Second Week of Pumpkins and Fall

This week we continued to learn about pumpkins and how leaves change colors in the fall. We learned about the letter Bb, worked more on our teen numbers, and talked more about the parts of a shape (sides, vertices, etc.).

 

We practiced our letter recognition and beginning sound skills by putting together letter puzzles.

We also did a letter collage where the children looked at each picture, determined if it started with the letter Bb, circled the picture if it did and crossed it out if it didn't. Then, they cut the letter Bb pictures and glued them to their letter Bb page.

We also did a letter Bb practice book where the children practiced skills like differentiating between uppercase and lowercase Bbs, writing the letter Bb, reading words that start with a Bb, and drawing pictures of things that start with a Bb.

To practice our teen numbers, the children got a set of teen number flashcards and stickers. They then decided what number was on the front of the card and added that many stickers to the back. If they couldn't recognize the number, we encouraged them to look at the 1 on the front, put 10 stickers on the back, then look at the second part of the number on the front and add that many more stickers to the back. For example, if the number on the card was 17, they would put 10 and 7 more stickers on the back.

We also did a 4-day long art project. We watercolor painted a fall tree...

Punched fall colored holes, glued them on...

Then added buttons!

Finally, we introduced story elements and started talking about the parts of a story!

 

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Poyzer

Pumpkins Week One

This week was the first week of our Pumpkins unit. We talked a lot about the life cycle of a pumpkin in addition to the letter Hh, teen numbers, and the words he and she.

 

We cut open a pumpkin and explored the inside. We saved some of the pumpkin seeds to roast for cooking then filled the pumpkin with dirt then predicted what would happen if we watered the pumpkin.

 

We practiced our cutting skills by making some orange "pumpkin" lanterns to hang up for a fall decoration. 

 

 

We started our shapes focus by not only reviewing our basic shapes but also by introducing some new math vocabulary.

 

 We learned what the words "side" and "vertex" (or corner) mean in terms of shapes then practiced making shapes with colored popsicle sticks.

 

 

After introducing the letter Hh, we made an H is for House craft to add to our craft books.

 

We also learned to differentiate between uppercase and lowercase Hh by sorting them out.

 

We practiced our new sight words: he and she.

 

For cooking, the children helped get seeds out of a pumpkin, wash them off, then roast them in a toaster oven before taste testing them. 

They loved them!

 

We also practiced our teen numbers by doing a few pages in our teen numbers book. The children got to use one-hole paper punches to punch ten frames to correspond to the number on each page.

 

We also talked about different ways to make 10 (pictures, ten frames, base ten blocks, etc.)

 

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Poyzer 

Last week of My Community

We had so many great learning opportunities this week!

 

We did a sight word find and graph activity where the children found and counted the sight words then graphed them to see what they found the most of.

 

 

 

We also played sight word fishing where the children took turns using a magnetic fishing pole to catch the fish then read the sight word on the back in order to keep it.

 

 

We talked about the letter Ee, things that are heavy and light, then learned to draw an elephant.

 

 

We did a write the room activity where the children hunted for letters in the room and wrote what they found on their paper.

 

 

The children made yogurt and fruit parfaits for cooking.  

 

 

 

Finally, we did a TLC art activity. The main idea of TLC cutting activities is to mot only practice fine motor skills, bit to also talk about how we can cut one shape to make another shape. For example, we started with a white rectangle and cut it in half to make two squares. This week was an introduction to the activity. When we come back from break and study shapes in depth, we will do more of them.

 

Have a wonderful break. See you on the 14th!

Mrs. Poyzer

Week 3 of My Community

We had such a fun week this week! For our cooking project, we made peanut butter and jelly thumbprint cookies!

 

 

We rolled our dough into a ball and used our thumbs to make a well in the middle.

 

Then we added grape jelly to the center of our peanut butter cookies before baking them.

 

They were a hit!

 

We also did our APEX Fun Run this week.

 

They did such a great job running their laps!!

 

We even practiced being construction workers by "building" our own houses!!

 

Next week is the last week before fall break and we have an early release at 1:30 on Wednesday. There will be regular aftercare those days so, if your child does attend aftercare, you can pick them up at your usual time. If they do not attend aftercare, please be sure to make plans to pick your child up by 1:30.

 

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Poyzer

Second week of My Community unit

Well, the week got off to a bit of a rough start with all the rain but we definitely made up for it with all the great things we did this week!

 

 

We started out the week with lots of letter Oo practice. They did their letter Oo entry in their letter books...

 

...a color by letter activity that revealed an uppercase O...

 

... and a letter Oo collage that helped them practice the letter Oo sound.

 

 

Because the children all looked so fancy on picture day, we thought we would take a fun group picture.

 

 

For cooking, we decorated cookies like bakers. We even got help from our buddies (Mrs. Adams' first grade class)!!

 

 

 

Each day we have had one of our APEX friends come in to visit. They teach use a new lesson (be brave, find your strengths, etc.) and then pass out prizes to those that have entered pledges.

 

We made an octopus for our letter Oo craft.

 

We practiced differentiating between uppercase and lowercase Oo by cutting and sorting Oo's.

 

To finish up our week, we had a few special visitors that came to talk with us about safety. The firefighters...

 

... and a police officer!

 

We even got to go out and see the fire truck!!

 

The children got to go through the back seat of the truck and see the inside of the truck!

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs. Poyzer

 



My Community unit

Although this week was only 4 days long, we still learned a lot!

 

 

We started talking about scientific tools like magnifying glasses, magnets, and scales. We focused on magnifying glasses by learning to use them and by learning what we use them for.

 

 

 

For one of our art projects, we made a city skyline by attaching black rectangles to our background and using wet chalk to add details like windows and a moon in the sky.

 

 

 

We played a review game to practice our sight words. The children listened for a sight word and raced against the other teams to see who could write the word first.

 

 

 

For cooking, we made Name Letters. We used graham crackers for our "envelope", a piece of square cereal for our "stamp" and cheese crackers with letters on them for our "address".

 

 

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Poyzer