The Scariest Monster

The day after Halloween.....wow!  I know that everyone had a wonderful night last night, because we heard ALL about it.....ALL day!!  We gave everyone a moment during morning circle to tell about their favorite part, which was really great, but all the kids wanted to comment on each other's favorite thing, so it got a little out of control.  It even spilled over into playground time, where they each had something else they forgot to say!  LOTS and LOTS of talking!!

In between stories on the playground, we did some running.  We started to explain Red Light, Green Light to the kids, but the "RED LIGHT" part definitely needs some work!  We had a pretty steady rotation of kids sitting beside the teacher to calm down today, so before we came inside for our story, we abandoned the game and ran laps.  Trying to use up their energy is really hard teacher work!!

Our book was The Scariest Monster In The Whole Wide World by Pamela Moyer.  This book is about a little girl who is entering a costume contest.  Her parents would like her to dress up in a girlie costume like a butterfly or a dancer.  But Thea wants to be the scariest monster in the world with fangs and blood coming out of the mouth.  Grandma is called in to help solve the problem.  Everyone ends up happy at the end of the book....Thea is a scary monster, Mom is a butterfly, and Dad is a dancer.  They all win the contest.



We took the pictures that you sent in of the children in their costumes and introduced voting.  We had a mini costume contest, just like in the book.  We all took turns voting on a superlative to award each child......the biggest fireman, the cutest Buzz Lightyear, the scariest skeleton, etc.  It took a few turns, but the kids finally started to understand that they only got ONE vote.....and everybody was going to "win" something!  At the end of music, each child received a yellow award ribbon with their superlative on it.  They were all so very proud!

Art time was making scary monster puppets.  The kids decorated bags to look like monsters and then used them to have conversations with each other.  They added eyes, tongues, teeth, polka dots, hair and stripes.  We could barely get them finished before the kids were using them to scare each other.

We ended the day with a special surprise from Susannah's house.  They have a new poodle puppy, Calhoun.  Susannah's mom brought the dog to visit with our friends.  The kids were so excited.  They all used gentle hands and took turns.  There was so much laughter.....and then when Calhoun started to get excited (or overwhelmed!).....we had to talk about using quiet voices when we are around animals so we don't scare them. 

The kids all waved good-bye to Halloween!  I'm sure we'll feel the effects of the candy for a while, but we are full steam ahead into November!!