October - the first 3 days

First we learned about the Sunrise and the Sunset.  Along with that of course we learned about roosters, who crow when  the sun rises.  We got our new color wand out which is the color red and talked about the different colors they may see in the sky during sunrise and sunset. This includes the color red.
We got these really cute barns to write their names in and then fold the doors closed.  I had all three of them out on the counter for them to search and find their name.  Then they got to color it on the inside and even draw a picture of their favorite animal in the middle.  I helped draw the animal for the little ones.  You can see the craft instruction sheet here in this picture as well.  We made some super cute rooster masks.

On day 2 we focused on eggs.  This is a favorite topic of Lachlan's.  The first question of the day, Where could you find an egg?  "A chicken house," he said.  The next question was, what animals are born from eggs?  Lachlan started listing "chickens, birds, turtles . . . "  We got out the Look and Find glasses that go along with the Theme Poster for the month.  They are paper magnify glasses with pictures on them for them to find in the poster.  Everyone was playing nicely and I didn't want to interrupt.  So one by one as I saw I had a free moment with one of the kids I would hand them one of the Look and Find glasses.  They would go over the poster, find the object and then I would ask them a question.  Like how many tires can you see on the tractor?  These are the questions on the back of the Look and Find glasses.

Next we made some nest art. 

 First they cut out these chickens.  I helped Peter by drawing a line for him to follow around the chicken. 

 They popped out the eggs.  Lachlan decided to use a color pencil to push them out. 

The paper plate was the nest which was folded in half, stapled, colored and fringe cut at the top to look more like a nest.

As we built our nests we talked about how to keep eggs safe.  We talked about all the various ways animals keep their eggs safe and where they keep them until they hatch.

Our Rhyme Time poster is the story of Humpty Dumpty.  We read the poster and I emphasized the words wall, fall, men, again.  When I read through it the 3rd and 4th time I would pause at those words to see if the kids could fill in the blank.  Lachlan got a few here and there.  I have it up on the fridge, so we will have to read through it more.

We also got 2, half dozen egg cartons.  One I colored red and one brown.  We popped out and sorted our foam triangle pieces into the two cartons.  Triangle is the shape of the month and red and brown are the colors.

On Day 3 we used the foam triangle pieces on the Counting Card.  It has a big number 2 on it with a matching Hands On cardboard #2 cut out and then 2 spaces for 2 triangles.  The kids each took a turn putting 2 triangles in place and counting, 1, 2.  We also took the foam triangle shapes and traced them onto a piece of paper. They cut them out and glued them onto the #2 page in their My Little Journal.  Even the little ones did really well at cutting out their triangles.  I was quite impressed.

We also got out blocks to build a chicken coop.  This really struck a chord with Lachlan and he built several "chicken coops".  I love to see him really get excited about something.  He would build one and then ask me to take a picture. 

Lastly we introduced the letter C and it's /c/c/ sound by clucking like a chicken.  I showed Lachlan the card with the letter C on it and he knew the name of the letter no problem, also the sound it makes, all on his own.  I was so proud.  Then I had him walk around like a chicken making the /c/c/ sound.