Apples, Letter A, Choice Time, and Fire Department Visit!

Our theme this week was Apples. We incorporated the apple theme into our plans in many ways:

• We sang songs and rhymes about apples during music time.  

• We read both fiction and non-fiction books about apples, how they grow, and what you can make with them.  

•  We used an apple spin & graph to make predictions, count how many, and talk about most and least concepts.

They are very good at sharing and taking turns.

 

 

I found it funny that the green got the most, when it got the least in our taste test later in the week.

•  We used apple cutouts to make AB patterns.

We encourage them to say the pattern. For example, red, yellow, red, yellow, etc. to help them verbalize what goes next.

•  We made applesauce together during large group. The kids really enjoyed peeling the apples and adding the ingredients into the crock pot. The smell wafted through the hallway and made all our mouths water. It was very delicious!

They LOVED how the apples made "snakes" when they peeled.

Everyone got a turn to use the peeler.

Then we cut our apples into smaller pieces.

And poured in the lemon juice.

The sugar.

The cinnamon.

And the water.

Then we put it on to cook.

We tried the next day at lunch time.

She gave it two thumbs up!

• We did an apple taste test to see which color we liked best. We tried red, green, pink, and yellow apples and then made a graph of our choices.

Before we tasted them, we did an "apple observation" where we used all our senses. We talked about how the apples looked, felt, smelled, sounded, and tasted.

Some said yummy, some said gross, and when we tasted the green apple everyone agreed they were sour.

 

We used our apple cutouts from patterning to put our taste test graph on the bulletin board.

No one liked green. Yellow and pink were tied.

They liked the red apple best.

•  We used tweezers to pick up apple seeds and put them in a paper apple. We counted them as well.
  

•  We made apple pie and pumpkin pie play dough. They loved the way it smelled!

 We tried a few new things at school this week. 

We introduced the sensory tub in the discovery area. Each month we put themed materials in the tub and encourage them to explore it.

This month's theme is silly Halloween items (skelteons, frogs, silly glasses, monster koosh balls, spider rings, etc.).

They LOVED these silly glasses.

They enjoyed sorting things into groups.

 We opened the water table and put our sea animals in for a swim. Based on how wet their shirts got, I'd say they enjoyed the water table a lot.

We met “Mat Man” and talked about how even though we all look different, we all have the same parts.

If you are interested in downloading a "Mat Man" template you can click here.

  Art Area

 

 

They finally realized we have stamps and ink pads.

Toys & Games Area

 

Dramatic Play

Their new favorite thing is rearranging the flowers in the pot.

Riding the pony.

Paper doll mix and match.

Block Area

The girls decided to "fix the house" with our woodworking tools.

They decided they wanted to make a house for the frog.

They cleaned up all the pieces they dropped on the floor.

Everyone in class worked on it at one point in time.

It was a great example of team work. When it was time to clean up we worked together to sort the blocks onto the shelves.

The kids went crazy for these paper patterning blocks this week.

 Writing Area

Chalk is still a big hit!

  Outside Time!

We always work together to get our toys outside and inside.

This big smile was caused by their favorite game that day:  "Chase Miss Kendra" ;)

 BUBBLES!!! We took bubbles outside this week. They had a blast blowing and popping them. They even remembered to share and take turns. :)

Our "Letter of the Week" began this week with the letter 'A'. We will be going in alphabetical order for the next 25 weeks. Some of our activities include:

• Identifying the letter. 
• Saying the sound. 
• Searching the room for things that start with the letter/sound of the week and feeding them to the “letter monster”. 
• Letter tracing pages in the writing area. 
• Using white boards to practice writing the letter at large group. 
• Making our alphabet book page for each letter at small group.
• Bingo Dobber letter pages in the art area.

We had a visit from the Burton Fire Department on Thursday to kick off our theme for next week: Fire Safety.

  

Demonstrating the "Stop, Drop, and Roll".

They were fascinated by the firemen and the firetruck.

They even got to sit inside the truck!!

Unfortunately, my camera died so I didn't get everyone's picture.

When we got back inside, he dressed up like a fireman. Complete with air tank and (cleverly improvised) hand protection. :)

 The firemen gave each of our kids a junior fireman helmet and a coloring packet which we will be using next week during our "Fire Safety" theme. 

We also traded our frog pond in for a fall themed bulletin board. 

This board includes all our themes for the month (with the exception of fire safety): apples, leaves, and pumpkins. We will also be reading about fall, scarecrows, and even a few "spooky" books.

The kids helped decorate our storage cabinet with stickers. It "looks much better" now. ;)