Apples, Fine Motor Skills, Making Play Dough and Applesauce, Playing in the Gym, and Fire Truck Visit!

• This week we studied apples and worked on our fine motor skills.
• At Large Group: 
• We sang songs and rhymes about apples. 

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

• We met Pete the Cat and read about how much he loves his white shoes. 

• We did an apple taste test to see which color we liked best (green, red, or yellow) then we made a graph of our choices. 

We used our five senses to describe the apples.

Red was obviously the big winner.

• We began our “Letter of the Day” study this week. We are starting out with the letters most important to our friends (the ones in their names). We identify the letter, walk the letter using our pods, practice the sound, see who has the letter in their name, and try to come up with words that start with that letter. This week’s letters were: A, B, C, & D. One of their favorite things this week was starting everyone's name with the letter B sound.

We create the letter using these pods and then the kiddos walk the letter.

• At Small Group: 
• We made apple cinnamon scented green play dough. 

• We used apple counters to work on counting, number identification, and one to one correspondence. 

• We worked on our fine motor skills by putting together puzzles, cutting various things (straws were their favorite), and stringing beads on pipe cleaners (AB patterns). 

• At Choice Time: 
• Cooking: We made applesauce together. The kiddos really enjoyed peeling the apples. We enjoyed eating our applesauce at snack. 

• Art: We created artwork using apples as paint brushes. 

• Discovery: We used tweezers to pick up real apple seeds and put them in an “apple core”. 

• Writing:

•  Toys and Games:

Exploring the magnetic shapes.

• Inside Play in the Gym:
• When it rains or is too cold to play outside we play in the gym. They were loving these bikes. 

Teeter totter and stair case in one.

 

• Burton Fire Dept Visit  
• The Burton fire fighters visited school Thursday with their fire truck. The kiddos sang their "Fire Truck" song for them.

• Twenty minutes a day is all it takes to build key reading skills. Here are eight ways to build a better reader from birth to age five: 
• Create reading rituals and read together every day. 
• Snuggle up close with a book. 
• Read with expression. Create voices for different characters and don’t be afraid to feel silly. It will be more engaging. 
• Share different kinds of books (fiction, non-fiction, pictures, no pictures, etc.) 
• Encourage your child to “read” to you using the pictures in the story. 
• Read favorite books again and again. Familiar books allow children to gain confidence in their ability to read. 
• Talk about the pictures and ask questions. 
• Record yourself reading and play it on car trips or as an alternative to television.