We decorated our pumpkins this week based on the work by artist Yayoi Kusama. We read her biography and learned that she is from Japan and saw the world through dots. She translated that to her artwork and touched upon the concept of infinity. It led to a wonderful discussion about the dots in her artwork and infinity. The Blue Whales had various resources to make dots on their pumpkins, such as q-tips, tips of pencils erasers, dot brushes, dot gems and push pins. They loved being artists and it was so fun to see how different each pumpkin turned out.
The children were very busy decorating our classroom this week with spider webs, plastic spiders and bats. They made amazing jack o’lanterns in a salad spinner and hung them up for decorations. And they discovered ways to make their own bats and ghosts and add them to the spooky decorations in the classroom and at home. It was a true group effort, and they really enjoyed the ownership of decorating their classroom.
We had a visit from the Fire Department. The fire fighters showed us what they look like and sound like all dressed in their equipment. And they even let each child sit inside the fire truck. It was very exciting!
The Blue Whales had fun with pumpkins this week. We pounded golf tees in pumpkins and decorated pumpkins with push pins.
We had Guess-n-Tell and Juliette did a great job with three clues about her item and calling on friends to guess the item. The Blue Whales were able to guess Juliette’s item because of her great clues.
Important Dates and Information for October:
· Tuesday, October 31st - We hope you can join us for our Halloween Costume Parade around Southern Village. Please send your child to school in their costume and drop them off at the classroom at 9:00 a.m. The Blue Whales will meet parents and special grown-ups outside in front of the church at 9:30 a.m. and start our parade with the Yellow Ducks class. Families are welcome to dress up too. Please help your child change out of their costume after the parade. If you are OK with them wearing their costume all day that is fine too, but we will be our normal messy selves and play outside that day
If you are out and about this weekend enjoying the beautiful weather, we would love to start collecting acorns, leaves and maple tree seeds (or as I like to call them helicopters) for some projects in the classroom.
The next few weeks will be all about fall, pumpkins, bats, spiders, ghosts and Halloween.
Thank you for the items on our Blue Whale Amazon Wish List that we received this week. The Blue Whales will put the supplies to good use. Our Blue Whale Wish List includes some things we would like to add to the classroom and other general supplies used day to day. Do not feel pressure to purchase anything if not led to, but it is there if you like. Ms. Beth and I appreciate all the support we feel from all our families with their kind words, wonderful children ready to learn and explore each day, and your generosity each time I send out a request for items.
We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends. Hope everyone has a nice weekend.