Halloween Happiness

   
     First of all, I am happy because we only had school for half a day on Halloween, and, even better, there is no school tomorrow, the day after we all go into a sugar stupor.  Whoever planned out the school calendar this year really got it right!
   
      I am waiting for the first trick-or-treaters to make their way to my porch.  I brought my jack-o-lantern home from school to do double duty as a decoration on my front porch.  I thought about changing my flag to a Halloween one, but since it would only be up for one day, I'll just wait until time to put up the Christmas one -- if I don't remember Thanksgiving!
   

      The Halloween Song is by Heidi Butkus of Heidisongs  -- we loved this song and the book is pretty easy to do -- if you have a great assistant to cut out all the pieces!

   

    (He is wearing a crown because he is "The King of Ing" today -- first one to recognize the -ing word in the morning message.)

      October is so full of interesting kindergarten subjects!  We made bats with toilet paper rolls -- they look great on our bulletin board.  Today we finished making a fun Halloween book that I bought from Heidisongs.  We sent home a pumpkin cut-out for a family decorating project.  But we ran out of time to do all we had planned, so next week we will paint the cute owls from the "Owl Babies" book and finish up a few other HAlloweenie things.
    

     On the afternoon before Halloween, I invited the parents of my kinders to come to school to share some cookies and chips while we entertained them with songs and poems and showed off some of what they had learned in the first 45 days of school.  It is pretty amazing to me to hear them reading after this short time, so I knew it would make their parents proud.  Their favorite activity was performing the "Five Little Pumpkins" poem -- we had to do it 4 times so everyone had a chance to hold a pumpkin and say a line. Over half the kids had a parent or other family member in the audience, and they enjoyed my great little actors.

   

                                       What a great job I have!  I love these kids!

Fire Safety

It's Fire Safety Week, and I have a few pictures to share.  When I was a little girl, there were some children in my town who were killed in a house fire -- they were playing with matches and then hid in a closet when a fire started.  It was tragic and for this reason, I always try to really emphasize the dangers and safety procedures that they need to be aware of.
There are lots of books to choose from, but one of my favorites is Stop, Drop, and Roll.

            
  The kids always love the fire hats we give out every year during this week.

But the highlight of the week is the visit from the local firefighters.  They bring that big red firetruck over and let the kids see inside.  They tell them all about fire safety and answer all their questions.

This is a great inspiration, and they were eager to draw a firetruck and write in their journals. some even wrote sentences that I could read! 

It is funny -- the children have no sense of space at this time of the year.  Very few can remember to leave a space between the words, even though I demonstrate every day, sing the "I Need A Space" song, and put my finger down to show a "finger space" or a "meatball space" again and again.  But it will come --  it is still early.  Very few get the concept of writing on the lines, either -- but we are working on that, too.  I have to remember that most could not even write their name just a couple months ago! 

They were eager to share their "stories" and I love watching them grow as writers!

Apple Orchard Field Trip

  Our first field trip was a great success! We went to the Apple Hill Orchard in Morganton, NC.

First we made a stop at Freedom Park to try out their climbing, sliding, swinging fun.

We were glad our student intern could come, too.

Then we got back on the bus for a short ride to the orchard.  This was the first bus trip for some.

Here we are!

Our guide took us to the sorting room where the apples roll down the conveyer belt.  The are sorted by size and quality.  Some will go the store, some will be made into cider, and the rest will be sold for deer food.

  

Then we found out about bees and honey -- they are very helpful for apple trees.

We took a look at the very COOL storage room next -- it made us shiver!

Then we got to taste the cider and 2 kinds of apples. We even got to fill a bag with apples to bring home!

Now it was time for the last adventure -- a ride in a wagon through the apple orchard.  There were many kinds of apples growing on the trees. 

It was a lot of fun and we were glad Nate's mom and Aniyah's mom came along, too.

There were some very tired kids -- and teachers -- at the end of the day!