I feel like I actually should have named this post: Pictures & Pictures & Picures, Oh MY!! I can't tell you how many times I went to take a picture of something fun happening in the classroom this month and I got the dreaded "NO MORE STORAGE" message. I go a little crazy with the pictures and October proved to be the busy month that it always is (I'm pretty sure that I say that every month), but I kind of loved it!
We started the month of by learning about pumpkins. We discussed the life cycle of a pumpkin, made our own pumpkin patch, made unique jack-o-lanterns, wrote about pumpkins, made pumpkin flavored ice cream, etc. Pretty much if you can think of a pumpkin related activity... we probably did it!!
We made our realistic pumpkins by creating our own pumpkin shape and size and then filled it in with watered down orange paint. Later, once the paint had dried, we added the ribs with crayon. Then we placed them in our very own class pumpkin patch!
To make our Jack-o-Lanterns, the kids started with the pumpkin shape that they traced on orange paper. Then they were given black and white paper and were told to go to town! I was very impressed with how unique they all turned out! Afterwards, the kids described their pumpkin. We did two drafts of this writing. We put those editing and revising skills to good use!
During centers one day we made pumpkin ice cream. The kids had to put the steps of the recipe in order on their sheet, while they took turns mixing the ingredients. Ty's grandma, Mrs. Heritage, came to help. Lucky us! The ice cream was delicious thanks to our great cooks! Makes me hungry just thinking about it....
Skeletons was our next theme. We read a book called Skeleton Hiccups. It's a cute fictional book about a skeleton who has the hiccups. Ghost tries to help Skeleton get rid of his hiccups, but nothing seems to work. Finally, Ghost puts a mirror in front of Skeleton's face, which scares him, and the hiccups finally go away! It's a cute and funny story and the kids love it. After we read that book we read a non-fiction text about our skeleton. We learn many facts, like what bones are made of, what helps them to grow strong, names of different bones, what holds the bones together, etc. Then the students put together their own skeleton. This activity is always very tricky and requires LOTS of fine motor skills because their are many small pieces that need to be cut out and put back together. I tell them they have to cut like a surgeon; very precise. In order to make the activity a little more engaging I give them all doctor's masks and call them by their "official" doctor name... they had to refer to me as my official name as well...Dr. Miakisz. After completing the skeleton, they wrote all about skeleton facts that they learned!
Learning about the bats was similar to the skeletons. We read a non-fiction and a fiction book. We read Stellaluna, one of my all time favorite books (the kids will tell you that I say this about pretty much every book I read them!), and then we read a non-fiction book about bats. One of the most interesting facts that we learn is, contrary to what most people think, bats are not blind! They actually have very good vision. We are very lucky to be in the second grade quad, known as the bat cave, during the month of October. The 2nd graders learn all about bats in science, and then they create their own very realistic looking bats to hang from the ceiling of the quad. They look great! We were sure to enter the quad very quietly every day so as not to wake the nocturnal bats!! We made our own bats for our classroom, but our bats were not as realistic looking. We used a metal clothes hanger and a black knee high stocking for the body of the bat. When they were finished I hung them (upside down) on the blinds. The full picture is kind of hard to see because of the sun, but they made the classroom look fabulous as we prepared for Halloween, which was just around the corner!!
Speaking of Halloween... last week the kids had to write about what they think I should be for Halloween. They thought it was so silly that they actually had to draw my costume onto a picture of me! I promise that I did not tell them to write that I should be candy corn because I am sweet, but that did melt my heart!! There were some very creative choices, and I gave some of them very serious consideration... especially the queen!!
This year the theme for the Halloween parade was Story Books. So, unfortunately, I did not dress as a queen, a superhero, a green goblin, or a candy corn. The first grade teachers dressed as One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Suess.
The parade was a blast! Thanks to Mr. Hemming, we got a great video of our class headed outside for the parade. As you cam see, I had a special little visitor, a Pashley Polar Bear, with me.
Before the parade began I was able to take a few cute class photos. Of course we had to do one smiling and one funny face. The kids looked great!
After the parade we got back into our regular clothes and we did our Halloween centers. We had 4 parents in to help out... thanks parents! We made step by step skeletons, yummy gorp (Halloween trail mix), monster creations using dice, and spooky haunted houses.
Well... that's all for now. Oh yeah, one more thing... "Clark Kent" wishes you a very happy Halloween!!!
