AM What we have been doing this week.

I want to apologize to all of my students and parents for not being there 2 days this week. I have been home with a sick little girl, but I will be there tomorrow. While I have been gone Mrs. Nanette and the substitute teacher have been making angels, birthday cards to Jesus, learning about the letter U, and writing about gifts they would give to someone special. In centers the students have been working on a special surprise for their parents, sorting, reading, pretending they are Santa and his reindeer on Christmas eve, counting, writing about their favorite snack, and working on their beginning sound recognition. Our Bible study has been about the Christmas Angel and Baby Jesus. I am sure your child has been telling you all about the fun things that they have been doing in class. Remember to wear your green tomorrow!!

Lighted Parade

The lighted parade was a great experience for all that came. We had a lot of participants, so many that several walked the parade rout with the float. We even got Best Youth Float 1st place prize! We got a trophy and some money to spend at any of the local businesses!

Thanksgiving

I wanted to thank all of the parents that came out to our feast with Stone Soup. It turned out to be a wonderful experience and great food to go with it. Thank you for your help in making it great!

Lighted Parade

I'm so glad some of you were able to attend the parade and wave to the crowds with us! It was a lot of fun to see all of our students, parents, siblings, and friends from all different classes crammed into the flat bed and singing along to Christmas carols, waving to the crowds, and having an enjoyable time. Thanks for taking another opportunity to support the school and have fun family moments with us. It makes the holiday season so fun!

a group of friends show off their t-shirts...and dinner

all the lights made the city sparkle

the mayor selected our float for a prize!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all of us!

Classroom Centers

Our centers this month included Art, Science, Numbers, Games, Literacy, Teacher's Choice, Author's Throne, Drama, Reading, Puzzles, and Cooking Stations.

The weeks of November 2nd and 9th we focused our Art Station on creating our placemats for the Thanksgiving Feast. We first used corncobs to paint and create unique designs, and then used seasonal stamps to assist in our creative process. Finally, Psalm 107:1 was added to remind us of whom we are ultimately giving thanks to.

In Science Station, Mrs. Nanette helped us hypothesize whether items like clothespins, straws, coins, and toys would sink or float. We drew our own interpretation of each object as we guessed, and then watched and discovered what each item actually did.

Our Numbers Station allowed us to identify numbers 1-6 and count. We also saw numbers in a different format on the enlarged die we rolled to discover which "pie" we should add "whipped cream" to.

The Games Station pictured a large turkey we threw bean bags at to assist our gross motor development and hand-eye coordination. Standing on a line, we tossed overhand or underhand to hit the turkey. There were quite a few bullseyes!

In our Literacy Center, we examined the sight words "-it," "-at," "-old," and "-ear." We practiced our rhyming and beginning sounds by sorting pictures onto the appropriate plates and then placing letters beginning with that sound on top of the picture. For example, a picture of a cat would be placed on the "-at" plate and the letter "Cc" would be placed on top of the picture.

At the Teacher's Choice Station, we used our creativity again to draw a self portrait. Some of these stopped with the individual, but some students went on to create an entire family of characters.

Hopefully you were able to look through the result of our Author's Throne Station--a book including all our class is thankful for. This book will remain in our reading loft for the year so everyone can look back on their work, feel a sense of pride and accomplishment, and see how far we have all come.

The Drama Center included a felt board that allowed imaginative play with characters besides the student.

Finally, we rotated the books in our Reading Station to include rhyming books, books about Thanksgiving, and the letter books for the month. The kids were all excited to find copies of their letter books, sometimes before we had even sung about that letter, when they went up in the loft!

The weeks of November 16th and 30th included first the Thanksgiving card in the Art Station, and a fun project yet to come!

Our Games Station moved on to Turkey Bowling but continued the practice of hand-eye coordination and gross motor development.

At Teacher's Choice, we identified colors, letters, and shapes to have a better idea of each individual's base knowledge.

Mrs. Lindsay purchased some new play clothes for our classroom, so Drama Station became all about our costumes and acting as new characters.

In Science Station, Mrs. Nanette taught about "primary" and "secondary" colors, and we were all able to mix colors and create new colors.

Our Numbers Station introduced measurement using tools. We used uniform plastic frogs to count how long each turkey's beak was as a pre-math lesson.

The Cooking Station furthered our use of patterns, shapes, and fine motor skills. We used triangular pineapple pieces, round grapes, and cheese cubes to fill a wooden skewer with patterns. And of course, we enjoyed the results of our labor with a tasty snack--yum!

The Puzzles Station challenged each group to work together to complete a large floor puzzle with over 20 pieces. Teamwork can be tough, but is a necessary life skill we encourage through our work.

Finally, more time in the Reading Station with our different books.

Through the weeks we also discovered all about Pilgrims, Indians, and Thanksgiving through our group activities and discussions. We made dreamcatchers, Mayflower ships, and turkey centerpieces. Stone Soup became a fun and interactive feast for all of our families, and we truly appreciate your support and attendance at this special event. Our classes were so excited to perform their songs for you, and to sit and have a meal with their families while at school. What could be better? As always, thank you for being such a part of the team at UCCPA. We depend on you and thank you for all you do with your children in and out of school!

Great job everyone!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

-Mrs. Marisha

PM Parade

Thanks to all the parents, siblings, and friends who were able to join us for our parade of heroes and community helpers! I hope you enjoyed viewing all of the creative costumes. Thanks also to all who distributed treats to our class. The kids loved having a cubby full of snacks to take home. Hopefully this didn't add too much sugar to the trick-or-treating!

back row: a baker, a financial advisor, Iron Man, a firefighter, Queen Esther,
a firefighter, a nurse, and a doctor
front row: a superhero, a fairy hero, a princess hero, Spiderman, a baker, and a superhero

I'm also glad those who came were able to come into our classroom and watch a brief performance of autumnal songs we've been singing, as well as see our Frog Street video that weekly teaches a letter to our class. We do send home books with the lyrics to the letter songs each week. If you want to sing our fall songs at home, here are the lyrics:



"Autumn Leaves" (sung to "London Bridge")



Autumn leaves are falling down, falling down, falling down.
Autumn leaves are falling down, welcome autumn.

Sweep the leaves and put them here, put them here, put them here.
Sweep the leaves and put them here, welcome autumn.

Jump right in and have some fun, have some fun, have some fun.
Jump right in and have some fun, welcome autumn!



"Two Apples" (sung to "This Old Man")

Way up high, in a tree
Two red apples smiled at me
So I shook that tree as har-r-d as I could
Down came the apples,
Yum! They were good!

"Jingle Jangle Scarecrow"

When all the birds were sleeping and the sun had gone to bed,
Up jumped a scarecrow, and this is what he said:
'I'm a Jingle Jangle Scarecrow with a flippy floppy hat.
I shake my hands like this and I shake my feet like that.'

And when all the cows were sleeping and the sun was behind a cloud,
Up jumped a scarecrow, and shouted very loud:
'I'm a Jingle Jangle Scarecrow with a flippy floppy hat.
I shake my arms like this and I shake my arms like that.'

PM Army Heroes

Although our field trip to Fort Riley sadly was cancelled, we were fortunate enough to have 3 army recruiters visit our class and share about being hometown heroes. Several of our students are from military families, and their excitement carried through as they were able to share what their own moms and dads did for the military. We came up with some good questions for our guests, including "Where do you go to help people?" "What tools do you use?" "What kind of tanks do you have?" "What do you do?" and "What are you packing (to take on deployment)?" At the end of their visit, our class had an understanding of heroes traveling wherever people need help, their use of a variety of tools including hammers, screwdrivers, and pliers (the tools kids were asking about), the type of tanks they have, the fact that they help and protect people, and that they have backpacks full of all kinds of gear--clothes, food, anything they might need while they're away from home. Overall, it was a great visit, and the class especially loved the gifts the recruiters left for them. You can see several of them posing with their footballs in our class picture!

AM Hero Day

For our Fall Festival we dressed up as Heroes and had a parade for the parents. We had a lot of fun and some very creative costumes. Thank you to all of the parents for your hard work in making this day great!Introductions were made by all of the students. We said what hero we were and what we did to make us a hero.Thank you to all of the families that filled up our cubbies with yummy goodies!

AM Some Hero's come to UCC

Unfortunately the field trip to Fort Riley was canceled. So instead of the students going to see the Hero's, the Hero's came to see us. We had a lot of fun talking to them about being a hero, but the best thing was the football toys that they brought to share with the class.

AM Pumpkin Patch

On October 13th our class took a field trip to Browndale Farms in Clay Center. It was quite a trek to get there, but once we arrived it was well worth the trip.

There was a very fun slide to a corn pool!

One of our favorite animals was the sweet dog that greeted us at the vans.Here Bryleigh demonstrates how to ride a tire horse swing.
One of the fun activities there was the "corn pool"!

PM Pumpkin Patch

What a fun day at the Pumpkin Patch! Despite the hour drive, visiting Browndale Farms was well worth the trip! Upon arrival, we sat down at the picnic tables to eat our lunches. Between the excitement of activities to explore and all of the bugs bothering our meal, I'm not sure how much food was actually consumed, but the kids still had plenty of energy for their big day. Below are a few pictures of the activities:

a slide into a pool of corn

jumping across hay bales

trying the obstacle course through the trees

a line to try the zipline quickly formed

hang on tight!

watching our friends try bowling

going for a tractor ride in barrels

lounging in bed of corn--don't lose your shoes!

going for a hay ride

and of course, picking pumpkins!

Thanks to all of the parents and siblings who were able to join us. I hope everyone had a great time!

-Mrs. Marisha

PM Update

I've now had the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks with your kids, and it has been great! I hope they're telling you all they've learned and you're enjoying the work they bring home. If it's difficult to get your child to tell you about their day, well, that's where this can help!

Last week we took our field trip to the fire station where we learned what to do in a fire emergency. Our class was able to practice getting out of bed when hearing an alarm, staying low to the ground where cleaner air will be, testing a door to determine if it's a viable exit, and then "going out the window" if the door is hot. Parents, this is a great opportunity for you to practice with your kids what to do if there is a fire in your home. Having an escape route and meeting place help the entire family to be prepared as well as keep calm in a very stressful situation. Here are some pictures from the station:

Be sure to ask about what to do if your clothes ever catch on fire--they learned stop, drop, and roll!

This week's focus has been on the five senses: eyes that see, ears that hear, hands that touch, nose that smells, and mouth that tastes. We played "I Spy" and made maracas, played dominoes with sensory matches, identified various scents, and tomorrow will decorate a picture to look like a tasty piece of pie.

Our letters so far--"Oo" and "Ss"--have been fun to learn. The former was simpler for most to begin writing; this week's letter has been more of a challenge. Please help your child with the homework given so their success will increase. Part of giving homework is to allow more involvement of parents with the learning process, so think of it as a tool for you and them. And remember, it's not about being perfect! The practice allows them to grow.

I look forward to the start of another month, another set of themes, and a lot more fun to come in October!

In Him,

Mrs. Marisha