Happy Halloween!!!

Monthly Newsletter

The monthly newsletter will be coming home soon.  The three day class will bring it home Thursday and the two day class will bring it home Monday.  Sorry I didn't get it sent our earlier this week.  I have been very busy getting ready for the Fall Festival, Parent/Teacher Conferences and finishing up other tasks that need to be completed this week.  Letter Muncher will be eating the letter I next week.  The newsletter contains lots of information for the month of November.  Make sure to check the back of the newsletter for even more info.

Speaking of the Fall Festival, the two day class had so much fun today and I am sure the three day class are going to have just as much fun!!!  I will post more about the Fall Festival this weekend.

Pumpkin Nights

Pumpkins and "Water Marbles"

This week is full of fun science experiments!  The students got to play with and explore, what they called, "water marbles."  They about the size of a bb pellet.  When you put them in water, they expand and become the size of a marble.  You may see them in the stores and used with flowers.  Once the beads soak up the water, they go in a plastic vase and release water for the flowers.  I found them at Dollar Tree in Van Wert.  The students were in awe and loved playing with them.  They were very curious about how they soaked up the water and grew bigger.  There were lots of questions and some great vocabulary words were used to describe what they felt.  They also learned they had to be very careful because the filled marbles break very easily.  

To end our unit on the pumpkin life cycle, we carved a jack-o-lantern and I let the students scoop out the insides!  This lead to another great discussion about pumpkins, seeds, what the inside of a pumpkin felt like, and putting the steps in order when you carve a jack-o-lantern.

The finished masterpiece! :)

The students were also VERY excited that our pumpkin seeds sprouted over the weekend!  They are becoming quite the little scientists!  They love observing the pumpkin and reporting to me how much the plants have grown since the last day they were at school! :)

A bunch of turkeys!

Both classes helped me create art work for the large bulletin board at the front of the building by the office. November is my month to decorate the board and it is going to have bunch of little turkeys!  The students created hand print turkeys, one for the board and one to bring home. :)  After the paint dried, I added the parts to create a turkey.  

Here is the finished product!  They are too cute!  I will post pictures of the bulletin board when I have it finished at the end of the week.

Music- It's more than meets the ear

Here's an article about using music with children and how it teaches academic skills.

http://www.fci.org/pro-dev/september.html

One last "Music in Motion" article :)

Thanks again to Sheila Baltzell and The Parkway Independent for running the articles about the "Music in Motion" program.  Check out their website for my article and a few more pictures!  Scroll down to the fifth article under this weeks news stories.

 http://www.parkwayindependent.com/

Linus :)

Little Discoverers

Found this great site today!  It's Little Discoverers and can be found on the Sesame Street website.  It has videos and activities that focus on the STEM elements.  Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.  Check It out!!!

http://www.sesamestreet.org/parents/topicsandactivities/toolkits/stem#03a1521f-66a6-4db8-aab8-2e3691e448df

Ghostly Fun

On Wednesday and Thursday, the students used ghost shaped cookie cutters to create a cute and ghostly picture!  

We also read the following stories.  Both classes loved "We're Going on a Ghost Hunt."  It is very similar "We're going on a Bear Hunt".  We also read and practiced the book and finger play "Five Little Pumpkins."  The students took home a mini book and the finger play to practice with their parents.  We also read "5 Little Ghosts."

Last week, the Friday class painted with marbles.  This week, we traced  pumpkin shapes on the back and the students cut them out.  On pumpkin went home and the other is hanging in the room.

Check out the pictures tab for more pictures!

Preview

Here is a preview of next weeks studies.

Pumpkin and corn

Before I left school today, I checked our Indian Corn and pumpkin so see if they had changed.  The corn has continued to grow, but I'm afraid its days are numbered.  :(  It's starting to get kind of gross looking and I have a feeling it will need to be thrown away on Monday.  I will post one more set of pictures next week and show it to the kids one last time.  Overall, I really liked the experiment and the kids loved watching the corn everyday.  If you try the experiment, it doesn't take long for the corn to sprout, but it doesn't last long either.  Here are a couple pictures but they are pretty blurry.

The pumpkin has started to sprout! :)  I can't wait to show the kids next week!  They will be so excited!  I counted at least 5, maybe 6 pumpkin sprouts.  I'm hopping they will fully sprout over the weekend.  In the meantime, here are some pictures of the baby sprouts!

Friday Favorites: Week 5

This week's Friday Favorites Post is about the Sesame Street Youtube channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/SesameStreet?feature=watch

If you haven't checked out the videos tab on the blog, you need to! ;)  Almost all of the videos under that tab are from Sesame Street's Youtube channel.  It is a fantastic source for educational videos.  There are songs, short clips, classic clips, parodies of popular movies and TV Shows, and celebrity guests.  I used  some of the videos with the students last week and this week.  They LOVED watching the videos and they were tied into the concepts we were learning.  Each week there is a featured play list.  This week is the "Spooky Playlist".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM6ya7wTb58&list=PL8TioFHubWFuorAEF-PfvGObfpXxExRtu&index=1

One of my favorite features of the blog are the Cookie Monster shorts and music videos!  The kids loved them!  They really liked "Share it Maybe", a remake of "Call me Maybe".  :D  Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qTIGg3I5y8

This led to a great conversation about sharing with our friends at school.

Another favorite the kids like is "The Biscotti Kid" video.  It is a parody of "The Karate Kid" and talks about whole body listening.  WARNING!!!!!  80's FLASHBACK!!!! :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6FDts-erVw

The kids really picked up on the concept!  Whenever I use "Eyes watch, Ears listen, Voice quiet, Body calm" at Circle Time, the students do the motions with me and say that the squid will get Cookie Monster!  I like the video because it interests the children and it also targets adults of the 80's generation!  (They did a pretty good job making a puppet of Mr. Miyagi!)

Adults, this is for you!  At the end of the video they played a song.  If it sounds familiar, click the link below.  It is a rockin' version of Peter Cetera's "The Glory of Love" from "The Karate Kid Part II!"  :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWHOF_0-6Hg

If you are not a huge fan of Youtube and don't like all the adds and comments, download  "A Cleaner Internet".

 http://clea.nr/

When you go to the page, click on the extension tab, watch the tutorial video, and download "A Cleaner Internet" to your Chrome extension.  You can watch videos and not worry about your child seeing anything you don't want them to see or something that is inappropriate.

A Cleaner Internet

I like to post videos I find on Youtube for my students to watch not only at school, but also at home. However, you have to be careful with Youtube.  Sometimes, people post things you don't want your child to see.  Here is a solution and you can watch the videos I post with out all the "stuff" around the actual video.  Read Below!!!



If you are not a huge fan of Youtube and don't like all the ads and comments, download  "A Cleaner Internet".

 http://clea.nr/

When you go to the page, click on the extension tab, watch the tutorial video, and download "A Cleaner Internet" to your Chrome extension.  You can watch videos and not worry about your child seeing anything you don't want them to see or something that is inappropriate.

Thank you SO much to Leah Fullenkamp for getting  the address for me! :)

No School Friday

Reminder:

There is no school tomorrow, Friday, October 25 due to Early Childhood Testing.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!! :)

Library Day

Each month, the Tues/Thurs/Fri class has library day.   A librarian from the Brumback Library comes to school to read to the students in the three day class.  Today was our first library day of the school year.  Our first one was cancelled since we did not have school the day it was scheduled.

Here are the books she read to our class and Mrs. Owens's class.  The children loved "Ol' Mama Squirrel". All of these books are available at the library.

Here are some more pictures!

October to-do list

Thought this was pretty cute! :)  Plus, it has some great ideas for activities to do with your child!




Only.......

More digital copies

Here are more digital copies of Scholastic News!

http://clifford.scholastic.com/issues/10_02_13/ -My Big World with Clifford

http://letsfindout.scholastic.com/issues/10_04_13/ -Let's Find Out

Here is the one I posted that has all Elementary Grades.

http://sni.scholastic.com/SN1/10_03_12_SN1/ -Scholastic News

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!

Last week, I shared a picture of our Indian Corn experiment and hopped it would start sprouting little corn plants.  Guess what?!?!?  It sprouted!!!

The first two pictures aren't very good.  The last two you can really see the the baby sprouts.

I know!  It looks kind of freaky, but very cool! :)

The kids were so excited and the had so many questions!  We had some very good conversations and it really helped them connect why plants need sun and water to grow and that plants start as a seed before they become an ear of corn or a pumpkin.

Speaking of our pumpkin, nothing yet!  Hopping to see something by the end of the week or the beginning of next week.

This week.....

Here is what we are studying this week........

Today the students continued to play with the apple game.........

New stuff in the room.......

Light table

Jack-o-Lantern Lights

Electric Jack-o-Lantern (The kids LOVED it when I turned off the lights!)

Pumpkin Life Cycle sequencing paper.......

Friday we read this Scholastic News..........

Today we read these books........

The kids loved "The Little Old Lady who wasn't Afraid of Anything".  They helped me tell the story using pictures from the story.

Check back Friday for pictures of our ghostly activities from Wednesday and Thursday!

Christmas Scholastic Book Club Orders

Can't believe I am saying this but.....



Is it me or does it seem unreal that Christmas is just around the corner?!?!?!  With that in mind, books are great Christmas gifts!  :)  I plan on sending in 2 book club orders before Christmas.  Both will be ordered on the due date and books will arrive before Christmas.  I will send home the November flyers next week.  The due date is November 12.  The second one will be early in December, two weeks before our Christmas and New Years Break.  More info will come as the date gets closer!  If you get books and don't want your child to know, let me know and we will hide them when we pack book bags at the end of the day.  ;)

The students have been SO excited!!! :D