Fall and Winter Activities

Oh my goodness the past few months flew by! It appears I haven't updated my blog since August! So here are some fun things we did September through December :) Time flies when you're having fun!

September

Let's start with September...We of course focused on apples and Johnny Appleseed. We did an apple goodies taste test including different colored apples. We did some tear art to showcase our favorite color. We also graphed them onto our apple tree to see which apple had the most votes. We made Johnny Appleseed hats and did a directed drawing. One parent brought in the best homemade caramel apples I have ever tasted and they looked so beautiful too!

October

In October, we focused on bats, pumpkins, and spiders! Everyday we would read non-fiction stories and make a "CAN/LIKE/HAVE" poster to reference during writing time. We also did a handful of fun projects to showcase knowledge. I really enjoy making projects that aren't just cute, but also show some learning there. As always, our pumpkin palooza science exploration went super smoothly and fun! We even made pumpkin life cycle hats. And did a retelling activity for "5 Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate".

During pumpkin palooza the kids rotate through centers to explore pumpkins:

1. sink or float

2. how much do different pumpkins weigh

3. how many lines are on different pumpkins

4. what does the inside pulp feel like

5. how wide around are different pumpkins

6. how many pumpkins tall are we

We even acted out the book "The Little Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything" using a pumpkin, pants, shoes, gloves, hat, and shirt.


I feel like each year I focus more and more on bats and spiders. I find that the kids always are super interested and it's just fun to teach! Well....bats are lol not spiders! yuck!








Also, can't forget Red Ribbon Week! Here was our door for the contest :) They wrote on airplanes where they would go if they could go anywhere....Lots of Disneylands!

November

Every year I focus more on the first Thanksgiving with Indians and Pilgrims, but this year I wanted to change it up and focus on all things turkeys! We wrote about what were thankful for, made rhyming turkeys, and wrote recipes for Thanksgiving lol 

December

December is by far my most favorite month and always goes by at ninja speeds. One new thing I focused on this year was teaching about reindeer. OMG I loved it and so did the kids. I decided I must focus on reindeer every year now! :)

We also managed to squeeze in some fun Christmasy projects including celebrating the Grinch and making Sneezy the Snowman!

 

And of course Christmas Tree Lane to make our room extra festive and beautiful for the holidays!

We also had a visitor this month, our classroom elf. Every year she comes and I have the kids come up with a list of ideas to name her and then we vote. I secretly have kept track of the names chosen for almost all of the years that I have taught :)  Our Elf leaves a note and a candy cane for 1-2 friends in a magical envelope daily under our classroom tree.

I had to miss the last week of school before winter break due to a family emergency :( But I usually always do Polar Express during this time. The kids voted and asked to wait until I returned so January I will be doing my Polar Express shenanigans. Never have done it in January before! Hope the kids still love it. We will read a little bit from the book every day while making a retelling train. Then on Friday we will have a pajama party and watch the movie with hot chocolate and popcorn!