KT Preschool Press www.knowledgetreepreschool.com
Week of November 16th through 20th, 2009
Letter: P
This Week
Number: 3 Shape: Triangle
Color: Brown
As November has unfolded, we have continued our thematic unit on harvest and families; we introduced the
children to the celebration of the First Thanksgiving, which tied in nicely to last week’s unit on cranberries. The
children learned that the first Thanksgiving was shared in Massachusetts between the Pilgrims and Native
American’s, the Wampanoag’s. The cranberry and its many uses was first introduced to the Pilgrims by Native
Americans.
To start the week off the children listened to the interactive book on CD called Off To Pilgrim Rock. Children
were able to follow along with the simple repeated phrase of-“Off to Plymouth Rock,” which could be
chanted, sang, and we even clapped out the verse. In dramatic play we built a teepee, a home for Native
Americans who historically came from the plains’ region of the United States. A teepee for us represents a
common place where all families can come together. In science, we have continued our month long
experiment with cranberries and have started to notice how some of the cranberries are not as red or as full
anymore, but we are not yet sure why ? We also experimented with color as we mixed green, yellow, and red
to create a new color-brown. In art we painted Native American symbols on vests to tell a story. In blocks,
children could use block people to build homes for a family, just like the Native Americans helped the Pilgrims.
Similar to the era, children got to make homemade butter by shaking heavy whipping cream that was placed
in a jar. Children worked all morning to create the butter, understanding all the hard work that went into
creating a meal. Later in the week, we got to taste our homemade butter on homemade cornbread.
Cornmeal, we learned, was a very important product for the first settlers. As a culmination to the week’s unit,
we used a Venn diagram to compare and contrast Pilgrims and Native Americans.
U
U
At the ABC center, children were making pig puppets for the letter P, and as a special activity, did penny
rubbings. At writing they were practicing the letter P, and in the sensory table they could pour the popcorn. In
math, children were using their visual discrimination skills to seriate triangles in order from biggest-smallest. Also,
in math this week, children were practicing their estimation skills as they took a good guess at how many
popcorn kernels were in the jar for letter P.
Letter: T
Looking Ahead
Week of November 23-27, 2009
Number: 3 Shape: Triangle
Color: Brown
This week we will be continuing to explore the theme of Thanksgiving as it relates to present day traditions. We
will be talking about what it means to be thankful as we build a classroom turkey. We will have also concluded
our two week cranberry experiment. As it is a two and a half-day week next week, there will be no newsletter
next week.
We have given you a preview of learning experiences to come over the following week. As we conclude our
cranberry experiment, children will have explored the different ways in which cranberries can be used. They
are harvested in the fall and can be eaten fresh, prepared in a recipe, or dried and stored for later use. After
observing our cranberries drying for the past month, we will reconstitute half of the cranberries by first bringing
them to a boil and then letting them simmer. As they should reabsorb the water they have lost, the children
should be able to observe the cranberries regain their original size and shape. Raisins revive much the same
way. We look forward to watch this process. Many Native Americans added dried foods such as cranberries to
stews for both flavor and nutrition. There is no Show and Tell this week in lieu of the short school week.
A little bit of housekeeping… We will be closing at noon on Wednesday November 25th and no school Thursday
or Friday November 26th& 27th for Thanksgiving. Thank you to all the families who help to donate items for the
Randolph Food bank. There is also posted a wish list of items for December curriculum, if you are able to help
out that would be greatly appreciated. We are always in need of volunteers for woodworking, please see a
teacher if you are interested. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!