The children have been very interested in the corn tweezing work (using tweezers to pluck corn from the cob). The bubble making work (using a hand mixer to create soap bubbles) has also been popular. Other new works include wood polishing and leaf polishing. In the upcoming weeks I hope to introduce mopping and silver polishing. These practical life works and many others help children develop skills for further learning as well as their self-help skills. The corn tweezing work develops fine motor skills (it takes a lot of precise hand control to squeeze the tweezers, isolate 1 kernel of corn, pull it off, and drop it into a bowl) and also concentration.
The week of Halloween, the children made 2 special snacks; spooky spiders and witch hats. The children had to follow a "recipe" to make their snack which included counting the correct number of spider legs and putting the spider together.
During our group meeting, we have been singing a "hello" song to help children learn the beginning sound in their names. Here are the words to the song (to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell")
Katie starts with /k/ (make the sound of the the first letter in the child's name)
Katie starts with/k/
Hip, hip, hooray
Katie starts with /k/
You can try the song at home with the names of the people in your family!
We have also begun visiting the school library on Mondays. Mrs. Genton, the librarian, reads a book related to our theme to the children and then discusses the book. Beginning in Kindergarten, the children will visit the library and be able to check out their own books.
Next week we will be reading "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and I have several activities planned to go along with this book and also some variations of the book. We will be making a "coconut tree" snack using graham crackers, apples, grapes, and alphabet cereal.
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REMINDERS...
*The cold weather is here! We will be going outside whenever the weather is above 30 degrees and the playground is dry. PLEASE, send you child in a warm coat. I also encourage you to send your child with a hat and gloves/mittens. We will help them put them on if needed.
*If your child is not feeling well, please keep him/her home to rest until he/she is healthy. This is both for the comfort of your child and the health of the other members of the class.
