Online Book Orders

Dear Parents,

I have exciting news... You can now place your Scholastic Book Club orders online! Browse all the great monthly Club selections at low prices and order online - all while helping our classroom earn FREE books, software, and resources.

Here's how it works:

• Use the information below to access the Scholastic Book Clubs Web site. Browse the titles with your child, and place your order with your credit card. Your order will come to me, and your credit card payment will go directly to Scholastic's secure server. There's no need to send money to school. After I submit the entire class's order to Scholastic, your order will be delivered to our classroom for your child to take home.

• www.scholastic.com/parentordering


• Class User Name: MissPennysPreschool


• Password: Diego

Remember, placing your online credit card order is completely safe and secure. Ordering online is the most convenient way to use Scholastic Book Clubs. You can order anytime, right up until the online order due date. And this month, our class can earn additional FREE books, just for trying this online ordering service.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Penny :)

Black Island Farms Field Trip

We had so much fun on our field trip. Sorry I didn't get more pics!

Orange and Jack-'o-lantern

You know how when you were in college or high school your printer ALWAYS ran out of ink at midnight the day before your final paper was due? Well, apparantly that happens in preschool, too! I'm sorry I didn't send home calendars today! They will be coming home on Thursday after our Halloween party, instead. I did have enough ink to send home the notes about our Stone Soup day, so please make a note of that! It will be on Nov. 6th and each child is in charge of bringing something to contribute to our pot of soup. If you did not get a note, let me know and I'll get you another one.

Orange! We had a fun day today with everyone wearing at least a little orange. We went on an orange hunt and made a list of things that are orange. We spent a lot of time talking about Jack-'o-lanterns, as well. They helped reinforce the orange and circle curriculum we've used. The kids were so proud of their Jack-'0-lanterns, that they were sad to leave their new creations in the classroom as a decoration this time. I helped them feel better by letting them know that they will be able to take them home soon :).

We also did some great small-motor skills manipulation with our ghost windsocks. I've been very impressed with how well some of the kids are learning to manipulate scissors. This is a great way to make those vital connections in their young minds.

Today we learned about the letter G. We read a silly story about Goofy Ghost, who scares people by saying "G-G-G-Goo!" Take time to talk with your child about the letter they learn each day. Repetition is the key to knowledge!!

BOOO! We learned all about scary noises today. We read a great story called The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. This story investigates different scary noises. The kids loved it! After we read this book we went on a sound exploration. I made all sorts of scary noises with squeaky doors, creaky steps, and booming footsteps. Then we discussed where they came from. The kids laughed and laughed every time I made a new scary sound, shouting "That's just you!!"

Don't forget that Thursday is our HALLOWEEN PARTY!!

Have your child come in their Halloween costume and bring enough treats for each of their friends in the class (10).

P.S. I'll get a post about our awesome Black Island Farms Field Trip up later today or tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Lincoln!!

I didn't get a chance to get a picture of myself and Lincoln, but here he is decorating his birthday hat. Happy Birthday to you!! We had fun singing his favorite songs and eating his delicious halloweeny-birthday treats :).

Whew, we had such a fun and BUSY day today!! First, we had Miss Robin come teach us some more sign language. We learned the letters E and F, as well as the numbers 3 and 4. Other new words: elephant, egg, frog and fish. I like this website http://www.aslpro.com/cgi-bin/aslpro/aslpro.cgi, which helps me if I forget how to sign something she's taught us. Ask your children what they learned, and about previous letters, numbers and words. I'm always shocked at how much they retain!!

Here's a list of all the sign language we've learned:

• Letters A-F
• Numbers 1-4
• Words: apple, alligator, boy, ball, cat, candy, carrot, dinosaur, dog, elephant, egg, frog and fish

Halloween Hullabaloo: Today we read a very funny Halloween Witch story, which the kids just ate up. They didn't move a muscle during the whole story (which is a VERY rare occurance, believe me:)). We also reviewed some of our Halloween songs and learned a new Halloween rhyme.

I'm a Mean Old Witch

I'm a mean old witch with a hat

And I ride on my broom with my cat

My chin is pointed and my shoes are, too

And you better watch out, or I might scare you . . . BOO!

I'm a mean old witch with a hat.

Three Little Witches (see last post for words)

Five Little Pumpkins (spoken)

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate

The first pumpkin said "Oh, my it's getting late!"

The second pumpkin said "There are witches in the air!"

The third pumpkin said "But we don't care!"

The fourth pumpkin said "Let's run and run and run!"

The fifth one said "Isn't Halloween fun?!"

Then Wooooo went the wind

And OUT went the lights

And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

For another special treat today, we had Officer Jeppson from the Clinton Police Department come visit our class. (She wasn't able to be there on the day of our Fire Dept. field trip). The kids thought she was awesome! We learned a lot about safety, especially regarding Halloween. Make sure you talk with your kids about strangers, who they should talk to if they are lost, eating unwrapped candy, what to do if they find a gun, and taking candy from anyone.

Letter F: We learned about letter F and Friendly Frog. Ask your children what sound Friendly made as he blew out the fire. (Hint: f, f, f, f, f, f, f).

Finally, Circles: We learned about circles today, and went on a circle hunt. The kids had so much fun doing this, and they were SO excited every time they found a circle. Here are a few pictures of the circles we found:

We were so busy today that we didn't get around to the birdfeeders. But no worries, we'll get them done soon enough :).

Black Island Farms Field Trip:

Thursday: Meet at 10:15 at 3178 S 3000 W in Syracuse. (I think this is the funnest field trip of the whole year!). $4 per child. Kids 2 and under are free, as long as they don't pick a pumpkin from the patch when we go on the hayride. Parents are free.

Bring a sack lunch!

Happy Birthday Camille!

I'm so sorry this post is so late. It saved as a draft instead of posting!


Today we celebrated Camille's birthday! She is the first one in our class to turn 5 years old!
It was appropriate that we learned all about farms today, because Camille told us she wanted to be a farmer when she grows up :).

We got to each a special spooky halloween birthday treat for our snack today. Thank you, Camille!


We spent a lot of time talking about farms and the animals that live on them. The kids learned what we use each animal for, and had fun reading books about farms and singing farm songs.


Today we also learned a new halloween song:

3 Little Witches (sung to the tune of 10 little indians)
1 little, 2 little, 3 little witches,
Flying over haystacks, flying over ditches
Slilding down moonbeams without any hitches
Heigh ho, Halloween is here!

We learned about what haystacks, ditches, moonbeams, and hitches were.

Letter E:

We also learned all about the letter E today. If you child doesn't know this letter yet, try posting it around the house and have the children see how many capital and lower case "E's" they can find.
We read a story about Enor Elephant, as well. The children always enjoy coloring their letter puppets.

Teddy Bears and Hibernation

Today we learned all about Hibernation! We had lots of fun at our Teddy Bear Picnic in the back yard. We talked all about bears and their fall and winter habits, and read Corduroy. Ask your child where a bear sleeps during the winter, and what it is called when an animal sleeps for a realy really long time. We practiced saying "hi-ber-nate" all day today. For our hibernation activity, we made caves for our bears to sleep in this winter. The kids had fun coloring and cutting the bears, as well as gluing twigs onto the caves.

PAINTING! Yeah! The kids finally got to paint today, and boy were they excited! We painted pictures of what we liked about our field trip to the fire department. We were going to make a book to give to the Chief as a thank you, but we LOVED the pictures so much, we decided to add them to the kids' scrapbooks. We'll be making a different thank you card next time :).

We also got to make a fun card for the police department. Our class didn't get to see the police on our fieldtrip, but we will be having a special visitor at our school soon-hint hint wink wink.

Number 4: We also learned about number four today. All the four-year-olds were extremely proud to strut their stuff!

I'm a mean old witch! (Not a confession, a song). We jumped the gun and learned this song early today. The kids absolutely LOVED it! Ask them to sing it for you, and if they have you sing along, make sure you do it VERY dramatically :).

NEW FRIENDS:

I finally have the pictures of our two new boys! Yeah! Welcome Judd and Lincoln. We are SOO overly excited to have you :). They are already best buds with each other and our cute Deakin. Go Boys!

Fire Dept. Field trip

We had so much fun at the Clinton City Fire Department on Tuesday! We missed those of our friends that couldn't come, though. We met 3 different REAL FIREFIGHTERS and got to climb inside a fire truck and an ambulance. We also got to tour their new facility.


We learned some very important lessons from the firemen. Take some time to review these things with your children if you already haven't.

Always wear your seatbelt!! And make sure your Mom and Dad do, too.

Have a plan in case of fire.

Have family fire drills.

Make sure to have a set meeting place in case of emergency.

Talk with your child about STOP, DROP, AND ROLL!

Review what we've learned about 911 with them.

Make sure your child knows what a fireman in his gear looks like, and explain that even though they look scary they are there to help you! Never run from or hide from a fireman.

Traffic Signs and Safety

First off, I'm sorry, but I forgot my camera today! We'll get pictures of our two new friends next time :).

Today we learned about different traffic signs. The children had a great time playing Red Light-Green Light outsisde. We also talked about why we have different signs and rules, and what would happen if we didn't.

We read a great book about Stranger Danger. Please sit down and talk with your child about strangers, and who they are allowed to get a ride home with. Also talk to them about answering the telephone and door.

We reviewed the color RED, and learned about octagons. We practiced pronouncing this word by saying it in a low "daddy" voice, a high "bird" voice, and even a growly "shark" voice. This helps the child recognize each syllable and improves diction. We had a great time on the playground riding bikes and scooters from one traffic sign to another.

Today was also NUMBER 3 day. All the 3 year olds were SOO excited that they got to raise their hand when I asked if anyone was 3. Always practice counting anything and everything with your child :).

DON'T FORGET! Next class (Tuesday the 7th) is our Field Trip to the Clinton City Police & Fire Stations. Meet in the small parking lot south of the fire station (about 2200 N. and 1500 W.) at 9:50. Afterward, we'll have a snack and drink (provided) on the playground.