Give Thanks!

 I hope you all enjoyed reading the "I'm Thankful" books your children made!  The responses I got ranged from "octopuses" to "cake" to "The Holy Ghost."  I loved it.  The purpose in doing this was twofold; I wanted the kids to really think about what they wanted to thank Jesus for (primarily) but also to see words get put to their thoughts and drawings. 

The Thanksgiving Feast yesterday was so much fun.  It was crowded, but I think that is just an indication of the bounty that God has bestowed onto us.  The food was delicious.  The company was even better.  Thank you all for being their and sharing this experience with all of us.

Over the course of the last few weeks, we've talked through the Thanksgiving story countless times.  If your child hasn't already told you what he or she knows about it, ask them!  I had one mom text me and tell me her son told her that the pilgrims were on the Mayflower for 40 days and 40 nights:)

I got a new camera the other day, so please excuse pictures as I'm trying to figure out settings, etc.:)

Brooklyn and Hasti (from Vicki's class) discussing life

Mr. Chris leads us in prayer

Your kids made Indian necklaces but they got tangled together badly.  Sorry they couldn't bring these home!

Packing shoeboxes!

 Because of your children, eleven 3rd world children will be receiving a Christmas gift this year!

This week we laid out the boxes and your children distributed soaps, toothpastes, toys, washcloths, coloring sets, etc. into Christmas gifts that will be sent all over the world with Samaratans' Purse.  It is our hope and prayer that your children gained a little bit more perspective on 1)the world is SO big  2)so many kids have so little 3)and we have SO much.  We also hope that the eleven children will hear the gospel of Jesus when being handed these gifts and will know Him as their personal savior. 

Thank YOU, parents, for all being so very supportive and generous in this project. 

Fall Festival!

 I think that this year's Fall Festival was the BEST EVER!   We have Mrs. Leslie and Mrs. Brooklyn (one of our TPP moms) to thank for this.  

I do want to apologize for being so long between posts, again.  When I do this, I forget the small details of our days that make it so interesting (to me).  I did want to post a few pictures to show how completely adorable your kids were that day!

An apple a day...

I love apple day!    To expand on the pumpkin seed lesson, we talked about the life cycle of an apple-starting with the seed, seedling, tree, bud, blossom, and fruit.    The kids made apple prints and had a taste test of three varieties (the red won!).  The children charted their favorite apple. We briefly discussed fractions as I cut a whole apple into eight pieces. 

 

Building blocks

You might as well get used to me posting pictures of their block creations!  They always gravitate towards the classic wooden blocks.  Building with blocks help children develop a capacity for creative, divergent thinking (http://www.parentingscience.com/toy-blocks.html)-skills, as we know, are vital for well-rounded development!

A little blurry-but check out their hard work!

They worked together so well!

So proud of a job well done!

Shop 'til you drop!

Our shopping unit was particularly fun for me because it was the first time I used shopping as a unit topic.  It presented lots of neat opportunities.  They explored the physical properties of money (coin rubbings, penny vinegar soak-that experiment failed miserably!, etc.), briefly discussed presidents, categorized (which is difficult with nickles and quarters!), gained a better understanding of symbolic representation (the bar codes represent and item and price), and have a better understanding of the concept of exchange.  The role playing was so much fun to watch-the kids would take turns running the cash register and being the customer.  What I didn't expect was the kids would take the groceries "home" and unpack in the kitchen!

Disecting a pumpkin

WOW!  October snuck by on me! 

Here are some pics of a few of the kids before the Fall Festival festivities began.  I brought in a pumpkin, cut it open, and the kids go to town.   We used this opportunity to talk about seeds and how they grow.

This picture cracks me up for some reason

Getting reading for the big race!

We love having the kids help get ready for the 5k on Saturday.  Come join us that morning for a ton of fun!

Last week

Sometimes, I have to get creative on the fly.

Last weekend, I took my daughters to Kentuck (the art festival in Northport) and they participated in a very very cool art activity where the paint floats on water, is stirred around gently, and then you lay a piece of paper on top and get the most fantastically cool print.  I was so excited to bring this into the classroom.

It was a dismal failure. The paint sank:(

So, instead, I dumped the water out and let the kids do a similar activity WITHOUT the water.  The results weren't what I had anticipated, but so beautiful in a different way.  Nope-you may not have seen them yet.  They're hanging in the hallway!

Singing praises to Jesus in chapel!!

Good Friends

Fall!

We worked together and put pumpkins in order from smallest to largest

We're in our second week talking about fall. It's so tempting for me to do this unit at the end of September, when it technically is fall.  Unfortunately it FEELS like summer then and we need a few more weeks so that it looks, feel, and even smells more like fall.  Last week we talked a lot about leaves and how they change color and fall this time of the year.  We talked about how leaves are different sizes and different shapes-based on the tree the come from (much like people!).  

We were able to expand on that this morning as we walked upstairs to play.  Unfortunately, the playground was wet, but we stopped by the doors to admire the beautiful changing leaves on by the church!

Today, we started talking about pumpkins-and plan on cutting one open and emptying out the inside of it on Wednesday before the Fall Festival!  As you can see here, the kids

worked together to put the mini-pumpkins in order from smallest to largest and then later decorated them. 

Treasure trove of beautiful nature your kids found!

Save your shoeboxes

In November, our class will be participating in Operation Christmas Child.  to help provide Christmas gifts to 3rd world kids through Samaritan's Purse.  More details on that to come, but  between now and November, if you purchase a new pair of shoes, will you please send the shoebox to school with your child?  We will need about 15.

Learning about police!

I always hum the MASH theme when I see a helicopter

watching the landing

This doesn't capture Ryley's demonstration of the propellers.

Police Day is one of my favorite preschool days.  Watching the kids watch the helicopter land brings such joy to my heart:)

The city police have been so gracious the last three years for giving us their time to come in and give the kids a hand-on police experience.  They learn that police aren't mean-they are there help us.  

As I stated in an email, the primary question the kids wanted answered was why lights on police vehicles blink.  This was asked at least 4 or 5 times! 

During our last group time of the day, we read a wonderful Caldecott Award winning book called, "Officer Buckley and Gloria."  It's about a police officer who goes to different schools making safety presentations. 

Hopefully the only time they'll be in a police car

The kids and K-9 "Champ."

The kids with PoLisa:)

Come and RUN! (or walk...)

I'm sure you are all very aware of this, but TPP is holding its first ever 5K on November 2.  Mrs. Curri is doing a stellar job of organizing all of this.  The proceeds from this will go into purchasing much needed shade for our playground. 

How can you help?  Get your family out to run!    If you know of anyone who owns/manages a business in the area, ask them if they will sponsor the event or help provide food and/or prizes.  Any of this would be a huge help for us. 

Click here for the forms!  This is going to be a super-fun day!

Look at us learn!

Sight word fun

Brooklyn spent a long time playing with these Tinker Tubes

Roxy!

So much of what we do in my classroom is themed based, but the kids frequently gravitate toward the more "classic" activities.  The really love looking at/playing with letters.  You would not believe the excitement the whole room feels/hears when someone finds a letter that is in their name:)

They also love to write and draw.  Sometimes they scribble.  Sometimes they are more purposeful in what they produce.  But in it all, they are learning like crazy.

I learned that Bishop loves cantaloupes.