November 2016

This month in Ambarino, we spent a lot of time talking about and looking at fire trucks, apples and pumpkins!  It was so nice to see some of our friends at the infant-toddler meet and greet at Ferrel McWhirter Park the first weekend of October!  It was a great event to kick-off the month and it was the first weekend that really started to feel like fall around here. 
 
The infants have really enjoyed engaging with all of the different pumpkins that are in the room!  The mini pumpkins have been a big hit because several of our friends have found it is easy to carry more than one at once!  The infants have even experimenting with carrying the larger pumpkins since there is one that is a little bit smaller than the other.  It is definitely a maximum effort work to do this, but the older infants can often be found holding this pumpkin and trying to walk a short distance away from where they picked it up.  The infants have also discovered that when the pumpkin is dropped on the floor it makes a very loud sound!  We have also been talking about the difference between red apples and orange pumpkins.
 
Towards the middle of the month, the local fire house brought a truck to campus for our toddler friends to look at.  We have been talking about fire trucks in the classroom and looking at fire truck books leading up to their visit.  After their visit, we were given some fire hats to work with.  The infants loved wearing these hats!  So much so that one day, I think everyone had engaged with the hats at some point!  It was so fun to watch what each infant did with them.  Some chose to take them on and off several times.  They even helped their teachers to put them on multiple times during the day.  Other friends learned what they felt like and what different sounds they made. 
 
A favorite book included Trusty Fire Truck- the firetruck in this book squeaks when pressed and the older infants were very proud of themselves when they were able to make the firetruck make noise all by themselves!  Other books were My Pumpkin by Lily Karr, Five Little Pumpkins Pictures by Dan Yaccarino and Here Comes Halloween by Caroline Jayne Church.  The infants have really enjoyed sitting on the small bench to read their books lately!
 
This month we said good bye to Tallie as she moved on to the Fucsia classroom.  It is wonderful that we still get to see her when she stops by the window to share one of her outstanding smiles and infectious giggles with us!  We also welcomed a new assistant teacher to Ambarino, Ms. Rebekah.  It is always a pleasure to have new friends join our room.
 
In November, we will be talking a lot about turkeys through books, pictures and a fun turkey song!  We will also experience different shapes and textures of gourds and be introduced to several new books to carry on with fall themes. ​