Thankful Tuesday # 2

Thankful Tuesday

Starting this week we are taking a bit of a different approach in our class.  Our class dynamic has somewhat changed so we needed to make some changes to make our classroom more efficient and to run smoother.  The centers we will do for now will be the same every day.  If your child attends on multiple days they will do the centers through out the week but not all on the same day.  This will allow for Mrs. Wegener and I to both feel like our time with our friends is better used and we don't feel like we are always trying to play catch up.  This will also allow for us to have more time with interactive play and to work on our social skills with our friends.  Play is a very big part of our Early Childhood Program and the way our classroom will know be ran will be similar to our preschool classrooms.  I thank you in advance for your support and understanding in the changes we are making to our classroom to help make your child's school experience more fulfilling and better.     Enjoy reading about what we are doing this week and viewing the pictures.    

If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me at hhorn@zionharvester.org

Free Choice and Center Time 

Our mornings will start out the same the classroom will be opened up and our friends will be able to explore and play in the classroom.  We listened to music by George Winston today that was entitled Autumn.  During this time some centers will be done and we will work on certain skills such as fine motor, coloring and painting.  

Play dough Fun 

Working together

Letter K

The letter we are working on this week is the letter K.  Today in our alphabet book we used a green bingo dauber to help us become familiar with the letter K and hear some words that start with the letter K.  Kiss, Kangaroo, keep are to name a few that we heard today.  Becoming familiar with the letters of the alphabet is a great way to start learning what letters look like and sound like.  It is also a great way for us to increase our vocabulary.  Alphabet books will come home at the end of May. 

More Exploring in the Classroom 

Pattern

Today's pattern was Pilgrim Girl Pilgrim Boy.  The pattern was started for our friends and they had to complete the pattern.  We also worked on saying the word Pilgrim that is a hard a tricky word!

Bingo Dauber Turkeys

Today we decorated a turkey using different colored bingo daubers.  We had to match the color on the turkey with the correct bingo dauber.  We worked on our matching skills, color identification skills, fine motor skills and pre-writing skills.  These are proudly being displayed in our hallway be sure and check the wall through out the week!

 Painting Four Feather's on a Turkey!

To start this center we had to glue our turkeys body a big brown circle and then his head a small light brown circle.  This helped us review the shape of a circle and also the color brown, we also worked on the math concept of big and small.  Next we had to make his face we used googly eyes that were great to work on our fine motor skills as they were not too big and were sticky, next we glued on an orange beak and lastly a red gobbler.  We were able to work on face identification and review colors we have already had and counting to the number 2 as we counted 2 eyes.  Next, we added four feather Red, Orange, Yellow and Green.  We were able to work on sensory skills as we painted our hand to make the feathers. We also were able to work on color identification and counting to the number 4.  These turkeys are some of the best turkeys in town be sure and check them out over the course of the week in our classroom!  

Coloring a Cross 

Our shape this month is of a Cross and today to help us continue to become familiar with the shape of a cross we used something we have not used before to color our cross with.  We used colored pencils using the colored pencils forced us to press down a little harder on the paper to make color appear and helped us work on control and strengthening the muscles in our hands to write with.  

Morning Meeting

Our Morning Meeting time will stay in the same format.  

Happy Tuesday! 

Our calendar for the month of November has different Thanksgiving pictures on it so during our calendar time we work on identifying the number and talking about the picture we see on the square.  This is a great way for our students to have a sense of time.  I say….Today, is Tuesday, November the 10.  They are hearing the month and the day of the week and the date.  Today was a turkey so we practiced saying the word turkey and the sound that a turkey makes.  

Mr. Weather Frog was shy today and didn't get his picture taken:(.  He was ready for a beautiful fall day.  

Our Studies for the month of November 

We counted four leaves on our magnet board to help us count to the number 4. 

Our Brown Color Board 

Our pattern for the month of November is Pilgrim Hat Turkey 

 We read a book today about going on a nature hunt and the different things we might see when we are outside.  We also worked on singing our ABC's and learning about the letter K.  

Transition and Snack Time 

We dressed our turkey for the day by putting different colored feathers on him.  Last week we painted our turkey's feathers and this week we are dressing him up.  This activity works on color identification, name identification, listening skills and following directions.  

What a great looking turkey!  

standing in line waiting to go and wash our hands for snack 

Waiting for all of our friends to finish in the bathroom as we wait we sing a song that helps us learn the different parts of our bodies to help with body awareness.  

Jesus Time 

Remains the same after snack time.  We come to the carpet and sing the Read the Bible Song and listen to the Bible story for the month.  This month we are talking about the things that we are thankful for.  We talked about our families, home , church pastors, school, friends and teachers.  We then sing the B-I-B-L-E and Jesus Loves Me.  We then get ready to line up to go outside.  Each child was dismissed to get there coats after their names were called and they told me what their favorite color was.  

Getting Ready to Head Outside!  

Circle Time 

Remains the same we come inside and wash our hands and faces and head back to the carpet to hear a story and flannel board activity or game to be played.  Today we read a story about 5 Silly Turkeys and heard the flannel board story of Five Little Turkeys. We then dismissed for Center Time each child was dismissed when their name was called and they were able to tell me how old they were.  

Center Time Round 2

During this time we work on a different series of centers and play in the classroom.  We listened to some Peanuts music today to help celebrate the opening of the new Peanuts Movie! 

Special Thanksgiving Gift

Today we started working on a special gift for our parents that we will be bringing home next week.  

Bible Story Activity

Today we placed different types of thanksgiving foods on our a piece of paper to help us remember that we are thankful for the food we have to fill our tummies.  We also were able to talk about different foods we might eat at Thanksgiving and what some of our favorite foods are.  

Water coloring Pilgrims and Native Americans

We talked about Pilgrims and Native Americans and the First Thanksgiving last week.  We talked about their clothing and what they brought to the First Thanksgiving.  We worked on saying these words and today we used our water colors to paint pilgrim boys and girls.   Be sure to check out our classroom for these great paintings

Marble Painting

Today we painted a turkey brown with marbles. This activity was great to work on saying the word Turkey, making the sound of a turkey.  We also were able to work on becoming familiar with the color brown and working on our fine motor skills as we had to tip the container back and forth for the marbles to move around to decorate our turkey.  These are also being displayed in our classroom with our Autumn Tree.  

Music and Movement 

We had fun being able to dance and move around the classroom before our lunchtime.  We did Hands are For Clapping, Jump and Turn Around, and The Silly Dance Contest.  

We finished our Music and Movement Time with a book about a Mama Owl looking for her Baby Owl.  

After Lunch

Our days will be ending a little different so we don't have so much confusion and tears as we leave for the day.  We will end on the reading carpet with some independent reading and then a new song we are learning…Goodbye, Goodbye to you and you and you, Good Bye Good Bye May God watch over you.  When then have to listen for our name and give a hug and then head to the cubby room to get on coats and backpacks.  This worked out great this past week and today even better and we have less confusion which is much needed at this time of day espcially with the winter season upon us.  

This was a fabulous Tuesday one of the best we have had all year!   I hope you enjoyed the peek into our classroom and seeing all the fun we are having.  Again, I thank you for your support, understanding as we modify our classroom!  Blessings on a beautiful evening.