Lots of Learning in Mixed Age!

Hello Jack and Jill Families!

Today concludes our first full week of school in mixed age and everyone has had an amazing week! It has been a truly great experience getting to know everyone better and watching friendships grow within the classroom. This week's theme as you may recall from last weeks email, was apples! Apples were a really fun way to introduce the fall season and the activities centered around them seemed to be really well liked! This weeks centers included:

Math center: Here we had number matching animals that allowed for counting the number of squares on half of an animal, and then identifying the numerical number that matched shown on the other half. This was a great way to lead into counting and number recognition. Everyone did a great job for so early on in the year! Everyone really loved playing with the different animals as well.

In our discovery ( science ) center: We started off the week with apple tasting. This included a " did you like it" coloring sheet where the children could record what they thought about each type of apple. For the most part the apples were really well liked, while others found the green to be too sour. It was really fun and definitely interesting listening to everyone's responses to the tasting. For the second half of the week we worked on identifying different parts of an apple with a magnifying glass. Many friends wanted to bring home some apple seeds to plant in their own back yards! 

The sensory table remained the same beach theme as it will for the rest of the month, and remained a fun choice for many.

In the writing center we had various coloring pages that were apple themed, including some with line tracing. We were really impressed by some of these!

The art center consisted of two different types of "sticky apples". We had one option that included construction paper and glue sticks, and another option that used contact paper and tissue paper. These are now decorating the classroom wall and hanging in the windows, and they really do bring so much fun to the room! 

The easel center this week included a Velcro tree, fall themed characters and items to stick on, and alphabet apples. 

The books we read this week were:

    Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

    Chicka Chicka 1,2,3

    The Apple Pie Tree

    The Biggest Apple Ever

    The Very Hungry Caterpillar 

For music and movement we included the Sit Down Stand Up song once again, because the entire class requested it! This song is a great way to get everybody up and moving. We also danced to the Silly Bear Hunt song that comes along with its own unique dance movements. This was equally loved by all!

As a side note we would like to please ask that in the mornings everyone avoid sitting on the stairs that lead to the church. We really appreciate it!

Ultimately, the first full week of mixed age was indeed a fun one. Everyone is doing really well with the routines and schedules, as well as having a great time learning! We hope that everyone has an amazing weekend and cant wait to hear about it next week! Attached you will find some photos from the week!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Mackenzie and Mrs. Haynes