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Starting off with some important dates and reminders…
The Chapel Hill Fire Department will be coming to CCP on Monday, October 12th, around 9:15am. I would love to encourage my Tuesday/Thursday grownups to bring their children to this special experience. All will get to meet firemen/women, learn about fire safety, and will get to sit in the firetruck. Great photo opportunity!
Fall Conferences will be held on October 13th and 14th. Sign-ups are listed below (correctly this time). If these dates don’t work with your schedule, we will need to arrange an alternate time to meet.
MWF Ladybugs:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0A4EAAA928A4FB6-66404807-fall
T/Th Ladybugs:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0A4EAAA928A4FB6-66404782-fall
There will be a substitute with the class during conferences on Tuesday, October 13th, and Wednesday, October 14th.
On Friday, October 16th, preschool is CLOSED for students (Professional Development for Teachers)!
Send a pie pumpkin to school by October 19th.
Fall picture days are October 20th and 21st with David Gallatly. Family photo sessions will be held on October 21st for anyone who is interested.
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 after the parade.
Spirit Days - November 4th and 5th!
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…
This week was all about apples. We learned about the parts of the apple - skin, flesh, stem, leaf and seeds. We read that apple seeds are also called pips! So funny! We discovered that if you cut the apple’s top off (horizontally), there is a star inside, and if cut vertically, it doesn’t look the same. The seeds are more easily accessible when cut vertically, and we counted how many were in our apples. All apples have ten or less pips.
We pinned “apples” pom poms onto our classroom apple tree, which was perfect for to fire up those fine motor skills. We made painted apple trees using our hands as the trunk and branches, along with the apples we cut to stamp apples onto our trees. Our apple theme extended into our dramatic play area, where we pretended to be chefs and baked apple pies with our tea parties. Our cinnamon oat sensory table this week included pie tins, foam apples, and felt apple toppings.
The most exciting activity was making our own applesauce! All of the children used Montessori knives to help cut apple slices into small pieces to add to our pot. It was a challenging task that required good fine motor control, but we saw that some of our Ladybugs must be practicing their sous-chef skills at home. They were so proud to be able to help! We read our recipe, added some water and cinnamon, and set the Instant-Pot for 8 minutes. The hardest part was waiting for it to cool, so that we could try it! Unfortunately, we had to pass most of the applesauce cups to the parents for them to cool, so we will need to find out next week who was brave enough to try something different.
We had a blast using the our bodies, colorful scarves, and the rhythm band to move with the tempo of the music with Miss Crysta-Anne this week! Pastor Lee shared a story about him lighting the candle at his church at only eight years old. Lighting the candle showed him that God was always in the house with him while he prayed, read the Bible, and told stories about Jesus. Most importantly, he learned that the light was symbolic of God’s light that we take into the world and share with those around us.
We can’t wait to keep the fall fun going next week with more seasonal activities, hands-on learning, and lots of autumn adventures. 🍂
We would love to paint pumpkins with the class, so we’d like to request that you send a small “pie pumpkin” — they are usually about 6” — with your child by October 19th. Thank you!
I look forward to meeting with you at conference time on October 13th and 14th. Ladybug conferences will be held in Building 105/room 3/5.
Have a wonderful weekend with your sweet Ladybugs!
Miss Lisa, Miss Phoenix, and Miss Jennifer