We are learning about Bats as we completed our Farm theme and approach Halloween! We read Stella Luna and talked about the similarities and differences between birds and bats.
We celebrated Dewali with Sanaya's mom and danced and created beautiful pottery pieces. The children loved learning about the customs and traditions while listening to a story and trying on colorful clothes and beautiful scarves etc. We will miss Sanaya for the next two months as they spend time in India with family and friends. We have all enjoyed getting to know her and cannot wait to hear all about her journey oversees.
Literacy:
We read fall books in leveled readers or alphabet letter books in reading groups. Some children are concentrating on the different letters and sounds and some are working on blends and digraphs. We are working in whole group time on beginning and ending sounds of words and syllables and rhyming. Being able to differentiate each individual letter sound is foundational in literacy. Learning each sound prevents children from guessing words or sounds they might not know once they combine letters to make words, and encourages intentional decoding.
The children wrote or dictated stories about their favorite farm animals. I loved the different pictures of cows and that some actually produced chocolate milk in the stories! We are working on illustrating pictures that relate to our topics and ideas. The children have freedom to crate art at other times without stipulations but are learning to ask relevant questions and staying on topic for short periods of time as we are introducing themes. It's a great transition from the beginning to end of year as we increase attention span and work to categorize different activities. It's also important to find many relevant ideas when introducing new concepts to assist children in making connections and deepen their understanding.
Math & Science:
We created a KWL chart about bats to learn what the children already know, what they want to know, and then what they learn will be completed when we finish our study. We read books both fiction and non-fiction about bats and began learning about echolocation.
Fine Motor:
We decorated barns with pastels, hay and stickers and wrote related words next to the different farm animals. We completed October self portraits, using mirrors to carefully observe our features as we learn more about details of our own faces and bodies. Looking for ways to recreate colors in our eyes or hair helps children become aware of more details of themselves and others. I love watching everyone make connections based on their physical characteristics which typically also leads to comparisons/similarities in non-physical characteristics.
Can't wait for our field trip!
Ms. Massey
