Happy Halloween to everyone and what a fun week we have had.  We began this week with the letter "I". For the older classes this was our first sight word at the beginning of the year so the children all recognized the letter.  The 3-4 year old class understood the letter after looking at picture cards to illustrate the letter sound. We will work more on this particular letter next Monday and Tuesday.

Yesterday and today was our Halloween Parties.I have never had so much fun playing with the children. Each class had so much fun playing pin the pumpkin (blindfolded), Spider Ring Toss.  We then made some Witches brew - consisting of... oh you don't really want to know.... dinasaurs, frogs, pumpkins, basketballs, ice cream, popsicles, etc.  Each child helped stir and watched the dry ice bubble while putting their hands in the container and watched their hands dissappear.By the way it tasted just like homemade rootbeer but I just didnt want to let the children know that.. it was so magical for them to make. Thank you Moms for the great costumes and treats!  You made Halloween a wonderful memory for your child.

This week in preschool we reviewed our shapes, recognizing each letter we have learned in the alphabet and its sound, worked really hard on writing our names, counted to 10 in the 3-4 year old class and counted to 100 in the 4-5 year old class; and did the Letter "H"....h, h, horse. On Monday each child wore a hat and we did some country line dancing with the cowboy hats I have.  The children loved dancing.  Our art project this week was tracing our hands and making a Fall scene with leaves and a few Halloween pics.  (Each child enjoyed designing their own picture).  We talked about the Honey Bee and watched a quick Smithsonian video on how the Honey Bee works and makes Honey.  Each child left preschool with a small bottle of fresh Honey.  Most of the children liked the taste of the Honey in class.  My 4-5 year old children learned another new word and took home a reading book. They read very well in class all their sight words and I just can't thank you parents enough for your positive reinforcement at home. Children will always do their best when they see their parents supporting them  Your children are amazing and I just love teaching them so much.

Letter "G" was a quick letter to learn after spud harvest, but we did it!  They love the phonic sound of Gorilla with it too!  As the children came this week on Monday and Tuesday it was Hat day.  We painted Halloween masks and worked on the Letter "H".  Each child had to come up with a word  that started with the sound of H and I was impressed how many words they came up with. We studied different shapes as we will the month of October and we also talked about patterns.
The Tautphaus Park Zoo animals came to visit this week and because they can only come once I had to double up classes.  The children didn't seem to mind because they were so excited to see the animals until the hugh snake appeared.  It was ok tho, after the ladies told the children they couldn't touch it!  They also brought animals that had passed away just so the children could touch their fur and see the tigers large head and feet - and sharp nails.  All in all, I think it was a great experience to learn about different kinds of animals and what Mammels are..just ask your child and she/he will tell you!