Thanksgiving

 Before we get to Thanksgiving, we did have one regular day of preschool last week! During centers time, we talked about colors. One of the centers was playing Candy Land. The kids loved playing and games are such a great teaching tool. Along with helping them review colors, it also gives us an opportunity to talk about playing fair and being good sports. We worked on taking turns and being a good sport whether you win or not. The kids were so nice to each other and wanted to keep playing until everyone made it to the end! 

For our occupation that day, we talked about teachers. We made a list of all the different types of teachers we know about and what we learn from them. The kids then took turns being the teacher. We learned how to do a flower dance, how to play soccer,  how to sing the Bob the Builder song and about the colors in the rainbow.

On Wednesday we got to celebrate Thanksgiving. We used the opportunity for a little social studies and learned about the first Thanksgiving. We watched clips from several videos on the Scholastic website that gave the kids an idea of what life was like back then. We talked about the Mayflower and then made and raced our own little boats. We then learned a little about the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians and what they were celebrating at the first Thanksgiving. The kids got to make their own Indian headbands after learning about their significance in one of the video clips. Finally, we talked about what they might have eaten at the first Thanksgiving and made our own version with turkey sandwiches, corn and apple slices.

Fire Fighters

This week has been all about fire fighters! On Wednesday we learned about fire safety. We learned about how we would get out of our preschool if there was a fire. We also talked about stop, drop and roll. On Friday we went to the fire station and learned even more from the fire fighters there! They also gave me a ton of information that I will be sending home with the kids on Monday. 

Make sure you talk about fire safety at home. Help kids practice different ways of getting out of the house and designate a meeting place outside.

Occupations

We've done so much in the past week that I don't even know where to start! The kids are having so much fun learning about occupations.

Our bulletin board for the month is a tool belt that holds tools for each occupation we will be learning about. Each day the kids get to take an envelope out, look at the tools and guess what occupation we will be talking about that day.

On Monday we talked about construction workers. The kids had lots to tell me about that job from all the construction they've seen in our neighborhood! We learned about all the different tools and tractors they use to get their jobs done. We then got to build and paint our own houses.

On Wednesday we learned about pilots. We had a special guest (my dad) come talk to the kids about being a pilot. He brought a bag full of his tools to show the kids, which they loved! We learned about how a plane flies, how the pilot gets where he needs to go and how he keeps his passengers safe. We love guests and are looking forward from hearing from a few more throughout the month. If any other parents want to come talk to us about their occupation (or one they know a lot about) we still have a few times open!

Today we talked about mail carriers. We learned the parts of the letters and wrote some letters of our own. 

And of course, we have spent lots of time learning about the alphabet, numbers and shapes. One activity we did this week was putting the alphabet back in order. The kids did so well! Most of them were about to get to the letter I, which is as far as we've learned and some were able to do a little more!