Embracing Fall: Early Childhood Adventures in Learning

As Early Childhood students moved through the fall months, we focused our attention on elements such as pumpkins (and Halloween) and other fall theme ideas. October’s learning engagements involved lots of pumpkin-themed activities. We sang and counted in zoom online classes. Students had a chance to carve their pumpkin too as they investigated what was inside the pumpkin. As we were not able to be on campus, we couldn’t have our annual Halloween Trick or Treat in school, but we invited the children to wear their costumes for our Zoom Halloween celebration.  Teachers included some treats in our students’ HBL packets and worked with parents to scatter the treats around and let students have a trick or treat scavenger hunt.

Fine Motor Skill Development

Students had opportunity to develop fine motor skills as they joined in our Halloween Play Dough Activity. It was a very simple activity to set up. Parents shared photos and videos as their children rolled, squeezed, shaped, and shared their creations. It was encouraging to see students engaged and happy in their learning!

As we explored and developed numeracy skills, we  added some numbered leaves activities. Fall is a beautiful time to take a walk and look at all the beautiful colors, especially in the trees. While on walks, children took time to notice how the leaves were changing colors, and how they were starting to fall from the trees.

After collecting and observing the colors of leaves,  we invited students to sort leaves by color, or to count the number of leaves they collected. For sensory activity play,  we added some items with many different textures such as dyed rice, twigs , leaves and pinecones. Students enjoyed using the colored rice to draw or write in! 

We collected a lot of pine cones and students were able to observe and investigate their unique beauty!  Students used pinecones, sticks, and blocks for building activities. They also conducted experiments to answer the questions about why pine cones open and close.

See also: A Message from Administration Alley: The Summer Reading Challenge!

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