Group Meeting:  The children are getting excited for the Thanksgiving holiday.  I heard several stories about going to grandparents or having company come to the house.  I hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Story:  The story for today is one of my favorites, Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dave Pilkey.  In this story, a group of children are on a field trip.  They discover a small turkey farm and the farmer Mack Nugget.  The children play with the turkeys and are having a great time when someone spots a hatchet by the barn door.  When they find out what it is for, they come up with a plan to save the turkeys.  Ask your child to tell you how they take the turkeys home for a different kind Thanksgiving feast.

Small Groups:  The children made turkeys using circles, triangles, and rectangles. 

Large Group:  The children played London Bridges.  This is such a simple game, but they had a great time playing together!

Snacks:  The morning snack was applesauce and milk brought by Tristan.  The afternoon snack was crackers, peanut butter, and bananas brought by Tate.  Thank you, Tristan and Tate!

Group Meeting:  I explained to the children the schedule for this week.  Understanding time is still a challenge for this age of children.  I explained that we have one more day of school, one day of rest, and then it will be Thanksgiving.

Story:  The story for today was I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson.  This is a variation of the story that we read a few weeks ago, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.  In this story, the old lady swallows things that we see at Thanksgiving time such as a turkey, a roll, some cider and of course a pie.  Ask your child to tell you what happens to the old lady at the end of the story.

Small Groups:  The children thought of the things that we saw during our field trip to the Bettendorf Food Pantry.  Then, they drew these things in their writing journals.  We are encouraging the children to write a few letters or words if they know them.

Letter Learning: Last week, we finished up our first round of the letters of the alphabet.  Today, the children noticed that the coconut tree on which we had been adding letters had fallen down just like the tree in Chicka, chicka boom boom.  Next week, we will start the alphabet again.

Large Group:  The children went to the Outdoor Classroom.

Snacks:  The morning class had apples, Belvita bars, and milk brought by Weston.  The afternoon class had Goldfish and cheese sticks brought by Vivienne.  Thank you, Weston and Vivienne!

Group Meeting:  The children are bringing home their name books that we completed last week.  They started a new book today.

Story:  The story for today was Who Will Carve the Thanksgiving Turkey? by Jerry Pallotta.  The boy in this story is wondering who will be carving the Thanksgiving turkey.  While he waits for the guests to arrive, he imagines that animals are going to carve the turkey.  Ask your child to tell you what all of these animals have in common.

Small Groups:  In the morning class, the children completed a Let's Find Out magazine about animals that hibernate in the winter.   In the afternoon class, the Green Group brought items for Show and Tell.  Tomorrow, the morning class will have Show and Tell for the Green Group.

Large Group:  I talked to the children about our field trip to the Food Pantry.  I explained to them that while we usually have plenty of food in our cupboards and refrigerator, some children do not.  Tomorrow, we will take food to give to the Food Pantry so that people can get food there for their children. 

Snacks:  The morning class had Belvita bars and apples brought by Blake.  The afternoon class had cheese sticks and Clementine oranges brought by Caroline.  Thank you, Blake and Caroline!

Group Meeting:  Our movement songs this week are Thanksgiving songs.  Yesterday was "Turkey Time" and today was "Get Funky with Tommy the Turkey".  Ask your child to show you their moves!

Story:  The story for today was One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims by B.G. Hennessy.  This book tells about the first Thanksgiving between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people.  The pictures show how the children played and helped the grown-ups hunt and collect food for the Thanksgiving feast. 

Small Groups:  The children played "Roll and Write".  The children took turns rolling a die that had the numerals 1-3 on it.  The numeral that appeared on the top was the numeral they wrote on a grid on their paper.  After the grid was full, we counted how many of each numeral was written on the paper.

Letter Learning:  The letter for today was Yy.

Snacks:  The snack for the morning class was Wheat Thins and oranges brought by Brea.  The after noon snack was Fruity Cheerios and cheese brought by Charlotte.  Thank you, Brea and Charlotte!

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

Group Meeting:  During arrival time, the children are given a choice of activities to do while they are waiting for everyone else to get into the classroom.  I usually try to have a cutting activity and a coloring activity for them to chose if they'd like.  I also have some building toys and books to look at as well.  All of those things will be related to Thanksgiving this week.

Story:  The story for today was Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes.  This book has beautiful pictures of things for which we can be thankful such as family, food, friends, pets, etc.  There are few words, but the words encourage a discussion which we had after reading. 

Small Groups:  The children helped me make a class list of things for which we are thankful.  After a discussion, each child was given a paper feather to draw on.  They were encouraged to draw pictures of things that they are thankful for.  When they were finished, we took the feathers to the bulletin board in the hallway.  I had put a big turkey on the bulletin board.  They added their feathers to give him a beautiful tail. 

Large Group:  The children played a game called "Farmer and the Turkeys".  The children are turkeys who want to cross the field (classroom) to the other side.  I am the farmer in the middle.  When the turkeys call out "farmer, can we cross the field?", the farmer says a color.  The turkeys who are wearing that color on their clothes may cross the field without being chased.  Then the remaining turkeys try to cross the field without being tagged.  Any turkeys that are tagged become the farmer's helpers.  We continue to play until all of the turkeys are caught.  We had a great time playing this game!

Letter Learning:  The letter for today was Xx.

Snacks:  The snack for the morning class was milk, apples and peanut butter brought by Callie.  The snack for the afternoon was yogurt and blueberries brought by Eleanor.  Thank you, Callie and Eleanor!

Birthday Day and End of the Tree Study

Today was a mix of birthday recognition, cooking, and celebration of our tree study.  After play time, we made a snack.  It was fried bananas.  The children peeled the bananas and used a table knife to cut them into thick slices. The children watched as I put the bananas into an electric frying pan.  While the bananas were getting warm, I sprinkled a sugar cinnamon mixture on the bananas.  The cinnamon sugar caramelized and made a nice glaze on the bananas.  The children ate them warm with milk to drink.  We also had birthday brownies.

After snack time, I asked the children to think of the many things that we had learned about trees over the past month and a half.  I made a list of all of the things that they could tell about trees.  Then, the children made necklaces using tree "cookies".

The letter for today was Ww. 

Next week, we will begin to learn about Thanksgiving and will be talking more about our trip to the Food Pantry.

Group Meeting:  We did Play Buddies again today for 10 minutes.  Tomorrow, we will take a break from it.  It has been very beneficial in helping the children learn each other's names as well as find out that there are many friends that they can play with at school.

Story:  For our story today, I did a re-read of Little Red Riding Hood.  The children were excited to see it.  This time as we read through it, I paused to ask a few questions about Little Red Riding Hood's choices of wandering off of the path and speaking to someone that she didn't know.   I think that this story will be a favorite that we will have to visit again.

Small Groups:  It was the Yellow Group's turn for Show and Tell.  Next week, the Green Group will have a turn.  Then everyone will have had a turn.  We will repeat the rotation after Thanksgiving.

Letter Learning:  Sorry, I just realized I haven't been putting the letter for the day in my blog.  Today was letter Vv.  We have W, X, Y, and Z left and then  we will have completed the alphabet.

Snacks:  The snack for the morning class was Belvita biscuits and bananas brought by Charlie.  The afternoon snack was apples and peanut butter brought by Eliza.  Thank you, Charlie and Eliza!

Group Meeting:  The play buddies worked so well yesterday that we did it again today.  Everyone was assigned a new buddy to play with for 10 minutes.  Many chose to stay with their new friend, but a few decided to change.  Either way, they are making new friends and are learning the names of their classmates.

Story:  The Quad City Arts has invited the children to decorate a tree for the Festival of Trees.  We have done this in the past.  I usually pick a Christmas story and use that as our theme for the tree.  This year, the theme of the Festival is Christmas Around the World.  So the story that I have selected is The Spider's Gift by Eric Kimmel.  This story is a Ukrainian folk story.  The story is about a family that is too poor to celebrate Christmas with a tree and gifts.  The children ask their parents if they can cut a tree from the forest.  After selecting a tree, the family takes it home and decorates it with buttons and a paper star.  That night, mother discovers that there are baby spiders in the tree.  The warmth from the room has caused the spider eggs to hatch before spring.  Mother wants to throw the tree out, but the children beg her to keep it so that the spiders won't die in the cold.  When the family returns from Christmas services, the discover that the spider webs on the tree have turned to silver and the buttons on the tree have turned into gold coins.  The spiders have done this to thank the family for saving them. 

Small Groups:  Following the story, the children got into their small groups to make spider ornaments for the Festival tree.  They used clay, glitter, sparkly pipe cleaners and googly eyes.  We will put them on the tree and add silver thread for the webs.

Large Group:  The children participated in an obstacle course of a crawling tunnel, a tumbling mat, and balancing stepping stones.

Snacks:  The morning class had strawberries, Wheat Thins, and juice brought by Cooper.  The afternoon class had cheese sticks and grapes brought by Elizabeth.  Thank you, Cooper and Elizabeth! 

Play Buddies

Group Meeting:  The children were assigned a Play Buddy at the beginning of play time.  A Play Buddy is someone that you play with for the first 10 minutes of play time.  After 10 minutes, the children can decide if they want to keep playing with each other or if they want to do something else.  This is a great way for the children to get to know other children in the class.  Sometimes children get into the habit of playing with the same children in the same areas.  I usually try to put two children together that have never played together or put children together who tend to play in the same center every day.   They are more likely to try something new with a new friend.  Everyone seemed to enjoy this new way today!

Story:  The story for today was Glad Monster, Sad Monster by Ed Emberly and Anne Miranda.  This is a book of feelings.  The monsters describe things that make them feel happy, said, angry, loving, sad, and silly.

Small Groups:  Following the story, we discussed the ways that the monsters felt in the book.  We talked about ways to express these feelings and how to help someone who might be feeling sad or angry.  The children went to the tables to draw a face with an expression that matches one of the feelings that we discussed.  The children described times when they felt that way.

Large Group:  The children used the wooden big lines to move to the song "Tap, Tap".  This is part of the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum.

Snacks:  The snack for the morning class was strawberries, Belvita bars and juice brought by Cora.  The afternoon snack was cheese sticks and grapes brought by Henry.  Thank you, Cora and Henry!

Story:  The story that I chose for today was Little Red Riding Hood retold by Bonnie Dobkin.  In this version, Little Red Riding Hood is going to see her grandmother.  Her mother gives her three things to remember along the way; go straight to Grandma's, don't talk to anyone you don't know, and don't go off of the path.  Red Riding Hood meets a wolf along the way and all of the things that her mother told her are forgotten.  Ask your child to tell you how the story ends.  In this version, Grandmother gets eaten but survives in the stomach of the wolf.  When the older brother kills the wolf, Grandmother is released from the wolf's stomach.  Some of the children said this story was a little scary, but they liked it!

Large Group:  The children watched a Let's Find Out video about Veteran's Day.  We did not complete the back page of the magazine because it was a little complicated.  Perhaps the children could work on it at home with a parent or older sibling.

Snacks:  The snack for the morning class was applesauce, cheese sticks, and milk brought by Grace.  The afternoon snack was Belvita bars and bananas brought by Ian.  Thank you, Grace and Ian!

The vision screening was completed today.  When we receive the results, we will send them home with your child.  If you missed the screening, there is a possibility that they will be coming back for retakes.  If you would like to be notified if and when they come back, please let me know.

Group Meeting:  Our introduction to rhyming words is going well.  We did another movement video today with rhyming words.  Try making rhymes at home!

Story:  The story for today was A Grand Old Tree by Mary Depalma.  This is a simple story of the life cycle of a tree.  The tree grows, flowers, produces fruit and seeds so that new trees can grow.  After many years, the tree gets old and dies.  Even after it dies, it has a purpose.  Animals use it for a home, bugs eat the bark, and fungus grows on it.  Ask your child to tell you something that lives in a tree.

Small Groups:  We have started Show and Tell during small group time.  Today, the Red Group brought items to show and tell us about.  Next week, the Yellow Group will have a turn and the Green Group will take a turn the following week.  When it is your child's turn for Show and Tell, they will bring home a special bag.

Large Group:  The children learned a new song about rhyming words.  I'm hope that they will be able to sing it for you after a few more times of practice.

Snacks:  The snack for the morning class was apples, Belvita bars, and juice brought by Hattie.  The afternoon snack was Teddy Grahams and milk brought by Isabelle.  Thank you, Hattie and Isabelle!

The vision screening started today, but we didn't get everyone done.  It will continue tomorrow.  If you have not turned in your permission form, you can still do so.  If you need another copy, come inside when dropping off your child to fill one out.

Group Meeting:  Yesterday, we started learning about rhyming words.  Our beginning song for today was "The Rhyming Words Game" by Jack Hartman.  If Jack said words that rhymed, we stood up.  If they didn't rhyme, we sat down.

Story:  Today, I chose the non-fiction book Tree Are For... by Judith Bauer Stamper.  This book gives examples of ways that trees are useful.  Trees can be for climbing and building tree forts.  Trees grow food that we eat.  Trees are used for building.  Ask your child to name a way that we use trees at school.

Small Groups:  The children played a rhyming words game.  Each child had a card with a smiley face on one side and a frowning face on the other.  Two words with pictures were shown.  If the words rhymed, the children held up a smiley face.  If the words did not rhyme, they held up the frowning face.

Large Group:  The children went to the Outdoor Classroom.  We have been looking at the leaves that have fallen.  So far, we have identified leaves from the Ginkgo tree, the Oak tree, and the Tulip tree. 

Snacks:  The morning snack was strawberries and cheese brought by Hudson.  The afternoon snack was applesauce and milk brought by Isla.  Thank you, Hudson and Isla!

Group Meeting:  We started a new month over the weekend and our shift is turning from Halloween to Thanksgiving.  This also means that we have started new math journals.  The October journals will be sent home tomorrow.

Story:  The story for today was There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.  This story is so old that the original author is unknown.   An old lady swallows a fly.  We don't know why.  Perhaps she'll die!  The old lady swallows a spider to catch the fly, and then a bird, cat, dog, cow and horse.  Ask your child to tell you what happens when she swallows the horse.

Small Groups:  After the story for today, we discussed the words in the book that rhymed.  Then the children got into their small groups and played a rhyming words game.  They took turns turning over cards to find two pictures that rhymed.

Large Group:  The children went outside.  They were surprised at how many leaves had fallen off of the trees.  We looked for leaves that were alike and different.  We tried to figure out which leaves came off of which tree.

Snacks:  The snack for the morning was crackers, cheese, and juice brought by Jake.  The afternoon snack was crackers and yogurt brought by Julian.  Thank you, Jake and Julian!