Pumpkins!

PUMPKINS!!!!

With Halloween coming up the students have been talking about their costumes, various spooks (ghost, goblins, black cats, bats) and PUMPKINS!  There has been a lot of interest and discussion around pumpkins, and a lot of reading and research into pumpkins, since we are in place that doesn’t have a lot of pumpkins just growing all around us!

I bought a pumpkin for us to explore—we rolled it, talked about what might be inside, how tall and heavy it was, drew pictures of it and cut it open to explore some more! Once we all realised there were seeds inside, the kiddos estimated how many they thought were inside, and counted them.  Then of course they wanted to carve a face into the side like so many of the stories we read!

Random wonderings and amazing questions and conversations were overheard:

“This pumpkin is so so heavy when you try and lift it!” “We are strong though, so we can do it!” –Dylan and Liam

“I wonder what is inside this pumpkin…grass?”  -Map

“There are seeds and yucky stuff inside….just wait until we open it!” –Ella

“Look when we roll this pumpkin it goes pretty straight, I thought it would always go to the side. That’s so weird!” –Rania

“LOOK AT ALL THE SEEDS!  What are the stringy bits? The pumpkin smells so weird.” –Aria

“How many are in there?  If we counted it would take us way too long.”  -Jasper

“If you cut out the side it turns to a jack-o-lantern like in the Big Pumpkin story.” 

-Shayne

“I am going to try and make my drawing exactly the same as our pumpkin.” –Malia

“Let’s turn it into a jack-o-lantern!  I love taking out the seeds—I can do it just with my hands because I’ve done this before!”  -Dylan

By exploring pumpkins through this kind of practical experiences, the kiddos have so many opportunities to observe, learn and construct their own knowledge and meaning with their classmates.

Week 11 Oct 26 to 30

Happy Halloween from our Cuties!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  Thank you to all of the parents who helped out or joined our party this morning!  The cuties (and Aidah and I!) had a blast!  Thanks to Mina and Neetu for all of their hard work in planning and organizing, and to everyone for helping out or sending in things!  And thank you so much parents for the surprise birthday singing and gifts!!!  I feel so loved—thank you so so much!  It is so appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!

It was another fun week in the Pre K yellow starfish class….lots of PPPPPPPumpkin and Halloween activities!!! 

This week we had a lot of different explorations and centers that students had the opportunity to try out.  We…

*learned/reviewed the sound, letter formation, and hand motion for the letter Pp.

*brainstormed words that started with or contained Pp and wrote them/drew them in our language books.

*we explored our pumpkin—rolled it, talked about what might be inside, how tall/heavy it was, measured it, drew it….and then cut it open to explore some more!  There were a lot of “wonderings” going on, and I think it might continue for awhile!  Our cuties were VERY interested in this pumpkin!

*estimated and counted the number of pumpkin seeds there would be in our big orange pumpkin!

*observed, weighed, and carved a pumpkin, counted the seeds (155!) and voted on which face to carve into our big pumpkin!

*Painted symmetrical pumpkins and decorated them with a spooky Halloween scene.

*Created and copied patterns using Halloween characters

*ordered pumpkins from smallest to biggest (and will continue next week with a related activity)

*Read a nonfiction book about pumpkins and sequenced pictures of the lifecycle of a pumpkin. (We will continue this the next couple of weeks J)

*learned the songs Pumpkin Man and 5 Little Pumpkins.

*participated in some candy corn math (with an opportunity to taste the candy corns of course! J)

*played a listening game with jack-o-lanterns –they had many different shapes for features

*were interested in shapes and explored geoboards and shape stencils

*Played a “draw a pig” game where they added different parts of the body to a pig depending on what number they rolled on the dice.

*had the option to make some Halloween crafts.

* made pumpkins to hang from the ceiling—lots of cutting involved and our cuties did a wonderful job!

*made pizza a learned a little bit about Italy!  Thank you to Tiffany for coming in to cook with us!!!  YUM!

*made pigeon hats—the cuties have been obsessed with one of my favorite authors-Mo Willems and asked to make the hats!

REMINDERS/IMPORTANT DATES

Next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (Nov 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th):  On Monday and Tuesday all of the ECC teachers will be participating in a Reggio workshop and will be in a different part of the school. On Wednesday Ms. Jo and I will be attending a PLC leaders workshop at the school.  There will be a sub teacher in the classroom for me these three days, but Ms. Aidah will still be here. I will be here those days in the mornings to greet the students and help the sub out (and go through all of the lesson plans, explorations and activities), and will pop back into the classroom whenever I have a break during the workshops to see my cuties. 

Monday, November 9^th: FACULTY INSERVICE DAY—NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

Tuesday, November 10^th:  DEEPAVALI HOLIDAY- NO SCHOOL

Thursday, November 26^th and Friday, November 27^th: THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY- NO SCHOOL

*Please return the red library bag and books on Monday!

Wednesday Update :-)

Reminder:  Parent-Teacher Conferences Tomorrow and Friday!!!  I look forward to discussing your child’s progress with you! Students have no school and they do not attend the conferences.

It was a short week, but a busy one as always!  We celebrated Map’s birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAP!) and have continued learning about families, where we live, and how we are each unique and special.

Our explorations and learning activities this week also included…

*we reviewed letters and sounds that we know.

*had a really interesting talk about the seasons—we will continue our conversation when we get back from break—I love their perspectives, especially living in a country with no seasons!

*went crazy reading Mo Willems—the cuties asked if they could make pigeons, so we will have to do something about that when we get back as well.

*visited the Pumpkin Patch!

*really studied our own and each others faces and had amazing conversations about how we are the same, different and so special.

*explored moon sand, beads, and puzzles.

*started reading fun pumpkin and Halloween books, and learned a 5 little pumpkins song.

*finished up our flags and spotted more around the school!

REMINDERS/IMPORTANT DATES

Thursday/Friday October 15^th/16^th :  Parent-Teacher Conferences (NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS on these days—Also students do not attend the conferences.)

October 19^th to 23^rd :  FALL BREAK—NO SCHOOL

Friday, October 30^th:  HALLOWEEN CELEBRATIONS!

8:20-8:45:  Pre K snack while parents decorate the room.

8:45-9:00: Costume Parade-parents invited to follow and take pictures

9:00-9:45:  Party in our room and courtyard.  (The food in courtyard, games and activities inside the classroom.) 

9:45-Clean up and change the kiddos out of their costumes.  (They can bring FREE DRESS to change into for after the party-it does not need to be uniform.)

*Return red library bag and books on Monday, October 26^th.

Thank you!!!  I look forward to conferences over the next two days and I wish you and your family a relaxing fall break!!  

Friday Update Oct 5 to 9

Our gorgeous kids celebrating United Nations Day today!

It has been another amazing week of exploration and learning in the Yellow Starfish Class! We have continued to talk and share about our families and how we are the same and different.  We also learned a little bit more about this beautiful country we live in.  The cuties participated in a UN day assembly (and they were gorgeous in the clothes from their country!) and celebrated Daniel’s birthday! (HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIEL!)

Our explorations and learning activities this week also included…

*we learned the sounds (long and short), letter formation, and hand motion for the letter Ii.

*played with ice (in different shapes) in the sensory table.

*practiced writing and decorated our initials.  Can your child tell you his/her initials? How about the initials of a friend in class?

*learned the ways children in our class say hello in different languages.

*read Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni, and measured things with cubes, a ruler, beans….

*talked about how we are at the American School, and we live in Singapore! We are so lucky! We learned more about the symbols of America, and talked with some of our cuties from the US. Then we looked at some of the symbols of Singapore, talked about our favorite places here, and talked about the flag and merlion. 

*I introduced Canada and we talked about the countries that everyone in the class is from, then tried to point them out during the UN day parade of flags

*some of us painted flags of Singapore and America and other countries that are important to us or that we were interested in.

*continued talking about our families

*made “Potato Head Families”  (they are SERIOUSLY the most adorable things ever!)

*we had a visit from our counselor Mr. Pearson

*We learned about Australia from Jasper’s mom, and made and ate fairy bread!  (Some of us were even brave enough to try veggiemite!) We also had Malia’s mom talk to us about Japan. The cuties rolled rice and seaweed. Thank you Fiona and Mina for coming in and sharing with us!

*We have had rainbow rocks on our light table so the kiddos started experimenting with what else they could do with them so they started gluing them and making beautiful pictures!

REMINDERS/IMPORTANT DATES

Tuesday, October 13^th :  PUMPKIN PATCH—this is for students only, but if you want to volunteer for a time slot, our class will be through from 10:20-10:45 on that day. (This is through the PTA)

Thursday/Friday October 15^th/16^th :  Parent-Teacher Conferences (NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS on these days—Also students do not attend the conferences.)

October 19^th to 23^rd :  FALL BREAK—NO SCHOOL

Friday, October 30^th:  HALLOWEEN PARTY-There will be a short parade of costumes and a party in our class.—Details to come soon.

*Return red library bag and books on Monday.

*Let me know if you would like to share something about your home country, and what date and time you would like to come in.