Apples Galore!

What a fantastic day! There were apples galore...apple sauce, apple graphs, apple art, apple patterns, red apples, yellow apples, green apples. I almost felt like Bubba from Forest Gump, lol. A great day was had by all. Besides getting to taste the apple sauce, the kids LOVED getting a turn to try the apple peeler/corer. 
A BIG THANK YOU to everyone who donated apples.

In case you are interested, here is the recipe for the applesauce we made today. They taste great warm with vanilla icecream or cold, as a side dish.

1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar
10 large apples, peeled, cut, and cored

Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 8-10 hours. Take a potato masher and mash. This can be eaten warm or cold. Refrigerate the remaining sauce.
*Note* I made a batch and a half  that was perfect for our class of 23.

What else did we do this week?
We learned about the letters "Dd" and "Ff", the sounds they make and how to write them. In writing, we continued to practice writing sentences with a focus on using two fingers to make a space between each word, as well as, creating pictures with labels that represented the kiddos favorite part in the book, "Ellen's Apple Tree". 
In reading, our focus was on making predictions about a story before we start to read, as well as a continued focus on print concepts such as, understanding punctuation marks (period, question marks, and exclamation point), where the title page is, what the author/illustrator do, left-to-right/top-to-bottom reading, etc....
In math, we began to use 5 groups with the numbers 6-10. For example, we counted the number 7 on our hands. We then,were able to see that seven is the same value as 5 and 2. This is a very important concept, as being able to see and use 5 groups gives children a trememdous advantage when they move into addition and subtraction. 
As always, these concepts can easily be reinforced at home through 'teachable moments'.

Conferences
Keep an eye out for an email with details on how you can sign up for quarter 1 conferences.

Wishlist
Thank you to Ms. Hughes for finding and donating the elusive 8quart dishpans (they were so rare, it was almost like seeing Big Foot), as well as cookie sheets for our classroom.
Thank you to eveyone who donated 'kid-friendly' magazines to use at our Word Work station.
Thank you to our wonderful volunteers, Ms. Walters, Ms. Moose, Ms.Davis, and Ms. Salpeck for making copies, stuffing folders, making min-books, and tearing out math pages every week.  You are very much appreciated by both Ms. Gardner and myself.