Field Trip to Publix and the Thanksgiving Feast!

 

The children practiced their fine motor skills when painting various shapes of wooden beads in beautiful shades of water color with hints of glitter. The beads were part of the Native American necklaces that they made during Friday's Exploring activities.

Inside the tepee we built Native American homes with Lincoln Logs and weaved yarn on the loom. We discussed how the Pilgrims learned about farming new crops from the Native Americans. "Thanksgiving Day" by Anne Rockwell and "The Littlest Pilgrim" by Brandi Doughtery were books enjoyed this week as we learned about the very first Thanksgiving!

 

On Wednesday the Lively Ladybugs were off to Publix to learn exactly what goes on behind the scenes! It was especially exciting as we have been shoppers and employees at our very own Publix the past few weeks. We were greeted at the door by our very special tour guide.

We saw all of the many items in the dairy department and then had fun putting on our hair nets before entering the meat department where we watched how the butcher cuts the meat, place it on the conveyor belt as it was wrapped and labeled.

We visited the produce section and saw lots of fresh vegetables that we know how those grow. Next we saw live lobsters in the tank and then were able to touch one!

We observed as a beautiful cake was iced and decorated with flowers. On Friday we enjoyed eating that yummy cake at our Thanksgiving Feast!

Then we divided into groups and did our shopping for our Thanksgiving Feast! We each were a part of check out placing an item on the moving belt!

What an exciting way to begin preparations for our Thanksgiving feast by picking our very own home grown squash from the garden!

Then we used vegetable brushes and water to scrub our squash clean! Next we used plastic knives to slice it for cooking!

Then we shucked the corn, not an easy task especially removing all of the corn silk!

The children picked the grapes from the vines, mashed the potatoes and sliced the hot dogs!

Then it was finally time for our big feast! We learned what planning and hard work go into such a special celebration. The children, parents and teachers helped to make this a special, joyous occasion where we were all appreciated what it means to be thankful! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Turkeys, Thanksgiving Feast Plans and Poetry in the Park

 We were quite busy little ladybugs this week making hats and practicing our poem in preparation for "Poetry in the Park." This week the children snipped black strips of paper with scissors for their ladybug spots and then carefully added little dots of glue before placing them on their red hats. Next they made their antennae by winding black pipe cleaners around the tip of their finger making it curl at the end! After attaching the antennae and fitting their hat, they admired themselves in the mirror. Even though we have just introduced scissors recently, the children are doing quite well. Some want to continue snipping just for fun!

The children had fun painting turkeys at the easel. We practiced our shapes beginning with ovals for the turkey's body and brightly colored feathers, lines for the legs, feet and neck and a circle for the head. Then we used a smaller paint brush to add eyes, a cute little waddle and then gave our turkeys a name!

  

                                                                             
At our new "Publix" we have practiced counting the items in the baskets at check out and reading the numbers on the cash register. It is so wonderful to listen to the children as they interact with one another taking on different roles which they take quite seriously. Although the store has been open now for almost two weeks, it is still a favorite activity and a first choice for most!

 

The small legos have recently been a choice in the Exploratorium. The children are quite creative as they practice their fine motor skills to build rockets, planes and other interesting structures. Often they work together to make their creations.

Some of us enjoy rocking the bears and babies to sleep after they have been fed in our nice, cozy little den! It's especially relaxing after a big shopping day at "Publix."

 

Tempera cakes were introduced in the art center this week. As the children explored with the new medium and beautiful, bright colors, they practiced rinsing their brushes when changing their paint colors. After the artist's work was done, they rinsed their cup and paint brush and filled it with clean water for the next person to use.

After planning our menu for the upcoming Thanksgiving Feast, we decided that we needed special turkey place mats for our table. The children chose colors for their turkey's body and feathers as the teachers painted the colors on their hands. It was a little cold and funny feeling, although quite exciting! The most fun was when we placed our hands on our papers and then lifted them up, seeing our own hand prints that will become little turkeys!

 

Here we are ready for our very first, "Poetry in the Park!

 

It was quite a chilly, but gorgeous morning as the ladybugs snuggled up close while they listened with delight to the other classes recite their poems. What a great audience they were!

                                                                              Then it was our turn!  We recited the poem, "The Ladybug," Author Unknown. Even though it was a little overwhelming to be on the stage in front of all those people, we did a fantastic job and you could hear our sweet little voices!

Books read this week:
"The ABC's of Thanks and Please'" by Diane Obanesian
"Gregory, The Terrible Eater"  by Mitchell Sharmant
"Turkey Trouble" by Wendi Silvano

Native Americans, Scissors and our new "Publix!"

 This week we learned about the Native Americans. We read the book, "The Inside Story, Tepee," by Dana Rau. We found out that Native Americans hunted buffalo to use for food, clothing and shelter. They needed homes that they could move easily to follow the buffalo, so they built tepees. We painted the canvas for our tepee with colorful Native American symbols and wrapped it around our cone shaped poles. Now we have our own tepee where we can build a nice, warm fire, cook and take care of the babies. Sometimes we even have time for games when all of our work is done! Then, if we are "ladybug of the day" we can sleep in the tepee during rest time.

 

Have you heard that there is a new store in Alpha? We have just this week opened a brand new "Publix" grocery store. It is the best because we can shop for groceries with our special baskets and then we have friends that can check us out at the cash register. Once our groceries are paid for, we can head home and put them away. Our house has a nice kitchen for cooking or we can relax in the den, downstairs!

Then we made green paper by painting with feathers and paint brushes made of rubber bands. We used our paper to make a BIG "Publix" sign for the front of our new store!

Mrs. Mundell had a new surprise for us in the "Magic Basket" this week, SCISSORS! How much fun, we learned how to place the scissors on our hands and then chomp, chomp chomp as we cut lots of snips of yellow brown, orange and red paper. Next we added little dots of glue to our colorful snips of paper and glued them to our beautiful fall leaves.

One of our favorite books, "Five little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed," by Eileen Christelow has been especially fun as the children read the book through pictures using the characters and props to act out the story.

  

During Exploring on Friday the children folded strips of paper and chose colorful feathers to make turkey hats that they will wear for our Thanksgiving feast. They also enjoyed spending time in the tepee weaving on the loom, playing instruments and building a "pretend fire" with blocks and red and orange tissue paper. They also made and decorated their own drums and then used them to make music, just like Mrs. McIvor showed us with her drum! We made a special turkey snack with a cookie body, pretzel stick feathers and legs, raisin eyes and a candy corn nose.

We ended our week by attending the Shorecrest homecoming pep rally! The football players shared their helmets with us as we cheered for our team!

Please join us on Friday at 8:30 on the lawn behind the Lower School for "Poetry in the Park." If you could please send a plain red, black or white t-shirt this week for your child to wear on Friday. We will send them home with them in their yellow bags on Friday afternoon. See you there!
We will be taking a field trip to Publix on Tuesday November 15th at 9:00 to shop for our Thanksgiving Feast. We would love to have some parents accompany us. If you can join us, please let us know.
Our feast will be held on Friday November 18th at 11:00. We would love to have some parent volunteers for that special event, as well!