Painting Pumpkins!

Well, they are not pumpkins, but close enough. When we started our pumpkin unit, the kids mentioned that they would really like to paint pumpkins. I had nearly 100 gords from my garden to use up, so this was a perfect opportunity. The kids voted, and chose to paint and glitter their pumpkins.

We posted these, and several other pictures/videos, on the Shutterfly site as well. Be sure to check it out!

For our Friends!

Today, we viewed the blog of our friends in Canada,

Mrs. Fennemore's Kinderkids

They had shared some wonderful pictures as well as a video of a poem they had recorded. It provided the kids with a little inspiration, and we decided to make a video of our own. 

We started by discussing the concept of a stage. There wasn't enough time to build an entire stage, so we settled on a mural for the background. It took a lot of teamwork to pull that together, as the paper was about 20 feet long. 

After some decorating, we practiced and recorded our favorite pumpkin poem, "Five Little Pumpkins". We hope our friends in Mrs. Fennemore's class enjoy!

Pumpkin Patches and Numbers

This week, we have been talking about pumpkins. We started by watching "How Pumpkins Grow". We made pumpkin people and painted pumpkins with different faces.

The story of Spookley the Square Pumpkin was fun to read and watch online.

The kids created their own pumpkin patches and wrote the words, "My pumpkins are ____". There were square, rectangle, purple, blue, circle, scared, and silly pumpkins in our class.

We also worked on writing our numbers to 10. We used paper and our iPads (The Handwriting Without Tears app) to practice. When writing numbers, we need to start at the top and move to the right. Numbers are important because we use them every day.

Bats and Spiders!

We have spent the week discussing bats and spiders. We found that many of us do not like these animals. However, we did learn that there are some good things about them. During our internet searches, book reads, and discussions, this is what we learned:

• Bats are not birds (LN)
• Bats can fly (LD)
• Bats eat bugs (BF)
• Bats stay away from people (LL)
• Bats are the only flying mammal (DS)
• Bats can hang upside down (OW)
• Bats are not flying rats (NH)
• Bats can fly into houses (RN)
• Spiders hide from people (KC)
• Bats do not drink human blood (EG)
• There are more than a thousand different kinds of bats (HJ)
• Spiders and bats are afraid of us (AP)
• Some spiders can be nice (LN)
• Some spiders hibernate in the Winter (LL)
• Some spiders hide in houses (LN)
• Spiders have 8 legs (all of us)
• Bats can climb because of their 8 legs (OW)
• I like bats and spiders (LW)

The kids then created a crayon/watercolor contrast of bats and spiders at night. The kids made this a great unit. We can't wait to discuss and explore pumpkins next week!

Fire Fighters Rock!

We had a wonderful time at the Barnum Firehall today. The fire fighters showed us the gear, trucks, and shared fire safety trips. The kiddos shared several tips with them as well.

Below are a few pictures of our trip as well as our fire safety video. The kids each shared one tip. They were a little shy in front of the camera, but I am sure they will get more comfortable as the year goes on. Be sure to check your smoke alarms this week! 

Fire Safety!

We will spend some time this week discussing fire safety. Today, we opened the unit with some smart tips from our very knowledgeable class. A few tips children shared today were:

• Do not play near fire (especially camp fires)
• Stop drop and roll if your clothes catch fire
• Call 911 or tell a grownup if you see a "bad" fire
• Some fires are okay, but you still need to be careful

We will be reading several fire stories, watching some fire safety videos (featuring firefighters and Smokey the Bear), and creating fire safety videos to share online. We will end the week with a trip to our local firehall to learn from the experts. It should be fun!

Our new hats and firefighter poses!

We Love our Grandparents!

We are celebrating our grandparents this week. The students will be discussing favorite activities to share with family as well as how a substitute grandparent can be fun to have too. Grandparent's day is this Friday, and we will be performing songs about our grandparents. Please have your kiddo bring a hat to wear (any hat will do). For the last few days, we have been working on pictures of our grandparents. The answer to the question, "what does a grandparent look like" opens up a great discussion!

E.G.'s grandparent portraits