During the month of October, our interest in fall continued to blossom, beginning with the children discovering the leaves changing on the trees. This sparked the children’s curiosity on why this occurs, and we explored the different characteristics of a leaf. Raking leaves and collecting them into a wheelbarrow became a popular outdoor activity during this time.
Halloween also became a popular topic in our classroom. The children were so excited to tell their friends what costume they were wearing to go trick or treating. To support this interest the classroom door was decorated with pictures of each child wearing the costume they told their friends they were dressing up as. During free play the children began to role play trick or treating with food from the kitchen centre. At circle we continued to discuss what would be needed to go trick or treating. As a class we came up with eat dinner first, wear our costumes, carry a trick or treat bag, bring our manners, stay with an adult, only go to houses with the lights on, and to get candy!
In just the last week, some children have been sharing their experiences with carving a pumpkin at their house. As a request we carved our classroom pumpkin. Each child who wanted to got a turn at taking out the pumpkin seeds and guts. Some children loved the sensory experience as others preferred to watch or explore the pumpkin in different ways. As a class we voted on making our jack-o-lantern have a happy face.
As we move into the colder months, please check your little one’s spare clothing to ensure it is weather appropriate. Please make sure they have a labelled hat, mittens, outdoor shoes, and coat. We ask that if your child can not yet do finger gloves that a pair of mittens are provided as getting twenty four children ready for outside can be time consuming. Just a gentle reminder that we also ask for only the adult to open the door handles and gates outside as this is a safety issue. We look forward to where our interests lead us next and wish all of our friends moving up to Preschool 3 in November the best of luck! We can’t wait to see all our friends from Preschool 1 again.