This morning was filled with activity! The children did lots of self initiated small group play in hopscotch, the block room and housekeeping. At times, our house was very noisy…but if you listened to it, it was nearly all happy, cooperative, and part of the children’s play.

To stay with the Halloween spirit, Miss Melinda and Miss Tami put out art materials for the children to create their own vision of what a jack-o-lantern would look like. There were orange and rainbow pumpkins, tempera paint, watercolor paint, glue, scissors, & black construction paper. Every completed pumpkin is very different from the next.

We had out the I Like Pumpkins book for our art exploration. This book has lots of examples of really unique jack-0-lanterns. Miss Melinda read this book for our large group storytime before nap.

For a math activity, Miss Tami divided our message board into 10 equal spaces and each rectangle counted by 10’s up to 100. Kai and Isaac started the activity by estimating that there would be 100 spiders in our cauldron. We discussed how hard it is to not lose track of your number when counting right to 100 and then discussed how counting by 10’s is an easy way to reach 100. The boys were completely surprised when they reached 100 and still had LOTS of spiders in their cauldron. They counted the remaining spiders to discover they had 193 spiders.

The spider activity stayed on the table for further exploration by the younger children. Annie, Jane, Ada, and Macy worked at counting groups of 10. At one point, I over heard Jane talking about the “mommy” spider, the “daddy” spider, and all of their “babies”. And then our math activity transitioned into a dramatic play adventure!

For lunch we had whole grain flat bread with melted cojack cheese, roasted sweet potatoes, and fresh mixed fruit.

Miss Laurie is still out sick. We sure hope she feels better soon! Also, Miss Marty is out from WWF trying to get over her monster cold. Everyone get an extra dose of sunshine today to ward off the yucks!

A few more shots:

We were feeling the Halloween spirit today, so we added some Halloween-y activities to our morning:

Pounding golf tees into a giant pumpkin! Pounding gives the children’s hands strength that is critical to developing writing skills. In addition to this, here are just a few of the Indiana Academic Foundations met by this activity: F.6.11 Give reason for placement of objects. F.6.13 Use a tool in a new way. F.6.19 See a simple task through to completion. F.1.3 Observe and describe properties of objects. F.3.2 Investigate and talk about the characteristics of matter (e.g., liquids and solids, smooth and rough, bend-not bend).F.2.2 Follow simple directions.

It was not necessarily Halloween-y, but the children also pounded golf tees into playdough this morning and created golf tee cakes with birthday candles, picture frames, food items, and animals. F.2.10 Use objects as symbols for other things. (e.g., a scarf to represent bird wings or a box to represent a car) F.2.19 Use a variety of materials (e.g., crayons, paint, clay, markers) to create original work. F.2.12 Progress in ability to create drawings, models, and other art creations that are moe detailed, creative, or realistic.

The light table was of great interest as we added Halloween-y bats, ghosts, tombstones, moons, & ghosts. There isn’t an Academic Foundation that explains the incredible benefit of the children exploring how the light effects the objects on the table, but here are a few that are clearly connected: F.7.10 Use new vocabulary learned from experiences. F.7.7 Classify categories of words. F.7.8 Identify attributes of objects. F.2.15 Enjoy materials and activities to further explore, manipulate, and exercise the imagination.F.3.6 Describe differences and similarities in various physical environments.F.3.1 Participate in activities using materials with a variety of properties (e.g., color, shape, size, name, type of material).

Our music and movement time drew all of the children because of the little Jack-o-lantern ball that was the focus of our inside and outside group play. Inside, we sat in a circle and passed the ball around to the beat of the music. The children stopped the ball when the music stopped. You can see this in the short video I took: IMG_2309

Outside, Miss Melinda led the children through a variety of parachute activities. The favorite one was everyone going low to the ground, a child counting aloud, and everyone jumping up at once to launch the Halloween ball high into the air! Both the inside music and outside parachute activities met these Foundations (and more!) F.1.4 Perform basic rhythmical skills alone and/ or with a partner. (e.g., the child marches and dances to music or rhythmical sounds in free form or with simple adult directions). F.2.3 Follow rules for simple games and activities. F.2.1 Identify and use a variety of spatial relationships with objects (e.g., the child will move self and/or an object over, under, beside, and through as directed by an adult).5.1 Take turns during physical activities. F.5.3 Work together as a team toward a common goal. .5.4 Play cooperatively with others during physical activities. F.5.5 Treat others with respect during physical activities.F.1.3 Sing along to familiar songs.

For lunch we had brown rice with roast beef, avocado/banana/cranberry salad, and mixed vegetables.

Try not to let the dreary weather make you tired!

This was a Blue Bus Gymnastics morning. The children worked with Miss Jennifer on eye-hand coordination today through games that used scarves, balls, and the parachute.

REMINDER…Tomorrow is the new YMCA swim session. All that were in swimming are continuing. But, we are adding 5 new swimmers: Ada, Addi, Arleigh, Alma & Umi. (Notice all the A’s!) The new guys will need to bring swim suits, preferably one that can stay at WF for the entire session.

Our small group inside mainly focused on two regular everyday WF activities: Making Sculpture Dough and the Light Table. As teachers, we love the chance to enhance a “normal” activity with interesting materials that renew the children’s interest in the activity.

Since Sculpture Dough has not been chosen in awhile and we had some Halloween forms (Jello jiggler molds), it took just a little suggestion to Kai that those two materials might go well together. From that, we had child after child making their own sculpture dough and using the Halloween forms, while also creating many of their own sculptures. While kids waited for their turns, they used our playdough.

The light table has been used for the past few weeks with the fairy tale cut outs. As the interest in this topic has waned, so has the interest in the light table. Today, we added a translucent orange plastic pumpkin cutouts, black construction paper, scissors and two copies of the book Five Little Pumpkins to the area. Children worked alone and together to create their own funny jack-o-lantern faces.

Miss Laurie is out today ill with the monster cold virus that has been filtering through. This cold is very sinus and chest congesting. It took me a full two weeks to get through it without antibiotics. However, several of the children (and one teacher) have gone on antibiotics for this virus because of resulting sinus or ear infections.

Outside, we enjoyed the beautiful weather for a full hour and ten minutes of play! Here are a few shots from the morning, inside and out:

Enjoy the sunshine!!!!

Tami