We had another great day in school!  

Check out what we did today!

We started the day making a group family portrait.  On a large sheet of butcher paper, each child drew his/her family.  We said, "Thank you God for our Families!"  As we complete this activity, the children are learning to identify the members of their family, and create a representation of them.  In addition, the children are working together and commenting on each other's drawings.  I heard phrases such as: "Wow!  You did a good job drawing your mom!" and "I like your family picture!"  

We each said a line of the five little pumpkins finger play today. The finger play is helping us to learn rhythm, rhyme, and repetition!  These are foundational reading skills.  It is also fun!

We continued to work on patterns.  The children are working on making their own patterns!

We were excited to play in our new pumpkin patch!  The children worked collaboratively to collect and buy leaves and pumpkins.  As they work together, they are practicing social skills that will benefit them all throughout their lives!

We made pumpkin lanterns today!  These lanterns also serve as a cutting assessment for the children.  They were asked to cut on the line, but stop on the dot.  It is important to assess each child's individual gifts and talents to show the child's strengths and areas for growth.

We started the process of our pumpkin art today.  Each child painted a sheet of paper orange.  We will use this painted paper to cut out a pumpkin.  Then, each child will paint a piece of paper black, and will use the black paper to cut out shapes for the pumpkin's face.  As the children complete this activity, they are refining their fine motor skills and expressing creativity.  

During Jesus time today, the children helped me re-tell the story of Abraham and Sarah.  We remembered that when we see the stars, we can know that God keeps His promises! 

We had a fantastic day in preschool day!

Check out what we did today!

We started the day practicing our Five Little Pumpkins finger play.  Each child took a turn and said the line for a pumpkin.  This finger play is helping the children practice rhythm and rhyme.  

 The children practiced using comparative words such as bigger, smaller, heavier, and lighter as we compared the pumpkin and the apple. Using such words is engaging the children's minds mathematically. 

We practiced our fine motor skills more as we used clothespins to pick up pom pons and make our own pumpkin patch.  Fine motor skills allow the children to do smaller tasks, such as writing! 

 We estimated how many blocks tall our pumpkin is.  We tested our estimations on our own! The estimation allows the children to develop numeracy and number sense.  Through this activity, the children are also working on one to one correspondance, counting, and fine motor skills

We worked on patterning too!  Patterning is a foundational math skill!

We had fun playing outside together!  We are developing strong bonds with one another and practicing positive social skills!

During Jesus time, we learned the story of Abraham.  We learned how God said Abraham would have a big family- as big as the number of stars in the sky!  I showed the children pictures my family, and asked about their families.  We looked at stars and said, "God keeps His promises!"

Oliver was the snack caller today.  He did a great job!

Mrs. Povich brought in a yummy snack- pumpkin bagels with cream cheese.  We even had pumpkin cream cheese and regular cream cheese to choose from!  The children practiced spreading the cream cheese on their own bagel.  The bagels were so good!  As the children spread the cream cheese, they are refining their fine motor skills.  They are also practicing positive decision making as they chose between regular cream cheese and pumpkin cream cheese.

We added to our ark today.  After all of the hard work, we decided that today we would take down the ark and change to a pumpin patch.  The children took initiative as they helped take the boxes to the recycling.  (We saved some of the boxes for later too.)  We made a list of things we need for the pumpkin patch.  As the children work together and brainstorm ideas, they are learning valuable decision making and social skills!

We finished our observational drawings of the pumpkin today too! An observational drawing is different in that the children are drawing what they see in front of them.  It allows the children to create a representation of information, which is a life long skill!

We continue to learn and practice positive social skills that will help us throughout our lives!