Costello Building Blocks- Weekly Happenings: October6-10, 2014

Description KDIs

Small
Group
Activities
1. Birthday Pumpkins:
Georgina brought in pumpkins and decorating kits to
celebrate her birthday with the class! Using the materials
provide, each child had a chance to decorate their own
pumpkin. When they were finished they took it home to
display proudly.
Approaches to Learning: initiative, engagement, reflection
Social/Emotional: sense of competence, community, building relationships
Physical: fine motor skills
Creative: art
Language/Literacy: comprehension, speaking, vocabulary
Math: shapes, spatial awareness
Science: natural and physical world
2. Cutting-Fall Pictures into Puzzles: Each child was given a
basket with fall pictures, scissors, glue and a blank piece of
paper. The children used the scissors to cut apart the fall
pictures and then used the glue and blank piece of paper to
piece the picture back together, like a puzzle.
Approaches to Learning: initiative, engagement, problem solving
Social & Emotional: sense of competence, community, building relationships
Physical: fine motor
Language: comprehension, speaking, vocabulary
Math: Spatial awareness, part whole relationships, shapes
Science: communicating ideas, classifying, experimenting
3. Cutting-Straws into Beads, Lacing:
Each child was given a basket with three straws with dashed
lines drawn horizontally on them, scissors and a piece of
string. The children cut their straws on the dashed lines to
make beads. Once they had all their straws cut into beads,
they strung their beads onto their piece of string to create a
necklace.

Extension: Children were challenged to create a pattern with
their beads when making their necklace
Approaches to Learning: initiative, engagement, use of resources, problem solving
Social/Emotional: self-identity, sense of competence, community
Language: comprehension, speaking, vocabulary
Physical: fine motor
Math: number words, part-whole relationships, patterns
Science: observing, classifying, communicating ideas, drawing conclusions
Social Studies: diversity, community roles
4. Jack-O-Lanterns:
Using construction paper, children cut out pumpkins. Using
various shape cut outs, children glued the shapes onto their
pumpkin cut out to create a jack-o-lantern.

Approaches to Learning: initiative, engagement, problem solving
Social & Emotional: sense of competence, community, building relationships
Physical: fine motor
Language: comprehension, speaking, vocabulary
Math: spatial awareness, part whole relationships, shapes, number words
Science: communicating ideas, classifying, experimenting
Social Studies: diversity
5. Name Practice: Children practiced writing their name using
various surfaces and writing materials. Children who did not
know how to write their name used their letter link name
card to see the various letters in their name and practice
writing those same letters in that order to form their name.

Approaches to Learning: initiative, planning, engagement, use of resources,
Social/Emotional: self-identity, sense of competence
Physical: fine motor
Language: comprehension, speaking, vocabulary, alphabetic knowledge
Math: spatial awareness
Science: experimenting, communicating ideas
Social Studies: diversity, decision making, geography
Costello Building Blocks- Weekly Happenings: October6-10, 2014

Large
Group
Songs, Fingerplays & Activities:

Song Artist
Birthdays Jack Hartmann
5 Little Fish Jack Hartmann
The Itsy Bitsy Spider Jack Hartmann
Silly Willies Greg & Steve
Days of the Week Kidzup Childrens Music
Put Your Finger On Parachute Express
Witches Brew Dr. Jean
The Body Part Game Greg & Steve
ABCs
5 Little Pumpkins Fingerplay

Letter Links- Discussion of names, letter link symbols, letters and their
sounds


Approaches to Learning: engagement
Social/Emotional: sense of competence, community
Physical: gross motor skills, fine motor skills, body awareness
Language/Literacy: comprehension, speaking, vocabulary
Math: number words and symbols, counting, part-whole relationships
Creative: music, movement
Social Studies: diversity

Literature: Book Title Author
Apples & Pumpkins Ame Rockwell
Pumpkin Soup Helen Cooper
Georgies Halloween Robert Bright
Harriets Halloween Candy Nancy Carlson
Scaredy Pants Joan Holub
Clifford & the Halloween Parade Norman Bridwell
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eric Carle
The Night Before Halloween Natasha Wing
The Biggest Pumpkin Ever Jeni Basstt


Language & Literacy: comprehension, speaking, vocabulary, phonological
awareness, alphabetic knowledge, concepts about print, book knowledge
Sensory
Table

Sand & Misc. Plastic Containers


Approaches to Learning: initiative, planning, engagement, problem solving
Social/Emotional: self-identity, sense of competence, emotions, community,
cooperative play, conflict resolution
Physical: fine motor, body awareness
Creative: pretend play
Science: experimenting, communicating ideas, natural and physical world, tools