Fall Fun

Theme:  Fall Fun
Field Trip:  Unfortunately, the "big blue bus" died and therefore had to cancel our outing to the Pumpkin Patch. Instead, I hid some of the pumpkins I had just picked from my pumpkin patch outside.  The kids seemed to enjoy finding them and choosing the ones they liked the best to keep.  We enjoyed some extra outside play time and none seemed too disappointed. 

Snacks:

• Tortilla Chips & Grapes
• Go-Gurts & Grapes

Choosing Time: Foam Blocks, Play-doh, Trains, Finger Puppets....
Music & Movement:

• Hinx Minx
• 5 Little Fishes
• 4 Speckled Frogs
• Leaves Are Falling
• 5 Fat Sausages
• Pumpkin, Pumpkin
• Spooky Loo

Science:  I hid the "Spider Eggs" we made.  We noticed how the color changed from green to white, yellow, and blue. We tried to break open the eggs by throwing them and using our fingers.  We took eye droppers and put vinegar on them.  We watched them foam.  Now the eggs were soft.  We used plastic knives to cut the plastic spiders out.  We put some of the dry baking soda eggs into a cup of vinegar and watched them explode like volcanoes.  We really liked this activity.

Art:

• Fragile Frankenstein Window Catchers

Writing:

• Practiced F/f
• Halloween Sticker Names

Games: 

• Fishing
• Frog Leaping

Books:

Theme:  Letter F
What a beautiful Fall we are enjoying!  This week has passed so quickly, I think we're going to follow-up with some more "F" related activities next week!  I love the Fall!  Many of us love to collect leaves and other "fallen" treasures such as acorns and pinecones.  As your kiddos explore Fall treasures have them repeat "Fall" with the fffff sound.

Choosing Time:  Fish puppets, Farm Animals, Finger Puppets, Fish "F/f" Game.....
 
Math:  We focused on numbers 4 & 5

Snacks:

• Fishing for Food--pretzel rods with Peanut Butter as the bait & then "catching" our goldfish crackers
• Apples, Kettle Corn, & Mini Muffins

Music & Movement:

• 1,2,3,4,5 Once I Caught A Fish Alive
• What does the Fox Say?
• Got a Wiggle in My Toe
• Spooky Lou 
• Hinx Minx
• Pumpkin, Pumpkin
• 5 Little Speckled Frogs
• Leaves are Falling

Games:

• Fish for "F" things (fork, fish, food, finger, foot, fox, fan, five, ...) 
• Fish for Fun things to do

Writing:  Practiced E/e

Art:

• Color Frankenstein by Number 
• Funny Pumpkin Faces

Books:
 

Egg-celent Experiments

Theme:  Letter E
"E" is a lucky letter that has two sounds and is sometimes silent.  We practiced a way to remember the "eh" sound.  I truly hope Jackson's parents especially see him do this!  So cute!  We had fun thinking about times when we or our loved ones have screamed, "Eeee!"  Lower-case "e" is hard to write.  After your children have mastered capital E, please have them practice little "e."  Many of them have an "e" in their names and will need to use it in the "Kindergarten" way.


Choosing Time:  Elephants, Little People Village, Doll House, Ponies, Trains, ...

Games:

1. Feeding Ellie the Elephant E-Nuts
2. Silly Halloween Peom with tickling "Eeee" at the end

Show & Tell:  Thank you Darren for bringing such a fun elephant.  We loved putting our sticks in the money slot to hear the elephant make its sound :)  We also loved seeing Jude's colored eggs, elephants, and Exciting toys!

Snacks:

• Fruit Snacks & Pirate Booty 
• Cheese & Pretzel Spiders & "Monster Smiles"
• Goldfish & "Zombie Eyes" (Grapes cut in half)

Music & Movement:

• An Elephant Goes
• Spooky Lou
• Green Eggs & Ham
• Pumpkin, Pumpkin:  Round & Fat:  Turn into a Jack-O-Lantern:  Just Like That! 

Science:

1. "Zombie" Eggs in Vinegar-- What happened to the ink?  Did the eggs get bigger or smaller?  Where did the shells go?  Why could we see the yolk?  The Vinegar eggs feel like a bouncy ball and look like a bouncy ball, but do not act like a bouncy ball.  They still break and ooze all over just like an egg with a hard shell.
2. Walk on Eggs--Do you think we can walk on eggs without breaking them?  We did!  Even I did!  The arch of an egg really supports our weight.  Arches are used today in buildings to give good support.  Also, the egg carton is a great invention to help keep the eggs from being broken.  If you try this at home, here are a few tips:  #1.  Remove shoes and socks.  #2.  Walk with a flat foot.  #3.  Make sure all the eggs in the carton are the same end down.
3. Electricity travels
4. We made some "Spider Eggs".  We will finish this experiment on Monday. (After editing this on Monday, I realize I forgot about these that are hidden in a box on top of my fridge...so, hopefully, we'll get to them on Wednesday)
5. Egg Float--A hard-boiled egg does not float.  If we add enough salt to the water we can get it to float.  We tried to make other objects float as well.  We also experimented to see if the objects we chose would float in plain water first.

Art:

• Pumpkin Puppet to go with our Pumpkin Song
• Bats

Writing:  Practiced D/d

Books:

Donuts, Dinosaurs, & Drums

Theme:  Letter D
All week I enjoyed watching several of the children making the letter D using their food, hands, paper,...It is so exciting to watch young children begin to recognize symbols and use them correctly.  Continue to encourage them to point out letters and practice their sounds.  When your kiddos say, "Daddy," try to reinforce the D sound by saying, "duh, duh, duh, daddy."  Lower-case "d" is confused often with lower-case "b".  Point out when you can that "b" fits inside "B" and that little d likes to "bounce bellies" with big Daddy D.  This can help them to remember which is which.

Choosing Time: Play-Doh, Dominoes, Dinosaurs, Dragons, Giant Dinosaur Puzzle, Doll House, Dress-Ups...

Music & Movement:

• Dinosaur Dance
• 5 Big Dragons
• 5 Little Ducks
• B-I-N-G-O
• Dinosaurs Big
• Dinosaurs Eat
• 5 Big Doughnuts
• Dorthy the Dinosaur
• Wheels on the Bus
• Hinx Minx
• Drumming Rhythms

Field Trip:  We had a lovely adventure to Krispy Kreme!  We all looked for the letters A, B, C, & D as we drove in the "big blue bus."  We sang some songs and had fun visiting.  We were all very interested in the doughnut making process.  We watched the doughnuts enter the hot oil to cook on one side and then move through the "flipper" to be turned over and cook on the other side.  Only one doughnut didn't get flipped.  We watched nervously to see if an employee would snatch it before it went through the glaze fountain.  And, he did!  We enjoyed eating our doughnuts with some milk!  I am so happy that everyone behaved so well!  We had a great time!

Art:

• Drums with careful Designs & Patterns
• Dot Art

Writing:  We practiced letter C/c

Show & Tell:  Dinosaurs, Dolls, & Dogs!

Snacks:

• Doughnuts
• Cheese & Crackers
• Banana Choco Chip Muffins & Apple Slices

Books:
Dinosaurs of Long Ago