumpkin today.

Oak Room:

Our story today was "The little old lady who was not afraid of anything" by Linda Williams

We also voted for which face to put on the pumpkin.

We had "G" puzzles and activities out today and domino puzzle.

We sang "opposites song with actions" and "List of dances"

We carved our pumpkin today and we touched the "goo" inside the pumpkin.

activities for tuesday, Oct. 27

All classes played in the gym today.

Willow Room- t/th

Our story today was "When autumn falls" by Kelli Nedey


For art we scrunched up different colors of tissue paper and glued them onto a leaf shape to make fall leaves. We had magnetic letters at the easel.

Some of our table activities were to sort different colors of animals into matching color bowls. A matching game where the children find the matching object and card.
A shape peg game and a vocabulary classification game. The children also have been enjoying the extra train sets we brought into the room.

For music we sang "Please pass the peas" and "Everybody has a face".

We carved our pumpkin today and we asked "What do you think is inside the pumpkin?"

Oak Room

Our story today was "The pumpkin patch" by Margaret McNamara

We made Jack-o-lanterns out of orange construction paper. The children cut on a line we made and when folded and stapled, it made a cute pumpkin jack-o-lantern.

Music: "Come and buy a pumpkin", pumpkin in the brown straw", and jack-o-lantern went out to play.

We are talking about the letter "G" and we continue to talk about nocturnal animals.

Activities for Friday, October 23

All classes stayed in to play in the gym today due to the rain. We had trikes, balance beams, the rocking alligator, and bowling, out today.

Willow Room- MWF class

Our story today was "Pooh's Fall Harvest" by Isabel Gaines and was read to the children by Pastor Dan as a guest reader.

Our painting project today was rolling corn cobs back and forth in a box to paint a fun design. At the easel we used magnetic pieces to make a face on pumpkin shapes.

We had puzzles, magnetic letters, a tree color matching game and some pumpkin activities out today. We also had real pumpkins and Mr. Potato head pieces so the children made "Mr. Pumpkin Head"

We sang "Tommy Thumb" , "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear", and "2- little blackbirds" for music today.

Maple Room- MWF class

We read "The biggest pumpkin ever" by Elizabeth Bennett

Our art project today was to make a pumpkin lantern which made a cute lantern and was also a good cutting project for the children. At the easels we had pumpkin shapes with orange paint.

The children put together a large ABC floor puzzle today; we also played a number game.

We sang our October song, Bean Bags- Balance and Take that bean bag songs; we did "The silly dance contest", and "Tommy thumb".

We did some animal walks today in the gym too.

Oak Room:

We read "The apple pie tree" by Zoe Hall

For art we did a cutting project today- the children cut out a circle for the top of a tree and a truck shape to make an apple tree. They used red ink and a cork to make apples on the tree.

Some of our table activities were word building puzzles, and a talking abc puzzle.

We did some songs using scarves, we danced and moved around the room with the scarves.

Activities for Thursday, October 22

All classes were in the gym today with trikes, alligator rocker, basketball hoop and balls.

Willow Room- T/Th class

Our book today was "It's pumpkin time" by Joe Hall and we looked at our class pumpkin and talked about what the pumpkin looks like.

For art today, we cut some mini pumpkins in half and used them to make pumpkin prints by pressing the pumpkin into orange glitter paint and pressing it onto black paper. At the easel we had orange chalk and black paper.

Our table activities were and apple sorting game, Mr. Pumpkin Head ( like Mr. Potato head, but we use real pumpkins!), and some new orange playdough with pumpkin shape cutters.

We sang a song called " buy a pumpkin in the pumpkin patch", each child gets a "penny" and gets to come up when their name is called to "buy" a flannel board pumpkin. It is a good listening skills song.
We also did a favorite of "brown bear, brown bear".

Oak Room:

We read "one smart skunk" by Harriet Ziefert
For the letter "F" we asked "Does your name have an "f" in it? Nobody has an "f" in their name.

For art today, we made leaf prints- we painted on real leaves and pressed paper onto it to make a print.

We had out number puzzles, magnetic writing boards, and "What picture doesn't belong cards?"

We did some bean bag activities for music, the train song where you move around the room balancing bean bags in different ways.

Activities for Wednesday, Oct. 21

WE DID A FIRE DRILL TODAY- ASK YOUR CHILD ABOUT IT

All classes went outside- it is beautiful out today!

Willow room- MWF class

Our story today was "It's pumpkin time" by Zoe Hall

Our question of the day was "what color leaf do you like best?- red, yellow. orange, or brown and red had the most votes on our graph.
We looked at our pumpkin and talked about what our pumpkin was like; we will cut it next week.

We made pumpkin prints using the top half of a small pumpkin dipped in orange glitter paint. At the easels we had shape magnets and also we had a pumpkin shape and pieces of black paper cut into jack-o-lantern pieces to make a face on the pumpkins.

At free art we took the orange pictures we had painted on Monday, our teacher had cut them into pumpkin shapes and we used black paper and glue to put faces on our pumpkins.

We had new soft orange playdough today. We had out some sorting games and pumpkins that we put Mr. Potato head pieces on to make Mr. Pumpkin head.

We had leaves in our sensory table.

For music we sang "down around the corner at the pumpkin patch", Brown bear, brown bear"

Maple room- MWF class

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

We did marble painting at the tables with orange paint. At the easels we had pumpkin shapes with orange paint.

We did the October song, pumpkin patch, and Underneath the broomstick for music today.

Oak room-
We read "The oak tree" by Laura Jane Coats

We are starting to talk about nocturnal animals (animals who are out at night, and asleep during the day)

We had small lego blocks and we had beans and measuring cups in the sensory table.

We worked in our journals today- we made letter "F" pictures

We brought in a large car garage, the children enjoyed it.

We drew faces on a large pumpkin with washable markers and erased them to do it again and again.

For music today we did :Match upper case letter to lower case letter and ring the bell when we make a match. Bean bag activities and songs too.

Tuesday, October 20

Willow Room: T/TH class

We read "We love fall" by Diane Muldrow

We sorted names by color to work on name recognition.

We used flat sponge brushes with orange paint and had shape magnets and pumpkin faces at the easel.

We did a sorting game with a "spider sorting game" we had some shape recognition games out and sorting apples on the trees by color.

We also had out small real pumpkins with holes punched in them and Mr. Potato head parts.

We sang"I like my hat" and "ABC sound song"


Oak Room:

We read "Autumn's first leaf" by Steve Metzger

We made fall leaves by coloring leaf shapes cut out of paper bags with fall colors of crayons. Then we put a layer of thinned brown paint over the crayons. After they dry we will crumple the paper to make some of the paint fall off.

We are talking about the letter "F"

Activities for Monday, Oct. 19

All class went out to the playground today.

Willow Room- MWF class

We read "We love fall" by Dinae Muldrow and our questions was "what did you do this weekend?"

We did roller painting with orange sugar paint and we had orange chalk on black paper at the easels.

We had Mr. potato head, a shape sort game and color sorting at the tables.

We sang" I like my hat", "Bubble gum", and 3 little pumpkins.

Maple room- MWF class

We read "Fall leaves fall" by Zoe Hall

We made leaf prints by painting the bumpy side of the leaf and pressing paper onto the paint to make a print. At the easel we had leaf stampers.

We sang" colorful leaves, 4 little leaves, and colored leaves"

We practiced writing the letter "B" which is our letter of the week.

Oak room-

We read "The falling leaves fall " by Steve Metzger

We painted bubble wrap with yellow paint. We pressed paper onto it to make a print. We will use the prints to make corn for our bulletin board.

We sang "leaves falling down" played a memory game of the squirrel behind the tree"

Preschool class activities for Friday, Oct. 16

We were in the gym again today since it was once again cold and rainy. We have had enough of this weather and the children seem to be reacting to the bad weather as well.

We had a special visitor today for the children: Firefighter Jim came to show us his special fire fighter uniform and how it keeps him safe in a fire. We got to see his helmet, his mask, his coat, fire pants, boots, and gloves. we learned he is here to help us in a fire and to not be afraid of him.

Willow Room:
Our story was "Firefighter for a day" and we had our visit with Firefighter Jim today. Our question today was "How are you feeling today?"

We decorated firefighter hats with dot painters. We had gluing on star shapes at free art today.

We did some shape match cards- circle, square, triangles; number recognition peg game and apple tree sort to work on color recognition.

we sang "Mr. Apple Worm", "Drive the Fire Truck", and "ABC song of letter sounds"

Maple room:

We read "Stop, Drop and Roll " by Margery Culler

We made stop, drop and roll shirts for art today. At the easel we had leaf shapes with water colors.

For music we did the chicken dance, tap your toes and follow me, and brown bear brown bear.


Oak Room:

Our story toady was "The growing story" by Ruth Krauss. We finished our all about me books and took them home today.

We made string paintings with fall colors- we folded paper in half and pulled yarn through the paper. We will turn them into colorful leaf pictures.

We had measuring activities out today, some measuring cards, and word building puzzles. We were measuring things with rulers, inch blocks and measuring tapes.

We sang "This old Man- (a rhyming song), and "stomp, stomp, clap."

Activities for Thurday, Oct. 15

All classes went to the gym today due to rain- we had trikes, and basket balls out to play with.


Willow Room- T/TH

We had a new child start in our class today. Our story today was Fire Fighter for a Day and we had fire fighter Jim visit our class today. He put on his uniform and his air mask and showed us how he would sound if he ever came to help us in a fire.

We made fire fighter hats and decorated with stampers.

Easel- yellow and red glitter paint.

We had Mr. Potato head and pieces, , magnadoodle, and magnetic shapes out today.

Music: Mr. apple worm- flannel board- counting, ABC song- letter song- sounds of letters
and drive the fire truck


Maple Room- Thursday class

We read Mouse's first fall by Laura Thompson

We fingerpainted with shaving cream on big trays and traced circles with our fingers in the shaving cream.

We did some favorite songs, "dog in school", "Herman the worm" and "October song".

We played a rainbow color guessing game and worked on some floor puzzles.


Oak Room

We read "The biggest boy" by Kevin Henkes.

We worked on our self portrait pages for our "all about me book" , we brought in mirrors so the children could look at themselves to draw their self portrait. We measured how tall the children are.

We had out an apple tree matching game today- you place the correct number of apples on each tree.

We sang a phonics song called "funny fall animals", which helps children learn the sounds of beginning letters. we also sang "The ants go marching"

We had a visit today from Firefighter Jim and he put on his whole uniform and showed us what he would look like if he ever came to help us in a fire. He put on his mask and talked through it and breathed through it so we would know what it sounded like too.

Wednesday's activities

All classes went to the gym today and used scooters, hula hoops, the balance beam, and the alligator teeter totter.

Willow Room- MWF class:

Our book today was "Apple Farmer Annie" by Monica Wellington. Our question today was "Do you like to bake? and we discussed the yes and no answers with the children further. Why not? or What do you like to bake?

We did our weather and calendar activities today.
For our project today we baked apple tarts!

At the easel, we painted using sponge shapes that are on a stick.

We had matching games, puzzles, number boards, letter beads and play dough with fall cookie cutters out today at choice time.

We sang "give me a clap", "Hello everybody", "yes, indeed", "tap your toe and follow me."


Maple Room- MWF class

We read "Mouse Paint" by Ellen Stoll Walsh about a little mouse who gets his feet in different colors of pant so they get all mixed up to make new colors. We asked the children what they thought mixing two colors would make and they told us their predictions, which we posted int eh hallway.

for art- we mixed paint colors- we used eye droppers and saw what new colors were made.
At the easels we had leaf shapes with red, yellow and blue paint.

In our sensory table we had corn.

For music we did our "October song", "List of Dances", "Stomp, stomp, clap" and "Underneath the broomstick".

Oak Room:

We read "More Parts" by Tedd Arnold

We worked in our journals today on the letter "e". we made handprints for a page in our all about me books.

For music we did "Old McDonald had a farm and leaves falling down.

Activities for Tuesday, Oct. 13

Willow room- t/th class:

We read "Apple Farmer Annie" by Monica Wellington

We baked apple tarts today and we ate them for snack. At the easels we had paint with unusual sponge brushes.

We had alphabet magnets out with magnetic boards, apple tree matching games, alphabet maze, peg boards, and vocabulary classification board out on the tables today.

We stayed in the gym today and played with balls, bouncing, throwing, rolling fun.

We sang "give me a clap", "Hello everybody" and "tap your toe and follow me"


Oak Room-

We read "Parts" by Tedd Arnold. We made covers for our "All about me books" today. Our art process was marble painting with marbles in a box and roll them back and forth to paint lines of different colors on the paper.

We sang and used the instruments for our music time today, We did "Old McDonald has a band" and "Deep in the Jungle".

We played with the parachute in the gym today.

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

Activities for Friday, October 9

All classes went to the gym today- trikes, basketball, low balance beam and ring toss were set up.

Willow Room- MWF class-

Our story was "Mr. Bear's tree" by Faulkner/Lambea

Our question was "What do you think is inside an apple? Seeds? Juice?

For art we had an apple shape and sponge painted with red, yellow and green paint.

We also let the children use dry erase markers to draw pictures on the teachers board and then erase them- it was fun.

We had out alphabet mazes, a matching game, number puzzles, and more.

We cut open different color apples and looked inside - do diferent color apples look different inside? What about taste? Do they taste different? We had a taste test to find out.

For music we did "The swimming song" and "May there always be sunshine".

Maple Room:- MWF class

We read "Apple cider making days" by Ann Purmell

We wrote in our journals today- we did apple themed words.

We sang "Willaby Wolloby Woo", "October song", "Leaky Umbrella", and "Brightly colored leaves".

We had cornstarch and water to explore today in our sensory table.

Oak Room:

We read "Rain" by Manya Stojic which is a story about all 5 senses and it was perfect today since it was raining outside.

For art today, the children painted a picture and then we sprayed it with water like the rain, this is a favorite, fun activity.

We did the" 5 senses song", and "Mack chicken Dance".

We played a five senses game today- it is a sorting game where the children put the picture next to the sense you would use in that activity.

Activities for Thursday, Oct. 8

All clases were in the gym today with trikes, hula hoops, balls, basketball hoop and tunnel.

Willow Room- T/TH

Our story was "10 apples up on top" by Theo Lesieg and we are continuing to work on name recognition at circle time.

We made "apple tree pictures" by using a cork dipped in red paint to make apples for our green construction paper trees.

We had a classifying board out, some alphabet stringing beads, and some mini pompoms to sort onto apple trees.

We sang "the couch potato pokey", "skinnamarink" and "the apple tree"

Remind your children to sneeze into their elbows- we worked on that today in school.

Maple Room- Thursday class

Our story was "We are going on a leaf hunt" by Steve Metzger

We did finger painting with red and yellow paint because the leaves are turning red and yellow this fall. The colors of paint also combined to make another leaf color- orange.
We had fun making different shapes in the fingerpaint, writing our names withour fingers and just feeling the paint squish through our fingers.

The children got to pick songs today- we sang "Jump Jim Joe", "ABC's ,""Today is Monday", and "Brightly colored leaves."

In class we took a tube and put it at different heights to see which height would shoot the car the farthest. We found the teacher's chair worked the best.

Oak Room-

Our story was "My Hands" by Aliki

For art today, we brushed glue inside a stencil and sprinkled sand on it to make a texture picture. We had out texture puzzles and a feely box since we are talking about the sense of touch.

For music we did "10 little fingers rhyme", "The finger band has come to town"

We did a graph about "do you have the letter "d" in your name?

Activities for Wednesday, Oct. 7

Willow Room- MWF class

Our story today was "10 apples up on top" by Theo LeSieg, and we made apple tree pictures for art. We had tree shapes cut out of green construction paper and made red apple shapes using corks dipped in red paint.

At the easel we made "apple seed pictures" by using special rollers which only made dots, black paint and red construction paper, so it ended up looking like little black apple seeds on the paper.

Our circle time question today was " Have you ever gone apple picking? yes or no?

Some of our table activities today were alphabet beads, magnetic letters and magnet board, shape peg boards, and color match board. We also had a special activity of matching the apple to the correct color tree.

We went outside to the playground today.

Our music was "couch potato pokey" , "the apple tree", and "skinnamarink".

We did a fun apple rhyme today- Five little apples sitting in a tree, teasing Mr. worm, you can't catch me. Along came a worm, as quiet as can be, CRUNCH!" Then you count down, 4, 3, 2, 1 apples. The childrne loved it.


Maple Room- MWF class: "The mouse and the apple" by Stephen Butler . We made some props to go with the story and used them to have the children retell the story with the props. They did a great job of remembering what came next which is great for comprehension. We then left the props out during choice time so the children could retell the story.

We made applesauce from scratch using apples the children brought to school. We also did a taste test to find out what color apple children liked the flavor of best.

At the easel we had apple shapes stencils with paint.

We went to the playground today.

Our music today was our "October song", "A-P-P-L-E" (which is like the song "B-I-N-G-O.") "Today is..." and Pass the Apple (like musical chairs)

We did some letter "A" activities today.


Oak Room:

Our story today was "I wish I had duck feet" by Theo LeSieg

We were talking about the sense of touch today and we fingerpainted with sand added to the paint to help understand the sense of touch. We also worked in our journals today- we drew pictures that begin with the letter "d".

We were so busy with everything else we did not get music in today.

we went outside to the playground.

We had a "feely box" today since we are talking about the sense of touch. The child puts their hand in the box and feels what is inside and tries to guess what it is without looking.

Activities for Tuesday, Oct. 6

We were in the gym today since it was raining outside, we had trikes, with the gas pump, basketballs and the basketball hoop and balls out today.


Willow Room- Tue/Thur.

Our story today was the verbal story about the "little house with no doors and no windows" and at the end of the story the surprise is a star inside an apple.

For art today, we made apple prints with real apples. If you cut an apple crosswise, you will find a star inside. At the easel, we had apple shape stencils and rollers to paint with red and green paint.

We had an apple sort pompom game, farm animal color sort, and an alphabet magnetic puzzle out at the table today.

For music we did "The silly dance contest", "face the facts" and 2 little apples.

Our sensory table has small plastic pumpkins in it now with the rice.


Oak Room:

We read "10 apples up on top" by Theo LeSeig

For art, we made apple prints using real apples.

We played a guessing game with apples and worms, guessing which apple has the worm hidden behind? We did sorting animals.

We had cornstarch and water today, this is a great, fun, sensory experience. The substance has a liquid and solid feel.

We talked about the sense of taste today. We are talking about the letter "D" and we played a group game of color and shape Bingo.

Activities for Monday, Oct. 5

Willow Room- MWF class

We are talking about apples and one of the children went apple picking this weekend, so he told us about it.

Our question today was, "What color apples do you like?" and our story today was The little red house with no doors and no windows, which is a verbal story that ends up with a surprise at the end. The "house" turns out to be an apple.

At our second circle time , we talked about the weather, the calendar and we did the fingerplay, "Two little apples smiled at me", which is about apples and emotions.

For our creative art today, we made apple prints using real apples. We had roller brushes with apple stencils at the easel.

We had number rings and pegs for counting and number recognition, magnetic letters and magnet boards for letter recognition and gluing collage materials for fine motor skills at the tables today. We also had many children enjoying the blocks, trucks, and trains.

We had an apple sorting game and sorted "apple" pompoms by color.

We did the "Silly dance contest" and "Face the facts" songs on CD's today for music.

We went out to the playground today.

Maple Room- MWF class

We read The little Mouse and the Big Red Apple " by A.H. Benjamin. For art today the children tore pieces of paper and glued them onto apple shapes- good fine motor activity as well as art activity, this helps children develop cutting skills.

We sang the "October song", animal action, ABC and Way up high in the apple tree.

We started the letter of the week today. Ask your child about the "Alphabet monster"

We went out to the playground today.

Children in the Maple Room: Please bring an apple on Wednesday, we will be cooking with them.


Oak Room

Our story today was "The little red house with no doors and no windows", which is a verbal story that ends up with a surprise at the end. The "house" turns out to be an apple.

The children cut up slices of apple for our applesauce which we got to enjoy the smell of in our room all morning and we got to eat at snack time. We also cut up pieces of the different kinds of apples the children brought in and did a taste comparison and graph of who liked which color apple best.

For music we did "Way up high in the apple tree", Animal sorting, and "A-P-P-L-E".

We talked about the sense of taste today and we tasted apples too.

We went outside today.

Activities for Friday, October 2

Willow Room- MWF class

We read "Corduroy" by Don Freeman; this book is considered a classic in children's literature.

Our art project was then to give the children a paper cut out to look like Corduroy's overalls in the story; then the children glued buttons all over the paper overalls.

Our question for today was "Do you have a button on your clothes?"

At our second circle time today, we did our weather and calendar, counting activities and we played a color bear game where we looked for colors that are in our room.

At the easel today we had some new paint brushes, they are short, with thick bristles, and they are made special to not roll off tables. At our free art table, the children were gluing objects onto paper.

We had bead stringing, a puzzle with all kinds of locks on it, and an alphabet magnetic puzzle out for fine motor skills,

Our music activities today were "head, shoulders, knees and toes" , "everybody has a face", and "The Sneezing song".

We went out to the playground today.


Maple Room: MWF class

We read "The apple pie tree" by Zoe Hall.

For art we painted our version of apple trees using paper cut into a tree shape; we dipped different size and types of corks into red paint and pressed them onto the paper to look like apples. We were able also to look at how the different corks made different looking "apples".

At the easel we had stampers with paint. At our free art table today, the children "discovered" the scissors and were enjoying cutting paper, which is great for fine motor skills.

Our worm farm was placed in our sensory table today so the children could look at it easily from all sides. They could see the paths and tunnels that are being made by the worms.

We played a small group game today, shape bingo.

We went outside to the playground today.

Oak Room:

Today we talked about our sense of hearing and we read "The ear book" by Al Perkins. For a listening activity we counted pennies with our ears....we had the children count the pennies by listening to the sound they made when dropped into a cup. We blocked the view so they could not see the pennies, they could only hear them.

We always do our calendar activities, weather graphing and counting activities at circle time. We also often do a graphing question of the day

We did many listening activities today, we had some music instruments out during part of choice time, we put on a music CD of some fun songs, we talked loud and soft too.

For art, we made shakers to use during music. The children colored paper plates and we put a few beans in them so they would make noise when we shook them. We then used them at music time to make music for our song. We also had a tape of different sounds that we listened to and tried to identify what was making that sound.

For a science experiment today, we had frozen large ice blocks and the children used red, blue, and yellow colored water with eye droppers to drip onto the ice. They were able to see the primary colors mix to make new secondary colors. They could also see how the water made the ice melt and holes developed in the ice block. This was a popular activity.

Monday, October 5 - children in the Oak room- Please remember to bring an apple to school today.