Greetings Turtle Families,
It was so nice to meet with you all at conferences last week. Thank you for attending and for sharing your children with us. I am excited to continue learning and growing together this school year!
We enjoyed another seasonal story about apples that told us why they have stars hidden inside them. There was a little apple tree who loved the stars and wanted to hold them. A star fairy visits the tree and brings a basket of stars to share with the tree. She uses her wand to place a star inside each apple. Continuing with our apple theme, we also made wet-felted apples. To make one, first the children hid a wooden star inside their apple by wrapping wool roving tightly around the star. Then we used warm soapy water and with our hands, we rolled the apples around and around in our hands to form a ball. This process takes time and is very beneficial for a child’s will development as well as being a lovely sensory experience. Later in the week, once the apples had dried, each child found a stick to use as a stem and cut a leaf from green cloth. The children completed the projects by sewing their leaf onto their apple. This was our first time sewing together and they each did well using the needle and thread. Moving forward, a sewing basket will be available on the platform for the children to continue practicing this valuable skill.
Fall is here and to celebrate we added some fall decorations to our platform. We decorated a wreath chandelier with beautiful fall foliage, planted some mums, and added some pumpkins. We started our new fall circle the week after the break and the children are really enjoying it. They have all started learning the songs and movements and it is fun to hear them sing along. One of the rhymes in our circle takes us on adventure around the forest classroom to an area of our class that the children had not yet explored. I have included the rhyme below. This rhyme has opened this area of our classroom for play and exploration. There are nice nooks in a wooded area and they take pots and pans from the mud kitchen to the area and set it up like a house.
This is the way the farmer rides,
A-gallop, a-gallop, a-gallop
Leap across the river blue
Jump right over the hedgerow, too
Cross the bridge to the other side
To see our friends from far and wide.
Now we're at the garden patch to bring the harvest in at last.
An orange pumpkin big and fine
Grows before us on the vine.
This pumpkin vine is big and thick
To pull it loose will be a trick. Now grab the vine and give a tug
Oh my! This pumpkin's sitting snug.
We pull and pull with all our might.
This big pumpkin is not light
At last! The pumpkin has come free.
Let's take it home for all to see
Into the wheelbarrow-plop!
Let's put it in and homeward clop.
Wheel my barrow, wheel my barrow, home we go.
Wheel my barrow, wheel my barrow, steady, slow.
Into the house our pumpkin we take, a jack o lantern and soup we can make.
We'll toast some bread and butter it up and thank the Earth for our full cup.
Our Kingdom of Halloween festival will be held Saturday, October 29th. This is an incredible, magical community event (bring your friends!). Our class is responsible for holding the jobs at the soup and bread table; it will be busy there! Please be on the lookout for a message from our class rep about this and sign up for a volunteer spot. Your attendance and volunteering capacity at their festival is beyond valuable and necessary for its success. Thank you! Additionally, students are invited to come in costume. Remember, be creative, and, please, no masks or marketed characters at this event.
Announcements & Reminders:
Parent Coffee immediately following carpool, 10/18
Georgia GOAL Zoom 7:00, 10/18
Parent Handwork 1:00 - 3:00, 10/21
There is a community work day this Saturday, 10/22.
On October 25th and 26th, directly after drop off, we will be making our lanterns for the Lantern Walk. If you are able to join us on either day we would love to have your help.
Kingdom of Halloween, 10/29
Late Start—9:40 - 9:55am carpool, 11/1
Grace and Peace,
Ki Kim
