Here is what we did this week.
Monday - Dance-a-thon Spirit event: Crazy hair day and mixed matched socks. We discussed our weekend activities in circle time share and handed out new jobs. We read book about Say Something by Peter H. Reynolds about being an Ally and goes along with of our Inclusion theme for this week. We worked on the letter making the letter H with wooden pieces, with two lard sticks and one short stick. The kids also showed me they could make the letter A for apple as well with the two big lines and one little line. They are good at extending their own learning with curiosity and experimentation. We also worked in our Handwriting without Tears workbooks on the letter H.
Tuesday - Dance-a-thon Spirit event: Wear class colors, which we couldn't decide on so kids chose purple and black or grey. Went to an all school Inclusion Assembly. The Spoede Pre-K class showed Spoede ROCKS throughout. Great job. Made cut apart apple tree puzzles that we reassemble and glued in correct numerical order. Read a story about a Magic Red House with no windows or doors, but has a star inside. We found out it was an Apple. In center time, Made magic star apple prints with red, green, and yellow paint. We also cut out apples and sorted them in order by size, gluing them onto paper. In music, we learned some hand movement songs and also learned a 5 Red Apples hanging in a tree song which was accompanied with some body movements. The last apple song was similar to Duck, Duck Goose. A student walks around the circle as the students chant, "Apple tree, Apple tree, Will your Apples fall on me? I won't cry. I won't shout, if your apple knocks me...OUT!" On "OUT" the student whose head is beneath the apple gallops around the circle after the child with the apple. Finally, we danced, stomped, turned, skipped, tip-toed to "I like to Have Fun" song.
Wednesday - Dance-a-thon Spirit event: Pajama Day and Spoede Pre-K Show and Tell. Loved telling about our toys that we brought in to tell about during circle time. Students were given time to share with their friends. We push-pinned our names. A push pin has a pincer grasp pencil grip so it is great fine motor practice and name practice. We also dot painted the letter Ee as a refresher from last week. Cut out leaves for our Friday Art project.
Thursday - Dance-a-thon Spirit event: Wear our shirts backwards. We did a science experiment with chemical reactions with baking soda and vinegar, making apple-canoes (apple volcanoes). I prepped the experiment by coring the apples and dividing out the materials for partners to work together with a large apple. Normally I have the students add the food coloring to the baking soda, but my food coloring was kind of messy so I added the color to the vinegar instead. Each student got a cup of baking soda to pour into their cored apple. Then they worked together to pour the vinegar into the apple... and watch the cool eruption. Students were able to add more baking soda and vinegar with a different color if they wanted to try the experiment again. I purposely waited until Thursday so our Westminster Senior, Tim, could help with one of the tables. Afterwards, we push-pinned apples we had colored for morning work. We also cut out some apples that we had marble painted last week. I wanted to hang up the marble painted leaves for our fall bulletin board, but the students begged me to send them home. They really like to share their projects with you. We also danced with a video of Mr. Bjerk and Dr. Koenig dancing blind folded in the hallway. The Principals were dancing because Spoede met a goal for collecting donations for the Dance-a-thon and this was an incentive that the Principals agreed to if that goal was reached.
Friday - Dance-a-thon Spirit event: Wear our Blue Dance-a-thon shirts. We practiced our second Intruder drill of the year. Each drill focuses on the 4E's (Educate, Evade, Escape, Engage). This week we practiced Evade. During the drill, we reviewed how to secure our classroom by locking doors, turning out the lights, and moving out of sight. The students did a great job. They followed directions and we had a very calm practice. We enjoyed Art with Ms. Tara. We had painted a fall background last Friday in Art. We had also added grass with fork painting and then stamped leaves onto another piece of paper. Earlier in the week we cut out the leaves to get ready for Art. This Friday we watched a book about falling leaves. First, we colored the leaves with Oil based crayons, using at least two colors. Next, we glued 5 small squares of cardboard onto our background. Finally, we glued a leaf onto each cardboard square. The effect is that the leaves look like they are falling from a tree. In centers, we continued the fall leaves theme. The students used oil based crayons to outline Japanese Maple leaves, and then water color painted their leaves. We also got out play dough and really worked those fine motor muscles. Puzzles were available and a great cooperative activity. At P.E., we had a DJ who played great music as we had our own Pre-K Dance-a a-thon party. The students were so cute dancing and had a lot of fun. I think everyone was exhausted by the the time we left for home.
Upcoming Reminders
Fri. Oct. 23. No School for Students and Teachers
Learned about how to make the letter H with two big lines and one small line.
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Cut apart Apple tree puzzle with numerals to put back in correct numerical order to make the apple tree
Music and movement with Ms. Li
Wednesday
Morning Recess: Doing Tricks for Ms. D. 😃
Step 2: Now time to add the vinegar and watch the chemical reaction of the Apple-cano erupting
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