Red apples,
Green apples,
Yellow apples too.
I like sweet apples, how about you?
This is just one of the many songs and poems the children have been learning. We enjoyed changing this poem according to the different tastes and textures of apples we each like. We used different vocabulary words to describe the way an apple can taste, such as sweet, tart, sour, crunchy, and juicy! Along with this poem, the children were introduced to the pocket chart center and practiced reading and reciting the poem during choice time. They practice pointing to the words as they read. Poems in our pocket chart help children develop concepts of print and strengthen vocabulary, among other early literacy skills.
We also welcomed our new month of OCTOBER! It has brought a new level of excitement to the classroom. While apples are still a topic of conversation among the classroom, pumpkins, changing leaves and HALLOWEEN have joined the mix. Fall is the best!
A few highlights...
First of all, a peek from LAST week at our apple orchard trip! The children had a blast on their first field trip!
When they arrived they got to go on a hayride through the orchard! The children all said their favorite part was all of the "spooky" stuff hidden in the woods.
Next, they got to learn all about how apples grow, the different kinds of apples and how to pick an apple.
Lastly, they enjoyed a tasty apple snack and learned all about the machine that sorts the apples by small, medium and large.
What a fun trip!
Last week they also created our second class made book based off the book 10 Apples Up On Top By Dr. Seuss! The children each counted how many letters are in their name and wrote each letter in an apple. They glued the apples to make it look like they ware balancing on their head, just like in the book! Another favorite class made book to add to our collection.
This week we completed our apple taste test! We tasted four different types of apples which included: Honeycrisp, Sweet Tango, Chestnut Crab and Sweet 16. Before tasting the apples, we compared and contrasted the differences by looking at the size, shape and color.
Ready to eat apples...
We tasted each apple and discussed what we noticed. The children used many words to describe the way the apples tasted! They also noticed that even though they were all apples, each one tasted unique and different.
Yay for apple tasting!
Once they finished tasting each apple, the children got to pick their favorite apple and mark it on our class graph. 
The overall class favorite was...
HONEYCRISP! The children thought it was sweet, sour and crunchy. The perfect apple!
The children have loved re-telling the apple orchard story since their trip. We gather as a group and verbally practice telling the story with a beginning, middle and end. Verbally re-telling stories helps children gain understanding of story sequence and builds their narrative skills. Oral language is the foundation for reading and writing...their first "writing voice" is speech! We will enjoy "talk time" as a group many times this year after important or memorable events.
We ended our short week by starting to tell our apple orchard story on paper. As a group, we practiced the process of creating a story which includes brainstorming and verbalizing thoughts, planning them out in a sequential manner and putting them on paper with illustration and words. We counted the amount of pages we needed for each important event in our story and started the collaboration of adding the pictures and words. The children want to title the story Our Field Trip to the Apple Orchard. We will finish it next week!
October brings more excitement, discovery and adventure in preschool!
Specialists Next Week (The children officially start Chinese next week)
10/8-Day 4
*Morning music and afternoon religion
10/9-Day 5
*Morning P.E.
10/10-Day 6
*Morning Chinese and Art
10/11-Day 1
*Morning P.E. and afternoon Library
10/12-Day 2
*Morning Music and afternoon Chinese
Dates to Remember:
Thursday, October 4th and Friday, October 5th- Conferences- No School
Thursday, October 18th and Friday, October 19th- Faculty Workshop- No School
Monday, October 22nd- Field Trip to Apple Jack Pumpkin Patch
Friday, October 26th- The Richfield Readers Visit Preschool
Wednesday, October 31st- Halloween Parade and Class Party (more info to come)
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