The warm layers were bundled on to combat the arrival of winter temperatures and our first snowfall of the season. The final meals of the season were prepared and the last games of soccer and pass were played before the balls and kitchen equipment went in for the winter.
Monday students had a health lesson with Zeanny. We learned about carbohydrates, particularly breads such as bagels, pita bread, pretzels, naan, tortillas, baguettes, and pizza crust. Zeanny taught us that their job is to give us energy so we can think and move and lift and run and play. We read a book about different types of breads, then named breads we like to eat and pretended to eat them. As we ate them, we moved faster and faster to use our energy we gained from eating the bread. We then got to enjoy some pita bread, bagel, and/or baguette with or without hummus, cream cheese, or jam.
We celebrated two fifth birthdays this week. On Monday we had cupcakes with the birthday girl, and on Wednesday we enjoyed fruit kebabs with the second birthday girl. Each child shared their age, took their turn orbiting the sun, and was serenaded by the birthday song before sitting for their birthday snack.
We continued our study of the moon, gravity, astronauts, and astronauts in space and on the moon. We watched a short clip of the first walk on the moon, recognizing the role that Mission Command played in helping the astronauts. We also watched a short clip of astronauts in the space station doing various daily activities such as washing up, eating, playing an instrument, and washing hair as they floated around in a gravity free environment.
Stone Soup was introduced, which is our annual November theme with a focus on community and compassion. We read three versions: Stone Soup by Marcia Brown, Stone Soup by Ann McGovern, and Some Friends to Feed by Pete Seeger. We made our own stone soup on the flannel board. Each child added a stone or vegetable. We will make a Sunnybrook stone soup in a couple of weeks. Each child will bring a vegetable and we will all work to prepare the soup, then invite families to share it with us the day before Thanksgiving.
We read The Tortoise and the Hare then played a game where we could move fast like the hare, or slowly like the tortoise when that animal was shown. We also played by singing slowly or quickly, making our words come out nice and slow like the tortoise, or super fast like the hare.
We had a discussion about making friends and being inclusive. We read the story Say Hello about a dog who feels lonely then asks to join some children for a game of ball. A boy then approaches, and the dog invites him to play. We talked about how it is important to include people, but it is also our own responsibility to approach others when we want to play. We discussed how this is easy for some, like our friend Henrietta, and quite difficult for others, like our friend Wolfgang, and we might have to be brave to get up the nerve to join in.
During sign with Rose we reviewed all our learned signs. It is impressive how many children have retained all or most of the signs! This week she introduced signs related to our solar system. We learned moon, sun, earth, star, and planet.
Zeanny continued to review the color words with the egg shakers and the color song, the parts of the body, and position words. She introduced the celebration of Las Posadas, which is a Christmas celebration in many Hispanic countries and communities, including Mexico, Spain, and parts of the U.S. She explained how members of a community get together and have a raffle drawing for who will hold the party. Whoever draws the star is the secret host. On the day of the party everyone travels from house to house knocking on doors singing the Las Posadas song and asking “Hay Posadas?” (is this the inn?). As they knock on doors where the party is not being held, people join in until they come to the party, then they celebrate with food and a pinata. We will hold our own Las Posadas celebration on Saturday, December 7th at 4PM. Children and families will join Zeanny on a walk around the community knocking on (prearranged) doors, until they reach the secret party.
Friday students read about spiders and learned that they are different from insects. They have 8 legs and 8 eyes and all spin silk with spinnerets. Their webs are built using different types of silk, some strong, some sticky, and the purpose of a web is to capture prey. Spiders sit still and wait to feel vibrations, then paralyze their prey before eating it or spinning it up to save for later. We watched a short clip of an orb spider building a web.