"Autumn Leaves are Falling Down"
9/27/2019
We continued our Fall theme this week by learning about leaves! The students were curious to know why leaves are usually green and why they change color in the Fall. We started off the week by reading “We're Going on a Leaf Hunt” by Steve Metzger. This story is about three children who hike over a mountain and through a forest to collect leaves of all kinds and colors. We then planned to go on our very own leaf hunt! The students walked, crawled and scurried around the playground searching for different types of leaves. During our leaf hunt, we found an area of land surrounded by beautiful trees and bushes! The children decided to name this space 'The Orca Forest'. We plan to do many more nature walks and science activities in our Orca Forest! Afterwords, we talked about the different colors, shapes and sizes of the leaves. Each child also guessed the number of leaves they thought we collected before counting the leaves out loud as a class. Documenting and Reporting are important components of any science activity. During small group activity, the students had a chance to document a leaf they had collected during the walk. They glued their leaf on the sheet, determined its size/color, and used unifix cubes to measure the length of their leaf. We also talked about the different parts of a leaf. The students were able to label the stem, blade, and veins of a leaf. After learning about the parts of a leaf, we created crystal leaves using salt, glue and watercolor paint. The objective of this lesson was to learn the basic structure of a leaf and label its various parts. The students traced their leaf with glue, sprinkled salt, dipped their paintbrush in the liquid watercolors and touch it on the raised salt! They were delighted to see the paint travel along the leaf pattern. Towards the end of the week, the children had a good understanding about the different colors, sizes, shapes and parts of a leaf. However, they were curious to know why the leaves change colors in Autumn and what makes them green. We began this lesson by reading “Why do Leaves Change Colors” by Betsy Maestro. We talked about how the days get shorter in the fall and how the lack of sunlight and cold weather affects the leaves. I introduced the idea of chlorophyll and explained how it gives leaves their green color. In the fall, chlorophyll breaks down causing the leaves to turn red, yellow, and orange. The students stripped chlorophyll from some of the green leaves they collected from our leaf hunt. Each child tore the leaves into tiny pieces and placed them in a clear bowl. I then added rubbing alcohol to the leaves and covered the bowl with plastic wrap. The next day, the students were amazed to see that the clear rubbing alcohol had turned green because of the chlorophyll! The students loved the play doh tree game for counting and strengthening fine motor skills. Lastly, we decided to return to our Orca Forest! The students were surprised to see how much it had changed in a few days. More leaves had changed color and the trees looked bare. You can see the change in the pictures below! The picture on the left was from our first leaf hunt on Monday and the picture on the right was taken on our second leaf hunt on Friday. Chili Cook Out and Fall Festival
We celebrated our Annual Chili Cook Off and Fall Festival on Thursday! This evening was full of fun and delicious chili! The students painted beautiful pumpkins in Art Class and showcased them at the event. Thank you for attending! FALL in Love with Learning!!
9/21/2019
Every season has its special beauty and Fall is no exception! This season offers so many playful learning experiences for young children. Our Preschool Team had a wonderful time playing a variety of games during our Fall Outing Event! The first game we set up was the 'Falling Leaves Parachute' activity. The students helped Mrs. Smith spread out the parachute and then placed leaves on top. Once there were enough leaves on the parachute, the children worked together to move the parachute and make the leaves fly. They also enjoyed tossing the leaves into the air and hiding under the parachute! This activity was great for building motor strength and self control. It also improved the students ability to listen, follow directions and work together as a group. The next activity was 'Pumpkin Bowling'! We set up bowling pins and used green and orange balls to knock them down. The students rolled, kicked and bounced the balls to knock the pins over! The students also played a bean bag toss game. The bean bag activity helped children strengthen their hand-eye coordination, concentration and motor skills! We ended the event with some delicious muffins and popcorn! The students used their senses to explore the different parts of a pumpkin. We sat in a circle, passed a pumpkin around and described how it looks and feels. The children stated that the pumpkin was heavy, cold, orange, round and smooth. I then cut the pumpkin open and allowed them to observe, smell, and feel inside the pumpkin. The students had fun removing the seeds and slimy strings from the pumpkin! The next day, we learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin. During circle time, I laid out a pumpkin seed, a vine, a flower, a green pumpkin and an orange pumpkin. The students had an opportunity to explore each stage of a pumpkin. We read and discussed the book “From Pumpkin to Seed” by Wendy Pfeffer. The students worked together to sequence the life-cycle of a pumpkin using a pocket chart, sentence strips and picture cards. We also learned about density while experimenting with Pumpkins! The students recorded the size of their pumpkin, how many seeds it had, and measured the pumpkins using unfix cubes. They also predicted if the pumpkin will float or sink when placed in a tub water. Many students believed that the pumpkin will sink because of its heavy weight. They were surprised to see that the pumpkin floated. We discussed how pumpkins, although large and heavy, aren't very dense because they are mainly hollow inside. Afterward, we found objects around the classroom and placed them in the tub of water to see if they would sink or float. The highlight of our week was our fun filled trip to Pyrah's Pioneer Pumpkin Patch! We started the day with a hayride that circled the Pumpkin Patch. The views were absolutely beautiful! The children picked fresh vegetables including carrots, potatoes, broccoli and kale. We talked about the different foods we were going to make with our hand picked vegetables. Each student! was able to take a bag of vegetables home on Friday. Thank you again to all the chaperones and parent drivers for making our Field Trip a success! This week was a wonderful start to our Fall unit!
A Circle of Friends
9/14/2019
"A friend is one of the nicest things you can have and one of the nicest things you can be". |
Anna RamseyArchives
April 2021
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