Everyone was excited when they walked into class this morning and saw a BIG pumpkin sitting on the floor.  We talked about the parts of a pumpkin - ribs, pulp, seeds, stem - and then had fun cleaning it out.  Some of out little ones loved getting their hands dirty and others wanted nothing to do with it.  I even had one little boy walking around singing "I'm cleaning out my pumpkin guts, I'm cleaning out my pumpkin guts." I got some great pictures.
During Circle Time we did a quick review of letter Ee and sang out letter Ee sounds song.  We read the story My Happy Pumpkin: God's Love Shining Through Me by Crystal Bowman.  We spent the rest of our morning at an all school enrichment Acrobatic program in the gym.  What a great program.  

*Special Notes:
**Please send in a small pie pumpkin next week Tuesday with your child.  I know my note said Monday, but that was my 4's. Sorry for the confusion.  We will be using these to do a fun activity with our buddies next week.  Meijer has them 2 for $4.  
**I have been getting some candy for our trick-or-treat event.  Thank you so much!!  If you have not yet sent any in, please do so by next week so that I can deliver them to each classroom for our parade.
**On Thursday, October 31st we will have our first party. Yeah!!  Send your child to school in costume.  Please be sure that it is easy enough for them to get it on and off so that they can use the bathroom.  Please do not send in any extra props unless you plan on taking them home with you after our Halloween Costume Fashion Show.  If any part of their costume gets lost we have lots of tears.  It is a busy day and I just can't keep track of who brought what or where they put it down.
On party day we will have a quick fashion show at 8:30.  You are all invited to attend.  After our show we will sing a couple of songs for our guests.  Once you all leave, we will begin our parade and then come back to class for some Halloween fun and special treats.  Pick-up is as usual.

Our Preschoolers did a great job reviewing what they learned about the Letter Ee.  We added 9 new Ee words to our Board Word list.  WOW!  It's not easy to think of letter Ee words.  Way to go Preschool!!!  Our favorite word was Eeek and it went along well with our Art Craft today. Our Circle Time story was The Extraordinary Egg by Leo Lionni.  

Our Centers:
Center 1: PlayDoh with letter Ee PlayDoh mats
Center 2: Math - Elephant Peanut Counting
Center 3: Art Center - Skeleton Craft
Center 4: Writing Center - Letter Ee Tracing Page

*Special Notes:
*We will be meeting our 5th grade buddies next week.  Please send in a small pie pumpkin with your child next week Monday.  We will have a fun day decorating, reading Halloween stories, watching a Halloween movie, and will have a special snack with our buddies.  It's always a super fun day.
*Our Halloween party for PreK 4's will be on Wednesday October 30th.  Your child will come to class dressed in their costume.  Our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc... are welcome to join us at 8:30 a.m. for a Halloween Fashion Show and Halloween songs.  After our guests leave we will go trick-or-treating through school and return to class for some Halloween fun.  Don't forget to send in your candy.
*Gastroenteritis is going around and also a short 2 day virus (runny nose, sore throat, fever).  If your child is not feeling well, PLEASE keep them home.  Remember, your child must be fever free for 24 hours before returning to class. 

**Shine with the light of Jesus.


​

We had fun learning about the Letter Ee today.  We learned the correct way to write Ee, the sound(s) for Ee, and the "sign" for Ee.  A fun silly sounds game helped us to learn the Ee sounds.  Our Board Story was about Edna the Elephant.  Our Board Words this week are: elephant, envelope, eagle, and eggs.  During Circle Time we read the story Elmer the Patchwork Elephant by David McKee.  We also watched a short book reading of Elmer the Elephant on our Smart Board.  Our little ones loved it!!

Our Centers:
Center 1: PlayDoh with Halloween cookie cutters
Center 2: Blocks
Center 3: Art Center - Elmer the Elephant craft.  This was a bit hit today!
Center 4: Writing Center - Letter Ee bingo dauber page

Special Notes:
**I hope everyone read the Halloween notes that came home last week.  Please be sure to send in your 1 - 2 bags of candy to help make our trick-or-treating through the school a success.  
**Please be sure to read about appropriate costumes in our Halloween notes.  If you have any questions, please contact me via email or before/after class.

A Preschool Joke: What do you get when you cross a potato with an elephant?  Mashed potatoes.

This week we are studying the letter Ee.  Today we learned how to write Ee the correct way in upper/lower case, learned the Ee sounds, and the "sign" for Ee.  Our Board Story was about Edna the Elephant.  Our Board Words are: elephant, eagle, eggs, and envelope. Our little ones added 8 more words to our board. I'm excited to see what we add to it on Wednesday.  Help your child think of some Ee words.  Our theme this week is pumpkins.  During Circle Time we talked about pumpkins: their color, shape, many sizes, ways we eat pumpkin, carving our pumpkins, and what we find inside of a pumpkins.  We will be doing lots of fun pumpkin activities this week and will be learning and singing pumpkin songs/finger plays.  Our Circle Time Story was The Biggest Pumpkin Ever by Steven Kroll.

Our Centers:
Center 1: PlayDoh with Pumpkin and Halloween cookie cutters
Center 2: Magic Writing Boards
Center 3: Art Center - Letter Ee Crown
Center 4: Writing Center - Getting Ready Letter Ee sheet

Special Notes:
*I hope everyone read my Halloween note that went home last week.  Please be sure to send in your bag(s) of candy so that our trick-or-treat parade will be a success.
*Plan on joining us on Wednesday, October 30th @ 8:30 for our Preschool 4's Halloween costume fashion show.  We will also perform a song or two for our guests.  Once our guests leave we will join our 5th grade buddies to go trick-or-treating through the school and then return to our classroom for some Halloween festivities.  Our pick-up time will be as usual - 11:00.
*Halloween costumes: Please be sure to send your child to school in a costume that they can get easily on and off by themselves.  If they need to use the bathroom and are struggling with their costume they may have an accident.  This always results in tears. Also, please do not send in accessories.  They may have them for our fashion show, but please take them with you when you leave.  It's a busy day and too often these accessories get lost.  If you have any questions please contact me via email or talk to me before/after class.

**A little joke for one of our Preschoolers:  What's a ghosts favorite treat?  I SCREAM!
So cute. 

We had a great day in Preschool today.  Our little ones are doing so well.  We are seeing little to no crying at drop off and everyone is adjusting to our routine.  It's nice to see those happy, smiling faces in the morning.
Today during Circle Time we reviewed what we learned about letter Dd.  Our story today was Pete the Cat Five Little Pumpkins by James Dean.  Everyone loved this book because we have been learning the Five Little Pumpkins finger play since last week.  We also had fun with the Five Little Dinosaurs finger play this week.  An important part of our Circle Time routine is Music/Movement.  Today we learned Looking for Dracula.  It's a fun and silly song Halloween song.  
In Religion we talked about the importance of Praising and Thanking God for his many blessings and gifts.  Please read and review the Religion page that came home today with your child.  

Our Centers:
Center 1 - PlayDoh
Center 2 - Small Motor Skills - Halloween creations
Center 3 - Art Center - Dd is for Dracula craft
Center 4 - Writing Center - Diamond and dots activity

**Special Notes:
-Please be sure to read all notes that came home today.  Our regular note came home with a special Halloween note and safe peanut/tree nut free candy list.  I am asking that each child send in 1-2 bags of candy for our trick-or-treating parade through the school.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via email or before/after class. Thank you.


***Make a joyful noise to the Lord. -Proverbs 100:1

Today we had a fun day learning about the letter Dd.  We learned the correct way to write Dd in upper/lower case, we learned the Dd sound, and the "sign" for Dd.  A fun Dinosaur finger play helped us to learn more about Dd and it's sound.  Our Circle Time Story was Clifford the Dog's ABC Book.  We had fun playing with ducks and dolphins in the water table.  We also introduced the diamond shape today and learned a little song to help us remember how to make a diamond.

Our Centers:
Center 1: PlayDoh
Center 2: Dinosaur 3D Books and Dinosaur puzzles
Center 3: Art Center - Dalmation Dog Craft
Center 4: Writing Center - Finding Letter Dd paper.

We also had fun making shapes with buttons, beans, and pom poms.  We had a busy day today.  

**Special Notes:
Thank you to everyone who came and helped make our Harvest Fest such a success. It was a wonderful family night.

We had strep in our classroom.  Please watch your little one's and if they are not feeling well, please allow them to stay home and rest.  

We are in the beginning stages of planning our Halloween party.  Watch for notes and emails coming soon.  We are asking for each child to bring in 1-2 bags of candy to help with our Preschool trick-or-treat parade.  I will send home a list of peanut/tree nut free safe candy.  Some ideas are gummy savers, sour patch kids, tootsie rolls, peppermint patties, now and later candy, Oreo's, Laffy Taffy, Nerds....

Today we started to learn all about the letter Dd.  Our little ones are doing a great job adding words to our Letter Dd Board Word list.  Way to go Preschool.  I can't wait to see what we add to the list on Wednesday.  Our Circle Time Story today was Clifford the Firehouse Dog by Norman Bridwell.  This story goes along with our theme of Firemen this week. 

Our Centers:
Center 1: PlayDoh
Center 2: Sensory/Science - Sand Table (Dinosaur Dig)
Center 3: Art Center-Letter Dd Crown
Center 4: Writing Center-Getting Ready Letter Dd Page
Center 5: Dinosaur Bingo Dauber Page

Special Notes:
​*It was great to see so many of you at Harvest Fest.  It was a super fun night - lots of smiles, giggles, cotton candy, donuts, and more.  
*Please allow your child to stay home and rest if they seem tired, run down, or just not quite themselves.  There is so much going around. Thanks so much.
*Watch for upcoming notes regarding our Halloween party.

 Today we continued with our study of letter Cc.  I was impressed with how many of our 3's remembered the Cc sound.  So exciting!! During Circle Time we reviewed what we learned about the letter Cc and reviewed our Circle shape and sang our Circle Song.  We had a wonderful discussion about God's gifts and how we are to care for those gifts. We brainstormed the many gifts we receive from God every day: food, love, family, friends, animals, grass, flowers, birds, babies, tomatoes, pumpkins...which led us on a discussion about Halloween and candy and costumes and how someone's brother likes to scare him and carving pumpkins and going to the cider mill and what everyone is going to be for Halloween.  Yes, had a great discussion in Preschool. LOL. Love my sweeties!! 
Our Circle Time story was The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.

Our Centers:
Sensory: PlayDoh
Small Motor: Pegs
Art Center: Fall Corn Painting
Religion: We Can Care

**Special Notes:
*Please plan on joining us tomorrow for Harvest Fest from 5:30-8:30 at school.  This is a wonderful family fun night full of memories. 

*You don't need a cape to be a hero; You just need to care. -unknown
​

It's been a fun and busy week in Preschool.  We started learning about letter Cc on Monday and continue to learn and review.  We've learned how to write Cc the correct way in upper/lower case, the sound for Cc, and the "sign" for Cc.  Our Board Words this week are cat, cake, cookie, and computer.  We added 22 extra words to our list and everyone is excited to add more on Friday.  Great Job Preschool!!!  Our Circle Time stories this week: What Time is it Mr. Crocodile? by Judy Sierra and The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. We also watched The Very Hungry Caterpillar in movie form.  A big hit.

Our Centers:
Sensory: PlayDoh
Math: Candy Corn Counting and Caterpillar Counting
Art Center: Autumn Leaf Craft
Religion: God's Gift of Color Page

**Special Notes:
*Please plan on joining us for Harvest Fest this Friday Oct. 4th from 5:30-8:30. It is a great Family Fun night.  
*We are starting to make plans for our Halloween party. Please watch for notes and emails from me and our Room Mom's regarding our first school party.

**Keep looking up, there may be a rainbow waiting for you. -unknown

We had a great day in 3-Year Old Preschool today.  Our little ones are really adjusting to our routine and seem to be feeling better about saying good-bye to mom and dad. 

Today we started our study of letter Cc.  We learned the correct way to write Cc in upper/lower case, the Cc sound, the "sign" for Cc and a little saying to help us remember how to write Cc: "Letter Cc is like a circle, but Mr. Crocodile ate the middle."  Our Preschoolers really enjoyed this saying.  Our Board Story was about Carly combing her cat with curly hair.   Our Board Words are - cat, cake, cookie, and cow.  Everyone enjoyed our Circle Time Story: What Time is it Mr. Crocodile? by Judy Sierra.  Circle Time ended with a surprise Fire Drill.  Our group did a wonderful job leaving the building, but we are still working on walking in line.

Our Centers:
Sensory: Water Table
Small Motor/Sensory: PlayDoh
Art Center: Cookie Monster Craft
Writing Center: Letter Cc Caterpillar

**Special Notes:
*Thank you to our families that kept their little ones this week since they were not feeling well.  It's important for them to get their rest and helps so much with stopping the spread of germs.  I am hearing that we are already seeing the flu virus starting.  
*Please plan on joining up this Friday, October 4th for St. Paul Harvest Fest from 5:30-8:30.  It is a fun family night with lots to do.  I look forward to seeing you there.
*Watch for notes coming home soon about upcoming events in our classroom.  Our first party will be Halloween.  Our Room Mom's are starting to plan and will be contacting you via email.  

**Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go. -unknown