Jackson Pollock inspired our art for Monday. We read Action Jackson a story about how he created his artwork in a big barn on his land using house paint, an enormous canvas, and a variety of sticks and brushes etc. to dribble, drop, splatter, and drip paint. The children excitedly danced and splattered their way through cups of colorful paint to create their own Pollockesque art.
We read about amphibians then read about the difference between frogs and toads. We learned that frogs prefer water, while toads prefer land, frogs are smoother and wetter, while toads are drier and bumpier, toads have short back legs for little hops and frogs have long back legs for big jumps, frogs have teeth on their upper jaw to hold insects while toads have to swallow quickly, and frog eggs are laid in clumps and toad eggs are in chains. We then played “Frog says hop _________” and all the froggy children hopped slowly, backwards, to the tree and back, on their left foot, etc.
We had some classroom visitors, which were super exciting. The green tree frog we spotted pretty quickly but we had to do a little rearranging in the tank before we could spy the little brown spring peeper.
We played “The cool pond calls for anyone who _________” and the froggies would jump off their stumps and swim around if the statement applied to them, such as “has a brother,” “is wearing blue,” etc.
We read the story Go, Go, Go, STOP! about little green who uses his only word, GO, to help the vehicles at the construction sight get their work done. Things get a little crazy when all they do is go, go, go, so fortunately little red arrives, who shouts STOP! Together they figure out how to work together for just the right amount of GO and STOP to help things run smoothly. We then played “Go, Go, Go, STOP” and all the children ran, hopped, galloped, etc. as they listened to the person holding the GO and STOP sign.
During sign language Rose read and signed two more stories, Will Giraffe Laugh? and Will Ladybug Hug? about how the friends try to get giraffe to laugh and who wants or doesn’t want Ladybug hugs and how ladybug gives or doesn’t give hugs as requested. We sang and signed one of our favorite songs to wrap things up, “Sally the Camel,” which is fun and catchy!
We celebrated a sixth birthday with the first June birthday before the arrival of summer. The birthday boy rapidly orbited the sun with the globe while we quickly named the seasons and counted off his birthyears before he reached six and we sang the Happy Birthday song.
The kindergarten students finished up making letters for the very end of the alphabet, chose their letters and numbers for their graduation demonstration, and practiced presenting. We are so grateful that all the K families were able to attend kindergarten graduation. It was a special night and it is hard to say goodbye. We will miss those graduates!
We enjoyed the heat of the first half of the week and the cooler temperatures of the second half. The children enjoyed the inside time this week just as much as the outside time.
The students asked to use the sprayers to do some cleaning one afternoon, and spent the rest of the week washing up everything they could find that needed some scrubbing; the quiet house, walls, entryway, stair railings, chimney, easels, etc. They got the classroom looking spic and span!
For our final Friday science fun the children made SLIME!!! They were so patient while they each took turns measuring and mixing in ingredients, stirring between each addition, then gradually adding more and more contact lens solution and quickly beating it with a fork then kneading it until it was just the right consistency. We found that although it called for 1 tablespoon of contact lens solution (with boric acid in it), it actually needed about 1.5, but we added it a bit at a time until we had just the right consistency. They added lots or a little food coloring and lots or a little glitter to make it just the way they wanted. The children had fun through the rest of the morning and afternoon playing with their glittery, slimy creations.
