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Our circle time has shifted from apples to the sights and sounds of Halloween and of animals getting ready for the winter. One of our circle time activities involves moving like animals- "flying" like geese, gathering and hiding like squirrels, raiding corn stalks like raccoons, and bounding like deer. Another is borrowed from a fun and spooky collection of poems in It's Halloween by Jack Prelutsky and goes like this as we count down on our fingers:
There are ten ghosts in the pantry,
There are nine upon the stairs,
There are eight ghosts in the attic,
There are seven on the chairs,
There are six within the kitchen,
There are five along the hall,
There are four upon the ceiling,
There are three upon the wall,
There are two ghosts on the carpet,
Doing things that ghosts will do...
There is one ghost right behind you
Who is oh so quiet...
BOO!!!!
The children have great fun with this fingerplay and ask for it several times in a row.
Later in the day the children worked on wet-on-wet watercolor paintings in yellows and reds. We noted how when yellow and orange mix they create orange. The children also worked on using gentle strokes with their brushes as opposed to grinding the bristles into the paper. Watercolor painting takes finesse and great fine motor control.
The children will be making the watercolor pictures into fall leaves to decorate the room, so when we finished we looked at the maple tree outside to see if its leaves were changing color yet. They were! Soon the maple outside the window will be a glorious blaze of red, but not until more frosty weather.
While the paintings dried, the children and I played out some "rescue" scenarios. One involved firefighters rescuing a dog from a burning doghouse; another involved police officers rescuing a person who was lost. We talked about how brave and helpful firefighters and police officers are, and how we can always rely on them for help.
To end our day we read a set of books on soldiers, police officers, doctors, and firefighters and talked about which roles would be interesting or fun for us. Nearly all the children thought jumping out of a plane with a parachute like a soldier would be lots of fun. What a group of brave and daring kids!
See you soon!