Mrs. Rachel's Kinder Prep: Spiders and Skeletons... Oh my!

What better things to learn about the week before Halloween than skeletons and spiders? This week’s theme allowed for lots of scientific learning (as well as lots of fun of course)! Did you know a spider can be the size of a dinner plate? Or that you have 206 bones in your body? These are just a couple of fun facts we learned. Lots of great conversations this week!

We really did pack in a lot of learning. You will see our spider chart below that we made. We talked about what a fact was and wrote down 8 facts (one on each leg). We also made a graph of who was scared of spiders and who wasn't (great name writing practice). We also worked on rhyming this week with our fun "Very Hungry Spider" poem. Make sure to check this poem out in your poetry folder. To go with our skeleton theme, we enjoyed working with Mrs. Andrea's awesome magnetic skeleton puzzle! We also sang several songs that helped us learn about the bones in our body.

Our class shared many smiles as we shared our emotion pumpkins with our friends! Thank you for doing these with your child. They were all so creative!!

We also showed our creativity by making spiders from pinecones, monsters from shapes, and skeletons from Q-tips. All of the paper shape creations we have done each week are placed in your child's portfolio... They will be a neat way to see growth in visual/spacial skills throughout the year.

We had fun working on our fine motor skills with cutting monster numbers (and putting them in order), working on one-to-one correspondence by putting eyes on monsters, weaving spider webs, and more. To continue our theme on how God is always with us, our Bible focus this week was on the story of Gideon! See what your child can remember.

Assessments were completed this week. You will find a copy of your child's in their folder. Please let me know if you have any questions at all. These assessments are a great way to see what your child can be working on at home with you. If he or she did not identify many of the letters, I would start there. Be sure to make your practice fun and hands on (such as using food to make them, writing them in shaving cream, finding them in books, etc.) My daughter loves to practice writing letters in shaving cream in the bathtub! We would be glad to send any supplies or suggestions home with you (or talk with you about any ideas if you are interested.)

We look forward to the Halloween party next week! Your child is welcome to wear his or her costume... We simply ask that these costumes be easy to get on and off in order to still be able to go to the restroom independently. Thank you in advance!!

This week, see if your child can...

1. Build or write each of the letters on the assessment and practice their sound.

2. Practice October's memory verse.

3. Find a spider in your yard (or house)!

4. Write a seven! ("Across the sky, and down from heaven... That's the way you make a 7.")

5. Find 20 leaves and count them.