We read Leaf Man and went on a nature hunt around the church building collecting whatever caught our eye. There was so much joy in the collecting. Their bags of nature goodies were available every day to add to their art and playdough.
Greyson, Blue Whale alumni and big brother to Kellan, joined us on Tuesday to read If I Built a House. After the book, Greyson led the Blue Whales in building houses with legos and different types of blocks. The Blue Whales really enjoyed Greyson’s visit.
We had some natural interest in America and parades from the children this week. It led to a wonderful discussion about the American flag, the branches of the armed forces and Veterans Day. The children made their own version of the flag, and we had a Happy Veterans Day parade through the classrooms, around the building and on the playground as they waved their homemade flags dressed in their red, white and blue. It was so much fun and pretty cute too! We also touched on the 50 states represented by the stars on the flag and that we live in the state of North Carolina.
How long does it take for an acorn to turn into a mighty oak tree? We read a wonderful book about that journey and introduced some big words like photosynthesis, chlorophyll, carbon dioxide and oxygen.
We had Guess-n-Tell and Henry did a great job with three clues about his item and calling on friends to guess the item. The Blue Whales were able to guess Henry’s item because of his great clues.
To make sure Guess-n-Tell is an exciting day, there will be no other show and tell on Wednesdays. Your child is welcome to bring one item to show and practice their public speaking skills on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
As a class we will observe our Spirit Day on Tuesday, November 14th. There really is never a bad day to wear blue or a whale so feel free to dress in our colors on Monday too.
The Gingerbread House and Gingerbread Cookie Decorating Sign Up List will be posted on our window at the end of next week. Beth and I wanted to finalize our plan for that day so we can have a complete list of what we need for a festive day. Thank you to all of you that responded to volunteer to help. I will send an email out next week about who will be volunteering on which days.
The Southern Village community has a lot to offer to extend what we are learning in our classroom. I sent out an email to all families asking for your permission to walk around Southern Village to explore their trails, playgrounds and other opportunities. Thank you to those of you who have responded. If you have not responded, please respond by Sunday with a yes or no for permission to walk around the Southern Village neighborhood as a class and the best phone number to reach you. We will keep a list of that information with us whenever we leave the church grounds.
This week we talked about letters and sounds and had many activities around the room reinforcing letters in a playful way. Next week we will continue talking about letters and start exploring birds.
I will be out on Monday and Ms. Jane will be subbing in the classroom with Ms. Beth. Some of the children are familiar with Ms. Jane as she subbed in their class last year.
We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends. Hope everyone has a nice weekend.