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Starting off with some important dates and reminders…
PICTURES ARE HERE! SEE BELOW FOR INSTRUCTIONS FROM DAVID GELLATLY:
https://davidgellatlyphotography.pixieset.com/
Copy and paste the above link and it will have 2 galleries from this year, along with one from last year.
The password is pizza
Family photos will be taken on Saturday, October 25th for anyone interested. The photos will be outside in the church yard. The link for sign-up is in Miss Shelly’s Blog.
October 28th and 29th - Ladybugs & Frogs Halloween Parade - stay to watch our quick parade around Ascension Hall at 9:15. Parents will need to help with costumes. Ladybugs will celebrate with a party in our classroom at the end of the school day. We will NOT have Chapel or Music and Movement on these days!
** It is best to put your child’s costume over their school clothes, so that we can easily take it off when they’re ready. Most children usually want to shed them to play more comfortably. If that is not possible, please stay for a moment after the parade to help your child change. Thanks! **
Spirit Days - November 4th and 5th! Children can wear their class color if they didn’t purchase a shirt.
We are a NUT FREE, SESAME FREE, and BANANA FREE classroom! Please check labels to make sure snacks do not contain nuts, sesame, or banana.
Please check your child’s cubby daily for papers.
Check out our photos posted on the website! Use the password CCP-26/27 to enter the parent portal and find the class albums.
Please have all Ladybugs use the stairs, and NOT play on the steep hill next to the stairs. We know (and understand) the temptation over how fun the hill looks to roll, run, or climb down, but we care so much about their safety even when not in our care, and would love your help to reinforce what we have been teaching them about safety.
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Onto our week…
What a fantastic week we had diving into our fall exploration! Fall weather is finally here, and we are loving every colorful moment of it! The leaves outside are putting on a beautiful show, and we’ve continued bringing that autumn magic into our classroom all week long. As we further explored the beauty of fall leaves, we also added pumpkins to our seasonal discoveries.
Our fall-themed activities and centers helped us to strengthen important skills like observation, fine motor development, early literacy, and science discovery — all while having fun!
This week we dove into the colorful world of autumn with two delightful books: We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger and IF YOU FIND a leaf by Aimee Sicuro. These books sparked lots of curiosity and conversation.
In We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt, the children went on a pretend adventure through forests, over mountains, and across steams in search of beautiful fall leaves — much like our playground leaf hunts. This book helped us learn about sequencing, vocabulary, and following directions, all while having fun with some of the predictability of the text. Try and take a nature walk with your Ladybug this weekend, and ask them about the different leaves they see. You might just find yourselves going on your own leaf hunt!
IF YOU FIND a leaf by Aimee Sicuro is a sweet, whimsical story about a little artist who discovers that autumn leaves are more than just pretty things to collect. With a little imagination, each leaf becomes something magical — from a boat to a hot-air balloon! This charming story celebrates the beauty of nature, creativity, and the magic of seeing the world in new ways.
At our art tables, we had the option to express ourselves through free choice art, or the option to try some of the more organized fall activities that were available. Some chose to create pictures with stickers or do some free drawing, while others created beautiful fall leaf sun catchers, continued making colorful leaves using pipe cleaners and beads, made colorful leaves using coffee filters, food coloring, water, and pipettes, and/or outlined their names using glue and corn kernels. Some children chose to show off their Picasso skills on the large easels, using both leaf and apple stencils. It was so fun to explore textures and colors while being creative. Our fine motor skills were on fire!
Our group pumpkin-painting activity, using paint and glitter to get creative together, was the most exciting activity of the week! With brushes, paint, and plenty of sparkles, it was messy, joyful, and oh-so-fun! After all, the world is a better place with a little sparkle, right?!?
Our reading center was fully stocked with both fall and new pumpkin-themed stories that we loved reading both independently and together.
Fall tangram puzzles encouraged problem-solving and creativity.
We introduced Magna-Tiles this week, and all LOVED building! We explored shapes, symmetry, and structure, while working together to design creative buildings and sculptures on the light table.
Magnetic block number towers with fall themes helped to build our early math skills.
In our dramatic play area, we whipped up some delicious fall treats — from apple pies to other warm treats — letting our imaginations shine. We also loved dressing up in the new fire people costumes, just like our real-life heroes!
The sensory table was a big hit, filled with colorful leaves, acorns, dried corn kernels, wooden pieces, and mini pumpkins. All loved scooping, sorting, and exploring textures, while strengthening fine motor skills and engaging the senses.
We even played with pumpkin spice-scented playdoh — talk about fall in the air! This also allowed our little fingers to have quite the workout with using the playdoh scissors. We loved cutting the dough into strips.
Fall really seems to be a wonderful springboard for talking about Science, so Miss Jenn brought some exciting science magic to our week! The children all had a blast with hands-on experiments like:
Dancing Popcorn - watching popcorn kernels bounce in water with Alka-Seltzer.
Magic Messages - revealing the hidden words using tumeric and hand sanitizer.
** Our MWF group will get to do these experiments next week. **
Many of our Ladybugs have probably come home singing all (or parts) of our prayer song, so I’m adding it here so they can continue practicing it at home. We always start our prayer with, “in Jesus’ name we pray…,” and then sing our prayer song.
In Chapel with Pastor Lee this week, we learned about Jesus being in a parade. He needed a way to get to the city, so he asked his friends to find him a way. Jesus rode a donkey into the city, and the people welcomed Him with palm leaves and their coats, shouting, “Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest!” He came to show us how to love God and love one another. May we learn from Jesus and share His love with everyone!
In Music and Movement with Miss Crysta-Anne, we got to move our bodies in different ways using taped patterns on the floor, in addition to using scarves and waving them to the rhythm of our familiar songs. Our amazing director even joined in on the fun! Wednesdays and Thursdays are always fun-filled, and super exhausting days for all!
It was week full of learning, laughter, and lots of fall joy! We can’t wait to keep exploring the magic of fall together — next week is HALLOWEEN!
Wishing you a wonderful weekend with your sweet Ladybugs. We are so grateful to you for sharing them with us each week! PURE JOY! We hope you are enjoying all the fun fall activities with your little ones!
Miss Lisa, Miss Phoenix, and Miss Jennifer