14 Nov Newsletter | November 9-12, 2015
This short week was packed with activities! We talked about the meaning of Veteran’s Day this week. We are thankful for all who serve this country, have served, or gave their lives so that we can have freedom.
We spent the week finishing up our decorations for our holiday cactus to be displayed at the Berkshire Museum’s Festival of Trees. The children have made cowboy hats, boots, and horseshoes.
On Monday, we started talking about the first Thanksgiving and how the Pilgrims came to be in the New World. The children made a Mayflower craft and we used the world map to show the route the Pilgrims’ ship sailed. We talked about the means of transportation they couldn’t have taken (i.e. Could the Pilgrims have taken a train to America? Could they have walked?)
Tuesday was our Letter-of-the-Week day. Our story was “A House for Hermit Crab” by Eric Carle. We were all happy to be at school and work in harmony to make our list of Hh words and put hearts on H!
Jeanne Bassis came to share her silly songs with us and encourage creative movement! The children danced and froze, hopped and hugged. It seemed that the class favorite was “The Bear Song.” We were honored to have Jeanne’s mom join us, too!
On Thursday, we were joined by Miss Tiffany, Miss Alba, and Miss Stephanie from Miss Hall’s School. We continue to prepare for Thanksgiving by making decorations for our classroom. We made placemats and Indian corn. In keeping with our study of Thanksgiving and Native Americans, the children made teepees for our cooking project. We used ice cream cones, peanut butter (or sunflower butter) and pretzel sticks.
When the weather keeps us inside, moving and grooving is part of every day, as we then do extra gross motor songs and activities in the classroom. Be sure to ask your child to demonstrate the “Button Factory” and “Tootie Ta” songs! These are both songs by Dr. Jean and can be found on Youtube. I encourage you to try them at home with this warning – giggling is contagious!!!
Our stories for this week included:
The Very First Thanksgiving Day by Rhonda Gowler Greene
A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle
One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims by B.G. Hennessy
Thank you to all who came out to our Paint and Sip fundraiser on Friday! It was a great way to raise money for our children’s programs and have fun at the same time! Our next fundraising opportunity will be a movie night on Friday, December 11th from 5:30pm-8pm.
If you haven’t already, please let us know how many will be attending our Thanksgiving feast on Tuesday, November 24th.
Quotes of the Week: