Squirrels

The squirrels on the playground have really peeked the interest of the Ganon children. Many lunch conversations have focused around the squirrels running around the playground and climbing the trees.  I set up a Squirrel and Chipmunk Provocation due to the children's interest.  The children enjoyed time exploring and playing with the materials on the provocation table.

This morning at our Morning Meeting, the children shared what they know about squirrels.  Then a child suggested we read to learn more about squirrels.  :)  Of course, that is exactly what we did...we read the book Squirrels.  The children then added the information that they discovered during reading  to our list about squirrels.

The children drew pictures of squirrels.

We continued the squirrel fun during Story Time, when we read Scaredy Squirrel Goes Camping.  We discussed that this book was pretend/fiction.  As we read the book, we discussed all the ways that we could tell that the book was pretend.  

Firefighters Visit

Fire fighters visited the early childhood classes and discussed fire safety.  The children played a game that focused on safe and unsafe things.  Unsafe things included a lighter, camp fire, iron, and a grill.  Next, the fire fighters discussed the importance of a smoke detector.  Fire drills and fire escape plans were also discussed.  The fire fighters also shared the importance of having a family safe place to go in case of a fire.  Suggested safe places were a neighbors mailbox or a tree.  Then the fire fighters discussed how and when to call 9-1-1.  Finally, the children thanked the fire fighters and each child received a fire helmet and a coloring book.

Parent Teacher Conferences

A giant thank you to all of the wonderful families that attended Parent Teacher Conferences.  By the end of week, I will have meet with every single Ganon family.  HHAI is such a special place to have so many involved families.  My favorite part of conferences is not just sharing the many amazing things that each child is doing at school, but also hearing stories about the children at home.  I truly believe that a strong parent - teacher partnership makes for the best educational experience for the child.  Thank you again for the interest that you take in your child's education.

I was so busy talking that I forgot to take some photos with parents at school.  Please help me remember at the next set of conferences because the photos of parents at school always make the kids laugh.

Letter O Day

It was another OUTSTANDING Letter Day, 

as we celebrated all things O!

Obstacle Course

 Letter O Show and Tell

 Owl Puppet Show

 Owl Counting Game

 Creating O's on the Light Table

 Octopus Creations

 Practicing O's in the HWOT Book

 Cutting Octagons

 5 Little Owls Finger Play

Number BINGO

This week the children were introduced to and played their very first BINGO game.  It was Number BINGO  It is hard to describe the excitement of a BINGO game in the Ganon classroom.  The pure excitement and enthusiasm for BINGO is like no other activity.  The most rewarding part, for me as the teacher, is that children that have little interest or struggle with number identification were suddenly completely engaged.  As I called each number, I also wrote the number on the dry erase board.  When a child yelled out 'bingo', the rest of the class clapped and cheered for the winner. We ended our BINGO time with several winners and the children begging to play BINGO again soon.  In the next few months, the children will be introduced to Letter and Rhyming Bingo.