The students have settled into our class routine and are doing well. We enjoyed a field trip to the pumpkin patch at Wright Family Farm at the beginning of the month and ended the month with a trip to the Promenade for Trick or Treating. 

During math this month, we have been focusing on counting items quickly without touching or moving the items. We did this with up to 4 items at a time playing a game called “hide and peek”. The students got to peek under a box or hat at the objects and quickly told how many there were. They took turns hiding items and letting their classmates identify how many objects they saw. We also learned that we can change the order of items as long as we do not add or take any away and end up with the same number. We sorted tag bags then bears by color. We lined up our tag bags and discussed which color had the most and which color had the fewest. We also noticed that the color with the most made the biggest line and the color with the fewest had the shortest line. When we sorted our bears by color, we decided to take it a step further and graph the bears. We placed our bears on our graph - one bear in a square - and discussed which color had the most and which had the least. We also learned to identify, describe and compare circles and rectangles. We compared round and rectangular crackers before we gobbled them up. Eating your lessons are the best way to remember them!  

During language and literacy this month, we focused on our initial letters. The kids have a great grasp of this. We played games to solidify this information. Our favorites were “capital call out” and “sing and pop up”. We built our names throughout the month as well using our name plates and letter tags. After figuring out which letters the students need help remembering, we spent a little time each day practicing those. We discovered that some capital letters have lowercase letter friends - they look just like each other. We played some games as we reinforced these concepts. 

 

During readiness and writing, the students were busy writing their letters, numbers, and shapes: letters L, F, E, H, T, numbers 1 and 2, shapes square and rectangle. 

Craft time is a favorite of the students. After snack the students ask Ms. Carole, “What are we going to make?” This month we made the following letter crafts: D is for duck, E is for elephant, and F is for fish. 

Each week, we center even more learning around a fun theme. Ms. Carole gets all the credit for those crafts and activities. In October, we enjoyed learning around a farm theme. One favorite of the students was a bingo game where they rolled the dice and kept track of which farm animal they rolled. Mr. Wright from Wright Family Farm gave us a cob of corn to show the students where corn comes from and what it looks like. We used the dried corn for a few crafts and counting activities. Mr. Wright also gave the class a pumpkin that we cut open with Ms. Ida’s class and identified all the parts. We also had a fire safety theme and Halloween theme, where we made many fun crafts including monsters, ghosts, and a black cat. 

We read many books throughout the month according to the theme we are learning about. It’s a great way to relax and listen to beautiful words and to look at the pictures associated with those words.

Miss Amanda

Miss Carole