The English Schoolhouse: What's Back To School Week Without Apples?

If you walk into The English Schoolhouse, the first thing you'll notice should you look down and to the left are these...

Do not judge the condition of my Birkenstocks. They've had a rough summer.
As my mom used to tell me as a kid, "You're hard on shoes."

About 1/2-3/4 of the kids check their kicks at the door as they come in or shortly after arriving. (Translation: they leave their footwear by the classroom entrance). So do I. Funny because if you walk into my house, you'll find the exact same thing in the exact same spot....remnants from my Korean best friend during childhood.

Anyway, Back to School week is winding down, and we've had a fantastic time.

The theme we've focused on, not surprisingly, has been Back To School. I remember teaching this theme in various ways during my years as a Kindergarten teacher in Texas. One thing I always felt I could have done a better job of was introducing the actual tools we use in early childhood better and allowing the kids to practice, practice, practice. Even the simple little things. So that's what we worked on yesterday as well as today.

Yesterday we read a book called "Nibbly Mouse". It's a short, simple read about a mouse that nibbles through the pages of the book. The kids have to guess what he's eaten based on what they can see through the holes.

The first thing he eats is this...

See how you can peek through the hole and try to guess what he eats next?

So we finished the story, and painted some apples of our own. I modeled how we DO and DO NOT use the paint. The kids found it especially amusing when I painted myself.

We talked about what different types of apples there are, and took a poll of classroom apple favorites.