This week was full of fun, filling things, faces, fuzzy things and the numbers four and five while we practiced our newest Coping Skill. Read on to learn more about our week spent in costume!
Our main Story Time book was Apples and Pumpkins and it is at our local library. We also have a couple of copies including a Big Book format. This book gave us the opportunity to remember A Week (with our Alphabet Friend Abe coming to Story Time again). There are also some “danger” pages with knives and matches I’m sure you’ll hear about. Friends spent time looking for Abe who was hiding in a new spot….
F Week Activities
Here are some F things for the week you can look for in photos, conversations and backpacks!
Faces on Pumpkins: Since children are invited to come in costumes this week, paint and markers are limited. For our art work this week we’ll only needed paper and glue to turn a pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern just like in our book.
Pumpkin face sun art: This project had the pumpkin face but no pumpkin…the opposite of our other pumpkin face project! Children added tissue paper to the sticky side of clear plastic (these are self sealing laminating sheets but could also be done with contact paper like it’s 1999). When put against a window they are so pretty!
Face drawing: Our Journal Time invitation is to make a face. Remembering the wide range of development when it comes to drawing faces, this is a fun project to observe. We also brought out fun stickers to decorate our journals inside and out.
Fuzzy the F: Oh Fuzzy I predict you may be a favorite Alphabet Friend because you will feel so soft. Lots of glue has been used to get the variety of furry and fuzzy fabric to stay and today Fuzzy got their eyes and name tag taped on!
Pumpkin play: Ms Kristin did some pumpkin rearranging work. The little pumpkins moved to the Water Table, a big pumpkin went in the Tub Table (fill it up! dump it out!) and the pumpkin cookie cutters aren’t with the playdough but there are with kinetic sand. The pumpkin swing was higher today which gave even more spinning room.
Playground Hay Bales and Gourds: I am so grateful for Ms Brenda, Grandpa Kelven and Stutzman Greenhouse: we have a new circle of hay bales and enough gourds for each child! What a fun gift and tradition. We really enjoyed having them as our Meeting Place before practicing Trick or Treating on the playground! Today’s Trick or Treating had a great focus on the different colors of candy packages and our houses.
Here are 3 questions to learn more about our day:
What did you eat at snack time?
In the morning we had orange Cheetos, fresh blueberries and fresh strawberries from Max and Gus. Thank you, friends!
In the afternoon we had fruit roll ups and frosted shredded wheat from Malcolm! Thank you, Malcolm!
What were your five little pumpkins made out of?
After a week of counting to four a lot, five got their turn! Today we acted out Five Little Pumpkins with props! Most spooky (a combination of a little scary and fun) is when the teachers turns off the real classroom lights when we sing, “…out went the lights.”
We had more than enough sponge wands (57!) from one of Ms Kristin’s friends who works at the hospital for everyone! The orange paint on our egg cartons was dry and they turned into pumpkins too. I’m so disappointed that I didn’t get all preschoolers in the frame (I thought I did)…but believe me we were all there and had a fun time performing for the camera using props! We’ll do more shows in the future!
Did Ms Kristin draw you?
Yes! We started the week with no pictures drawn and ended the week with 34 children drawn! Some children have multiple pictures layered on top of each other in honor of their multiple costumes.
If you’ve been around this preschool for any number of years you may know that every year (since at least 2010 when I started this website!) I draw pictures of the children in their costumes…children don’t have to wear or even have their costume along for me to draw, I follow directions as best I can. These will stay up for us to enjoy and eventually go into their journals to keep forever.
Coping Skill of the Week
This week we are exploring “Box breathing.” Like other breathing techniques, box breathing involves breathing in and out and holding the breath. It may help clear the mind, relax the body, and improve focus. Very important is to allow the body to return to a natural and spontaneous breathing pattern.
This week’s Coping Skill questions you can ask your child:
What shape do you call the box? (Ms Kristin calls it a square)
How many sides are there? Four!
What number are we counting to? Four!
What does four start with? F!
Idea for home: get a box or anything square shape and make a big 3D version of the Coping Skills picture!
REMEMBER: NO SCHOOL NEXT WEEK OCTOBER 29-31
newcreationpreschool.com 
Beyond wonderful! Would that all children could experience such a place. 😊