ALL ABOUT APPLES!

Dear Parents,

Since fall is approaching, we are learning all about apples.  We started our week with a taste test of three different kinds of apples; Granny Smith, Macintosh, and Red Delicious.  Each child tasted each apple and decided which kind of apple was their favorite.  

Then, they colored in the chart in the column of their favorite apple.  Most of the class chose the Macintosh apple as their favorite.  

We also enjoyed listening to the "Apple Story," which is a story about a little boy who was sent out by his mother to find a red house with no doors and no windows and a star inside.  Ask your child about it (a copy of the story will be placed in your child's cubby). Some of the other stories the children enjoyed listening to were:  Seed to Apple, by Anita Ganeri and How do Apples Grow, by Betsey Maestro.

         

                                             

Ms. Becca started her music class this Monday.  The children sat in a circle and tapped their knees while saying their name.  Some of the children decided to say their name loud or soft.  Ms. Becca then played a few familiar tunes on her violin such as, "Twinkle Twinkle and "Pop Goes the Weasel.  When she played the tunes slow, the children moved around slowly like fish, and when she played them faster, the children moved faster.  Ms. Becca ended her class by showing the children the different parts of her violin. 

On Tuesday, the children learned about the life cycle of an apple.  They have been practicing putting the life cycle pictures onto the velcro board.  The order of the life cycle starts with a seed, seedling, tree, bud, flower, and finally the apple.

We did a variety of activities that involve patterns this week.  One of the activities that we did was making our own apple patterns.  The children glued red, yellow, and green paper apples to make different patterns.  They came up with a variety of patterns on their own.  The children were so proud of themselves and so were we!

                               

Notes from Mrs. Mei:

1. Try to find what’s the bear, mouse, puppy&kitty sounds like on piano, high or low.
2. Cover the group of 2 & 3black keys. Know the patterns. 

             

Other fun areas in class:

On Wednesday, we read The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. After, the children created their own apple trees.  They first painted the tree tops with green paint using a loofah sponge.  Then they painted the tree trunk brown and glued on branches, leaves, and twigs, which they collected on our nature walk. The children added various colored apples to their trees.  The results were spectacular!  

This week we learned about the letter "E."  The children practiced writing and sounding out the letter.  They came up with a variety of words beginning with the letter such as:  elephant, Emily, Erik, eye, and elbow.  

Music with Ms. Lisa:

We concluded our week by making delicious applesauce.  The children had so much fun using the apple peeler.  They could hardly wait for their turn. Mmmm.... was it good!

Love,

Mrs. Boodman and Ms. Drago