Veteran's Day

Veterans Day!
Do you know a Veteran?

A veteran is a person who has served in the military.

Toys: Large and small Army Sets

Snack: Ritz crackers, grapes, and fruit snacks.

An oft forgotten holiday tucked between Halloween and Thanksgiving is: Veterans Day

Circle Time: Tomorrow is a special day.  Do you know what holiday we celebrate? No guesses.  Veteran's Day!  "Is that when you fight in a war?" Luke asked.
What is a Veteran? A veteran is a person who has served in the military.
Eva asked,"how do we honor our Veterans?" Good question.  We talked about visiting them and listening to veterans, praying for them and sending letters and packages of support.
We talked about what it means to be brave and have courage.  "Like when I go to the doctor and have a shot?" they suggested.  Luke recalls getting two shots, one in each leg recently. 
 
LEST WE FORGET
World War One (WWI) ended on Nov 11, 1918 after four years of fighting by countries around the world.  Millions of people lost their lives in the war.  So on November 11, we honor the wartime service and sacrifice of men and women in the armed forces. Originally proclaimed Armistice Day in 1919 to commemorate the end of World War I, it was renamed Veterans Day in 1954 to include American veterans of all wars.Veterans Day is observed by countries all over the world on November 11.

Veteran's PowerPoint 
 
Song: We had fun listening to and practicing a Veterans Day Salute.

Veterans Day Salute

Music and Lyrics Janeen Brady

On Veterans Day a tribute we pay those wonderful men who helped to defend America.

We Salute you.

On Veterans Day a "thank you" we say to those, one and all, who answered the call America gave to them.

Those military folks in uniform who left the homes they love for battle's storm.

Those veterans brave so gen'rously gave their all to defend their home and their friends. 

America, America is proud to salute its veterans this day.

Activity: We colored pictures of service men and women and could write a letter to a veteran.

(My daughter, Susie, drew the military man and woman on the board).

We practiced saluting and wanted to display our coloring.

We are grateful to all of the brave men and women who have served and are serving our country! 

Books:

10 Fat Turkeys by Tony Johnston and Rich Deas

One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims by B.G. Hennessy

Our Halloween Party!

HaPpY hAlLoWeEn!

Today was our Halloween Party!
It was fun to see the children come in their costumes!  We had a Ninja Warrior, Princess (Cinderella), "Toothless" Dragon, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Little Red Riding Hood, Batgirl, and Superboy.

Daily Question: Are you ready for some Halloween fun?

What is your costume and what is your favorite thing about your costume?
Andi: Cinderella/Being a Princess!
Carter: Captain America!/Going to the store to buy it.
Chloe': Toothless!/Making the costume with my mom and helping sew the tail!
Ella: Little Red Riding Hood/ "The bib! This thing--oh yes, the apron."
Eva: Batgirl/I like the pink Bat mask!
Liam: Superboy (pronounced "Stu-per-man!")/The "S"
Luke: Ninja Warrior/The Golden Dragon on the front.
Micah: HULK/ big fist gloves!

Toys: Rose Petal Cottages, mini-trampoline, trains and train table.

Students had fun learning about the Plasma Ball--which traps inert gases and then focuses them as the children touch the orb.

Snacks: Green Apple Monsters--marshmallows, PB, raisins, strawberries, sunflower seeds, candy mix, "Bones" cookies, and Halloween pretzels.  (Thanks Ella and Erin).

Students are learning great manners!  "Thank you, Ella.  This is really yummy!" said Andi.

We had fun listening to the classic The Little Old Lady WHo Wasn't Afraid of Anything while we ate our treats.

To take home: Favor Bag with a pencil, notebook, sheet of stickers, Dum Dum, Tootsie Pop, eraser, skeleton man, fangs, etc.

Movie: We watched a few short episodes of Max and Ruby's Halloween and Clifford's Halloween.

Eva read us one of her favorite Halloween Stories, Halloween Colors.  In this book, you guess what costume character comes next due to the clues.

Circle Time; We had fun talking about Halloween, ways to stay safe, traditions, and designing our own Jack-O'Lantern face.

We had fun drawing Jack-O-Lantern faces on our Pumpkin pictures and then watercoloring a wash over the top and seeing the fun face come out of the resist.

Halloween Books:
The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams
Halloween Colors by Carla Dijs
Halloween ABC (a Little Golden Book) by Sarah Albee and Paul Meisel
Two Little Witches: A Halloween Counting Story by Harriet Ziefert & Simms Taback
A Dark Dark Tale by Ruth Brown (Picture Puffins)*Suspense leads to a frightened mouse.
One Hungry Monster; A Counting Book in Rhyme by Susan O'Keefe & Lynn Munsinger
Halloween by Miriam Nerlove (Early Reader)
Jungle Halloween by Maryann Cocca-Leffler
Monster Halloween Party by Nick Jr. The Backyardagans
Trick-or-Treat by Ann Dixon and Larry Di Fiori (Scholastic, Math concepts--ghost gets treats)
Sheep Trick-or-Treat by Nancu Shaw, Ill. by Margot Apple
Barney's Favorite Halloween Stories; 2 books in 1
Halloween Night by Arden Druce, Ill. by David T. Wenzel
Humbug Witch by Lorna Balian* (Darling story)
Which Witch is Which? by Michael Muntean and Tom Brannon (Jellybean Books, Just for Preschoolers)
Franklin's Halloween by Paulette Bourgeois and Brenda Clark
Witch, Witch Come to my Party by Arden Druce, Ill. by Pat Ludlow (Vivid Watercolor ill.)
The Spider and the Fly by Tony DiTerlizzi (based on poem by Mary Howitt)
Room on a Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler (rhyming)
Monster Math by Anne Miranda, Ill. by Polly Powell*

Music: We learned a little ditty 5 Little Pumpkins to perform (or read aloud) to our parents.

Parents, 

If you would like to donate any small, wrapped candy or small toys, we will keep our Treasure Box FULL of rewards for praising preschool students! 

D is for Dancing Dinosaur

Daily Question: "Dd" Do you like Dinosaurs? Almost everyone does.

Toys: Dinosaurs, Dinosaur puzzles, Dolls, Doll Clothes and Disney Dolls

The students asked to play with the "Disney" dolls.  The Belle doll has a small storybook that comes with her.  It was cute to look up and see all the students gathered around the book.

Most of the students had fun putting a dinosaur puzzle together. We were excited about our upcoming field trip to BYU's Museum of Paleontology (Formerly know as the "Dinosaur Museum.").

After it was put together, we spied things about the Dinosaurs to talk about in Circle Time. Chloe pointed out a carnivorous dinosaur. (An animal that eats meat.)  We found our canine (sharp, pointed teeth) inside our mouths and talked about "why we have sharp teeth?"

Eva is pointing at her sharp canine tooth.

Carter is showing us his back molars which are flat teeth.  Herbivores eat plants.  Their flat teeth allow them to chew and grind grasses and leaves.

Snacks: Pretzels and apple slices.

We read How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food?

We listened to a song about D the Dinosaur dancing disco in her father's diner until she is called to dinner. "D-d-d" is the sound her foot makes dancing.  Students tap heel on the ground and say, "D(ah) d(ah), d(ah)."

The children shouted out "D" words, such as duck, daisy, doll, dino, dragon, dancing, dominoes, dog, Dalmatian,*day, dishes, dress-ups, dot, and do. They had fun putting the sound "duh duh duh" and coming up with words that began with that sound.

* I showed them a picture of a "black and white spotted breed of dog" to have them guess Dalmatian.
Carter raised his hand and said, "I have a dalmatian cat!" 

Chloe mentioned,"The leaves are turning red, yellow, and brown!" Impromptu, we sang the song we learned last Tuesday--It's Autumn Time!

I am excited that the children now know the long and short A sounds, B, C, and D sounds which will help them to sound out simple words like: D-a-d, b-a-d, c-a-b, a-d-d, etc.

We looked through a fun book and talked about the characteristics of the different dinosaurs we saw. After, we talked about how the bones and shape of the dinosaurs teeth help us to know if they are flesh or plant eaters. (Pointed teeth are for ripping and tearing flesh, flat teeth are for grinding and chewing plants).  Fun to see children feel their canine teeth and their molars and guess what the different shaped teeth are for.

We then pondered the question, "What happened to the dinosaurs?" We read the book Whatever happened to the Dinosaurs and talked about how dinosaurs are now extinct. We looked at a picture of dinosaur bones and learned about fossils.

Recess: Leaf Hunt!

We went on a leaf hunt for recess. We found all kinds of different sizes and shapes of leaves! We "cut" them off the trees with our scissor hand motion like "C the Caterpillar." We then came inside and did a leaf rubbing.

Recess: Our Leaf Hunt and finishing up C the Caterpillar Leaf Rubbing Page.

Meeting our class TURTLE "Buddy," a stinky, five-year-old adopted turtle of unknown variety.

Dinosaur Books:

Ten Little Dinosaurs by Pattie Schnetzler, Ill. by Jim Harris (An Eyeball Animation Book)
My Tall Book of Dinosaurs (Preschool Press)

Encylopedia Prehistorica Dinosaurs by Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart (Pop-up Book)How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague
How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? By Jane Yolen and Mark Teague
Time Flies by Eric Rohmann (Caldecott Honor Book) Illustrated (no words)
Happy Holidaysaurus! by Bernard Most
Dinosaurs, Learn About Books by Brimax, 4-7 years
A Book to Begin on Dinosaurs by Eunice Holsaert and Robert Gartland
Dinosaurs; Over 100 Questions and Answers to Things You Want to Know by Dan Abnett and Nik Vincent
Dinosaurs Are Different by Aliki, Let's-Read-And-Find-Out-Science (Harper Collins)
Dinosaurs Magazine; Made for Kids! (World Color Press) Sept./Oct. 1997.
Dinosaur Dream by Dennis Nolan
James Gurney's Dinotopia Pop-up Book (Turner Publishing)
Dinotopia by James Gurney
Dinotopia; The World Beneath by James Gurney
Dinosaur Time by Peggy Parish and Arnold Lobel (An I Can Read Book)*
The Berenstain Bears and the Missing Dinosaur Bone by Stan and Jan Berenstain
Dinosailors by Deb Lund and Howard Fine
Whatever Happened to the Dinosaurs? By Bernhard Most

Wheels on the Bus

Wheels on the Bus!

Daily Question:  Have you ever ridden on a bus? 
Two of our students have! 


Parents, thank you for taking the time to help your student sign in!  This helps them practice name writing and letter recognition and also acts as an attendance record for me.
 
Toys:  Giant Bus Floor Puzzle and Fisher Price Village (and Bus), Spaghetti Dolls and Bus, FP bus, and trucks. 

Snacks: Fresh strawberries and Goldfish Crackers and Pretzels.

Indoor Recess Fun:



Show and Teach:  We had fun reading a story Show & Tell Day in Circle Time today!

Carter--Choose to share Froggy's First Day of School because "I forgot my backpack in the car!"
Andi--Disney's "Anna" dress.  "I got it from Christmas.  I forgot my Anna hair!"
Chloe--"This is a shell from my special collection at home.  See, it has a hole in it."
Luke--"This is a picture I made for my Mom!"  He used glitter glue on it.
Micah--showed us a stuffed Penquin.
Eva--I Love School book because it has a School Bus in it.
Liam--FP School Bus

Thanks for also helping your student remember to remove and place shoes by the door.

Preschool fun: I love to see the students working together to solve a puzzle.  This class is just beginning to help one another and become a "sharing and caring" class.

Once finished, Chloe invited the rest of the class to "come and see" and celebrate the finishing of the school bus puzzle. 

Calendar review

Days of the Week
(Tune: "The Addams Family")

There's Sunday and there's Monday,
There's Tuesday and there's Wednesday,
There's Thursday and there's Friday,
And then there's Saturday. Days of the week. (clap, clap)

Days of the week. (clap, clap)
Days of the week. Days of the week.
Days of the week. (clap, clap)

Shapes:  We identified most of the major shapes as they appear on the bus; the door is a rectangle, the windows are squares, the wheels are circles, etc.  We had fun playing "I Spy" Shapes around our class room.

Our Class Bus Activity:  We had fun taking turns riding on our very own class bus and singing the song and acting out the movements in the song (after we read and discussed the book).

Books:

Show & Tell Day by Anne and Lizzy Rockwell

Preschool to the Rescue by Judy Sierra and Will Hillenbrand 

One Happy Classroom (Counting) by Charnan Simon and Rebecca McKillip Thornburgh 
Bus Driver by Nancy Poydar

The Wheels on the Bus (Raffi Songs to Read) by Raffi and Sylvia Wiskstrom
The Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort and G. Brian Karas
The Wheels on the Bus; A First Little Golden Book

Song:

The Wheels on the Bus
The wheels on the bus go round and round,
round and round,
round and round.
The wheels on the bus go round and round,
all through the town.
The wipers on the bus go Swish, swish, swish;
Swish, swish, swish;
Swish, swish, swish.
The wipers on the bus go Swish, swish, swish,
all through the town.
The horn on the bus goes Beep, beep, beep;
Beep, beep, beep;
Beep, beep, beep.
The horn on the bus goes Beep, beep, beep,
all through the town..
The money on the bus goes, Clink, clink, clink;
Clink, clink, clink;
Clink, clink, clink.
The money on the bus goes, Clink, clink, clink,
all through the town.
The Driver on the bus says "Move on back,
move on back, move on back;"
The Driver on the bus says "Move on back",
all through the town.
The baby on the bus says "Wah, wah, wah;
Wah, wah, wah;
Wah, wah, wah".
The baby on the bus says "Wah, wah, wah",
all through the town.
The mommy on the bus says "Shush, shush, shush;
Shush, shush, shush;
Shush, shush, shush."
The mommy on the bus says "Shush, shush, shush"
all through the town.

---

Substitute these lyrics also

The doors on the bus go open and shut.
The bell on the bus goes ding-ding-ding.
The lady on the bus says, "Get off my feet"...
The people on the bus say, "We had a nice ride"...
"Your name" on the bus says Let Me Off!

(See this website:http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/games/songs/childrens/wheelsmp3.htm)
 More fun bus activities: http://besttoys4toddlers.com/home/wheels-on-the-bus-learning-activities/