Pumpkins

We started the week with orange day.  All of the kids looked great dressed in their orange clothings.  They all brought in something orange for show and tell as well.  We had orange trucks, orange bears, an orange leaf, and lots more.  Mrs. Gould brought in orange gourds for all of us and we each got to take one home.  Then it was time to hear our story about an orange pumpkin named Spookley.  We had a CD to go with it so we listened to that as well.

Click on the link below to see the video of Spookley.  My guess is that your kids would love to watch it!!

During art we mixed red and yellow paint on a square piece of white paper to create orange.  We needed to let these dry before we could turn them into our very own Spookleys!

Wednesday was pumpkin science day.  We heard a story called Pumpkin, Pumpkins which tells the story of how pumpkins grow.  It had real pictures as illustrations and took us through all the stages from seed to pumpkin and even to jack o lanterns! (Life science and biology for preschool!) Then it was time for us to cut open our pumpkins and see what was inside.  We all knocked on the pumpkin first and realized it was hollow.  Then we saw all the seeds and pulp when we opened it up.  We broke into partners and we each got a pumpkin to clean out.  

Some of us liked how it felt inside and some of us didn't!  After we cleaned out the insides we put the pumpkins in the oven to bake. Naomi brought in some pumpkin seeds that she helped bake at home so we had them with our snack.  Thanks Naomi....they were delicious!! When we pulled out the pumpkins they were dark orange and the insides were very soft. (States of matter and how matter changes...physical science and chemistry preschool style).  We also baked the seeds!

Here are the seeds after they came out of the pumpkin.  All of the kids had a turn to put a little salt on the seeds before we baked them.

Thursday was pumpkin bread baking day!  The insides of the pumpkin were scooped out and pureed so we could use it in our recipe to bake.  Then we made "Friendship Pumpkin Bread".  We called it friendship bread because all of us had a chance to mix and add ingredients.  

 While the bread was baking we went outside, finished our art project, had activity time and heard another story about a pumpkin who became a jack 'o lantern.  Our classroom smelled so good!

Finally the bread was done and we were able to have our snack.  Chocolate chip pumpkin bread, pumpkin seeds, and chocolate milke!  Yum!!

Last week we made squish art with Mrs. Chyko using red and yellow paint.  The artwork was so beautiful that we decided to display it on our art wall.  Ask your child to show you their project next time you're at school!  The kids are so proud of their work!!

Beautiful!!!