Out and About in the Neighborhood

Today we started talking about Where We Live. The Touch and Feel pool was full of transportation items that you might see while out in the "neighborhood"....our new vocabulary word for the day!  The kids loved identifying the trains, buses, helicopters, ice cream trucks, and fire trucks.  We talked about where and why you might see each one in your neighborhood. 

During morning circle, we discussed our VERY busy day!  The kids were so excited about all that we had planned, but we had to talk about some rules for the day....and how important the rules were to keep us safe.  Following the rules is the only way that we can do all the fun things we have scheduled.

 

 

The first activity of the day....Ms. Michele! She brought a big parachute for us to play with first. We moved it up and down...fast and slow. The kids also each got a turn to run under the parachute while their friends held it up in the air. It was super hard to wait our turn, but everyone had fun peeking at their friends under the parachute!  Next the kids jumped forward, backward, and sideways through a ladder on the ground. We didn't want to jump outside the squares or the pretend alligators would get us! The last time on the ladder the kids bear walked. Ms. Michele brought 2 finger fun activities today! She brought magic water beads. They are wet and squishy...the kids loved rolling them in their hands. She also made play-doh towers. The kids had to push circles and paper clips through the stick on the tower. Everyone concentrated very hard and was very careful to not knock over the tower!

 

 

The playground was crowded today, but the kids are still enjoying the new sand in the sand box.  We also all really like to run to the fence and watch our TK friends having fun with Ms. Michele! The fall weather sure is nice!

 

Before starting our walk we read the story Around the Neighborhood by Katherine Mead.   The kids in the book visited different places in their neighborhood. They went to the park, a school, the post office, a grocery story,  and the library.

Before we headed out in the neighborhood, we had two things to do....first....review the rules.  We discussed how important it was to always be holding the rope.  The kids all practiced how to say "stop" if you needed the class to slow down for a lost shoe or a tripping friend.  We talked about using our ears to listen to the teachers, and our eyes to watch for bumps in the sidewalk and cars when crossing the road. 

The second thing before we headed outside was to explain a game we would be playing while on our walk.  We made a list of things we were going to look for on our walk. A scavenger hunt!  Some of the things we were going to look for were a dog, bike, a flag and flowers. Each teacher got a copy of the scavenger hunt pages and the kids had special instructions to yell out when they found something on the list.  We would mark it off and see how many we could find on our neighborhood walk.  On our walk we saw leaves, flowers, bugs, a bike, cars, a city bus, stop signs, and a person walking a dog. We heard some squirrels.....but couldn't actually find one with our eyes.  They are very sneaky! 

 

 

When we finally made it back to school, everyone was hungry and tired.  The kids had so much fun....and we excellent rule followers!  It was a wonderful first Out and About!