What We're Up To in November

Here's a quick look at what we have on our shelves for November:

Our new selection of seasonal books

Acorns sent all the way from Pennsylvania to explore on a fun mirror tray

Autumn table scatter I found at the local dollar store for sorting, matching, counting and lots of other fun activities.

Real leaves laminated for light table exploration

Pine cones and fabric leaves as an addition to the block area

Autumn felt board pieces for stories and pretend play

Fine motor activity inspired by one of my favorite Montessori blogs, To the Lesson!  I modified it just a bit by sewing and stuffing a felt turkey rather than using foam or paper.

Gobble, Gobble!

We have plenty of wonderful projects and activities planned for this month and I look forward to sharing them with you!!

Pumpkins and Puddles

When I first saw these Pumpkin Drip Art Paintings by The Imagination Tree, I knew I had to try them.  Granted, it took me two years, but we finally gave it a shot!!

Monkey had never tried any sort of drip art before, but when the instructions are as simple as "squeeze the paint onto the pumpkin and see what happens", you really can't go wrong.

He had a blast and thought his puddles were just amazing too!  Clearly, he's having fun!

We had two pumpkins to paint, so he was a bit conservative with the first one, but by the time he got to the second one, his goal was to finish all of the paint we had left.  And the puddles got bigger and bigger and bigger!!

The pumpkins took a day to dry and I had to move them around a few times to get the bottoms to dry completely, but check out the finished product!  Interestingly, the glitter paint didn't look glittery until it was dried, so we had quite a surprise when we checked on them the next morning.

I definitely see more drip art in our future!

Easy Jack-O-Lantern for Preschoolers

Making a Jack-O-Lantern, though always part of Halloween fun, has never really struck me as a great activity for preschoolers.  The pulp provides endless sensory excitement, but tends to be hard to remove with little hands and the cutting of the face is obviously better left to the grown-ups, so how can we get the kiddos more involved??  Here are some tips that I found very useful for Monkey this year.

First, be sure to cut the top wide enough for your little one to reach all the way down inside easily.  I used a sturdy metal ice cream scooper to scrape all of the pulp and seeds from the sides of the pumpkin first, then it was Monkey's turn to dive in and pull it all out.  Loosening everything up first let him focus on the squishy, icky awesomeness that IS pumpkin pulp!

After he'd pulled everything out and we set the seeds aside for roasting, I handed him a Sharpie and had him draw a face.  He started with teeny dots for eyes, so I reminded him that I would need a large shape to cut out and he tried again.

Once the face was complete, I did the cutting and he was thrilled to see his drawing come to life.  He couldn't wait to see what his Jack-O-Lantern looked like in the dark, so we found a dark room and tested it out.

Boo!

Happy carving!!

Autumn Nature Walks in the Desert

I have an older brother, two actually, but one who gets his kicks poking fun at our dirt lot of a backyard while he is surrounded by acres and acres of lush greenery in Pennsylvania.  It's all in good fun, of course, but I got to thinking that I talk quite a bit about living in the desert and people may not actually know that we do, in fact, have more than just cacti around here.

With the arrival of cooler mornings, we've been taking an early nature walk each day to a grassy area near my home.  It's a short and very easy walk, but the affect it has on the children is almost miraculous.  We have outdoor play time each day, in the aforementioned dirt lot of a back yard, but nothing can compare to soaking in some real nature time.  I can't say it's as wonderful as lush greenery, but my community at least attempts to beautify the area with native trees and plants.  As you'll see in my photos, the grass isn't so green, but, hey, it IS the desert, grass isn't really meant to grow here anyway.

We lucked out this morning with a visit from a very unusual fellow.  How cool is this guy?  Amazingly enough, the second parent to arrive mentioned he was there and he was kind enough to stick around for photos and observations.

During our walk, we observed some plants talking about colors, shapes and sizes.

 This one reminded us of fireworks!

Once we arrived at the grassy area, we spotted a few dragonflies and the children were off and chasing!

 Next time I'll bring the telescopic lens and get a real shot of the dragonflies.

 Once we're all tired out, we head home with friends.

 Have you added nature walks to your day yet?  Give it a try!!

Easy as Apple Pie

For at least half of our day, until about noon, we've been enjoying some fall-ish weather here in Arizona.  Each year, as fall approaches, I wait eagerly for apple time to come.  No, we don't have apple trees, but we can bring tons of fun apple activities into our classroom.

Among my favorite activities is baking apple pie with the kiddos, it's ridiculously easy and the children get a wonderful sensory experience.  We start apple pie day by reading one of my all-time favorite apple books, The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall. 

The best thing about this book is that at the end, there is a recipe for apple pie!  I've used this recipe for all of my apple pies for years and it hasn't failed me once, it's a keeper and easy enough to do with children in a limited amount of time.

After our story, we get to work.  First, we all get a turn with the handy-dandy apple peeler/corer/slicer I picked up at a garage sale for $10.  Ok, so it looks like something out of the middle ages, but the kids LOVE it!

Once we have all those little apple rings, we have to cut them into small pieces, so we use our vegetable choppers and then pop it all into a bowl.

Add some sugar and cinnamon, give it a stir and into the pie crust it goes!  If you want to take a short cut, you can always use a refrigerated pie crust, which works just as well.

After about 45-50 minutes of your home or classroom smelling unbelievably delicious, you finally get to taste your work!

The kids always approve!!









 
In addition to our pie, another big part of our week is uncovering the 'secret' inside of the apple.  We recite this apple poem at circle time to build the mystery:

Apple Secrets
by Betty Jones

Who would think an apple
Red, gold, or green and round
Would have a secret deep inside
When cut it can be found!
I thought this secret only shone
In deep and darkest night
But when I cut my apple
It shines with five points bright!
And now you know the secret
Where shinning stars are found
In every crunchy apple
Red, gold, or green and round. 

If the children are listening, they can figure out what the 'secret' is, but more often than not, they just get more and more excited until we finish out our apple theme with this Apple Story.

After we've finally discovered the secret inside of the apple, we make apple stamps to take home so our families can share in all of our new apple knowledge!

Have you done any fun apple activities this fall with your kiddos??

Encouraging Team Work

Yes, I know, it's been very quiet here on the Seedlings blog and things have been insanely busy.  I'm not sure I've ever experienced a new school year quite like this one.  Our classroom has taken some getting used to and we've had to make some adjustments along the way due to other unforeseen circumstances, but we're picking ourselves back up for September and starting with a fresh daily rhythm and lots of fun in store.

This month, we spent time getting to know our new space and each other.  I realized very quickly that the size of the classroom was overwhelming for most of the children and that I'd have to exert a bit more control over their daily activities.  In general, the only activities I oversee are circle and snack time - the rest of the day is run by the children, however, the space offers too many options, especially for my younger kiddos and I found myself often dealing with squabbles over space and materials as well as issuing far too many reminders about classroom behavior.  Because most of my students are returning and not brand new to preschool, I was a bit disheartened with having to take a step backwards and removing some of the control they'd rightfully earned in our old classroom, but with a new space comes new challenges, so we've tightened the reigns a bit on our daily rhythm.

One area that I felt could be improved immediately was group work such as floor puzzles, complex block structures, imaginative dramatic play scenes, etc.  I happened to be given a set of foam letters that can ONLY be assembled in alphabetical order - score!  I set Monkey to work on them, while I sat across the room helping him to remember which letter was next.  Within two minutes, another student joined him - who has mastered alphabetical order - and I was able to disappear into the background while they worked together to form their 'letter road'.  As they worked, they attracted another friend, and the three of them managed to assemble the entire alphabet with no arguments!

Of course, they weren't finished yet.  I pulled out the letters from the box and said, "Hmmm, I wonder if we can find homes for all of these letters....."  They went to work....

At this point, I thought it would be safe to snap a few photos without being a distraction.

Everyone had letters, everyone chose one at a time, and no one said 'mine!' the whole time.....phew!

They were so interested, they even managed to put in the little tiny pieces in the middle of the open letters.  After the 'road' was assembled, they grabbed some cars and drove on it for an additional 20 minutes.  From start to finish, they'd worked together for nearly 45 minutes!  I was thrilled!  And the best part was that after all that time working together, we didn't have any arguments for the remainder of class.

This month, we'll be going back to a daily rhythm I used years ago when I first opened Seedlings, starting with a table activity.  Each day, I will set up at activity on our large snack table.  It could be anything from play dough to tracing to coloring, etc.  As the children arrive, they will find a place at the table and work until everyone is at school.  After our table activity, we'll move right into circle time and then begin our day.  It is my hope that if we start our day as a cohesive group, we can finish it in the same fashion.  I'll keep you updated on that!  For anyone who might be interested, here is a look at our daily rhythm, please note, there are no times listed as the amount of time spent on each part of our day is determined by the interests of the children:

Seedlings Nursery School Daily Rhythm

2013-2014

M,W,F

8:30am-11:00am or 11:30am-2:00pm

Arrival and Table Activity

Greetings and getting settled in for the day

Circle Time and Stories

Finger plays, songs, stories, rhymes, games

Indoor Play Time or Outdoor Play Time

Hands-on, child-directed activities; natural learning; fine motor, dramatic play, language, math, science.

Art and Handwork

Process-based art activity

Potty and Hand Washing

Hygiene and responsibility

Snack

Manners and group dining conversation

Independent Reading

Music and Movement

Movement songs, scarves, bubbles, instruments

Goodbyes