Apple Bread

Oh I love this time of season for the apples.  So crisp when they are fresh.  Today we baked Apple Pull-Apart Bread.  I found the recipe at Julie's Eats and Treats.
           
                   I made a loaf at home last night. 
It smelled so good that my husband had to try it before I took it to school.
    
This recipe offered the children lots of cutting practice.  We used scissors
               and knives to cut the apples into small chunks.
   
       Then we added brown sugar and cinnamon to the apples. 
                         Mixing it to coat the apples.
 
                  
Next we cut up the bread dough into little pieces.  Sometimes getting help
                                   how to hold the scissors.
      
     The bread is assembled in layers and we talked about patterns. 
                A layer of bread, a layer of apples, then repeat.
   
Drizzle each layer with melted butter and it’s ready for a warm oven
                                     to rise for an hour.
 
      Our classroom filled with a warm, delicious bread smell.
                
     Everyone wanted to try and some wanted an extra piece.

Expressing Ourselves through Drawing

The first week at school is a time to get to know each other and learn more
                                   about our interests. 
                
  One activity I set up was to encourage each person to draw their face.
   
   
            A mirror was provided to look at themselves. 
          Some used the mirrors other just started drawing.
  
                           Free movement and ideas.
          
Children showed me drawings of themselves and of members in their families.
        
I learned that there are several children that really enjoy colouring. 
     What opportunities can be provided to fulfill their interest?

Roll and Move

              
A new outdoor movement game that was inspired by a post over at Mother Natured.  They called it a wildlife movement die and provide a print out to make your own.  But I wanted to customize it to animals that live around us. 
   
I also wanted to incorporate more literacy so added words with the action words
                                under each animal.
        
We headed out to the school yard and took turns throwing the die.
    
After reading the picture and words the children moved the same way.
 
 
 
 
We added the second die to see how long they had to move.
 
The children loved this game.  Combining animals with free movement outside
             allowed them to move and move and move.

Fall and School have Started

Today was our first day of school and it is also the first day of fall. 
We enjoyed a couple of books to celebrate the day.
 
When the Leaf Blew In by Steve Metzger is a great story with many animals.  When I have a large group of multi-age children telling a story about animals keeps them involved longer.
    
I printed off pictures of all the animals in the story and before reading the book I handed them out to the children (not everyone got one but it still worked).  As I read the story and introduced the next animal, the child with that animal would bring it up and put it on the board. 
        
The pictures give a glue as to the next animal and as we waited for the little one to bring their animal picture up we would guess the next animal and make its sound. 

At the art table I used the book “Leaf Jumper” by Carole Gerber as inspiration for making leaf prints.
         
The book has images of several different leaves.  They are colourful and detailed.  So I decided to make prints for some of the trees that grow around here.
              
                  There was maple, oak, birch and willow.
 
The children used paint rollers to cover the image with paint. 
Then turning it over on to paper and pressing it flat.
            
Lifting the styrofoam image they found a print of their leaf on their paper.
    
Their art looked similar to the book, leaves floating around in the blue sky.