Despite being a short week with our Wednesday snow day, we fit a lot of good work in!

We made clean mud in the sensory table by unrolling and tearing up rolls of toilet paper, grating in soap, adding water, then mixing it all together to create a fun, clean play dough type mixture.

At the art table we made pipe-cleaner snowflakes and dipped them in a borax and water solution with hopes that they would sparkle.  Sadly, it did not work, so next time we will try cooking our solution first.  Every mistake is a learning experience!

It was great to get outside and enjoy all the wonderful snow on Tuesday before the rain arrived.  We made good use of the new shovels and snow block makers and we used our bodies to make snow angels.

 

During music we learned the song and dance “Jump Jim Joe,” which is a lot of fun!  We also played some word and sound games.  We made “op” words together, noticing how we made a new word when we exchanged the first letter sound for a new letter sound.

 

On Thursday morning some students wanted to see inside the piano.  Sue figured out how to take off the front, which gave us a great view of the strings and hammers.  It was intriguing to watch the hammers strike against the strings when we pushed on the keys.  We could see how the key moved a piece of wood up, which moved another piece, which made the hammer strike the string.  We very gently rested our fingers on the strings to feel them vibrate.

In the afternoon we made an obstacle course in the classroom.  The students had a fabulous time crawling under the desks, walking a zig zag line, jumping over mats, stepping on washcloths, rolling dice and adding up to see how many hops to take, climbing over chairs, and writing names on the easel.  It was a lot of fun, and a nice way to expend some energy on a rainy day.

During Spanish we began learning the names of the farm animals.  We learned cerdo (pig), vaca (cow), caballo (horse), oveja (sheep), pollo (chicken), pollito (chicks), and ganso (goose).  Zeanny is also teaching us a fun new song about the sounds the animals make.

Friday students spent some time in the morning sewing.  Gerry Scott came in and read Hello, Hello, then did some action songs with us.  We enjoyed a fun sleeping and waking up song, “The Ants Go Marching,” “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” and “The Apple Tree.”

The children were so excited to get outside and slide around on our icy playground.  They noticed that the large field below was covered with lots of ice and decided it would make some great skating!

For science we experimented with ways of cleaning pennies.  We found that vinegar and salt got them sparkling and shiny, while plain water, and water with detergent, did not work.  We also noticed that if we did not rinse off the salt and vinegar, the pennies turned green!

Next week we will begin learning about the library.  We will visit on Thursday for Story Hour and Snow Play with the Appalachian Mountain Club.  Children are always welcome to borrow books from school, and we will begin encouraging them to do so, just like at the library.