Eighty degrees or not, it's fall and we're discussing all things autumnal! Monday I read Victoria Sherrow's delightful book "Chipmunk at Hollow Tree Lane" while wearing my chipmunk finger puppet. This book follows a chipmunk as it prepares for hibernation by collecting acorns and berry seeds. You may remember that chipmunks have large pouches in their cheeks for carrying food. This was incredible news to the children so we had to stop and puff up our own cheeks to see if we would make good chipmunks. I'm not so sure we could survive winter but we could would make great trumpet players!
A discussion on hibernation and burrowing followed. Friday we read about a bear that found a cave to hibernate in unlike burrowing rodents. Naturally we had to make a cave and a burrowed spot. Old sheets sure come in handy when one needs to convert the classroom.
Yesterday was leaf day. Kris will tell you we use the "fall" for the season of Autumn because the leaves "fall" off the trees. At this age children often don't remember doing seasonal activities like raking and jumping in leaves. Don't worry, I'm here to help. I have a rather larger collection of silk leaves which I threw into the air. They fell amid shrieks of delight and then were quickly gathered for jumping pile. Naturally this had to be repeated several times. I managed to video one of these events and hopefully it will load onto the blog by tomorrow.
We started our first letter exploration today with the letter "L". I donned my letter apron, opened my letter bag and pulled out objects beginning with the letter "L". The bag had a leaf, a lion, a letter, a lemon, a lizard, and pictures of lamps, a ladybug, a ladder and Logan Lavinder. We used our PVC "phones" to repeat the words and clearly hear the /l/ sound. After a bit of thought the class was able to add light, lettuce, line, lime and look to our list of "L" words.
After music we played a graphing game called "Look, Lick and Like". The children observed six foods: cheese, carrot, peanut butter, a cracker, an orange slice and a cookie. As they licked each food they had to decide if they liked it so we could add their preference to the graph. It turns out that carrots, cookies, crackers and cheese got equal results. Just look at healthy our children like to eat!
Children brought home a yellow paper yesterday for parents to volunteer for Fall Festival. Please sign and return the form even if you can't help. You may notice on the form that our on campus day is Wednesday, Oct.12 and the Jeter's field trip is on Thursday, Oct. 13. We have planned our activities already and I am very excited about both days. Wednesday's activities are listed below in case you wish to volunteer your time or can donate articles.
We have several exciting opportunities coming up in the next several weeks. First , we have been invited by our buddies in Keri's room to join them on a field trip to Keri's farm and the Booker T. Washington National Monument. We will go Thursday (Oct. 6) as soon after 9:00 as we can leave. We won't return until after 1:30 so I asking our 1/2 day children to stay the full day with me. Experience tells me they will sleep on the bus all the way back to school. Please pack both a fruit break and a lunch.
Our next exciting event is the Hollins College production of "Goodnight Moon". The Early Learners, Lower and Middle Elementery levels will attend a 10:00 matinee performance on Monday, Oct. 24. The evening performances begin at 7:30 and we were concerned the younger children couldn't stay up this late and would miss what sounds like a wonderful production of a very sweet story. The Activity Fee will cover the cost of your child's attendance.
Fall Festival On Campus Activities:
No Hands Snack
Planting Mums
Pumpkin Decorating
Gourd Painting
Scarecrow Making
Scavenger Hunt
The day will end with singing around the campfire (fire pits) with Jason and eating S'mores.
Any donations of the above items, including old clothes, would be appreciated.
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