Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins!

We finished our Pumpkin Books and sent them home today so I thought I would share some of our activities.  I was so happy to get them out on time! My team has been using these pumpkin literacy based activities for the past several years.  We all have our own take on them but each page includes an activity that directly relates to a story we have read for the month of October.  My friend, Lana, makes an October science book about bats, spiders and owls.  I will try to post some photos of her book.  They are looking good!  My photos are a little out of order, I just didn't feel up to duking it out with the blogger format and the way the photos upload.  It's Friday...








Michele, Maisha and Susan read Dem Bones and incorporate a lesson on our skeletal structure into the book.  We also read Don't Look at It, Don't Touch It! and the children make predictions about what Sara finds behind the door.  This year I included the Big Green Monster and a cute, surprisingly easy paper plate art project.  I got this idea from Suzan at  http://krazyforkindergarten.blogspot.com.

In our Math Journal, we measured the circumference of our pumpkin. 

Everyone got to estimate how much yarn it would take to reach around our pumpkin.  With the help our Peer Mentors, Kennedy and Kionna, each child measured how many Inchy the Inchworms it took to reach the end of their yarn. 

I made the Inchy rulers using clipart-each Inchy is of course, one inch long.  We will graduate to rulers by the end of the year but I wanted to give this method a try-it seemed more concrete.



We made pumpkin pancakes!





Thank you to Kerstin's mom and Brianna's mom for coming and helping us with our projects!



We stamped an AB pattern in our Math Journals.

We used adjectives to describe our pumpkins.



The apples will come down and we will add turkeys to our scene for November.




Of course, the best part was going to Tate Farms!



We wrote about our trip to Tate Farms and will include this in our Kindergarten Scrapbook for the end of the year with some of our pumpkin artwork.


Now on to turkeys, the Mayflower, Squanto and Thanksgiving!

50’s Day!

 Yesterday was our 50th day of school so …

we had 50’s Day!

It was so much fun! We practiced counting to 50, of course! We played with toys boys and girls played with in the 50’s-slinkies, Tinkertoys, Lincoln Logs, Playdoh, Etch a Sketch, Jacks and Mr. Potato Head!

We used Silly Putty to transfer Peanut comics strips, watched a slideshow showing what people wore, how they watched movies, listened to music, what cars they drove, how they shopped, etc. We compared and contrasted life in the 50’s to our lives now.

We dressed they way boys and girls dressed during this time and visited our own “Soda Shop” where we listened to music on the “jukebox”, ate Jell-O and drank Cokes out of glass bottles! We even watched an episode of “I Love Lucy”-the famous candy episode! 

People used to listen to records or as one student noticed, "big CD's"!



We had fun at our Soda Shop!





We write about how life was different in the 1950's
and include this in our Kindergarten Scrapbook.



We used this Compare/Contrast chart to recognize many of
the differences and similarities between the 1950's and today.

Boys and girls met at the Soda Shop on the way home from school
instead of going to Chuck E. Cheese on the weekend.  Wow!

TV shows were in black and white!  There were only three channels
and you had to GET UP to change the channel! 
Holy Smoke, times were tough!

We learned that Mr. Potato Heads were real potatoes!



We even read Dick and Jane!

Such a fun way to meet an ALCOS for Social Studies!