Pumpkins!

Hello 4K Families! This week we will be talking about pumpkins! Today we started out our day by making a graph of where our friends think pumpkins grow. They had four choices to choose from - do pumpkins grow on a pumpkin tree, a pumpkin bush, in the ground, or on a vine? At the end of the week we will be asking them again to see if they have learned where pumpkins actually grow.

We read the book Pumpkin, Pumpkin. In this book we learned about how pumpkins grow. The children helped sequence how the pumpkins grow using pictures. We used lots of vocabulary to put the pictures in order. We learned that a pumpkin first starts out as a seed. They then grow into a sprout and then a pumpkin plant. The plant grows a flower, which then grows a green pumpkin and finally the green pumpkin turns into an orange pumpkin! We tried to trick them by putting them in the wrong order, but they were too smart! 

We have new centers this week! The children rotated to two centers today and will visit another two centers tomorrow. Ask your child which centers he/she visited today. 

At our first center the children made pumpkin names. Each child practiced writing his/her name on each “bump” on the pumpkin. Then they colored the stem and cut out their pumpkin. 

The children at the second center made their letter Pp alphabet book page. Each child painted pumpkins on their letter Pp. They also added stems and vines to their pumpkins. These pages will be added to their alphabet book!

At our third center, the children made pumpkin life cycle booklets. Each child made a booklet of the steps in a pumpkin life cycle using various art materials. They started by gluing a seed on the first page. They then colored a sprout and pumpkin plant. They made a flower using tissue paper. Finally they finished their book by adding a green pumpkin and then an orange pumpkin using their fingerprint. 

At the last center, the children read the nursery rhyme Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater. The children went on a Pp hunt. They had to color all of the letter Pp's in the nursery rhyme. When they finished finding their Pp's, they colored their picture. This will be added to their nursery rhyme book!

After centers we enjoyed playing with our friends! During playtime we also carved out two pumpkins. Each child helped to get all of the pulp out. It was hard work but it was a lot of fun! A big thank you goes to Isaac S.'s parents for donating the pumpkins to our class! They were very big pumpkins!

We also voted on which types of pumpkin faces we should draw on the pumpkins. 

We ended our day by learning about the letter Pp. We read some books about the letter Pp and said hello to Pretty Pink Princess Pp. 

Please make sure that you are sending your child to school with a warm coat, hat, and mittens. It is getting very cold out and some of our friends are coming to school without these items. 

Have a great evening!