Getting Spooky Around Here

The adventures continue! There are lots of pictures from the last two weeks to show you all that we've been up to. 

Let's talk about writing. In pre-k when we talk about "writing", we really mean any kind of marks on paper that contain meaning. Even a scribble can represent a picture or word. There are many opportunities throughout the day to use writing tools in pre-k, and believe it or not the fine-motor skills that kids need in order to properly grip a writing tool come from shoulder, arm and core strength developed during gross motor play. 

Last week we introduced "Graphics Practice" time at circle. We'll do this once a week as a way to start building some muscle memory for future (kindergarten!) writing tasks. During graphics practice we use chalk boards with small pieces of chalk - the small pieces help force kids use a nice three-pointed grip (rather than holding their writing tool with their whole hand). Then we work on some simple practices like making lines from TOP to bottom. When children start to learn how to write letters it's important that they start their letter formation at the top of the letter. Graphics practice is a popular activity, and one that we'll continue throughout the year. 

Speaking of gross-motor play, Mt. Everest is getting slipperier with the leaves. No problem for these adventure climbers!

Pumpkin Factory continues to be a popular spot for some hard working hands. 

Apple art! You can see the final products in hanging in the hallway outside the pre-k classroom.

Graphics practice in action.  

We play gentle music while we do our writing - such a pleasant activity!

These two are working on some leaf rubbings in their nature journals.

Last Friday we took some of our apples from the field trip and turned them into apple pies!

Mixing the filling...

Crimping the edges of the crust...

A delivery to the kitchen oven

and, ta da!!

Some afternoon train time

The rain this week didn't slow these kiddos down. 

Getting a drink from the sky :)

A dry spot in the tunnel in our field

There were a lot of rolly-polly pill bugs under this log, and it took almost the entire class to roll it back into place. 

This team of kiddos is figuring out how to get our new pumpkins into the woods. They're heavy!

We hope the peace jars made it home to you in one piece! These two are preparing the jars before adding the sparkles. 

Experimenting with chalk in the rain, an excellent sensory experience. 

We carved three big pumpkins on Thursday. 

So many seeds!

Each kid drew eyes, a nose, or a mouth on a pumpkin, and we carved them up. 

Here are the designs with markers. 

And here's the finished product, complete with talking bubbles. There was some disappointment that we couldn't put speakers into the pumpkins to make them actually talk, but this option was a close second. 

Have a wonderful weekend!