Centers for week of 11/11/13: Fall
Listening
Language
Math
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves by Lucille Colandro was our book
at Listening this week. That wild old lady is back swallowing fall-themed items. What can
you make from leaves, clothes, a pumpkin, and rope? That's right, a scarecrow! Since
we’ve read the story at circle and many of us have already had a turn with the Story Bag,
we also used the props to retell the story as we were listening and after the recording was
complete. Retelling a story is a key literacy skill. When reading with your child,
encourage them to tell you a few of the events that happened in the story. If they can’t
recall events independently, look back through the book together to refresh your child’s
memory.
At language this week we fished for turkeys! We used magnetic fishing poles to “catch”
turkeys with letters written on them. After we caught each one, we looked at our page to
find the turkey feather with the corresponding letter written on it. We then colored in that
feather to record which letters we caught. Activities like this allow us to practice naming
letters, identifying letters and matching letters.
We counted turkey feathers at math center this week. Each of us got to choose a small
baggie with a variety of feathers in it. Many of the feathers were already cut out for us,
but we had to cut out three feathers on our own (or with hand-over-hand assistance as
needed). We then sorted the feathers by color: yellow, red, orange or brown. Once the
feathers were sorted we counted how many of each color we had and recorded that number
on our page. We then counted how many feathers we had altogether. Once they were all
counted, we glued them on our turkeys.
At table toys we built with the tube builders, creating rocket ships, buildings and vehicles.
We also played with a shape sorter tower puzzle where we had to sort the shapes before
putting them on the rods on the puzzle.
Table Toys
Art
At art this week we made scarecrow heads. We began by cutting out a large circle. We are
getting much better at cutting. Remember to provide us with opportunities to practice with
scissors at home if possible.  After our circles were cut out we fringed a collar for our
scarecrow by making small snips with our scissors. We then glued on the collar, strips of
yellow paper for straw, and a hat. We then added embellishments to give our scarecrows
personality. After our scarecrows were complete they needed something to scare away, so
we made crows to go with them.
We continued using starfall.com and pbskids.org at computers this week. We are getting
better at manipulating the mouse, though it is still challenging for many of us. Again,
practice will improve our success in this area.
Computer
The large hollow blocks are being used often as roads and garages for the cars that are
found in the block area. Puzzles are also a popular choice in the block area, as are Potato
Heads and the peg boards. Open ended activities challenge us to use our imaginations and
our fine motor skills to manipulate objects to create the activities we desire.
Blocks
Our letter this week was R, “R, rat, /r/”
What we read last week
Monday: Today we read The Lonely Scarecrow by Tim Preston. In the story,
A kindly scarecrow wants to be friends with the birds and animals that play at
the edge of his wheat field. But they are afraid of him because of his
clothing, "his beady eyes, his crooked nose, and his jagged metal mouth." Many
animals watch him, but none dare to approach him. As winter arrives, the
creatures run home to their burrows and nests. Then one night, snow falls and
turns the scarecrow into a jolly snowman, and the animals play with him.
Though he is happy now, he worries that when the snow melts, he will be alone
again. But his fears are unfounded; the animals are surprised to learn his true
identity, but they love him just the same.
Tuesday: Fall Is Not Easy by Marty Kelley was our book at circle today. The
story, which is narrated by a tree, follows the tree’s struggle to cope with the
change of seasons. Winter is easy for the tree since his branches are bare. And
spring is easy because new leaves begin to grow. Summer is also easy because the
tree is full of green leaves. Fall, however, is NOT easy. The tree struggles to
change colors the way that trees are supposed to do. But every time he tries, an
amusing thing happens. First his leaves look like a rainbow, then a hamburger, a
smiley face, and even polka dots, among other patterns. Luckily the seasons change
again and the tree gets to return to the easy winter. After reading the story we
did a SMARTboard activity where we rolled a die to determine how many of each
fall-related item we needed to move on the page. For example, we moved leaves
from a tree to a leaf pile and moved acorns to a squirrel. This activity helps us to
practice counting and counting with one-to-one correspondence.
Wednesday: Today we read The Fox and The Falling Leaves by Julia
Rawlinson. This is the same book we listened to Listening Center last week.
Repetition of stories helps young children to become more familiar with
books and to learn to love reading. In this story, Fletcher, a young fox, is
very concerned about his favorite tree. It is fall and the leaves on the tree
are turning brittle and brown. When he expresses his concerns to his
mother, she tells him not to worry, that it is simply autumn. But when the
leaves begin falling off Fletcher feels he has to do something to help. When
the first leaf falls off, Fletcher tries to tie it back on with some grass, but
to no avail. Then when it gets windy and multiple leaves fall off Fletcher
tries gathering them up with the intention of replacing them. A
squirrel and a hedgehog take some of the leaves to make their
winter nests. Then some helpful birds assist Fletcher with putting some of the leaves back.
But then it gets really windy again, and, despite Fletcher’s best efforts, the rest of the
leaves fall off the tree. He is distraught! But when he awakens the next morning, Fletcher
finds the tree covered in icicles and shimmer. Then he decides his tree really is going to be
alright after all.
Thursday: Ms. Wick read us A Squirrel’s Tale by Richard Fowler at circle today. In this
unique book, squirrel cannot remember where he hid his nuts for the winter. As he goes on
his journey to find them, a small squirrel cutout goes in, out, over, and under, the pages of
the book. He asks several forest animals if they know where his nuts are hidden, including a
grumpy owl whom he wakes up from his daytime nap, encounters a bat and even gets caught in
a spider web. This book provided us a great opportunity to practice using positional words.