This week we’ve seen many changes in our room! We had a new moon book, new galaxy sensory center, and a new solar system puzzle. We spent our mornings exploring our activities and working on our stars. Another choice was to make a night-time sensory bottle- we poured water and corn syrup into empty plastic bottles, added sparkly shapes, sprinkled in glitter, then shook it up! We made predictions about the mixture and watched the items swirl.
We got to meet a special outer space friend whom we named Pluto, and then we decided to make our own aliens! Using construction paper that the children cut, we glued shapes onto a face, and then we rolled a die to determine how many eyes to apply. It was a good math activity, and the children were able to practice number recognition and counting. We listened to a very, very silly book during circle time- Aliens Love Underpants. The children laughed and enjoyed the funny images they came up with using their imaginations. We experimented with gravity today and made predictions about whether an item would float away or fall. After deciding items on Earth definitely don’t float away, we pretended to be astronauts by writing upside down or in strange places around the room. Some of us thought it was easy! Today we made moon snacks using rice cakes, cream cheese, cheerios, and banana slices. The round items looked like the craters on the moon. We had fun assembling them. Pluto the Alien will be going home with SOFIA and GABE this weekend! I can’t wait to hear about their adventures together. Our photos are here.
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“I love you to the moon and back!” We’ve all heard the phrase, but we weren’t sure what exactly it meant. We asked some questions, made some observations about how far away the moon is, and decided that it means we love someone SO much! This prompted some great discussion about what we already know about the moon. I was impressed with the knowledge they’ve retained since we studied light, and they had some great questions that we’ll research together.
While talking about the moon, we brought up air and gravity. We learned that our jumps on the moon would be so much bigger than our jumps on earth, so we did a gross motor activity experiment. We went outside and made real earth jumps and measured our pretend moon jumps. Turner made the longest earth jump, and his moon jump would have been 23.5 feet! Next week we will be exploring the concept of gravity even more. We talked about craters, too, so we used cotton balls and clothespins to dab paint onto a moon shape. This was a great fine motor skill activity, and we really enjoyed the different creations. During center time one new choice was to create moon craters. Having read about those big holes on the moon, we were eager to make some ourselves. We used clay to mold balls and a variety of objects to press into our moons. Clay is a less pliable substance than playdoh, so the children had to use more force with their fine motor muscles to work it. We’ve been playing word scramble games in the morning, and the children love rearranging the letters of a mixed-up word to make a real word. We’ve unscrambled the words MOON and STAR so far, and next week we might try some names of our friends! We will also be getting a special space visitor in our classroom, so stay tuned for that. The Pre-K class will be going to the Helena House Friday February 26 for lunch. We will be leaving here by 11:45, so we’d love for you to join us if possible. Our photos are here. This week we discussed the concept of love and the people we love. Our family was first on the list followed by our teachers. :) We decided when we love someone we want to spend time with them and that we like them a lot.
We identified love in some of the fairy tales we’ve been reading, such as the three little pigs taking care of each other and Snow White being kind to the seven dwarves. A prince falls in love with a princess, a queen lovingly protects her daughter, and more instances. We listened to the Oldies song “Little Red Riding Hood” by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs this morning during circle. It was amusing to watch the children’s faces as they realized what the song was about! We also howled along with the wolf, even though he was trying not to be bad. They asked to hear it again and again! We had such a good time celebrating Valentine’s Day with our grandfriends and with each other. Our bags were getting full of treats and cards, and the children were incredulous about how much they were given! Over the weekend you could talk to your child about “I love you to the moon and back” as we will be discussing the meaning of that phrase on Tuesday. We’ll be blasting off to study our new interest in outer space! We are CLOSED MONDAY February 15. Have a great weekend! Our photos are here. Another great week with the 3s and 4s classes! We worked on specific projects related to some of our favorite fairy tales, such as “The Paperbag Princess.” We painted brown paper bags in a variety of colors to be our costumes like Princess Elizabeth had to wear after the dragon burned all her clothes with his fiery breath.
Our newest center was construction of the three little pigs’ houses, so the materials provided were straws, sticks, and bricks. After a few days of exploration and attempts to build, we finally got to glue our houses together as a final product. Most of the children were very deliberate where they applied the glue and the building materials. We also took the tale “Jack and the Beanstalk" to another (high) level when we planted beans. Each child will have their own cup with soil and beans, and we are providing sunlight and water, both of which they need to grow. I certainly hope something sprouts otherwise I might have to come up with my own magic! Our fairy tale performances at the amphitheater were so fun! Everyone who wanted to was able to act out a role and wear their paperbag costume from one of the stories we’ve been reading/telling. Be sure to ask your child which character they were. Next week we are going to be identifying different types of love we’ve read about in fairy tales; we might even read Frozen to introduce the idea of nonromantic love. We will be busy working on some cards for our grandfriends and some other pretty special people whom we love. The 4s class with be exchanging Valentines cards on FRIDAY after the Helena House. Your child has been practicing how to write their friends’ names during Handwriting, so they are welcome to address the cards themselves. Please have your child write their own name as the sender. Thank you! Our trip to the Helena House is Friday at 9:15am. We’d love for you to come with us, and we could always use some wagons. In Spanish this week we acted out "¡Buenos días, Buenas noches!" (Good morning, Good night!). The children took turns waking up "monito", a stuffed animal monkey, and greeting him with "buenos días", and then putting him to bed, saying "cierra los ojos" (close your eyes) and "buenas noches." They enjoy this activity and it is easy to do at home with any stuffed animal and blanket. We also did songs and activities from past lessons. ¡Feliz febrero! Happy February! Don't forget we are CLOSED for Presidents' Day on Monday, February 15th. Our photos are here. |
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Class of 2016
Researchers TeachersMolly Fastenau Archives
June 2016
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