Stone Soup

  Next week will be very fun and exciting in Bunny class.  Please remember to bring your ingredient for our own Stone Soup.  We'll gather the ingredients on Monday and cook on Tuesday.

Playdough Zoo

Bella spent a very long time working on this zoo.  She used animal cookie cutters for the basic shapes and then she used tools to create the details.  Notice the grass under the giraffe and elephants - she used a pizza wheel to make the imprints.  She also gave very specific instructions to Mrs. O'Connor to make leaves for the tree and ears for the elephants.  Beyond that, it was all Bella!!

Pumpkin Update

I'm sorry to tell you we have a very dismal early update of our pumpkin experiment.

We have 1 1/2 pitiful sprouts.  Because the Thanksgiving holidays were upon us, Mrs. O'Connor buried the pumpkin in our garden and we'll see if it does better there.

Just for a little inspiration, let's check out the Ladybug Class pumpkin...

Sigh.  Surely our little pumpkin is just a late bloomer.  Hope springs eternal!

Monkey Madness

Each class seems to land on a favorite song, and year to year we never know what it will be.
This year it is "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed".  Oh, we have sung this one many, many times.
Lucky for us we have a literacy kit for this song (and book) with fun props.

Check out that Mama mask!!
The children had a blast acting out the song by making little monkeys jump on the little bed, and role playing the mama and doctor.

Mrs. O'Connor and Mrs. Magee lost count of how many times we sang this song with the children playing various roles.

We also paired it up with similar monkey books like Five Little Monkeys Wash the Car and Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree.  Books and music are a fantastic combination!

Fall Phone Conferences

 Soon parents will get a phone call from Mrs. O'Connor to talk about school.  It's a routine call, and the purpose is to briefly let parents know how their child is doing in class.  Parents are welcome to ask questions!

Making Friends

We have reached the time of year when we see the children begin to play more in duos and trios.

Part of the reason is because the children are developmentally ready to play collaboratively.

The other part of the reason is that the children are becoming friends!  Just like most adults, children do not form instant friendships.  They need time and shared experiences to cultivate friendships.  It's nice to have reached this place!

Ice Cream

In our woodworking area, we have a variety of activities.  Sometimes the activities involve tools and sometimes just the feel of wood in a child's hand is enough.  This week we had a wooden ice cream set - cones, scoops, and scoopers.  Each piece had a magnet so the scoops would stay on the cones.  The children figured out quickly that they could sell ice cream to each other.

They took turns selling and buying ice cream over and over again.  They completely organized this activity by themselves and at one time or another almost every child in Bunny class participated.  This photo just happens to be of the boys, but the girls were in on it, too.

It looks like real ice cream, doesn't it?!  YUM!

The Great Pumpkin Experiment

The Great Pumpkin Experiment has become an annual tradition in the Bunny Rabbit Class.  Every year right around Halloween time, we reach the point of learning about plants in God's creation.  For our experiment, Mrs. O'Connor carefully cut the top off of our pumpkin and the children all had a look inside at the seeds.

Rather than removing the seeds and innards (yuck!) we filled the entire pumpkin with dirt.

Then we took it outside to the porch and watered it with a squirt bottle.  Oooh that's big fun!

Now we'll wait patiently to see if the seeds will sprout.

Additionally, we planted two bean seeds in little containers and we're hosting a contest to see which plant will sprout first, grow taller, etc.  We named the beans "Bunny" and "Rabbit" and the children made a prediction of which will sprout first.

Stay tuned for gardening updates!