FALL, FALL, FALL!!

 Our hippos were involved in many fall learning activities throughout the week! Activities included discussing the different types of leaves, noticing the similarities and differences between leaves, learning some facts about leaves, cutting and decorating leaves, thinking of words that rhyme with the word FALL, making leaf rubbings, using pinecones to practice positional concepts, writing in our journal about what we like to do in the fall and our favorite leaf, spinning on the sit and spins like a falling leaf in the wind, using magnifying glasses to examine leaves and other fall items, using pipettes with red, yellow, orange and green water and raking leaves. The children also enjoyed mulching the leaves (cutting with scissors) and making fall trees and leaves with a variety of materials!  The hippos did a great job of patterning leaves. (goals: fine motor, patterning, using language, positional concepts, making decisions independently, participating as a member of a group)

When discussing leaves we examined the veins in our arms and showed the veins in the leaf.  Our veins carry blood throughout our body and the veins in a leaf carry water to the leaf.  You can point this out again when looking at leaves at home. In addition, we practiced our ABC letters by adding them to our fall tree on the easel. On Wednesday, we signed in to our favorite colored leaf. We had to find our names to pick our favorite leaf. (letter recognition, one to one counting, recognizing our name, comparing numbers and recognizing numbers)

Our arch turned into a tent. It included pretend flashlights and magnifying glasses. We added a tree and cut fall leaves to add to the branches.  Everyone enjoyed raking leaves and putting them in a bag.  Our sensory table was filled with plastic fall leaves, tongs and an ice cube tray. In addition, we pretended to have a camp fire and roast marshmallows. (making decisions independently, sensory, gross motor, fine motor, dramatic play, building friendships, taking turns, cutting)

Our letter this week was Q.  We built this letter with wooden pieces, made the Q sound and named different things that begin with the letter Q. 

On Monday we will finish up our Fall unit. We will match acorn shapes, play FALL bingo, make a picture with leaf stamps, play a F-P letter game. In this game I show the students letters.  If the letter is a F for FALL, we will fall to the ground. If it is a P we will pop up. We will name other letter cards in between. 

Books we read:
We're Going On A Leaf Hunt

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Leaf

The Leaf Theif

Leaf Man

Reminders:

Friday, 11/13 -  The LPA is hosting their Fall Fling event Friday, November 13th from 6-9 at the Budweiser 703 club at Busch stadium. Funds raised at the event support teachers’ classroom funds for the entire school year. If you only attend one LPA event this school year, make it this one! Can’t find a sitter? We’re partnering with WashU grad students to help make connections. See the link below for tickets and more info. Fall Fling 2026

Monday 11/16-Thursday 11/19- Hippo Canned Food Drive-please send in a few cans during the week

Wednesday 11/25 -No school Thanksgiving Break-we return to school on Monday, 11/30

Saturday, 11/21-Family Garden Day 9:00-11:00 at the LECC garden, if interested

Questions to ask your child:
What words rhyme with FALL? (fall/tall or fall/cat)
What happens to the leaves in the fall and what colors do the leaves turn?
What is your favorite colored leaf?
What season are we in? (summer or fall)

What did we rake? (leaves)

Things to try with your child at home:
*Go on a leaf/nature hunt.  

*Use a straw to blow leaves across the table. A fun oral motor activity. 

Next Week: Popcorn!

Enjoy the pictures!! 

Art fun with apples

Spinning like leaves in the wind.

Our sensory table included corn kernels, tongs and plastic leaves
and acorns.

Journal-What is you favorite colored leaf? What do you like
to do in the fall?

We decorated a leaf for our bulletin board using a variety
of materials.

We used red, yellow and green water and pipettes.
This is a good fine motor activity to strengthen
our finger muscles.

We were waiting for our We Belong Parade!

Show and Tell

Show and Tell

Show and Tell

Here we practiced patterning leaves.

We mulched leaves by cutting them with scissors.

After painting a trunk and branches, we used
a sponge, a paper towel holder and a brush to add the leaves.

The hippos practiced raking leaves and placing them
in the bag.

We examined fall items with our magnifying glass.

It was fun to make s'mores during our pretend campfire.

What is your favorite colored leaf?

Music Fun!

The class practiced positional concepts using real
pinecones.

We practiced recognizing our names to sign in.

We colored We Belong necklaces for our parade.

Everyone loved experimenting with magnets.

We practiced our letters on our fall tree.

Everyone practiced their cutting skills as they
cut fall leaves for our tree on the arch.

The hippos completed fall leaf rubbings 
using the crayon sideways.

It was a fun sensory experiance getting
our hands painted for our fall tree.