Costumes on Friday

Ana and Elsa are still in, just in case you haven't heard. We had a good number of girls dressed up as these two. And there were other costumes too, not everyone can be a princess. :)

Here's the crew!

We explored a pumpkin during circle. 

I passed around the pulpy, slimy, seedy top of the pumpkin
for the children to touch and smell. One child said it smelled like cantaloupe. Hmm....
We also cut into the snowball pumpkin to see if the insides were the same - the inside was white and the seeds were a little smaller. 

The pirate was ready to dig into the pumpkin. :) 

The bee is bizzzzyyyy writing. 

SNACK TIME!!

We enjoyed a not-so-healthy-but-good-anyway Halloween snack!

HAPPY TRICK OR TREATING!!!

Costumes on Thursday

There was excitement in the air as children came into preschool in their costumes. Some weren't sure about how different everyone looked and others were curious poking and pulling on others costumes. We had a great day and almost everyone kept their costumes on the entire time, no spills or messes. :) 

Art did not involve paint or messy things today. This group really seems to enjoy cutting paper and gluing - so we snipped and glued paper to make colorful pumpkins. 

It was fun to play in costumes!

Working with Legos. He kept the mask on the entire day. :) 

Ms. Larisa carved a pumpkin pie pumpkin.
We touched the slimy pulp and seeds.

SNACK TIME!!

We enjoyed Halloween oreos and milk.

Can you tell who we are?! 

Happy Halloween!!

pumpkins

Pumpkins are great because they come in so many shapes, sizes and colors. I bought some colorful unique pumpkins at Stone Creek Nursery (here in Hesston) since we are talking about pumpkins and they were 1/2 off! :)
In order for the children to get a lot of hands on experiences with these pumpkins, I put them on the floor in the middle of the circle. They've touched, picked up, observed and have been really fascinated with them. It's been neat to watch how and what they do with them. These aren't your typical pumpkins, well, one of them is, but the rest are quite unique.

The kids stacked all of them on Ms. Breana's lap

So curious!

Wondering about the names of these unique pumpkins?
The dark reddish one is Cinderella
Tiny orange is pumpkin pie
White flat one is flat white boar
Bluish one is Australian Blue
Multi colored one is One too many
and I bet you can guess the last one, jack 'o lantern 

They noticed that some of them were oozing a watery substance.

Checking out "snowball" pumpkin 

This guy was tapping each pumpkin with the magnifying glass.
Maybe he's trying out some magic. 

arboretum

Nature is such a great place to be -- peaceful. tranquil. calm.

I always enjoy taking a group of children to the Arboretum. Hesston is so fortunate to have such a beautiful place to explore. I planned some activities while we were there, but there was some flexibility because I knew we would discover so much more than I could ever plan. That is what is so great about nature - you never know what all you will discover!

We are ready!!


Reading, What Color is Nature?


Coloring our nature bags on the sidewalk - it made a cool texture.

Even Ms. Cassidy colored a bag!

Exploring the arb!

On the bridge --
there were some humongous leaves there -
as big as your face!!

Honeysuckle - it smelled so sweet. 

Look at the beautiful blue sky and red trees in the background.

Under the red maple tree

Running!!

Back at the preschool we looked at all of the cool leaves, seeds
and other nature items we collected at the arboretum!!

Check out the Arboretum....

take a walk on or off the trail and discover nature!!

veins

This week we've been learning a lot about leaves, especially characteristics, sizes and shapes. We've been learning about veins and why leaves have them. Since we learned about veins the these last two days, we had to do an art activity with veins. I found this idea on a preschool blog, but I cannot recall which one, but it was not my original idea. 

Some of these were pre-taped (top two)
and others were designed by the children (bottom two) - I like the asterisk on the bottom right - very creative!! 

The process: choose leaf pattern, add painters tape (it doesn't stick as much on the paper), sponge paint leaf with Fall colors, dab off excess paint, then, carefully peel tape off of paper and ta da, you have veins on your leaf!

buckeyes

When you hear the word buckeyes, what do you think of? People from Ohio would say Ohio State or buckeyes my mom/grandma used to make, or trees. Hesston is obviously not in Ohio, but HC does have a row of buckeye trees just east of Mary Miller Library. They are the first trees to turn colors in the fall and every other year produce the buckeye seeds which squirrels snatch up quickly. We had buckeyes for snack yesterday and today (the candy of course!!) and there was not one morsel left. 

buckeye seeds

buckeye candy

Here is the recipe:

 INGREDIENTS: 

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups powdered sugar

1 (12 ounce) package semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons Crisco all-vegetable shortening 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine peanut butter, butter, vanilla and salt in mixer. Beat on low until blended. Add 2 cups powdered sugar, beating until blended. Beat in additional powdered sugar until mixture, when shaped into a ball, will stay on a toothpick. Shape into balls. Refrigerate until firm.

2.  Place chocolate chips and shortening in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds. Stir. Repeat until mixture is smooth.

3. Insert toothpick into peanut butter ball and dip 3/4 of ball into chocolate, leaving the top uncovered to resemble a buckeye. Place on wax paper-lined tray. Remove toothpick. Refrigerate until firm. Keep refrigerated until read to serve. 
4. Recipe makes about 80 balls. 

Recipe from: allrecipes.com

Buckeyes are super easy to make and if you like Reese's peanut butter cups, you will definitely like buckeyes!!

visit to the President's office

Today we visited Dr. Howard Keim, President of Hesston College in the administration building on campus. He is the grandpa of one of our preschoolers in the MWF class. His office had a huge window that we looked out of, we could see people walking on the sidewalk below and the tops of some trees. He also showed us some toys he keeps on his coffee table and we got to sit in fancy chairs. He gave each of us a Hesston College grocery bag and a pen and paper to take home. Plus, we spotted a bowl of chocolate on the way out......

This picture was taken in front of Green Gables almost 100 years ago!

The president's office has a big window with a great view!

Future president? Testing out the chair. 

Howard showed us a pottery piece made by
Paul Friesen (former art faculty member), and he had a miniature mower from Excel Industries and a tractor from Ohio. 

Sitting with grandpa Howard

Hesston College!!

Coming down the stairs in the administration building. 

We stopped to gather some buckeye leaves on our way back to the preschool.