Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Signing Time Halloween Signs

Check out the Signing Time video with Halloween signs here:

We use the third sign for Halloween around here!

The Very Busy Spider Day

Today to celebrate Halloween, we had a special celebration at school. We rotated around the school, participating in activities to go along with the book The Very Busy Spider  by Eric Carle.



Here is how you sign spider:





You can watch the story here:


You can see our pictures below!

What we did:
-Watched the story on the Smartboard
-Sang "Old MacDonald" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider"
-Did an obstacle course in the gym
-Made a spider snack with an apple
-Played Pin the Leg on the Spider
-Made a spider craft




Watch the Itsy Bitsy Spider here:



Tuesday, October 30, 2012

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything-Smartboard and Story

We have been enjoying reading the book The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything over the last few weeks.



We each took a turn using the Smartboard to retell the story! It is so neat! We each took a turn wearing the microphone and moving the pieces around the Smartboard while telling the story. We are still a little shy while using the microphone since it is the first time this year, but we will warm up to it!

DA

ES


GT

JT

JTT

MM

HG

JY

Miss Stephanie telling the story on the Smartboard

You can click on the pictures below to see signs that go along with our story!




You can see our post with the embedded videos here from last here!

Here are Miss Erin and Miss Stephanie reading the story:



Here is the performance at school last year:


Thursday, October 25, 2012

Firefighter Visit, Safety Tips, and Fire Sign Language

Today we had a visit from the local firefighters.


Some important things we learned:

 If there is a fire or smoke, you should “get low and go”. (crawl outside)

Fire is hot and can hurt you, you shouldn’t go near it.

If there is a fire, you need to get OUT of the house. No going back for dogs, cats, pets, or toys.

You should have a meeting place to go outside if there is a fire.

Kids should not play with fire.

The smoke detector will make a loud nose if there is smoke, you should go outside. (Today-take some time to show your children the smoke detectors. Make sure they are working!)

Firemen are NOT scary even when they are dressed up! Firemen are nice even when they look scary (like in the pictures below)!






Click on this picture to see important signs about fire safety!



Other pictures of us walking around the fire truck:


Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Our Friend the Bat

In the Pumpkin Patch post from last week, we gave you a sneak peak at our friend the bat! Here you can check our a slideshow with pictures of exploring the bat. We also read some books about bats.

We learned that different kinds of bats eat different things. Some of the things include:
-bugs
-fruit
-fish
-frogs
-blood (just vampire bats)

We learned that bats sleep hanging upside down by their feet. 

We learned that bats are usually awake at night and sleep during the day.

We learned that mommy bats carry their baby bats around until they learn to fly.

When we explored the bat, we used a magnifying glass to see it up close. We thought the feet were really cute!

Now the bat sits in our classroom in a glass mason jar that doesn't get opened and the jar keeps the bat safe from poking fingers. Don't worry, the bat is dead!

Click here to see pictures in sign language of how to sign bat.

You can watch the YouTube Video of the book Stellaluna right here (about a little bat).

Pumpkin Carving

Last week when we went to the pumpkin patch at Ms. Stephanie's house, we picked one of the big pumpkins that had a hole made in it by a squirrel. We brought it back to school and the next day we carved it! We used the hole the squirrel made and turned it into a triangle eye!

Each of us helped carve the pumpkin and pull out the yucky insides! All of us did it, even if we were a little grossed out at first. Then we all talked about and decided on the shapes for the face.


It was fun and now the jack-o-lantern watches us from the bookshelf!


Sign for Pumpkin is here:



Our slideshow: 

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

We had a blast today visiting Miss Stephanie's pumpkin patch!

We got to walk around in the (muddy) field, pick a little pumpkin, sit on the old tractor and pretend to drive, look at the pumpkins on the hay wagon, watch Ms. Stephanie drive the John Deere, and see inside the barn. We were bummed to learn that there are no animals in the barn!

We are so excited that we get to bring a pumpkin home!

In the afternoon we went back and we were able to play in the leaves because they were dry! We also found a run away dog and were really happy to be able to return him to his owner who is a neighbor. 

Check out our pictures!

We also had a really exciting afternoon because we saw a bat! Here is one picture for now...we will share more later! Ms. Stephanie's friend found it (dead) in her fireplace and we got to explore it with the magnifying glasses!



Friday, October 12, 2012

Pretend Play and More Bubble Wrap Fun

We had another busy week this week! Some of the things you will see in this slideshow:

-Pretending during Work Time
-Painting
-Play Dough
-Enjoying the sensory experience of jumping on bubble wrap-Miss Stephanie jumped too!
-Pretend Play


We have had so much fun with the bubble wrap! You should try at home!

Some of the words we have been talking about this week:
-fall
-tree
-leaf
-rake
-pumpkin
-jack-o-lantern (a pumpkin with a face!)

This weekend you can talk about trees and leaves at home! Try going outside collecting different types of leaves and talk about how they are the same and different!

The most exciting news this week? We got our DonorsChoose.org project funded! We will be getting a classroom iPad in the next couple days! Miss Stephanie has already picked out and bought apps to use as communication tools, speech practice, and listening activities. We are so grateful to all the people that donated to help us get this tool just for us!