Week of 9/24

Dear Yellow Room Families,
 

 
Welcome to a brand new school year with its many celebrations and new experiences! The excitement in the room is high and we are all looking forward to sharing this educational journey with each of you!
Busy week in the Yellow Room. First:

Reminders:

• Oct. 4:               Curriculum Night  (6:00-6:10 in Gym 3 and 6:20-7:10 in Classroom.)
• Oct. 8 & 9:         School Closed (Columbus Day and Staff Development
• Oct. 12:             Trip to the local Firehouse (Children and teachers only.)
• Oct. 23:             Trip to the Botanical Gardens
• Oct 31:               Halloween Party (Children and teachers only.)
• Nov. 12 & 13:     Parent Teacher Conferences
• Nov. 14 & 15:     Picture Day in School (Children and teachers only)

 
 
Themes this week:

• Apples/Johnny Appleseed
• Autumn and the changes we see happening all around us
• Leaves

 
Classroom Activities:

• The Yellow Room explored apples through sensory observation. We compared three apples of different sizes and colors, sharing what we knew about the apples’ parts and making predictions about what we would find inside. Everyone tasted a piece of a red, a green and a yellow apple in order to determine our favorite color apple.
• We read a book about John Chapman, also known as Johnny Appleseed. He was a pioneer who traveled across the United States planting apple trees and supplying the country with crisp autumn apples. We assembled a portrait of him and wrote our favorite ways of eating apples.
• For cooking, we celebrated his September birthday by making a delicious apple crisp.  We read the ingredient list and followed the steps in the recipe. The children were introduced to measuring cups and helped to measure out the ingredients for the crisp topping. Everyone had a chance to taste the scrumptious apple crisp with a touch of whip cream.
• For Art, we made ripped paper autumn trees. Ripping paper is a pre-writing skill that helps to strengthen the hand muscles necessary for writing. The children first ripped brown paper strips and assembled their their own unique tree. Then, they chose warm colors and ripped smaller pieces to resemble fall leaves.
• In Science, we explored apples using magnifying glasses and our senses. We learned the scientific words for the apple parts: the core, the skin, seeds, flesh and the stem.
• In Math, the yellow room children all received a cup with paper apples numbered from 1-10. Independently, they correctly sequenced the apples and glued them down on paper. This math activity is now hanging up in the room.
• The letter of the week was, "L". We followed up with a story, a jingle, and a poem. The yellow room children generated a list of words starting with the letter ‘F’. We also completed the first page in our letter journal for the letter "L". Recognizing beginning letter sounds is an important pre-reading skill. As the week progressed, we continued to detect words with that beginning ‘F’ letter sound.

 

Highlight of the Week:

• The Yellow Room went from Farm To Table for cooking this week. During our apple investigation we used our cutting skills to slice up the different apples and made a delicious apple salad. In a bowl we tossed the apples with a bit of honey and lemon and enjoyed every bite of the fresh apples we had just learned about. 

 
 Books We Read:

• Johnny Appleseed, by Jodie Shepherd
• When Autumn Comes, by Robert Maass
• Fall Leaves Fall!, by Zoe Hall    
• Autumn’s First Leaf, by Steve Metzger
• When the Leaf Blew In, by Steve Metzger

 
Songs we sang:

• Jolly 'L' Jingle
• Apples Go Crunch

Places we visited:

• In Library, Lindsay read, Fletcher and the Falling Leaves, by Julia Rawlinson
• In PE, we worked on our jumping jacks and played the chase game.
• In Music, we sang Simple Gifts, My Favorite Things, and Let It Be.

 
Enjoy the photos and have a great weekend!
 
Sincerely,



The Yellow Room Teachers