Month: May 2016

Red, white, and blue!

 

This week Room 5 had a fully saturated America-themed curriculum! We used red, white, and blue colors in our art, in our building and color matching, even in our special snack!

We read “The Scrambled States of America” by Laurie Keller and discussed the many names for where we live, and the states where we may have friends and family members. Our youngsters’ geography lesson was accompanied by acknowledging what Memorial Day is really all about. We talked about the soldiers, the pilots, all the Armed Forces which serve and protect America- some of whom are also our Mommies, Daddies, Uncles, Aunts, Grandpas, etc. As we enjoy our long weekend, it’s good for our youngest friends to begin to understand why we have these important holidays- to celebrate and remember our fallen soldiers!

 

For a healthy, patriotic treat we enjoyed red ripe strawberries, fluffy white cream cheese, and fresh juicy blueberries. Red, white, and blue!

The leftovers were lovingly fed to our bunny rabbit, Mopsy. Happy Memorial Day, Mopsy!

We pray everyone has a safe and happy weekend.

God bless America!!!

Cooking fun in Room 3! 

The children in Room 3 had an awesome time making a not-so-spicy dish. What is it you ask? It’s none other than Pico De Gallo! Ingredients were chopped, diced, sliced, squeezed, measured and poured. Some of the children even had a chance to taste limes! The children unleashed their inner Iron Chef and created a dish that appealed to the palates of children and teachers alike. 

You’ve Got Mail! 

Room 1 friends were elated when they heard the exciting news… 

We received a package from author Deborah Diesen herself! She saw our art based on her book, The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark right here on our blog and sent us this note…

She liked our creations and took the time to send us a note and signed bookmarks! 

 

We hope she gets our package soon and enjoys reading our thank you cards!

It’s not every day an author sends you mail! She is “O-fish-ally” the coolest author we know!  

Freedom!

Today we realeased our beautiful winged friends into the  great outdoors.  It was definitely bitter sweet for some, but wholly exciting! Here’s a look-see….

The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark

This week we read The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark, by Deborah Diesen. This is a “fin”tastic book about using encouraging words, working together to overcome fears and all the great things that can be accomplished when friends band together to help friends!

In preparation for our field trip to the aquarium, our class is fully submerged in ocean life! We are exploring ocean animals, light zones, tide pools and more! Incorporating a fun literature-based activity into our math and science small group was a great way to allow art (something we all love) to bring in concepts like shape, size, line, direction, spacing, and color in addition to ocean life!

We began by making observations of Mr. Fish. Then we went to work drawing him!

Then we used watercolors to paint!

How beautifully creative is our God, who has given us each a unique perspective to interpret the same image so differently!

Room 2 has Sprung into Spring

April has brought some fun activities for Room 2. From field trips to Descanso Gardens, Robot making, and week of the young child, we have enjoyed it all!

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For the Week of the Young Child, the children and teachers got to participate in pajama day, crazy hat day, mismatch day, color day (orange for Rm , and fruit day!

The children used boxes to create their own robot costume. They first made blueprint designs of what they wanted the robot to look like.

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They then voted on the colors they wanted to paint the boxes…

and then added the small details.

After it dried, it was wearable.

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The children also enjoyed the rock star dress up in our outdoor environment.

Descanso Gardens

The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. Genesis 2:9

For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations. Isaiah 61:11

The children enjoyed seeing all of God’s wonder in full bloom during a field trip  to Descanso Garden. They enjoyed the rose garden and the children’s maze.

There were many water features for the children to explore. Fountains, ponds, a lake and a waterfall. They enjoyed watching the animals that live in the ponds: frogs, turtles, ducks and fish.

Thank you to all the parent who volunteered to be drivers and chaperones. We couldn’t have done it without you!

Our Very Own Little Scientists! 

It’s a wonder what you can do with some recyclable water bottles, oil, food coloring, water and Alka-Seltzer. The children from Room 3 had an opportunity to satisfy their curiosity by finding out what happens when you add alka-seltzer to a bottle filled with liquids and coloring. Expectations ranged from, “It’s going to explode!” to “Nothing is going to happen.” Despite the differences in their hypotheses, one thing was certain, they all loved the result!

P.S. If you want to create the bubbly/lava lamp effect, all you have to do is add another tablet of alka-seltzer!