Discovering Veteran's Day

We close for Veteran's Day since Papa Joe is a Veteran.  To try to convey a little of what being a veteran means to young children, we read a story. We read "The Flag We Love" by Pam Munoz Ryan because it shows ways we use the Flag to represent our pride in our country.  It shows fireworks, and later it Francis Scott Key with bombs bursting in the distance.  We talked about how fireworks remind us of the loud bombs and how scary that must have been.  However loud they were, Francis Scott Key was very happy to see the Flag still there, so he wrote the Star Spangled Banner.  The children all know the Star Spangled Banner so now they know a little bit about who wrote it.  The book also shows a few pictures of ways that we use our Flag to show respect, and to show respect for things our country stands for.  We also read "Lola Loves Stories" because it is fun to read.  The story shows her reading with family members, and playing nicely with friends or by herself as she acts out the stories.

To remind us of the Flag and our country, we used red and blue paint on white paper to make flags.  Most enjoyed using pom poms to dip in paint and put on paper.  Some didn't want to touch the mess so we added clothes pins to help them paint without the messy feeling.  Most children got the idea right away, and had a great time with flag painting.

The VPK Classroom used a fun page to practice drawing a line from one thing to a matching picture - using the different military services.  We also talked about shapes, and traced different shapes around pictures of the different military services.  I found these pages for free on  http://www.3dinosaurs.com/printables/packs/veteransday.php

Other activities that we worked on in VPK today were - counting pumpkin seeds out using tweezers to place on pumpkin pictures, matching pumpkin letters (all upper case), matching upper to lower case coconuts on palm trees (Chicka Chicka Boom Boom), and matching upper and lower case letter leaves to their matching letter tree.  This was all after we reviewed homework for the week and everyone was able to choose a treasure from the treasure box.

While the VPK group was working on their activities, the younger group had morning circle time, their choice of  puzzles, and then they read The Crayola Color Book, Mighty Moves Diggers and Dumpers, I Dreamed I Was A Fireman, and I Spy Little Wheels.  After reading they worked with shape sorters especially the newer shape sorter we have that makes sounds while they go in.   It is a great motivator to putting the right shape in: Battat Sound Sorter
While they were taking turns putting the shapes in, they were also learning social skills like sharing.   They love home living so of course they worked in home living.  I say worked because that is their job right now - to learn while playing.   They used all sorts of food with dishes, cups, cupcakes, and more to make and serve just the right thing.