Good Morning JK Parents!

This blog is a combination of last week and the past two days, so the tense of when it has been written changes and might be a bit confusing.  Please excuse the craziness, I just wanted to include all of the photos and information from all I could!

What an amazing time we had with all of the grandparents and special friends!  Thank you for visiting our classroom and letting us spend time getting to know you!  I loved hearing all of your stories and just seeing you interact with the children.  They were sooo excited to perform for you and show you all they have been busing with!

We have been learning many facts this past week about the Pilgrims and their relationship with the Wampanoag Native Americans.  We have been comparing their way of life to our modern lives, and discussed the differences in everything from where they lived to how they cooked their food and what they ate.  Mostly, we have been learning many different vocabulary words to add to our description of what Thanksgiving means.  We continued to play our sequencing games as well as our "Yes Please and No Thank You" game.

We also had a Thanksgiving feast in our classroom, with turkey, corn with butter, mac n cheese, fresh bread we baked, and blue jello, symbolic of the blue ocean on which the Pilgrims sailed when traveling to America.  The children all answered a questions about letter sounds as their ticket to receive a piece of bread.  It was nice to have classroom time to enjoy our food and each other before the holiday weekend.

Literacy:
The children played a game where they looked at pictures and had to locate and pin the corresponding ending sound letter to the correct item.  Isolating the different letter sounds in words helps in the reading and writing process.  We are also locating and cutting out letters and words in magazines, getting use to finding letters in small words hidden in small text as well as advertisements.  We are working on our letter sounds daily and use the help of our animal friends who give us clues about each letter.

Fine Motor:
We made "Sunshine" paintings for our grandparents and special friends.  We also made models of teepees with symbols, and practiced writing those and discussed how they might be used long ago to communicate.

The Tom and Tina Turkeys are delightful!  I love seeing each one as they made their way back to school, and learn about the special interests and fun experience it was to decorate.  Thank you for your efforts in making those with your children!

Math and Science:
We charted and tallied a classroom vote on whether or not each child eats turkey.  It's great practice for using tally marks and grouping sets of five.  We also went on a fall scavenger hunt outside and shared our findings with our friends.  The signs of fall as winter approaches are much different now than even two weeks ago, as most all signs of summer fade and the outside world grows a little more quiet.  We used all of our senses to smell, touch, hear, taste and see.  (The tasting was hypothetical, as we discussed what a leaf might taste like, and what we might eat if we were hungry and outside without food.)

Social Studies:
The children learned many Native American symbols used to communicate within and outside their tribe.  Some of their favorites are the symbol for many fish, wise, teepee, and happy.

Our reading buddies also came to visit us, and brought "buddy books" they had checked out from the library that they thought we would enjoy.  It was such a sweet surprise!  Some of the children talked about the Native American symbols they have been learning and drew some for their reading buddies.  It's so nice to see these incredible friendships begin to form!

Music and Movement:
The children have learned a new song they will sing in our classroom on Grandparents' and Special Friend's Day.   They were so excited to joyfully sing and learn hand motions to share with family and friends.  We also talked about the Thanksgiving Day Parade and what we might see in a parade.  We practiced marching in our own parade.  We used sticks and danced in time to our new songs.  The importance in crossing the midline as they use their sticks side to side and low to high is incredibly important for brain development.  We are also doing daily balancing exercises which goes hand in hand with the brain and body connection and using the left and right sides of the brain together.  When children are able to skip, many times they are also then able to read.  It's amazing the connection between the brain and body which is overlooked.

My Professional Development was outstanding and one of the main messages that resonated with me is how connected the brain and body are when it comes to academic development.  We will be incorporating even more balance and eye-hand coordination/gross motor skills in the classroom.  They are already loving walking on the "balance beam" daily.  The Greeks knew how important the brain body connection was.  I'm not sure when the shift happened in differentiating between the two and treating them as such separate forces, but the research is overwhelming for connecting the two for the most positive learning success.  

We have read many wonderful books this week, including:  Hide and Seek Turkeys, Thanksgiving, Curious George and the Pizza, The Napping House, Thanksgiving, When I Grow Up, Jonathon and His Mommy, If I built a House, The Owl and the Pussycat, Playing with Friends, Jaguar's Jungleberry Jamboree (AlphaTales), Kangaroo Kazoo (AlphaTales), Strega Nona, Arrow to the Sun, I Know Why I Brush my Teeth and Indian Paintbrush.  

Have a wonderful holiday weekend, and please know how thankful I am for you all!

Ms. Massey

Good afternoon JK Parents!

We have been addressing our friends with the nicest of manners, while playing our "Yes Please and No Thank You" game!  It's wonderful to hear the children use their most sophisticated language when we pretend we are passing food at our Thanksgiving dinner.  I love that they all want to have salad in our game.  I am laughing about the looks when I pass them the stuffing with mushrooms.  "No thank you!"

Math and

Science:
We played a game with pom pons and tweezers, utilizing our counting, sorting, and fine motor skills, where we roll dice and fill our card with different color balls.   The children are helping each other as they negotiate through the games we play, and discuss different strategies.  Their patterning abilities and reasoning skills are all improving.

We began talking about the Pilgrims and how they arrived in America.  We watched a video animation, and compared things the children played with to things we play with today.  We made bread, measuring and adding ingredients as we talked about how the Pilgrims baked and cooked.  The first answer given after asking how the Pilgrims traveled from England was, "they took the bus!" 

We used pieces of (paper) pumpkin pie to talk about above, below, and beside.  We also compared small, medium and large pieces of pie.  We are always working on sequencing and this week we acted out a skit as we read "I knew an old lady who swallowed a pie."  We have a perfect little old lady puppet who eats the items as the children howl with laughter! 

Literacy:
We worked in our Word Books during writing center time this week, and practiced writing "Hh" words and illustrating "Hh" pictures.  They like being able to have their own workbooks and ask for them when they observe others in the center before them.  It's funny how just using words like, "okay, you get to do your Word Book now!", or "it's your turn!" can make a task seem like a treat.  We read many fun books this week, and located letters and letter sounds as we read.  We read:  Turkey Trouble, Fancy Nancy Our Thanksgiving Banquet, The Night Before Thanksgiving,  A Dragon in my Backpack, Henry and Mudge in Puddle Trouble, Iguana On Ice (Alpha Tales), The Littlest Pilgrim, How to Be a Friend,  and Who Will Carve the Turkey This Thanksgiving.  I am pointing out some common sight words as well. 

We used stamps to locate the letters in our names, using the correct upper and lower case letters.  We also played a "fill in the letter block" to complete words on a dry erase board.

We are talking about what it means to be kind and how we can show others our kindness.  The children did a "turn and talk" where they faced each other and took turns sharing ideas on kindness.  They shared with the group pieces of their conversations.  We have so much to be thankful and it is so important to pause in our crazy lives to recognize this. 

Fine Arts:
We made bracelets and necklaces for each other and made started making our pumpkin pie thankful wheels.  Being thankful is something we talk about each day before we have snack, as we recite our thankful poem.  One table a day takes turns sharing for what they are thankful.  Mostly they are thankful for their mommy and daddy, and sometimes the snack, or their teachers! 

Please let me know if you will have grandparents attending on Grandparent's Day November 21st.  If a grandparent will not be attending, I encourage all of the children to have a special friend or even a parent so everyone will have someone with them to perform for and enjoy the classroom activities.  It's such a special time for them to be proud of their classroom and share it with someone they love.

Have a great week!

Ms. Massey