October 2022: Fall, Friendship, Fun!
Seasons changing, relationships growing, children becoming comfortable and confident:
What a beautiful October! We luckily were able to still spend plenty of time outside playing, gardening, and enjoying snacks at our outdoor tables.
October’s explorations included: trees, signs of fall, and dress up/puppets/dramatic play. We had the children mindfully explore all of the ways they can be a kind friend. Of course we explored pumpkins as well! We cut them open, ate the seeds, made pumpkin cookies, and talked about how pumpkins are a sign of fall.
We continued to practice yoga, breathing exercises, and life skills such as putting on our shoes, rolling up our yoga mats, problem-solving, cleaning up after snack, standing in line, active listening, covering coughs and sneezes, using a tissue, and using the bathroom and wash hands independently.
Books read to enhance learning experiences:
Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington
Songs we sang this month:
Way Up High in the Apple Tree
Autumn Leaves are Falling Down
I like to Eat Apples and Bananas
Make New Friends
How can you be a kind friend?
What is a friend? What do your friends do that makes you feel loved? How can you be a kind friend?
Easier said than done for people of every age. It takes intentional actions and mindful awareness to perform acts of kindness for our friends. Some of the responses teachers heard were: playing, sharing, helping clean up, helping a friend who is hurt, and using kind words. It takes time for young children to perceive a situation from two points of view. It helps to ask “Who are your friends? What do they do that is kind?”
“You cannot do kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Books read to enhance learning experiences:
Right Now, I am Kind by Dr. Daniela Owen, illustrated by Gülce Baycik
The Bear Who Shared by Catherine Rayner
When Sophie Gets Angry - Really, Really, Angry by Molly Bang
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Exploring Trees:
How trees change and what they give us. Introducing our ‘Sit Trees’
The importance of trees is immense, Earth would not be without them.
We focused on how trees change in the fall. The children learned that as the days grow shorter chlorophyll disappears from the leaves and reveals their colors. The leaves then fall off the tree and the trees become dormant for the winter.
Each class will have a ‘Sit Tree’. This is a tree in the school yard that they will observe, draw, make predictions about, and use as a place to practice mindfulness and have moments of solitude.
We also explored materials that trees give us. Not only do trees provide us with oxygen, fruits, nuts, and supports our ecosystem, but so many materials to build and create. We used recycled art project papers to make our very own seed paper! The children got to take home their piece to save to plant in Spring. We made paper pulp, added seeds, shaped them, and strained and flattened them. We watched a video of how paper is made and played a game “Does it come from a tree?”
Books read to enhance learning experiences:
A is for Autumn by Robert Maass
Little Tree by Loren Long
Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn by Kenard Pak
As An Oak Tree Grows by G. Brian Karas
Summer Green to Autumn Gold: Uncovering Leaves’ Hidden Colors by Mia Posada
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Dramatic Play, Dress Up, and Performing:
“Dress-up play allows anyone to dream, hope, and use their imagination. It gives kids permission to pretend to be someone or something different and extraordinary that reflects their personality and current interests and promotes more independence by allowing kids to practice self-care skills.”
- THE BENEFITS OF DRESS-UP PLAY by Keri Wilmot
Dramatic play is the type of play where children take on roles and act them out. Supporting this sense of imagination in the early years is crucial for the well-being of child.
Costumes, props, dolls, and more! The imagination of a child is precious. When children participate in dramatic play they imitate things they experience and see in their life. Dress up and pretend play, also known as dramatic play, builds problem-solving skills and enhances self-regulation abilities. When children dress up they use their imagination skills and communication skills while playing with others. We have a variety of dress up costumes where the children can take on a new perspective and try out a new identity. Pretend is fun!
The children practiced the songs all month to put on a performance for their families at the Fall Celebration. Costumes and dramatic play are for any time of the year!
Art Explorations:
Abstract trees, Wire sculptures, leaf rubbings, wreaths:
Hidden leaves under tracing paper rubbed with a paperless crayon revealed the details of many different leaves. Some of the children enjoyed this so much they made one after another! We used them to decorate our classroom in celebration of fall.
Wire Sculptures: At SimpleLife we use a variety of art mediums. The children bent wire to look like a tree or anything else they wanted, to create a beautiful sculpture. Some used paper clay and paint to decorate while others used recycled objects and decorations.
A simple project can sometimes be the most fulfilling. Paper plates and gathered fall nature items to make a fall time wreath. Teachers focused on the process of the wreath, rather than the product. And in this case, part of the process was gathering the leaves and seeds! Each child had their own vision of how the wreath would turn out. It doesn’t matter what an adult is hoping to see, the child’s journey to make this project their own is what is valuable.
With cut up paper to represent trunk, roots, branches, leaves, fruits, and buds. The children made abstract trees. Abstract is to be nonrealistic, each child got to choose how they wanted their tree to be represented, whether or not it looked like a tree.
Fall Celebration
At SimpleLife, we take comfort in celebrating nature and the seasons.
On the day of Fall Celebration, children were excited to wear dress-ups, get their faces painted and make fall crowns in preparation for a parade.
Each child got a small white pumpkin. We used broken crayons, that would have otherwise gone in the garbage, and a blow dryer to melt the colors on top of the pumpkin. This was a learning experience for the children and teachers, but it was so fun to have the children take a pumpkin home with them!
We enjoy to have a special snack on celebration days. For our fall celebration, we made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies! Yum!
We ended the day by parading in our costumes for our families. The children practiced the songs all month to prepare for the big day! It brought us so much joy to see the support and love on this day.
“Young children’s learning and development are integrally connected to their families. Consequently, to support and promote children’s optimal learning and development, programs need to recognize the primacy of children’s families, establish relationships with families based on mutual trust and respect, support and involve families in their children’s educational growth, and invite families to fully participate in the program. “
(National Association for the Education of Young Children Program Standard 7)
