Newsletter | October
Theme: Fall Harvest
The theme of October is all about fall and harvesting. We enjoyed a lot of activities this month touch on many early learning areas including science, history, sensory, math and practical life! We explored what is fall, discussed what do we see in fall. We also learned about the life cycle of an apple, vegetable or fruits and the facts and images about the bat!
Learning about the seasons
Do you know that the Earth travels around the Sun once a year? Ms. Jasmine showed us that as the Earth travels, its position in relation to the Sun changes. Sometimes, the Earth is tilting towards the Sun, which causes summer. When the Earth is tilted away from the Sun, winter comes......
And now fall is here! Leaves are most beautiful as they start turning colors! We loved to go on walks and collected leaves to explore in the classroom. We learned the parts of leaves, decorated our classroom with laminated leaves and painted a colorful fall tree.
Pumpkin patch field trip
We enjoyed our first pumpkin patch field trip with our families. We explored the changes of nature and picked some pumpkins from the patch to bring back school and we learned so much about the fruits and vegetables that they grow on the farm.
We were so busy working on scrubbing pumpkins which we picked from the farm.
We opened up our pumpkin and took a look at the different parts of it! We observed and touched the part of the seeds, the pulp (brains, guts), the stem, the flesh and the skin! We also enjoyed in craving a pumpkin with cookie cutter and hammer!
Look what we picked from the farm? A giant sunflower! We spent weeks picking the sunflower seeds for the squirrels and blue jays, and we were so excited to see our new guests visited by. We observed the squirrel climbed up the tree eating the food from bird house we prepared, and the blue jay birds came and took the whole seed away in their beaks. The beautiful bird also left a blue feather for us as a thank you gift!
Cook project: making apple pie
It is the harvest time for apples! We learned the parts of an apple and had so much fun in making mini apple pies with our five senses: use eyes to observe the parts of an apple; use hands to cut the apples; use nose to smell the cinnamon; use mouth to taste the brown sugar; use ears to hear the sizzling of frying apples with butter...... And we made it!
STEM
1. Making lemonade
We practiced our critical thinking skills, collaboration/social skills, and increased motivation in learning during our lemonade making lesson. We tasted the salt, sugar and lemon, and we learned the words "salted", "sweet" and "sour". When we stirred the sugar with lemon juice we discovered that sugar had ‘dissolved’ and which means when things ‘dissolve’ they are still in there we just can’t ‘see’ them anymore.
2. color mixing
There's so much fun in learning colors! We mixed red and yellow then we made orange, we mixed yellow and blue then we made green, we mixed blue and red then we made purple! Look, we have created our own color!
Mid-Autumn Festival
The full moon is nearing and the harvest is ready! Millions of people across China have their mooncakes prepared, awaiting a night of family fun! We shared the history and learned that the Mid-Autumn Festival has been bringing families together through multiple dynasties and for thousands of years. It’s a time for family togetherness and yummy eats!
1. We were working hard on solving lantern riddles.
2. Painting a full moon with flour and glue.
3. Making ice- skin mooncakes.
Chinese activities
We had a lot of fun in learning Chinese! We enjoyed in story role playing, pin-yin sound sorting, Show-N-Tell and pumpkin-twister game!
English outdoor lesson
We enjoyed our outdoor story time a lot! We were excited to observe the color of leaves were changed and the temperature of outside was getting cold. We were watching the plane flying by, greeting to the birds and squirrels, singing and dancing around......
Costume Party
We're so proud that we designed our own costume! We discussed the ideas of costume at home with Dad and Mom, then we collected the materials we need. We helped to cut, glue, draw..... and finally we have done well! It's so wonderful to work with my family as a great team!
Welcome a new friend
We were happy that we had a little new friend joining us! We all love to help our new friend showing the work around in the classroom, setting up the table for lunch, rolling up the sleeping mat after nap....... And you see, how independent he is!
We are caring and helping each other, the more we get together, then more happier we'll be......
