October 2010
The school year is off to a wonderful start! All the children are settling in, learning their way around, and making new friends. They all have such wonderful imaginations – we’ve been enjoying some great imaginative play!
You might have noticed that the season is changing – make sure to dress your child for any type of weather. We try to get outside each day and some days are cool and damp. We’ll be talking about the changing seasons and how we need to dress warmly as the weather cools. We will also have days that we cannot go outside. When that happens, we use the big room upstairs for dancing and games. If we are upstairs at the end of the day, its easiest if collect your child’s belongings first and come upstairs to get your child. It helps reduce congestion on the stairs.
This month we’ll be introducing the children to different classroom jobs. Children will be helping us figure out the weather, calendar and songs at circle time and select table choices during free play. Children enjoy the responsibility and it helps increase their comfort in the group. We’ll also be starting Friend of the Week this month. Watch the calendar for your child’s turn to bring in photographs to share at circle time.
We had great response to the scholastic book orders. Thanks so much for all the new books we’ll be enjoying in our classroom. Thanks also for the wonderful turnout at our first parent meeting! We enjoy the opportunity to talk with you about what’s happening in the classroom and hear your thoughts and ideas. The next parent meeting will be Monday, October 18th at 6:30.
Remember, there’s no school on Friday, October 8th and Monday, October 11th for Columbus Day. In order to ease back into our routine after the long weekend, we’ll be having family breakfast on October 12thand 13th. We invite parents to hang out a little longer and enjoy bagels with us.
TCNS has been contacted by a graduate student to participate in her research project on language and memory in children. She’s hoping to start in the MWF class in mid-October and I will have information and consent forms for parents. Participation in the study is optional, but you may begin hearing about our new “friends” in the classroom.
FUNDRAISING: Bulb orders are due back by Thursday, October 7th. You can beautify your yard and neighborhood, and benefit TCNS at the same time! Also, watch for preliminary information about Fun with Santa and the silent auction. Start asking for those donations early!
FIELDTRIPS: In keeping with the Halloween season, on October 14th, we’ll be walking to the Sweet Shop for a tour and some chocolate covered fruit. On Friday, October 29th we’ll walk to Juniper for our annual Halloween parade and yummy snacks. Children are invited to share their costumes with us on the 28th and 29th. Anyone with old or outgrown costumes is welcome to bring them into TCNS for dress-up the week before Halloween.
OCTOBER ACTIVITIES: We’ll start off October talking about apples by reading a humorous story, Apple Trouble by Ragnild Scamell and Michael Terry. We’ll do apple tasting and make applesauce, apple prints, and cut our own apple. Next we’ll read This is the Sunflower by Lisa Schafer. We’ll talk about how sunflowers grow, make some of our own sunflowers and play with sunflower seeds. Then we’ll move onto pumpkins and read It’s Pumpkin Time by Zoe Hall. We’ll do some pumpkin science, make some different pumpkin collages and jack ‘o lanterns. Our last week of October will be all about Halloween. We’ll read There was an Old Lady who Swallowed some Bones by Patricia Colandro. We’ll make a number of ghost and spider projects to get us in the mood for Halloween.
TERRIFIC TWOS: We are all getting to know each other in our Terrific Twos class. We’re learning to sit for snack, to sing new songs at circle time, getting comfortable using our potty, and exploring with paint and glue. Some favorite activities are playdough, cars, swings and dress up. Some favorite songs are Itsy Bitsy Spider and Where Is Thumbkin. During the next few weeks we will be working on Fall themes including Leaves, Apples, Pumpkins and Halloween. We will be reading We Love Fall by Diane Muldrow, Fresh Fall Leaves by Betsy Franco, Under The Apple Tree by Steve Metzger and Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell. Our Halloween book will be a surprise. We’ll also be learning new songs and fingerplays, “Fall Is A Colorful Season” and “Five Little Pumpkins”. We will be exploring signs of fall outside, bringing some outside into our classroom, look for our changing leaves on our tree. Please feel welcome to bring signs of fall in to share in our classroom: colorful leaves, acorns, etc.

Fall is a colorful season
Fall is a colorful season,
Fall is a colorful season,
Fall is a colorful season,
When the leaves fall down!

Five Little Pumpkins
5 little pumpkins sitting on the gate.
The first one said, “my it’s getting late!”
The second one said, “there’s witches in the air!”
The third one said, “I don’t care!”
The fourth one said, “let’s run, let’s run!”
The fifth one said, “it’s Halloween fun!”
And ooohhh went the wind, and out went the lights.
And the 5 little pumpkins rolled out of sight!