The Pumpkin Patch

Oh my goodness!  We had so much fun today at the pumpkin patch.  What a wonderful place.  Pumpkins Galore.  I really recommend that place.  They were awesome with the kids.  Also, the parents were fantastic!  The kids were on their best behavior.  They loved the bus ride.  Here are some of the pictures of the trip.  I have a ton of pictures of the kids but only a few I can place on the blog.  So here they are.

We have been studying how a pumpkin grows.  It starts as a seed, develops leaves, then the plant flowers and then a pumpkin forms.  It is amazing how much the children loved seeing what they learned about in class in the pumpkin patch.  They loved seeing the leaves and the flowering plants.

Here is a green pumpkin.  It is not ripe yet. 

A ripe pumpkin ready to be picked.

The children asked me to take a picture of this pumpkin.  They loved the different colors this pumpkin is showing.

The funniest thing about the "chicken house" as one student called it was watching the children react to the smell!  They were torn between watching the  chickens and turkeys and holding their noses.

They had some of the biggest turkeys I have ever seen.

The kids loved the turtles!  They held them and explored their shells.  There is nothing like being able to see, smell and touch the animals to make an impact!

Now the children want a class pet.  I guess that is the next thing we can work for as a class.  Most want a turtle.  Some want a dog, a hamster or a snake.  I think "no" to the snake idea.

Waiting so patiently for the wagon ride.  The kids were so well behaved.  I am so proud of them.  They really filled my bucket today!  All the children ended up on OUTSTANDING today and they all earned pulling a toy from the pumpkin treasure box.  They were so excited.

Pumpkins Galore.  Simply the best.  Thank you to all the staff there.  They were wonderful.

The kids loved the hay bales painted to look like pumpkins and other things.

View from the tractor ride.  Have I said how great this place was yet?

The children were in awe of the combine.  Most wanted to ride on it.  I also explained to some of the kids how this machine is used during harvest.

I think one of the favorite things the children did was feeding the goats.  Some were scared, but most went ahead and fed the animals.  I was so proud of them.

I wish I could show you the pictures of the children's faces!  Priceless.

Everyone really liked the baby goats.  They were so cute.

When we got back to school the children were eager to show each other their pumpkins.  We took the opportunity to draw our pumpkins.  They put their pumpkin on the table and studied it very closely.  They noticed that some of the pumpkins had several colors, some had dirt on them, they all had lines in them, some had stems and some did not.  This skill (looking at details) will help them notice details in their writing and in their reading.  They will also use this skill when studying illustrations while trying to figure out unknown words.  Drawing is also great fine motor practice which will help them with their penmanship.  They worked for a long time on their "pumpkins as still life".

This child wanted to draw several pumpkins (notice the different colors he used to show the differences between the pumpkins.  He also varies the size of the pumpkins to show differences in height and circumference.

I like how this child noticed the stem.  Can you see the lines she drew to represent the lines she saw in the pumpkin?

This child added the dirt spots that she found on her pumpkin when she studied it closely.

More noticing the lines in the pumpkin.

I was so proud watching the kids study their pumpkin and work very hard on drawing it as realistically as they could.

One of the wonderful parents (and many more offered to haul the stuff I bought back to the classroom) loaded up the hay bales, the pumpkins and gourds, the stalks of corn and the Indian corn for us to use over the next few weeks in our curriculum.  We will sort, categorize, explore sizes, create books, make a scarecrow, let the gourds dry out, see what is inside of many of the pumpkins and gourds and so much more.  Thank you thank you wonderful, supportive parents.

We brought back some "hugnormous" (as one child said) to decorate our dramatic play area.  The children helped me to pick out the perfect pumpkins.  They even solved some problems and worked together to make a decision on which pumpkins we should buy for the classroom.  At one point though I had to explain that they cost money and we couldn't take back ten pumpkins!  We will estimate the number of seeds, talk about how in the old days gourds were used as lanterns in Europe but when the immigrants came to America they saw the pumpkins and thought they would make a better lantern. 

We will be learning so much over the next few weeks (OK, we learn so much every week!).  These items will be so important for their writing skills, math skills and problem solving skills.  Thank you all again and please tell the children how proud I am of them!  It was a great day for all of us.

Reading and Writing Workshop Updates

We are moving right along in Reading and Writing Workshop.  We are spending a lot of time learning how to read with a partner.  Partners can help us read, talk about what we have read and remember what we were reading about.  Here are some pictures of our most recent work.





This is part of our Shared Reading work.  We use the poems to teach popcorn words, to be able to identify a word and a letter, to learn punctuation, to practice choral reading (a skill that will be needed in later grades), learn our color words, to work with our letter of the week and to learn about poetry.  The children loves working with the Wiki Sticks to "circle" words, letters and popcorn words they know.



This is part of our Reading Workshop.  The children get two mini lessons during Reading Workshop.  During individual reading time they practice the skills they have learned.  They use familiar favorite books.  During Partner Reading time the children work on reading actual words using leveled readers.  This is the bag they bring home on the weekends to practice with you.  Believe me, I can tell a difference between the children that practice reading skills at home and those that don't.  This child in identifying punctuation marks.  He is pointing to a period.  He knows what it is called and that it means you stop reading (or the end of the sentence). 

This child is practicing using his Super Pointing Finger.  This is a Super Power they have that keeps them reading one word at a time and keeps our place in our book.  See how he is pointing under the word.  He is doing the skill correctly!

This child is practicing reading left to right, top to bottom.  He was showing me the top of the page and where we start reading a page.  He then moved across the sentence from left to right.

This child was enjoying her new library book.  She was trying to read the words (and read most of them).  Here she is having difficulty with an unknown word.  Snow is a hard word and without knowing the OW rule it is almost impossible to read.  We used Lips the Fish (get ready to read and make the first sound) and our Eagle Eye (using our eyes to study the picture to read unknown words).  She identified snow in the picture on the left and made the first two sounds in the word (the s and n).  She then guessed the word snow.  She was correct.  Way to use your Super Powers!

This child is demonstrating one-to-one correspondence by pointing to each word while he reads to words.  He has memorized this book and can "read" it to me.  He know points to each word and is realizing that each set of letter (or words) represents something (an action, description, name, etc.).

During Writing Workshop we have been studying the illustrations of Mo Willams.  He does the Pigeon books and the Piggy and Elephant books.  We looked closely at the illustrations and noticed lots of different techniques used in the book.  We noticed that he uses speech bubbles, words written in all capital letters, exclamation marks, color to set the mood and making the Pigeons eyes smaller as he calmed down.  Look at how many of his techniques to create their books.  They have come a long way as authors and illustrators.

I am loving the use of words in the speech bubbles.  I also liked that he made Pigeon in different muted colors.

More Mo inspired illustrations.  I love the correct grip he has on his crayon.

 We have also studied David Shannon as an illustrator and author.  Each child is currently working on a book about the first day of Kindergarten that I want to place into their portfolios.  We are also going to create a book about our field trip.  The children love Writing Workshop and creating books!


 

The Fire Fighters Visit

The Fire Fighters came last week to talk to us about Fire Safety.  We had a great time and learned a lot.  They had to leave half way through the presentation but they were able to come back about 20 minutes later.  Here are some of the pictures from that day.

We learned the right way to Stop, Drop and Roll!

Wow, the fire alarm is loud.

Mrs. O reads us a book about Fire Fighters after the squad got an emergency call and had to leave.  Mrs. O read until they came back.  She was a great story teller.

The fire fighters gave each student a book to take home that reviewed everything we learned.

Mrs. O volunteered to show us that fire fighters are not scary when they have all of their fire fighting gear on.

Mrs. O in full gear.  Sorry I had to blur the photo so the children's faces would not show.

Mrs. O pretending to be a fire fighter looking for a child in the smoke.  We practiced calling "I'm here" when she called "Is anyone here?.

We got to go out and see the fire truck when the presentation was done.  Each child got to climb inside the fire truck!  It was a great end to a wonderful morning.  Thank you to all Fire Fighters.  You are awesome.

 

Introducing Centers

We introduced afternoon Center time last week.  The children rotate through 9 centers during the week.  Each center is designed to strengthen a skill or concept the children are learning.  I will explain each center to you and you can study the pictures to see what skills the children were working on.

These children are working in a center on letter identification/sound and linking letters together to form words (we will get into greater depth with this activity as the year progresses).  Right now they are learning the procedures for using center materials and they are learning how to use the materials.  I rotate these materials based on the skills I see the class needs to strengthen.  Right now they are are just linking letters together and trying to identify sounds.
 

These children are learning how to use the foam letters to form words.  I will introduce a new learning toy to the group before I use it in a small group center. 

These two used the letter stringing activity to make letter head bands.  I thought that was very clever!

At this center the children were using some leaf cards to create and extend patterns.  They are learning AB, ABB, ABC patterns.  Many of the children created new patterns.  Most of the children could extend whatever AB, ABB and ABC pattern I created.  We practice patterning almost every day.  This is important for math and reading.

These are themed based candy corn cards that that the children use to count and match the number symbol for the amount on the card.  The children work with a partner to check each other's work.

This center contains over sized pumpkins with the number symbols written on them.  The children can put them in order from the number 1 through 20.  They also use these for number identification.  The work in pairs to check each other's work.

They can also use the pumpkin to place the correct number of objects on it.  Right now we are using acorns that you donated to the class.  They love this activity!

At the Smart Board Center the children can practice writing letters and words, play educational games and watch educational short videos, read books, practice math skills and so much more.  This is a favorite center of the class.

The dramatic play center is used to support many different skills.  Social/Emotional skills are always reinforced in this area.  I also use it to support writing skills (making grocery lists, writing birthday cards, writing menus and more).  I also support reading by adding in recipes, menus,  vocabulary words, books about cooking and using environmental print (like pop tart boxes, cereal boxes and other food labels and wrappers that the kids can identify and read).

These children are working in the block area using the black and orange cups to build with.  I encourage the children to create pattens with the cups.  The children have to work together to create a structure together.  I rotate out items for this area.  Wooden blocks, cups, Lego's and K'Nex for the children to use to explore structure and form.

The children can explore letter stamps, work on books, use paper punches, markers, staplers, word cards and label cards to explore words, work on illustrations and create letters/mail/books/lists.

In the library area the children can choose from a variety of books, practice their skills they learned in reading workshop (this student is working on pointing to each word using his Super Pointing Finger).  They can also use puppets to retell stories and soon I will add the portable CD player and Tape player so they can listen to books on CD and Tape.  I am also introducing my iPad to the students so they can use it to read books and play games that will help them with letter/word/reading skills.

I hope this helps you understand how Center Time works. during the afternoons.