Good morning, Families,

I hope you are all enjoying the cooler weather!

Next week we will do a lot with pumpkins.  ….. Monday we will sort pumpkins, gourds and corn.  We will sing “Five Little Pumpkins,” practice our cutting while making pumpkin puppets – and then act out the “Five Little Pumpkins” song in groups of five with our puppets.  This puppet project is adapted from one that the children saw Leslie’s preschool class doing this past Wednesday.  Many of them asked if we could do it, too!  Having them cut out their own pumpkins brings it up to the pre-k level.  Doing a project that they’ve asked to do is one simple example of how emergent curriculum works to make learning meaningful and so much fun!  ….. Friday we will read Big Pumpkin, a funny story by Erica Silverman, and act it out with props in our smaller groups.  We will also talk about our day at the pumpkin patch and draw pictures of our favorite parts of the field trip.

And Wednesday is the fabulous Pumpkin Patch Field Trip!  We will not meet at school that morning.  All classes go to G&M Farms in Livermore.  Please meet (rain or shine!) at the hay bales next to the parking lot.  Families are welcome to stay as long, or as little, as they like.  There will not be a sign in/out sheet that day as all parents attend and are responsible for their own children. The school pays for all VPP students and each child will get to pick out a pumpkin, gourd and corn.  Parents and siblings attend for free and can opt to purchase additional pumpkins directly from G&M Farms if they’d like. A sign up form is posted on the bulletin board above the children’s name tags.  Please read and sign letting us know if you will attend!   Our class will meet at 9:45am.  Please be on time if you’d like to participate in the hay ride, as we will do that first.

And, our backyard has been transformed by our wonderful curriculum committee!  Monday the children will find that we have our own pumpkin patch in the back yard!  They can buy, sell, admire, sort, count, rearrange, touch, plan, carry, weigh and decorate with the pumpkins through their wonderful dramatic play.  The committee also transformed the boat into a fire truck complete with hoses, extinguishers and hats!  I’m sure we’ll be putting out lots of fires next week!

Enjoy your weekend and I look forward to seeing all of you on Monday!

Warmly,  Tess