Here we are starting week four, but we have really only had 12 days of actual school. We always think that it takes each student six weeks to be truly settled in school. We have been practicing all of our names, and the class is starting to realize when someone is missing. They are also very interested about these empty apple names if they are a part time student. We are all starting to sing the good morning song together, and we circled back to singing with pigs on our head this week. Each morning at circle we practice talking turns talking with a talking stick shaped like a rainbow. We started with sharing what we had for breakfast, and Friday we shared what we want to do more of in preschool. The results were nearly unanimous…. PAINTING.
Three of our caterpillars made a chrysalis this week and we’ll be on the lookout for our tiny caterpillar that came out of the egg. This week we will watch a short time lapse video of the monarch life cycle and act out metamorphosis in a short yoga practice. In circle this week we also talked about the different kinds of bees in the honey bee hive… the workers, the drones, and the queen. Tomorrow we will start a multimedia/collage about the beehive. The first step is using bubble wrap to print the honeycomb.
Later in the week we are going to shift into learning about apples. I think that we should taste some different kinds of apples and chart our favorites on Thursday and Friday. I’ll bring in some local honey for them to taste as well. Let me know if this is not an appropriate snack for your child on Thursday and Friday. Please send in your regular snack as well. Last year during our apple unit, Marci taught the kids Four and Twenty Blackbirds, and the kids peeled and chopped apples to make applesauce. I made them a pie with a china blackbird peeking out with their leftover applesauce. We’ll make art with apples, learn about Johnny Appleseed, and learn about how trees grow from seeds to produce apples.
At circle this week I modeled what to do when you want a toy that someone else has. I used our stuffed animal cat Pickles and a Henrietta Pussycat puppet. The class has been doing a good job with “sharing” this way and are learning how to ask a teacher for help after trying to work it out themselves.
I’m looking forward to cooler days with this class. I’m ready to start talking about fall… leaves and acorns, fog and spiders.
