ALL ABOUT APPLES!

Dear Parents,

We had two fabulous weeks of school.  Last week we finished our "All About Me" unit.  In addition to our self portraits, we made "ourselves" out of wooden spoons, by adding hair, googly eyes, a nose  a mouth, and drew on clothes. The children also created a classroom songbook called "This Song is All About Me."  Some of the things the children said they liked about themselves were: "My eyes, my feet, my stomach, and my nose."

This week we introduced our apple unit by learning the life cycle of an apple. The children have been practicing putting the life cycle pictures onto the flannel board.  They now know the stages, which are: seed, seedling, tree, bud, flower, and finally the apple.

Some of the stories the children enjoyed listening to were:  From Bud to Blossom, Life Cycles of Apple Trees, and How do Apples Grow? We all took part in an apple taste test.  The children each tasted a Macintosh apple, a Granny Smith apple, and a Golden Delicious apple.  The results of the taste test were:  Two people liked the Golden Delicious apple, three people liked the Macintosh apple, and six people liked the Granny Smith apple. 


Which one do you like better?

 












The children also learned about creating patterns by putting yellow, green, and red apples in an order such as red, green, yellow, red, green, yellow, etc.  They now know that a pattern is a design that repeats itself. 


Outside Fun!



Taking a rest after a hard day's work!

 

Uting, another teacher at our school, visited our class this week.  She read a story to the children about the "Moon Festival." The moon festival is celebrated on the 15th of the lunar calendar, each month. The moon is at its roundest and brightest which symbolizes togetherness and reunion in Chinese culture. Families get together to express their familial love by eating dinner together, appreciating the moon, and eating moon cakes. The harvest moon is traditionally believed to be the brightest of the year. She also gave each child a piece of moon cake to try.  It was delicious! 

We concluded our apple unit by making the most delicious apple muffins.  I am not sure what the children enjoyed more, eating them or baking them.  They were delicious!









We look forward to learning about famous artists next week.

Love,
Ms. Bonne and Ms. Barbara

ALL ABOUT ME WEEK!

Dear Parents,

The Half Notes have done an amazing job settling into our classroom.  The children are beginning to learn our classroom routines.  It is so exciting watching the children make new friendships and how they are beginning to negotiate the use of the toys.

They all participated in making "Mat Man" a figure representing a person, constructed of  wooden shapes.  They then, each drew their own self portrait, which we adorned our classroom bulletin board with.  They were all so proud of their accomplishments.  They also created and decorated mirrors.  They used them to look at themselves and then to describe what they saw.

The children enjoyed listening to stories which were "All About me." We had some great discussions  about ourselves such as, what color hair and eyes we have and our favorite activities.  Some of the stories we enjoyed listening to were: First Day of School, by Anne Rockwell, My First Day of School, by P.K Hallinan, and I Like Myself,  by Karen Beaumont.

The children also seemed to love singing songs, playing instruments and dancing.  We are in the process of creating a classroom song book called "This Song is All About Me."  Some of the new songs we learned this week are: "Make New Friends but, Keep the Old," "I am Special," and "The More we Get Together."
Finally, the children have enjoyed participating in music class with Lisa.  Some of the highlights were: Making rhythms with rhythm sticks, singing and dancing.

We also celebrated Hugo's fourth birthday.  Thank you to his family for the delicious treats!



                                               Mmm, was that delicious!!                                               
 

In honor of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, we celebrated by eating apples dipped in honey and creating apple trees.

Next week we will continue with our "All About Me" unit .  

Notes:
~ Please send in an extra set of clothing to keep in your child's cubby.
~ Please save all your colored bottle caps.  We will be doing an art  project with them.

Love,
Ms. Bonne and Ms. Barbara