Thanksgiving!

What fun we had this morning - we finally explored the inside of a pumpkin!   The pumpkins had preliminary cuts made before class began so when time arose, we could simply "open" up the pumpkins.  The reactions were all unique -- some were happy to reach in and touch the pumpkin shell, perhaps pulling out a seed or two, but only hesitantly (Anil, Reese, Levi, Akhil); a few dove right in pulling out gobs of seeds (Ruby, and hmmm, Ruby!).  A few were happy to just observe (from close or  from afar - Hazel & Eden, Serena, Neeva and Charlie!). And then there was Ethan.  He was most concerned about "closing the pumpkin" - he was clearly not to pleased that I had opened up the pumpkins and could barely tolerate that we were pulling out the seeds.  Levi did tell me the seeds were like acorns (we have been talking about acorns these past few days too).  Anil took a few seeds at a time and cleaned them, removing the orange goo (his pile of seeds were by far the cleanest).  Reese wanted to pull out a seed, after a little encouraging, she pulled out several.  Ruby kept the busiest pulling clumps of seeds and goo out of the pumpkins.  Most everyone touched the pumpkins and many commented that they felt cool (benefit of air-conditioning) and the inside was a little wet.  Some of our friends kept busy building block towers or playing with cars and trains while we were exploring the pumpkins - this was during our "free play" time.  You may see the results of our seed harvesting in a future art project ..... and we do have a few more pumpkins - perhaps we will "open" another one ....

The class enjoyed the story 10 Fat Turkeys so much that we read this book several times and every day this week (in circle and in small groups).  It is a cute count-down stories of 10 plump turkeys sitting on a fence.  One by one, by some silly antic, they fall off -- after the 10th turkey has fallen off the fence, the fence itself falls down.  The story ends with the 10 turkeys sitting on the branches of a nearby tree "Gobble Gobble, Wibble Wobble" ..... and we had fun singing one of my favorite goofy songs which goes like this:  "the Turkey is a funny bird, his head goes bobble bobble and all he knows is just one word gobble gobble gobble (naturally one must bobble heads and gobble like turkeys when singing this song!)  We made turkey art and had fun using a "squeeze spray bottle"  rather than paint and paintbrushes.  This method uses liquid water color that misted onto coffee filters or paper -- the results became the turkey feathers.  These fun turkeys will be replacing our spider-web art that is currently on display on our hallway bulletin board.

The Peek for next week was sent last week-end (perhaps you recall?)  A reminder: we are only together on Monday next week, when we will finish our Thanksgiving lesson just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday.  Speaking of which, Elena joins me in wishing everyone a fun and filling Thanksgiving, & May you all be surrounded by those you love.

truly,  Cathy