Dear Parents,
We began our week by reading My Heart and My Amazing Body. We felt where we thought our hearts were. Some people placed hands on chests and some on bellies. We took out a stethoscope and said the word “stethoscope” aloud. We all got turns to listen to our own hearts. Some said it sounded like the ocean but many said they couldn’t hear anything. After snacks we ran around the jungle gym three times and listened again. This time everyone said they heard it! Some wanted to run more and listen again and again. It was just like the book said, our hearts beat faster with more activity.
On Tuesday we took deep breaths to feel our lungs fill with air. We read My Nose And Mouth. We watched a teacher blow up a balloon to show how our lungs work and then played with balloons in the big room. We also played with our little wooden blocks in groups of four or five. We examined the pictures on the shelves of each block to see where they would return when we were finished building. The children were excited about being able to locate the proper shelves and spent most of the time taking them out and then putting them back.
We used our easel this week. The children mixed red and yellow or blue and yellow to create paintings. We set them to dry while we took turns playing with our doctor kit in the classroom. Many friends suddenly needed shots.
Our second yoga class was a tiny bit more exciting. We heard the children moving and singing. While half the class was in yoga, the other half helped carve and scoop seeds out of our pumpkin. We read Pumpkin Time and copied the same face from the story onto our pumpkin. After yoga class we put a candle in them and watched the glow. We read three more pumpkin books. Some children told us their pumpkins at home had already rotted and attracted flies so they threw them out. We sang Five Little Pumpkins and Stirring Our Brew.
Outside we used our breath to take turns blowing bubbles. It caused lots of laughter and running about.
On Thursday and Friday we worked on our body tracings. Everyone took turns lying down and getting their entire body traced. We colored them with coloring crayons and then oil pastels. We added ink stamps and watercolors too. They are quite colorful.
On our Halloween celebration day we ate oranges that had faces drawn on them to match our pumpkin. We said maybe our pumpkin had babies (?) but the children knew they were really oranges. After snacks we did a little disco dancing and then went into the big room to build with blocks, ride wheels, and climb in the jungle gym.
Have a Halloween-y weekend!
Therese