Little Busy Bodies Preschool
Newsletter
November 2nd & 4th, 2011
Dear Preschool Parents,
I switched a few things up in the schedule and decided to continue on with the seasonal topic of pumpkins and how plants grow. I miss living in an area that has true seasons so as a result, I’m living vicariously through the characters in our fall books.
The first book we read this week was “Pumpkin Jack,” by Will Hubbell. This is a neat book to read after Halloween has come and gone. The children often feel sad to put their costume away and see the pumpkins they carved begin to wilt, but this story continues the magic of the season. “Pumpkin Jack” tells of a boy named Tim who carved his pumpkin and named him Jack. When Halloween was over and the pumpkin was beginning to rot, Tim’s mom told him to get rid of it. Instead of tossing it in the trash, he sets it out in the garden and throughout the weeks he sees it begin to change. Its skin shrivels and it becomes flatter. After the winter snow, all that is left is a stem, some seeds, and a crumpled pumpkin skin. But the story doesn’t end here. In the spring, a plant begins to grow! Tim tends the vines, and by the following Halloween, he has a garden full of pumpkins. This is a wonderful story that invites children into the world of science and peaks their interest in conducting their own pumpkin experiment. We decided to follow Tim and put a few carved pumpkins out in the backyard. We will see for ourselves the natural process that occurs as they break down. A little sprout in the spring would be a welcome addition. Please, Mr. Pumpkin Fairy?? Focusing on the lifecycle of the pumpkin, each child also planted a seed in a Ziploc bag. Hopefully these will sprout in the next week and the children can see how a seed becomes a plant. We also planted several seeds in a plastic tub.
The second story we read this week was, “Too Many Pumpkins,” by Linda White. In this story, Rebecca Estelle hates pumpkins with a passion. As a child she was forced to eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner when times were financially tough. So when the pumpkin truck drives by and accidentally drops a few ripe pumpkins into her garden with a splat, Rebecca Estelle decides to ignore the pumpkiny mess…and eventually the HUGE mess of growing vines in her garden. She decides that if she doesn't tend it and doesn't water the plants, her pumpkin problem will go away. WRONG! The untended pumpkin vines flourish, and Rebecca Estelle discovers she has a BIG problem on her hands: too many pumpkins! After some thought, she decides to turn something negative into something positive. She makes enough pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, and pumpkin desserts to feed her entire town. Out of nothing, Rebecca Estelle makes something marvelous: a harvest feast she shares with the entire town. After reading this book, we made chocolate chip pumpkin muffins as a class. We intended to share them with all of you as Rebecca Estelle did in the story, but didn’t quite have the time to get them cooled and wrapped. I may try to drop some off…we’ll see how life goes.
REMINDER
*KING/ QUEEN OF THE WEEK Nov. 7th & 9th: Olivia
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
*NOV 18-Preschool Make-up Day
*NOV 21 & 23-NO SCHOOL THANKSGIVING WEEK
HALLOWEEN CANDY WRAPPERS MAKE GREAT WORD WALL CONTRIBUTIONS!!
See you on Monday!
Sincerely,
Amber
