It’s been another festive fall week here at HCS!  We kicked off our week with a grand clean-up of our plot at the Bremen St. Community Garden.  All year, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to learn in this beautiful space.  We’ve planted, tended, and harvested food that we grew ourselves–the amazingness of that never gets old!  Through the summer, we watched as the children progressed from reluctant and hesitant to enthusiastic veggie eaters at snack time.  All the while, they’ve developed an even stronger sense of care for our community.  They are avid care takers of not only the garden, but the park and neighborhood that surround it.  What a treat this has been!

We received a special visitor, Mailman Luke!  Mailman Luke is one of our local postal deliverers, and he recently contacted us about visiting the classroom. He told the children all about how he collects mail from the post office, drives around in his truck and delivers letters, cards, and packages to our neighbors.  The Tugboats asked him a variety of questions, then set about writing their own letters.  Peter demonstrated a few different names they could write to, including their parents, siblings, or characters we love.

This was also a preparation week for us as we gear up for Halloween!  On Wednesday, we made trick-or-treat bags to get ready for the big day.  We started with several packs of Halloween-themed stickers.  The kiddos worked to sort the stickers into baskets labeled by color.  Sorting objects by common features is a challenging pre-math skill, and one we’re always looking for new ways to practice for all of our students.  They practice color recognition, and some of them are beginning to read the names of colors printed on the basket labels.  Once we were organized, the decorating began!  On Friday, we made more party decorations, this time using our hands and feet!  The Tugboats dipped their feet in white paint and walked across black paper to make footprint ghosts, then dipped their hands in autumn-themed colors to make a wreath.  The feel of thick, gloppy paint on their hands and feet seems to be a universal favorite among preschoolers, and as long as we’ve got the resources to clean up after, we’re happy to oblige!