HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Happy Halloween everyone!  We have had two weeks at school with lot of talk about pretend vs. real.  Our dress-up clothes have gotten a good workout as the students have donned Cinderella's dress or Superman's muscles.  Are we really Cinderella or Superman or are we just pretending to be?

Our Halloween emphasis this year is on scarecrows.  Scarecrow pictures surround us on the walls.  You may even see one quietly sitting on a chair in our classroom watching us go about our business at school.  One day our teachers read us the story of "The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything, " by Linda Williams.  She was not even afraid when                                                                                                                "two shoes ( clomp, clomp),                                                                                                                    one pair of pants (wiggle, wiggle),                                                                                                        one shirt (shake, shake),                                                                                                                              two gloves (clap, clap),                                                                                                                               one hat (nod, nod) and                                                                                                                          one scary pumpkin head (Boo, Boo) "                                                                                               followed her home.  She sent them all right out into the corn field where they happily spend their days scaring the the crows away!  I wonder if anyone will come to our Halloween parties dressed as a scarecrow?

Wiggle, Wiggle

Boo!  Boo!

Happy Halloween!

Mr. Scarecrow!

MUSIC IS EVERYWHERE

Our classrooms have been especially loud this week, by intention!  Making music was the theme and our students were very busy shaking things, tapping things, and strumming things.  Each child had an opportunity to create his/her own "Music Bag"  containing wood blocks and an egg shaker for making music wherever they go!  Music can be fast or slow, loud or soft, high or low and we tried all of these choices as we sang our songs and played our instruments.
Our music unit concluded with two talented guest making appearances at Pre School.  Troy Norton, a dad from our Yellow Class who plays in a band,  shared his talents with the afternoon classes.  Leslie Babb, one of Salem's talented musicians, spoke to the morning classes about her use of percussion instruments and the piano to make music.  Leslie's drums illustrated great examples of LOUD and soft, high and low, fast and slow.  Students were challenged to clap along with Leslie's rhythms.  Sometimes the sounds of the drums suggested moods or events like the thundering sound of the big base drum!  Students were given the opportunity to beat the base drum before leaving to return to their classrooms.  The size of the drum and the deep sound was very exciting.  We did a little singing too.  The old familiar tune, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,"  sounded quite different when we were accompanied by the piano and the bells!

We are so thankful when talented guests are willing to spend time teaching us!  We have learned that "music is everywhere!"

ORCHARD PICTURES

APPLE ORCHARD TRIP

Salem had two perfect days to spend at Aamodt's Apple Orchard this year!  The children motored out to the Stillwater orchard on a school bus, which was part of the fun!  Blue skies and rows and rows of apple trees greeted the children.  A wagon ride into the orchard allowed the them to see the apples on the trees and hear the story of how they grew.  Each child picked a apple before riding back to the big apple barn.  Here they saw how the cider press made apple juice.  They saw an apple ladder, designed for picking the apples without hurting the tree.  Since honey bees are an important part of growing apples, Aamodt's has a honey bee display with real bees, to demonstrate the role bees play in the growing process.  The apples were delicious and the warm, sunny day was perfect!

SEPTEMBER'S SUMMER WEATHER

It is already October and today feels like summer!  The temperature is near 80 degrees!  The nice weather has allowed our students to spend plenty of time outdoors at the park and picking carrots and pumpkins in our pre school garden.  We discovered that little animals like to eat our pumpkins.  They  chew big holes in them which means we can't use them for jack-o-lanterns, but we can easily see the many seeds inside the pumpkins.  Twelve pumpkins were not eaten yet.  They are being protected in the entryway of our church so we can use them for Halloween.  
The carrots that we picked were very tasty!  The ones we dug up were many different sizes and shapes.  They were all orange though.  The rest of the carrots will be dug up and eaten on Orange Day.  That's the day after Halloween, in case you have never celebrated it before.
Our zinnias are as big and beautiful as ever.  I guess the cool nights don't bother them.  What a beautiful sight they are on a crisp fall day.
Right now we are learning about apples and our four year olds will be going to Aamodt's Apple Orchard for a visit.  The next post will take you there!

WE ARE BACK!

After a very hot summer, Pre School is back in session.  We just finished a week of meeting our students and their parents and I think we are going to have a very good year!
 The last time I blogged it was spring and our students and teachers were busy planting our garden.  With the hot weather we experienced in July and August I am so thankful for the families who volunteered to water and weed so faithfully.  Our zinnias are the star of the show in the garden.  They display their colors on tall sturdy stems and attract gorgeous butterflies.  The carrots are still hiding, waiting for the day we dig them up and have them for snack.  Tomatoes and peppers have been producing all summer.  The sunflowers, which were "volunteers"  from last year, were a bust.  Too bad!  We'll try again next year.  Last year's three year olds planted the pumpkins.  The vines are growing everywhere!!  Local animals have snacked on some of them but we will be able to harvest enough for our Halloween parties.  Fall is a harvest season and we will be experiencing the fun of gathering the fruits of our labor.

COMO ZOO AND THE GARDEN GETS PLANTED

     Our last days of school are so busy and exciting.  All of our classes had field trips last week.  The four year olds had a great time at Silverwood Park, one of the Three Rivers Parks areas.  It is located near Pre School on Silver Lake.  The theme  for the visit was "Prints in Nature."  The students looked for animal prints made by animals themselves and they made animal prints in their art sessions at Silverwood.  The weather was perfect for the field trips this year.  That made the day extra fun!
     The three year old classes took a trip to Como Park Zoo May 16th.  They rode over in a big orange school bus taking along any parents, grandparents or daycare providers who wanted to join them!  They spent a sunny day looking at a hungry giraffe, a lazy polar bear, a handsome orangutan and many other animals!  It was great!

     We also planted our garden last week.  School is almost over and there was work to be done!  The radishes and carrots have been in the ground for a while now.  We can see them coming up.  Many more seed were planted this past week including zinnias, pumpkins, marigolds, tomatoes, peppers, basil and corn.  School families are welcome to stop by this summer and check on the progress of the garden.  Next fall the students will harvest their flowers and produce!