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