Our Preschool Kitty

Jesse James

1999-2008

Our preschool kitty, Jesse James, died this morning. He was nine-years-old. It seems that he went peacefully (quickly and without suffering). The vet believes that he died of cardiac arrest.

Jesse spent the first two years of his life in the preschool with the kids and me. I just thought that it would be fitting to post a recent picture of him on our preschool blog.

Apple Unit Celebration

Here are a few of the many pictures from today. Enjoy!

Newsweek Article

I don't always share links to the articles that I read but this one is really good. Newsweek article: Struggling School Age Boys http://www.newsweek.com/id/157898

Johnny Appleseed

It was a wonderful day today and I enjoyed seeing the kids again. The break seemed to do all of us some good.

We learned about Johnny Appleseed today and the story that we read was about his travels and how he began planting apple seeds that were given away. He traveled across three states planting apple seeds.

I added some new toys to some of our centers so the children spent a lot of the morning exploring. We also spent some time outside playing. Granddaddy Joe had a small fire going so we spent a little time roasting marshmallows. We had a ton of fun today!

Next week is the last day of our apple unit so we'll end it with a hayride and costume party. We'll be ordering pizza so make sure that you send in $3 for that. We'll also be making a special treat that day too. I am looking forward to it. See you then!

Millstone Creek Apple Orchard Field Trip Pictures

Our Favorite Apples

Today we tasted a variety of apples. We also made applesauce. The children helped by measuring and counting the ingredients and they helped me use the apple peeler/corer/slicer gadget. You will find the recipe in your child's journal. We didn't chop our apples up too fine which I think gave it a good texture. The boys and I thought that the apple sauce was delicious!

We used the flannel board to tell a story today. We learned about the Star that found a home inside of the apple. Get your children to share the story with you. It's one of my favorite flannel board activities.

We had a wonderful time during music and movement today. Ms. Laura (Andrew's mom & my sister) took some photos of us on our train ride today:-) We learned a new finger play/rhyme. I've posted it below.

We will be on break for the next two Wednesdays. I will see you back in a few weeks. Check back this weekend for photos from our field trip.

Five Apples

Five red apples in a grocery store

Charlie ate one and then there were four.

Andrew ate one and then there were three.

Three red apples. What did Syan do?

Why she ate one and then there were two.

Two red apples ripening in the sun;

Jackson ate one and then there was one.

One red apple, and now we are done;

Michalea ate the last one and now there are none.

Wednesday, September 25

This past Wednesday, we discussed what apple trees give us and all of the uses for apples. The children tasted hot apple cider that Jackson and I bought from the farmer's market. Boy, was it delicious! Syan and Michaela said that they liked their apple cider cold but the boys enjoyed the hot stuff.

We read Shel Siverstein's The Giving Tree. Several of the children commented on how much they liked the story. Jackson said that he liked the story because the tree gave everything she had to the boy and she was happy to share.

The children made apple tree collages with tissue paper. Charlie really enjoyed this activity and he covered his entire page with red and beautiful shades of green tissue papers:-) Syan and Michaela cut feathers so that they could create birds for their trees. Andrew and Jackson spent a little bit of time filling their branches with leaves and apples. I've posted a picture of Syan, Michaela, and Charlie holding up their art work.

Today, we prayed for some of our soldiers. I am not quite sure how we even got on this subject. Children come up with all sorts of things at circle time:-) Anyway, Andrew's Uncle George is in Afghanistan so we had a short geography lesson using the globe and we said a special prayer for George and the other soldiers. Andrew and Jackson were proud to claim Uncle George. Jackson said, "he's not really my uncle but I know him so well that he is kind of like my uncle, right?"

I pulled out the costumes for the kids. Actually, we went through some of Jackson's old costumes and added them to our dress up box in the school. I captured a few pictures of the children in their disguises.