Hippo Headlines: Skeletons, Ghosts and Monsters-3 Day Class

We began our week having fun with ghosts!! We did an experiment involving spinning ghosts. The children voted on which ghost they thought would spin. We counted and compared the numbers. Then the class discovered that the ghost with the paper clip and arms folded in opposite directions was the one that spun! Each child brought a ghost home. Try holding the ghost from different heights and letting it go to watch it spin. We also painted ghosts, named them and read the word BOO. After reading, Ghost's Dinner, we played with different colored water using ice trays and pipettes, matched ghosts feeling cards, sat and spun on the sit and spins like spinning ghosts and colored ghosts using different colored crayons just like in the story. We also played with shaving cream to make ghosts. In addition, we answered questions from our story. During gym, we built a ghost pyramid and the kids rolled into it to knock it down. (sensory, fine motor, gross motor, letter recognition and formation)

We used spider rings to practice positional concepts. In addition, we used play-doh and spaghetti noodles to string spider rings. The sensory table contained water beads and googly eyes for a slimy and wet sensory experience! In addition, we cut cooked green noodles! We also signed in to what we liked the best.....bats, ghosts or spiders. We then counted and compared the numbers. (recognizing numbers, comparing, matching, sensory, fine motor, positional concepts)

We then talked about skeletons and answered questions from our story. It was fun to put together a large skeleton puzzle. We made our HWOT letters out of bones (Q tips), counted bones (Q-tips), and connected bones ( PCV pipes). We learned some important facts about bones such as they are used to support our body, milk is good for our bones, and our earlobes do not have bones. (problem solving, letter and number recognition, one to one counting, answering questions, confident behavior)

Thursday we talked about monsters. We sorted colored eyes, colored a monster, threw beanbags at the monster from our book and created monsters with play-doh and dried food. Each student can made a monster by squirting paint on paper then folding it in half. We discovered some cool monsters as we opened up the paper. Next week, we will add eyes and the students can dictate what the monster will eat based on the book, There Was An Old Monster Who Swallowed A Tick.

Our letter of the week was U. We went over the sound and things that begin with this letter. As we made this letter and all the other letters we focus on starting our letters at the top! The students traced this letter as we watched our video about the letter U!

Our 2nd Steps lesson focused on the feelings of being sad, scared and angry. We discussed when our friends feel that way we can go to the them and see if we can help therm.

Questions to Ask Your Child?
What color did the ghosts turn in The Ghost's Dinner? (all kinds of colors based on the food they ate)
What does B-O-O spell?
What is your favorite? (bats, spiders or pumpkins)

Are ghosts and monsters real or make believe?

Books We Read:

Skeleton Hiccups

There Was an Old Monster Who Swallowed a Tick

Go Away, Big Green Monster
Ghost's Dinner

Reminders:

10/27 Magic House Halloween Party 6-8pm Saturday night

10/30 Theis Pumpkin Patch Field Trip -meet at the patch at 9:30. Do not come to school before this.

10/31 Wear your costume to school. No masks and please wear gym shoes for playing outside

11/5 No School Professional Development Day

Next Week: More Halloween!

Things to work on: