The Fall semester is such a magical and exciting time of year with so many wonderful changes to explore all around us.
Week 1 – Seasons and Spiders We will look at the difference between the seasons. Some of our favorite things about Spring, Summer and Fall – Songs, poems and stories will be used to help demonstrate how wonderful and clever nature is. We also take a look at the beautiful webs spiders build that are so apparent at this time of year. We will learn some spiders facts and create our own spider webs on the outside patio.
Week 2 – Bugs, Fall Critter and Where they live. – We will become bug explorers and find where the bugs are living and hiding! It will be a big adventure for the children to get kitted out with bug boxes, nets and magnifying glasses. Our usual routine of songs and rhymes, free play and activities will continue.
Week 3 – Trees, Leaves and seeds. We will take a close look at the trees around us. What does the bark look like? what do their seeds look like? We will take a close look at their leaves and see how many different ones we can find. We will look at who lives in the trees. We will collect some leaves, seeds and twigs to take back to the classroom to paint and print pictures. We will also make decorations and form collages with them.
Week 4 – Planting bulbs This week we will be planting bulbs which will pop up in Spring. We will take this opportunity to dig in the mud one last time before the ground becomes frozen. We will look at mushrooms and fungi and how with the help of the worms they make the soil rich.
Week 5 – Winter foods. Animals gather seeds and stock up in preparation for winter. Humans do too, we will look at ways we can preserve food over the winter. We can go out and collect the green tomatoes which have not had time to ripen. What can we do with them? We can look at our pumpkins growing in the vegetable garden which our Spring children planted. The children can explore inside the pumpkins and spaghetti squash feeling the soft sensation and smelling the ripe food. We will go on a nature walk to collect seeds and and look at what animals eat over winter.
Week 6 – Apples . Lets look at apples, where do they grow? what they need to grow? Where are their seeds? How do they get planted into the ground? We will use our sensors to smell, taste and feel the apples. We will also do some apple printing.
Week 7 – Pumpkins We will decorate our pumpkins for Halloween pumpkins. This will include more sensory play and art work.
Week 8 – Hibernation – This will be a fun class, we will look at which animals hibernate, where and how they do it. We will make our very own shelter in the classroom or outside and the children will be asked to bring a cuddly animal to put into our shelter.
Week 9 – Make a gift for the animals This week we will make a gift for the animals using bird seeds and pine cones. We will then go out on a walk and hang the treats on the trees for the animals to feast over winter. We will also review all songs, poems, Favorite activities and games. The children will decorate their very own bird house to take home and place in their garden.
Please click here for the Winter Schedule
Pandora's Garden 