Halloween mask

Trick or Treaters

I am a trick or treater set to go,
Here is my flashlight I'll walk slow.
I always say thank you for my treats,
And I never run across the street!

After singing, I read the kids a story about the first Jack O Lantern~ It's a pretty interesting story! It's about Jack, a mean person whose soul decided to leave him, and how his soul ended up on Earth because neither the heaven nor hell opened the gate for him. He put burning coal inside a turnip, and then poke holes on the flower to let the light shine through, so he could find his way from hell back to Earth. I asked them questions as I read along, and they seemed to be understanding quite well!

Then we discussed what they're going to dress up as for Halloween. They're gonna be so cute on Friday, when we have our party! After that, I gave each of them a worksheet, where they had to find the matching Jack o Lanterns and draw a line to connect them.



After they were done, they designed a mask~

The Pumpkins are Here!!

When I was preparing for today's lesson, I painted a paperbag pumpkin for Cooper because he wasn't here yesterday. We had to put eyes, nose, mouth and leaves on the Jack o'lanterns, which is an extension of yesterday's activity. Cooper wouldn't have enough time to finish the whole craft today, so I did the painting for him. He was a little bit upset 'cause he wanted to paint, but I explained that to him, and said that we can paint something else again next time.

Song of the day:

The Pumpkins are Here

The pumpkins are here, the pumpkins are there.
The pumpkins, the pumpkins are everywhere.

The pumpkins are up, the pumpkins are down.
The pumpkins, the pumpkins are all around.

The pumpkins are in, the pumpkins are out.
The pumpkins, the pumpkins are all about.

The pumpkins are low, the pumpkins are high.
The pumpkins, the pumpkins all say, "Good-bye!"

Jonah was so excited about finishing the pumpkins today, he kept asking me about it all morning! =)

I pre-cut the eyes, nose, mouth and leaves to hand out to the kids, so they could glue them on. The Jack o'lanterns look so good, sitting together on the shelf!

After the students finished their work, I gave each of them a small pumpkin picture to colour. I explained to them that I want them to give it to one of their friends. An easy way would be to give it to the person sitting next to them, so everybody would have one. After they finished colouring, I helped them glue the pumpkin onto a tongue depressor, so that they could use it as a bookmark! Most of them were happy about the idea of giving it to a friend, but some wanted to give it to someone else, and one of them wanted to give it to his mommy. So I told them that they had a choice to give it to anyone they want, but just make sure that everyone has one in the end. And it worked out~ =)

Paperbag Pumpkin

After singing and reading, I taught the students the "Days of the Week" song. Most of the kids still haven't grasped the concept of days of the week, so they don't really know what day it is today, what comes after Monday, etc. I hope that by teaching this song and having them sing along everyday, they would eventually remember the order.

Pumpkin, Pumpkin

Pumpkin, Pumpkin,
Sitting on the wall.
Pumpkin, Pumpkin,
Tip and fall.
Pumpkin, Pumpkin,
Rolling down the street.
Pumpkin, Pumpkin,
Good to eat!!

We started to make a paperbag pumpkin today! I gave each student a brown paperbag, asked them to crumple up pages from old magazines, and fill the paperbag until it's about half way through. Then I helped them to tie an elastic band to close the bag. I told the kids that we're not going to use orange paint to paint the bags, because I want to show them how to mix two colours to get orange. I put some red on the palette, and then added yellow, and mixed them together in front of the kids. They were so surprised and went "wow...!!"

Because we need to wait for the paint to dry, we're going to add the eyes, nose, mouth, and the leaves tomorrow. =)

Unfinished pumpkins + my sample on the right~

5 Little Pumpkins

Today we had sharing time again, where each student thanked someone else for being nice to them. I think they're getting used to this routine now, and it's amazing to watch the smiles on their face when they say and hear the words "thank you". ^^

New song of the day:

Five Little Pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,
The first one said, "Oh my, it's getting late."
The second one said, "There are witches in the air."
The third one said, "But I don't care."
The fourth one said, "I'm ready for some fun!"
The fifth one said, "Let's run and run and run."

"Wooooooo" went the wind,
And out went the lights.
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

I read the book "Too Many Pumpkins" to them, but I didn't read it word to word. I like the story, it's about a woman who loves to plant, but never planted any pumpkins. The reason is that she used to be very poor when she was little, and they'd eat food made of pumpkin everyday for every meal. So after she grew up, she hates pumpkins! But something happened and there were LOTS of pumpkins growing all over her garden, so she had to do something with it. She wanted to give them all away, but it would be difficult to knock door by door. So she made food out of the pumpkin, and decorated the rest of the pumpkins, carved them and put a candle inside each of them, and laid them outside of her house, to attract people's attention. Soon, people came by and went into her house, and she gave them the pumpkin treats. So in the end, she gave away everything, except for a bag of pumpkin seeds, because the feeling of giving the pumpkins and pumpkin treats away was so warm, she decided to do it again next year! =) I didn't read it word to word because it's a bit long, and the kids couldn't focus. So I showd the pictures and paraphrased the story~

After reading, we did a little group activity. Each group got some pictures of the pumpkin (the ones that we used for size ordering yesterday), and their task was to count how many they had. After each group shared the number of pumpkins that they had, I asked them which group had the most and which had the least. And they got it~ =)

Then I gave them the instructions of how to make a paperplate pumpkin. Initially, I wanted them to tear orange papers and glue them on the paperplate, and then glue on the face and stem, and that's it. But then I thought it'd be nice to punch a hole on the stem and tie a ribbon there, so they could hang on doorknobs or somewhere else as a decoration. After I told them my idea, Jonah said, "Yeah, I think it's a good idea!" =P I asked them to share the glue again today, and nobody grabbed~ Yay!!

I'm a Little Pumpkin

Before we did anything today, we had community circle time, where I asked all the students to share with the class what they did on the weekend. I passed the rainstick to the person who's sharing, and reminded the rest of them that they had to listen to the person holding the rainstick. I found that they're more attentive when they know that they have to do the same thing, because they're anticipating it~

This week's theme is pumpkin! I introduced today's lesson by asking the students what letter does the word pumpkin start with, and most of them got it -- P!! Then we started a discussion on what pumpkins need to grow -- soil, water and sunlight. We talked about pumpkins as food, giving us vitamin A and potassium, and some food that we can make out of pumpkins -- pumpkin pie, cakes, soup, etc. Then we sang this song with movements, and they loved it~

I'm a Little Pumpkin

I'm a little pumpkin
Orange and round.
Here is my stem,
There is the ground.

When I get all cut up,
Don't you shout!
Just open me up,
And scoop me out!

After that, I divided them into groups of 3 and 4, and then gave each group a set of 5 pumpkins, which they had to order from the smallest to largest. They seemed to be confused by the concept of a group of people sharing the same set of pumpkins, and also the concept of smallest to biggest. So I guided them by asking them to show me the smallest one, and then compared all the other ones to line them up. They had no problems with comparing two at a time, so I believe that the skill of ordering by size will develop soon by practicing.



After this group activity, I asked each of the kids to tell me who was nice to them today, and to say thank you to that person. To my surprise, they started hugging each other! It was an amazing feeling, because I felt that they're really beginning to appreciate each other, and beginning to understand what giving out "warm fuzzies" mean. I'm very proud of them. =) I'm under no illusion that they'll always be caring and loving to each other from this moment on, I know that arguments and conflicts will arise by just the tiniest incident, but the awareness of something called appreciation is a good start for these 3-to-4-year-olds!

The art that we did today is using construction papers to make a pumpkin, with the letter P in the middle of the pumpkin. I let two students share a glue, and was pleasantly surprised that nobody complained about grabbing! It was a great lesson today! In the end, I put a "warm fuzzy" in each of the kids' warm fuzzy bag. Today's warm fuzzy is an origami heart that I made. =)

Reya's pumpkin:


Jonah's pumpkin:


Cooper's pumpkin:

Warm fuzzies

I read a story called "Fuzzyland" to the children today. It's about a place called Fuzzyland, and the people there love to give other people "warm fuzzies" to make them feel warm and happy inside~ Warm fuzzies are free, and people are generous to give them freely to people that they love and care about. The problem came when the bad witch came to Fuzzyland and cast a spell to make people believe that warm fuzzies are running out, so they're not willing to give them out freely anymore. The bad witch began to give them "cold pricklies", which made them feel sad and angry. Fortunately, a good witch came, and she gave out lots of warm fuzzies to remind people that there will never be a shortage for them. So they began to believe again, and Fuzzyland returned to the way it was before. =)

Before I read the story, I introduced Ms. Warm Fuzzy, the little "warm fuzzy" that I made. =P I held it as I read the story.

Ms. Warm Fuzzy~:


After reading, we discussed what a warm fuzzy is. It could be a hug, a word of encouragement or appreciation, thoughtful gifts, etc. It means anything that make people feel warm and happy. Giving out warm fuzzies mean being nice to others.

I told them that we're going to make a warm fuzzy bag today. I'll give each of them a ziplock bag, and then they'll decorate and personalize it~ When they're good in class, I'll put something in their bags -- it could be anything, like stickers or a note of appreciation. I also told them that if they think that their friends are nice to them, they can also make something and put it inside their friends' warm fuzzy bags. =)

To send them to the table to decorate their bags, we sat in a circle and sang, while passing Ms. Warm Fuzzy, like the game of "hot potato". When the song ends, the person who's holding Ms. Warm Fuzzy will go to the table to wait for the rest of us. We sang different songs each time, until everybody was sent to the table~ They love Ms. Warm Fuzzy! =)


Sophie's warm fuzzy bag:


Reya's warm fuzzy bag:


Cooper's warm fuzzy bag:

Two on a crayon

We started today's lesson with the rainmaking exercise, where I used the rainstick to make raining sound, and the students rubbed their palms, patted their thighs, and stomped their feet to imitate the raining sound. It calmed them down and soon everybody was sitting nicely and quietly, ready for lesson~

We sang the song "If You're Happy and You Know It", replacing the word "happy" with "thankful". After a few rounds, I asked them to think about who were nice to them today. I gave them examples, like who helped them tie their shoelaces, or who played nicely with them. We went around the circle so everybody had a chance to share with us. Shriyans said that Reya was nice to him because she played with him, so I said, "That's very nice, so you should be thankful to her. Let's say thank you to Reya~" We did that with every kid, and they were all smiling as they thanked each other. It was really sweet! I believe that being thankful and appreciative is a matter of habit, and it's developed by learning to notice the daily, small things that make us happy or make our life easier, and appreciating the people for making us feel this way. =)

Then we sang some more songs, and I read them the book "Thank you, Amelia Bedelia". I didn't finish the story, because the kids didn't seem too interested. Book choices really make a difference in engaging students, and I think choosing books come with experience and our knowledge of the kids. I hope that next week, I'll be able to pick some books that interest my kids more~

I showed them the 3 colouring pages that I printed out. One is a girl helping another girl to get up after she fell down, the other is two friends riding bicycle, and the last one shows two friends playing happily together. We discussed the pictures, and then I told them the instructions for our following activity. Each Tribe got 1 colouring page, and their task was to complete the colouring as a group. I picked one person from each group to be the first person to colour. So when I said "1, 2, 3, start!" only one person from each group would have a crayon/marker in his/her hand. Then, when they heard the rainstick, they had to pass the crayon/marker to the next person, and the next person would start colouring. At first they were a bit confused, and each of them wanted their own colouring page, but after a while they got it and they were willing to pass the page~ This is an exercise that would foster cooperation as well as sharing. When they were done, we shared some of our feelings of this activity. Reya said that she likes it because Shriyans was sharing with her~ Jonah wanted to bring it home, but I said since he worked on it with Phillip, Phillip would want to bring it home too. So maybe on the weekend, I could make a copy of it and both of them could bring it home. He thought it's a good idea. =P

I noticed that Daniel was a little bit too quiet today, and when I asked everybody to go to the table, he still sat on the carpet, unwilling to move. I asked him what happened, but he wouldn't answer. So I told him that I would leave him alone, and when he's ready, he could join us. After a while, he was still sitting at the carpet, so I tried to talk to him again. I asked him is it because he didn't like his group, or did I say something that made him upset, but he shook his head. I told him that I wanted to know why he's sad because I wanted to help him solve his problems, and he could tell me when he's ready. After a few moments, when I went to him again, he was willing to stand up. I asked if he wanted to join the rest of the kids, and he said no. So I gave him something else to colour on the other table. As he was colouring, I asked him, "Are you missing mommy?" and he nodded. By the time he finished colouring, he showed it to me proudly, finally smiling. I was so glad. =)After school, I told his mom, and she said he probably missed his daddy, because he went away. Maybe all of a sudden he thought of it, and that's why he was sad. I hope he'll be feeling better tomorrow!


Sophie & Giada's:


Shriyans and Reya's:

Jonah & Phillip's: