Having a Haunting Good Time!

The week of Halloween was quite a busy one for us at
Pirate Pete Preschool. 

On Monday, the students enjoyed gearing up for Halloween as we made bats by tracing our hands and cutting them out to hang up in the room for our party. We made mummy's to take home right away to help enjoy decorating our houses for the big Trick or Treat day too. These were created from toilet paper rolls and streamers as the children were able to choose what colors they wanted to use on their mummy while they wrapped the toilet paper rolls.  Both of these activities were not just cute art projects, but great for fine motor development.

 However, we don't just focus on fine motor development each day, large motor development is equally important and one of the favorites of the children each day in school.  Walking beams and hula hoops are a lot of fun for the children to play with and use and they also help increase their balance. Large motor games aren't just great for indoor physical activity as it gets colder outside but we use it for math activities to get the kids moving around physically as well.  

This week, the children were shown a card with a number ranging from 1- 20 and they needed to tell us the number then jump the right amount of pumpkins on the floor that coordinated with the number they read.  This was wonderful for our older children who where given higher numbers and a great way to help our younger children with reading numbers.   

Recognizing numbers is just as important to kindergarten readiness as recognizing letters.  Please practice these skills at home by playing games like this pumpkin game or reading numbers as you see them on TV, in books, along the road, etc.  Even the microwave countdown can be a quick review of number recognition!  

Our Halloween Party was a great success this year!  We enjoyed trick or treating around the school and then snacks in our room.  Everyone looked wonderful! Thanks for turning out to support your children and the terrific things they do in school.  It means so much to them to share their teachers, classroom and artwork with friends and family.   

 

  

 Halloween week ended with a real treat!  Besides our fabulous party on Wednesday, we were able to take a field trip to the Orchestra Room on Friday!  


The day started with making Jack O' Lantern faces out of pumpkins using pictures of eyes, noses, mouths, etc.  Here you see them getting the directions for this project and later you see the story of trick or treating we read together in small groups. We played in our sensory box with corn, pine cones, sticks, grass and various preserved bugs and leaves with magnifying glasses then made 'goo' to take home too.

 After our projects, games and story, we were treated to a trip down the hall where violins, violas, cellos and more were waiting! 

Ms. Pham and her crew played us a musical tale and then allowed us to touch and try to play all the instruments in the orchestra.  What a wonderful time we had investigating these great instruments.

  

Check out the Palatine High School's Orchestra Calendar for upcoming events and have a great family night out.

What's Coming Up?

After Halloween, we will be discussing nutrition to get back into the swing of healthy eating!  After that, we will be enjoying Disney, Dinosaurs and then Thanksgiving!  What a busy November we have in store for us all this year.

No preschool this Friday or next Monday!