Red Week!

Red Week was filled with Apple Exploration!  Apple stories were read, and Apple songs were sung daily. 

Apples in one form or another were found at the Art and Fine Motor Tables.

We traveled to Indian Ladder Farm to pick and eat "real apples"! 

 "Real Apples" also appeared all over the classroom!

Divertido con Espanol / Fun with Spanish

Rosalba joined in the Manzana/Apple fun as well!

Vocabalo de Semana en Espanol / Words of the Week in Spanish

Rojo / Red

Manzana / Apple

Arbol / Tree

Chicos / Children

Additionally, we welcomed our Student Teacher from Hudson Valley Community College.  

Emily Vaninwegen is a second year student in Early Childhood Education and will be with us on Wednesday and Thursday mornings through mid-December.

Looking Deeper: Exploration and Learning through Play

This week I would like to guide you through a closer look at our Field Trip.

For young children learning is rooted in experience, and it is for this reason that we fill our days with endless experiential activities through which the children learn and grow.  Prior to our field trip we explored apples in many ways.  

As mentioned and illustrated above, we glued and printed apples at the Art Table. At Story Time we read books and sang songs about apples.  At Music and Movement time we took a pretend field trip to Indian Ladder Farm, and picked pretend apples. This week we extended our classroom beyond its four walls!

At first glance one readily sees how fully engaged the children are in their Apple Picking Field Trip, and how much they enjoyed eating the apples that they picked! 

Each photo clearly illustrates how absorbed they are in studying every facet of their field experience!

A closer look will reveal that making our field trip to Indian Ladder Farm enabled the children to claim ownership of the apples they picked, and perhaps more importantly, broaden their understanding and achieve deeper conceptual connections to other subject areas. 

By weeks end, "Our Apples" appeared in many areas of the classroom.

"Our Apples" became our art material for printing. 

"Our Apples"  were used to teach and illustrate the Math concept of balance.

"Our Apples" were used in a Science lesson about simple machines, as well as cause and effect.

"Our Apples" were used to teach and  illustrate the Math concept of length.

We ate "Our Apples" for snack, and as we did so we had a "Book Review" session!  

Earlier in the week we had read "The Little Red Hen" for "Red Week"!

As you may remember the other animals would not help the Little Red Hen plant the seeds, care for the wheat, make the flour or bake the bread.  When it was time to eat the bread, all of the animals wanted to help, but Little Red Hen explained that since they did not help with any part of making the bread, now they would not help to eat the bread.  As we ate our snack, we talked about the story and the children exclaimed; "We are not like the animals!" 

"We helped to pick the apples."

"We helped Ann slice the apples." 

"We helped to put sugar and cinnamon on the apples."

"Now we all get to eat the apples!" 

Field Trips are crucial in helping the children to deepen their understanding as they make connections between their classroom and their world! 

We can't wait to visit Ioka Valley Farm!

Have a fun and restful weekend!