The Ladybugs perfected their "boos!" this week as they learned about Halloween.
We started off the week by carving our pumpkin into a snaggle-toothed jack-o-lantern. The Ladybugs made silly spiders out of paper and pipe cleaners and formed friendly ghosts out of salt dough. They discovered a new sensation when we filled baggies with shaving cream and orange paint. One Ladybug thought it made a good pillow! The Ladybugs also enjoyed the new costumes in our dress-up center, as they pretended to be a cowboy, Girl Scout, chef, tiger, and rabbit.
On Wednesday, we made glittery masks with feathers, and we baked spicy pumpkin muffins. The Ladybugs are budding chefs! They love to pour ingredients and stir. The Rockin' Robins class joined us in our room for lunch, and we shared our muffins for dessert. What a hit! We sent the recipe home with you today. And in chapel, Pastor Amy taught us how to feel comforted by God this Halloween, as parts of the holiday can be scary for our little ones.
By the end of the week, the Ladybugs were ready to celebrate! They played "Witch, Witch, Ghost" (a.k.a. "Duck, Duck, Goose"), made a witch's face out of a paper plate, and played a pumpkin matching game. We sang Halloween songs with Ms. S in music class, and we ate an orange lunch! Thank you, parents, for bringing in a special orange dish to share with us. It's always fun to experience new foods, even if we just poke them with our fingers and sniff them! By the end of the day, we donned our Halloween finery and paraded around the school. What a fabulous, fun-filled week!
We hope you have a special, safe Halloween with your darling kids on Monday. We will look forward to hearing all about it on Tuesday. That day, we will begin our study of nocturnal animals. Bats and owls, here we come!
Love,
Ms. Shannon and Ms. Tammy
We knew pumpkin week was going to be a blast, but we didn't know it was going to be this much fun...The Ladybugs know how to celebrate autumn!
They started off the week by choosing their very own pumpkins from the pumpkin patch. We took them inside and painted them, and they turned out beautifully! We also gathered leaves from the playground and then made leaf rubbings, focusing on the different sizes and shapes of leaves. We checked on our radish seeds in the garden and were astonished to find that they are already growing! The Ladybugs officially have green thumbs!
Midweek, we got to choose one more, bigger, pumpkin from the patch. We took it inside and cut it open...WOW! One of us thought it was pretty cool to stick her hand inside that slimy pulp and seeds, but the others stood clear and watched. We toasted some of the seeds to eat at snack time and we used the rest to make seed collages. We also painted little rocks to make them look like pumpkins! During chapel time, Pastor Amy talked about the trials of a seed sower, and explained that we are all God's "seeds". We also played a hilarious rendition of "Ring around the Pumpkin" (along the lines of Ring Around the Rosie). The Ladybugs love to fall down!
By week's end, we enjoyed singing about pumpkins in music class, as well as learning a precious finger play called "Five Little Pumpkins", which we sent home with you today. Their pumpkin puppets are an early lesson in counting from one to five.
It's hard to imagine, but next week is going to be even better at Grace Garden because we're going to celebrate Halloween for three days straight! The week will culminate with an "orange lunch" on Thursday, when each child will bring in an orange food to share with the class. (Please look for emails from Ms. Shannon as the week progresses.) Also, parents, please join us for our annual Halloween costume parade through the halls of the school that afternoon. Send your child's costume with them to school on Thursday morning, and then bring the whole family back to school at 1 p.m. to witness one of our endearing traditions. Don't forget the camera!
Thank you so much, Lily, for the yummy snacks this week. The Ladybugs just love berries!
We will look forward to a fun-filled, action-packed week with your little pumpkins. Enjoy your weekend together.
Love,
Ms. Shannon and Ms. Tammy
Who knew eating healthy food could be such a blast? The Ladybugs had a terrific time this week learning what foods keep their little bodies growing strong!
On Tuesday, the Ladybugs planted radish seeds outside in the garden and a lima bean in their very own ziploc baggie gardens, which are hanging on our back doors in the classroom. We were so thrilled to find our bird seed plants were thriving and ready to go home this week! We also cut the tops off carrots and stuck them in a vase of water. We can't wait to see if more carrots grow! We especially loved this project, because we got to eat the leftover carrots.
We learned the story of Johnny Appleseed in chapel this week, after which, Pastor Amy shared pieces of apple with us. She asked us to imagine we were tasting an apple for the very first time. It was really challenging to just eat one bite of such a yummy apple!
The children loved reading Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar and learning what happened when the caterpillar chose to eat unhealthy foods. They also painted with cut apples and made seed collages with glue and different vegetable seeds. What fun it was to see how different an arugula seed looks from a bean! We also pretended our classroom was a grocery store--we added a grocery cart and took turns shopping in our kitchen for healthy foods. The kids hooted and hollered as we taught them how to play Hot Potato. How we love to see huge smiles and hear big belly laughs from the Ladybugs! In music, Ms. S helped us polish our musical skills as she gave our songs a nutritional spin this week.
Our week culminated with our favorite fruits and vegetables taste test. We enjoyed seeing how we each have different opinions about what tastes good! What adorable kiddos!
Thank you so much, Grace, for bringing us healthy foods to eat for our snack this week. Blueberries are always a hit.
Next week, our unit of play will be PUMPKINS! It is going to be awesome!
Just to let you know, we're including you pregnant mommas in our prayers this week. We know those babies are coming any day now, and we teachers are so excited we can barely stand it...hang in there! Have a beautiful weekend with your family.
Love,
Ms. Shannon and Ms. Tammy
The Little Ladybugs put their five senses to work this week! And we have 3,000 pumpkins on the playground to help!
We started off the week comparing the sizes, colors, and textures of those pumpkins. We rolled and cut out shapes of lavender-scented Play-Doh. The Ladybugs painted with different textured sponges, and enjoyed the sound of ripping construction paper and then gluing the bits to a larger piece. They made "binoculars" to give their sense of sight a pretend boost, and we tickled their sense of smell with spicy cinnamon, which we sprinkled on top of apple salad. We ended the week with a bang, as we painted with sweet pudding and made bird nests out of sour grapefruit!
We watered our birdseed plants in the garden on Tuesday, and we already have little sprouts peeking through the soil! On Wednesday, Pastor Amy held a special chapel in the small sanctuary, so that the children could see the colorful stained glass windows. The Ladybugs honed their sense of hearing in music with Mrs. S on Thursday, while they played with egg shakers and bells, and sang our songs. The Ladybugs gave their five senses an extra workout on Thursday with a scavenger hunt, when we used our senses to locate objects in the room.
Your kids loved the book choices this week. Tails by M. Van Fleet was the favorite, as the Ladybugs could touch the textures of different animal tails (and scratch and sniff stinky skunk musk!). They also enjoyed Truck Talk by Bobbi Katz, which describes various working trucks using fun rhymes.
Thank you so much, Jamie, for the yummy snacks this week! We are happy to report that Lily and Ms. Shannon were feeling better by week's end. Our room wasn't the same without you, two. Also, if anyone is interested in volunteering, help is needed at the pumpkin patch on Wednesdays. Grace Garden will be the happy recipient of a percentage of the profits made from the gourd sales! Please ask Ms. Kym for more details.
Next week, the Ladybugs will talk about nutrition and how to keep their precious little bodies healthy by eating fruits and vegetables.
Thank you for all of your support and for having such fabulous children! Have a safe and restful weekend and we'll see you next week.
Love,
Ms. Shannon and Ms. Tammy
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