It was great to have some warmer weather this week.  As the playground was still covered with ice, we played games in the driveway and on the snow bank.  We were finally able to get back on the playground at the end of the week, where the children had fun shoveling the playground into pathways and rolling snowballs.

We were introduced to the Chinese born American author illustrator Ed Young this week, who uses a variety of styles to illustrate.  We examined and compared several of his books, and noted that unlike most illustrators, his work varied from book to book.  We read the story The Lost Horse, and compared it to Yeh-Shen, Twenty Heartbeats, and Seven Blind Mice.  We also read about some things that were invented or come from China in the book Look What Came From China, such as paper, fireworks, and fried rice.

On Wednesday we made fried rice and tofu, then tried eating them with chopsticks.  Most of us moved on to spoons pretty quickly, but everyone had fun trying.  The tofu was a big hit!

We spent quite a bit of time last week and this week reading Have You Filled a Bucket Today?, How Full is Your Bucket?, and Will You Fill My Bucket?, stories about feelings. We discussed things that make us happy and things that make us sad, and how we can handle these feelings.  Bucket pictures were available to color, and we used colored flowers to record the things we do to help others feel happy, and things that help us feel happy.    Many students really took this to heart and spent time doing and making nice things for others throughout the week.

At the art table the children did some origami folding.  They made some fish and planes and puppy dogs out of square pieces of paper with some help from Tammy.

On Thursday we read the story, My Brother Martin, by Christine King Farris.  We learned that a long time ago, some people were unkind to others because of the color of their skin, and that a boy named Martin Luther King Jr. vowed to turn the world upside down, and that when he grew up, he succeeded in doing just that.

For science the Friday students made a baking soda and vinegar volcano.  They had fun taking turns pouring in the vinegar and watching the resulting reaction.

In the afternoon, the kindergarten students were excited to read to the younger students, who then also read stories to everyone.