Red and Green Morning Class

Red and Green Afternoon Class

Group Meeting:  The gingerbread man hid candy canes all over the room today.  The children found them!

Story:  The story for today was The Gingerbread Man Loose at the Firestation by Laura Murray.  The class of children are going to the fire station for a field trip.  The gingerbread man goes along, tucked into a backpack.  When they get to the station, the gingerbread man falls out of the backpack.  Ask your child to tell you why the gingerbread man needs to run away.  

Small Groups:  The Green Group brought items for Show and Tell.

Letter Learning:  The letter for today was Kk.

Snacks:  The morning snack was cantaloupe and Scooby Snacks brought by Hattie.  The afternoon snack was Teddy Grahams and applesauce brought by Isabelle.  Thank you, Hattie and Isabelle!

The programs are tomorrow.  The children should arrive at the usual time.  Parents may proceed to the Great Hall or return at program time.  

Group Meeting:  We had a great time looking at everyone's hats, bows, and head bands today.
Instead of an opening dance video, we did a Christmas yoga video.  The children seemed to enjoy doing the stretches and poses.  We'll have to do that more often.
The gingerbread man challenged us to build houses for him in the block area.  At play time, several children used blocks to create "mansions" for the gingerbread man.

Story:  The story for today was There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell by Lucille Colandro.  This is another in the series of "There Was an Old Lady" books.  This one is about Christmas things that the lady swallows.  Ask your child to tell you what happens when she hears Santa say ho, ho, ho.

We used our Small and Large Group time to practice our program in the Great Hall with the piano accompaniment.   We're getting excited!

Snacks:  The morning class had peanut butter and apples brought by Hudson.  The afternoon class had cheese sticks and applesauce brought by Isla.  Thank you, Hudson and Isla!

Tomorrow is red and green day.  Wear either or both colors.

Silly Socks Day

Group Meeting:  The children took off their shoes to display their socks today.  We kept the shoes off during play time, but put them back on for the remainder of the day.  Tomorrow, the children are invited to wear something on their head!
The gingerbread man brought us three rhyming word games.  The children had to match words together that rhymed.

Story:  The story for today was How Spider Saved Santa Bug by Robert Kraus.  At Halloween time, we read How Spider Saved Halloween.  In this story, the same characters are trying to find Santa Bug.  He went out to practice sliding down chimneys and now he is missing.  Spider, Fly and Ladybug rush to the North Pole to help Mrs. Santa find him.  Ask your child to tell you where Santa Bug was found.

Small Groups:  I can't tell you what happened at small groups today.  It would ruin the surprise.

Large Group:  The children worked on a holiday poem that they will be reciting at the program.

Snacks:  The morning class had Wheat Thins, cheese, and juice brought by Jake.  The afternoon class had carrots and cheese sticks brought by Julian.  Thank you, Jake and Julian!

Group Meeting:  The gingerbread man knew that today was Birthday Day.  He brought us gingerbread cookies to have instead of Birthday Brownies.  We baked them in the oven and enjoyed them after our snack.

Story:  The story for today was Gingerbread Mouse by Katy Bratun.  A little mouse loses her home when the tree is cut down for a Christmas tree.  She follows the tree to a house and sees a gingerbread house in the window.  She catches a ride into the house on the tree as the family brings it indoors.  Will the gingerbread house be a good house for her?  Ask your child to tell you about the visitor that brings her a new house.

Large Group:  We practiced our program in the Great Hall standing on the risers.  The children are learning very quickly!

Snacks:  The children made a snack today using cheese cubes and strawberries.  They made a pattern of strawberry, cheese, strawberry, cheese to make a candy cane shape.

Please read the note in your child's bag about our special dress up days for next week.
Monday-Silly Sock Day
Tuesday-Wear Something on Your Head Day
Wednesday-Red/Green Day
Thursday-Dress Up for the Program

Group Meeting:  The gingerbread man brought Christmas shapes for the children to use with pattern blocks.  The children could use the blocks to make Christmas trees, wreaths, snowmen, and snowflakes.

Story:  The story for today was The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy by Jane Thayer.  Petey the puppy wants a boy of his own for Christmas.  Unfortunately, there aren't any boys who don't already have a dog.  Petey sets off to find a boy.  He meets a collie, a scottie, and a bulldog.  None are willing to part with their boy.  Then, Petey discovers a wonderful place.  Ask your child to tell you how Petey finds a boy of his own.

Small Groups:  The Yellow Group brought items for Show and Tell.

Letter Learning:  The letter for today was Gg.

Snacks:  The morning snack was clemetine oranges and Special K cereal brought by Kinsley.  The afternoon snack was Teddy Grahams and carrots brought by Logan.  Thank you, Kinsley and Logan!

Group Meeting:  The gingerbread man brought us jingle bells to use when building with Magnatiles.  Some of the children used triangles to make a tree and stuck the bells to the magnets on the side.

Story:  The story for today was The Gingerbread Man Loose at Christmas by Laura Murray.  This book is part of a series that we started last week with The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School.  In this story, the class of children have decided to make gifts for the community helpers.  They make cards and goodies to give to the policeman, librarian, veterinarian, etc.  The gingerbread man has made a card to give to someone special, too.  Ask your child to tell you who that special person is and what that special person gave to the gingerbread man.

Large Group:  The children practiced songs for the Christmas Program.

Small Groups:  The children strung jingle bells and beads onto pipe cleaners.  These will be used during one of our songs in the program.

Letter Learning:  The letter for today was Ff.

Snacks:  The snack in the morning was clementine oranges and carrots brought by Laurel.  The afternoon snack was cheese sticks and apples brought by Lydia.  Thank you, Laurel and Lydia!

Group Meeting:  The gingerbread man brought us gingerbread dough and peppermint dough.  During play time, the children could use cookie cutters to cut out a gingerbread man or woman and decorate it.  They could use the peppermint dough to make candy canes.  They smell great!

Story:  The story for today was The Shoemaker and the Elves.  In this story, a poor shoemaker has only one piece of leather left to make one pair of shoes.  He cuts the leather and puts it on the work table to finish in the morning.  When he wakes up in the morning, he discovers that the shoes are done.  A gentleman buys the shoes and gives the shoemaker twice the amount of money that he asks.  The next day, the same thing happens.  Now, the shoemaker is rich.  The shoemaker and his wife decide to hide at night to see who is making the new shoes.   Ask your child to tell you who is making the shoes. 

Large Group:  After the story, the children played the shoe game.  In this game, everyone removes their shoes.  They each hide one of their shoes somewhere in the classroom.  Next, they trade their remaining shoe with someone else and try to see if they can find the match.  This is such a simple game, but the children love it!  It's also a very good game for following directions. 

Letter Learning:  Today's letter was Ee.

Snacks:  The snack in the morning class was cheeses sticks, fruit cocktail and milk brought by Lucy.  The afternoon snack was apples, cheese sticks, and milk brought by Madelyn.  Thank you, Lucy and Madelyn!

Group Meeting:  The gingerbread man brought us a science experiment today.  He had string of lights that had been cut and stripped on the ends.  He included 9 volt batteries.  The children had to complete a circuit by placing the ends of the wires on the battery.  If they did it correctly, the light would work.  (see pictures below)

Story:  The story for today was The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett.  In this story, Matti decides to make a gingerbread boy.  He mixed the dough, forms the cookie and places it in the oven.  He is to leave it in the oven for 8 minutes and not peek.  But Matti can't wait and he opens the door early.  Because it did not bake long enough, the cookie is a gingerbread baby.  The baby runs across the floor and out the door.  It is chased by people and animals, but Mattie knows how to catch the baby.  Ask your child to tell you Matti's plan.

Large Group:  The children watched a video about things that people do during the holidays.  This coincided with out Let's Find Out Magazine.  They completed the last page of the magazine together.

Snacks:  The morning snack was cheese, Wheat Thins and apple juice brought by Nora.  The afternoon snack was Lucky Charms cereal and milk brought by Ryan.  Thank you, Nora and Ryan!

We have been very busy at school this week with some new toys and Christmas items.  I snapped a few pictures to share.

Group Meeting:  The gingerbread man brought us cards and envelopes so that the children can make cards for their friends and family. 
At the Art Table, the children are making decorations for the classroom and for the Christmas program.  This week, they are mixing paint colors to make pretty baubles for the hallway.

Story:  The story for today was Santa's Secret Helper by Andrew Clements.  Santa has a secret help this year.  The secret helper dresses like Santa and does the same things that Santa does.  Will anyone be able to tell that the helper is not the real Santa?  Ask your child to tell you who the secret helper is.

Small Groups:  The children in the Red Group brought items for Show and Tell.

Large Group:  The children learned another new song for the Christmas program.

Snacks:  The snack in the morning was cheese, grapes and juice brought by Ram.  The snack in the afternoon was carrots and cottage cheese brought by Rory.  Thank you, Ram and Rory!

Group Meeting:  Today was the 50th day of school.  We counted 50 stickers that we have put on our 10 frame counting chart.  It seems like we just started school, doesn't it?
The Gingerbread Man was back today and brought us game boards.  To play the game, the children had to roll the dice and count the gum drops.  The first one to the gingerbread house is the winner.

Story:  The story for today was The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School by Laura Murray.  In this story, a classroom of children made a gingerbread man.  They take him from the oven and leave him on the table to cool while they go to recess.  However, the gingerbread man doesn't know that they will be coming back.  He thinks that they are leaving him behind.  He searches the school and meets the gym coach, the nurse, the art teacher and the principal.  Ask your child to tell you if he ever finds the children.

Small Groups:  The children played a game called Count the Room.  Each child was given a paper that had various Christmas characters on it.  They had to find those characters in pictures that I placed on the walls in the classroom.  They counted how many characters were on the picture and printed that number on their paper.  The numbers were already there, they had to trace them.

Large Group:  The children learned a song that we will be singing in the Christmas program.

Snacks:  The morning class snack was apples and cheese sticks brought by Sawyer.  The afternoon snack was cheese sticks and Wheat Thins brought by Nolan.  Thank you, Sawyer and Nolan!

Group Meeting:  For the first few minutes of Group Meeting, we took turns telling about our Thanksgiving events.  Many of the children wanted to tell about putting decorations up for Christmas.   The children discovered a new "friend" on the Message Board easel.  Ask your child to tell you who this new friend is.

Story:  Our new friend brought us the story The Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylesworth.  This is the story of the old man and woman who decide to make a gingerbread man to eat.  When they open the oven door, the gingerbread man escapes and they have to chase it.  The gingerbread man runs from the old couple, a butcher, a cow, and a pig before it meets a sly fox.  Ask your child to tell you how the story ends.

Small Groups:  The children got into two groups today.  They were given little cards that had the gingerbread man printed on them.  The cards were numbered 1-10, but they were all mixed up.  The children had to put the cards in the correct order.

Letter Learning:  We are starting Letter Learning again.  This time, we will do the letters in alphabetical order.  The children are using dry erase boards to print the letter.  To learn about the sound, I have tubs that have six items in them that begin with the letter for the day.  I give the children clues to help them guess the items.  The letter today was Aa.

Snacks:  The morning snack was granola bars and milk brought by Sophia.  The afternoon snack was cheese sticks and apples brought by Silas.  Thank you, Sophia and Silas!

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!