Weekly Wrap-Up -> Oct. 22-26

'Twas the week before Halloween....yes, it was, and walking into our classroom this week sure felt like it!

Here are a few things we did!

EYEBALL FINE MOTOR ACTIVITY

When I set this activity up, I was intending the students who needed extra practice with all things fine motor to come and try it. They did and they loved it so much that all students wanted a try!

It became so popular that the students have asked for it again next week!

Students had to pick up and place an eye ball (you can find these at Dollarama now just in time for Halloween) on the golf tee. I poked the tees in a block of Plasticine which is sturdy.

5 LITTLE PUMPKINS - STEM ACTIVITY

I've seen this activity online for a few years now and truthfully we did it last year. But the thing that changed this year? I set out different materials. That way the children that were in my class last year (Year 1) were able to try it again but it became a little more challenging.

HALLOWEEN SENSORY BIN

This was an easy to set up sensory bin - orange and black coloured pasta, Halloween trinkets (spiders, bats, witch fingers) and spider webs. I added scoopers and small buckets on the shelf nearby.

DESIGN A FACE FOR THE JACK-O-LANTERN

Our pumpkin will be carved next week just in time for Halloween. I wanted the students to decide on how it should look so I invited them to design a face. We placed all entries on our board and then voted on our favourite before lunch today. Stay tuned to see our jack-o-lantern next week!

TRACE THE LINES

My teaching partners next door, Mrs. DeLuca and Mrs. Lamacchia, let our students borrow these mats. Children can spend time placing the jewels onto the different lines. I want students to learn to develop persistence, fine motor skills and discuss different lines. Great activity!

LIGHT TABLE JACK-O-LANTERN

Can you design a face for the pumpkin at the light table?

WHAT'S INSIDE THE PUMPKIN?

We have been examining pumpkins, gourds, and corn closely for the past few weeks. The burning question, "Is the little pumpkin real?" kept coming up so this week I cut it in half and had the students look closely. They smelled it, touched it, squished it and I left a small composting bin close by so we can examine what happens to it over time. Stay tuned!

SKELETON LOOSE PARTS

I found this activity on Pinterest last week and loved the idea of using loose parts to create a skeleton (and I really love this book, too!). Look at the amazing creations students came up with!

Lots of discussion around our body - how many bones do we have? What else is in our body? Why do we need skin? I wonder where this will lead us!

PENTOMINOES

I bought a large box of pentominoes from Scholastic several years ago. Growing up, I always loved the game Tetris and there are many activities you can have your students do that are similar.

I made these different-sized grids using grid chart paper and laminated them.

GOURDS, PUMPKINS, CORN, oh my!

As I mentioned, we have been closely examining all things fall and we set out small pieces of Plasticine for students to create their favourite gourd/pumpkin/corn.

DESCRIBING PUMPKINS

I brought over the large pumpkin we are set to carve next week and had students describe it. We wrote down everything about pumpkins and substituted these words in our weekly poem to see if it would make sense.

ALPHABET SORTING - BEGINNING SOUNDS

Every few weeks I like to set this activity up at our Pocket Chart centre. Students use the cards to sort the pictures by beginning sounds.

You can find this activity here, or by clicking on the picture below, if you are interested in learning more:

NUMBERS TO 10

One of our small groups focuses on early number sense - students who are working on basic skills in number sense primarily (i.e. counting, 1:1 correspondence, making and breaking numbers, more/less, etc.). I found these pumpkin ice cube trays years back and they are perfect to use as 10-frames!

HALLOWEEN MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

I wish I had taken a picture of the "after" with this activity - but since we only worked on it today I will definitely bring it out again next week. With my students who are working on sight word recognition, I had them try this. They removed the paper from the bottle and had to fill in the mystery letters using the alphabet chart you see here. They could then read the secret Halloween message.

You can find this activity here, or by clicking the picture below, if you are interested:

HALLOWEEN WRITE THE ROOM

The group of students I have this year really like to "Write the Room" - I think it's because they get to carry a clipboard around and hunt for themed words. I change the worksheets often and offer a variety for students to choose from. Labelling the picture was a hit this week!

You can find this here, or by clicking the picture below, if you are interested:

HALLOWEEN CATAPULTS

At our Math Centre, students were invited to use the catapults (made from a clothespin tied around a block with an elastic) to see which number they got. They recorded their answers on a paper.