Rattlin’ Bones

October 29, 2016 by admin

Everyone bundled into winter jackets, hats, mittens, and scarves to keep insulated in the cold, damp, windy weather. It was such a chilly week, but everyone stayed warm running around playing chase and tag, raking leaves, and driving their trucks. For Monday art the children were introduced to the artist Paul Klee, who used geometric shapes in his art. We observed his paintings “Castle and Sun,” “Highway and Biways,” “Cat and Bird,” “Fire Evening,” and “Flora on sand.” We then used colored paper shapes to create our own artwork, which is displayed in the classroom. This continued to be a popular activity with all students throughout the week. The sensory table was switched from water to beach sand, and the children asked to keep the rocks and fish to play as well.
The vehicles returned to the block area as some new traffic signs were added, and this initiated some sign making. The children used the picture, letter, and color clues on the traffic signs to figure out what each one means.
The children had fun scooping out three pumpkins. They reached down into them using some tools and their fingers to pull out the insieds. They separated the seeds from the pulp and placed them in two different bowls.
We wrapped up our ocean unit by reading about the sun’s role in the ocean food chain and the three zones of the ocean in the book, Ocean Sunlight. We also read about various animals that live in the Atlantic Ocean, the ocean closest to us. We sang our ocean songs, including “Phytoplankton” and “There Are 5 Oceans on the Earth” to help solidify how all life depends on other life for survival, and that there are 5 oceans, their names, and where they are located. $fraction family$ Our first Spanish circle with Zeanny on Thursday was so much fun! Zeanny introduced the vocabulary “abajo” (down) and “arriba” (up/above) with a Simon Says type game. She then introduced la caja magica (the magic box). Inside she found the story Arriba, Abajo y Alrededor about plants that grow above the ground, down in the dirt, and all around, which she read. She then introduced “manzana,” the word for apple and the phrase “yo me llamo,” which means “my name is.” In la caja magica she also found some paper manzanas, which she laid out and flipped over one at a time. Each one had a name on it, and whoever’s name was on the manzana said if it was in the row abajo or arriba. We celebrated Halloween by dressing up, playing Halloween games, doing Halloween art, enjoying special Halloween snacks, singing Halloween songs, and reading Halloween stories. Thank you so much to everyone who sent in yummy snacks to share, they were very much enjoyed! For Friday science the children made boats out of wax. They molded the wax into various shapes, then tested them to see if they could hold marble “passengers” without sinking. We observed that the boats with higher sides and flatter bottoms were less likely to sink or tip. The lyrics to the Phytoplankton song: