Bringing in the New Year

We began Morning Meeting singing Come On and sing With Me with instruments. Brandon's mom joined us to read and join us for an activity. We read Bringing in the New Year about the Lunar New Year and we made a lion for our parade tomorrow.

It was Ms. Rebecca's birthday today so we joined the other classes and sang Happy Birthday to her. Then we hammered the ice in the Daisies sensory table. The children noticed that they were getting wet as droplets of ice splashed on them as they hammered. They were fascinated by where it was coming from as they kept looking up and saying, "Hey, I am getting wet!" 

Gung Hay Fat Choy

We greeted each other by shaking each other's hands and saying "Ni hao" in Mandarin at Morning Meeting. We talked about the Lunar New Year by showing the children the dragon puppet and reading The Dancing Dragon. Then we watched a clip of a Lunar New Year parade and listened to the song Gung Hay Fat Choy as we took turns marching with our dragon puppet. We also explained that every Lunar New Year we celebrate an animal. This year we are celebrating the horse (Year of the Horse).

For Project Work, the children decorated their own horses by gluing red and yellow soft materials (felt, pipe cleaners, pom poms, feathers) on white paper horses. When the children were finished gluing, they added red and yellow glitter to make their work sparkle. We are looking forward to marching with our Lunar New Year horses on Wednesday around the school with Sunflowers ad Daisy classes.

Fun Friday!

We began our morning with Free Play, playing in the dramatic play area, building with blocks, and painting with watercolor. At Morning Meeting, we sang Come On and Sing With Me, Who's At Buckle My Shoe Today?, The Days of the Week, Today is Friday All Day Long, The ABC's, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Open Shut Them. We are noticing hat the children are beginning to sing much louder than the teachers which is very exciting! 

We read Anansi the Spider for story. Then we danced to The Goldfish and We Are The Dinosaurs by The Laurie Berkner Band. We had a special French class with Deborah and then Yoga with Lakshmi.

"The Chrysler Building"

This Hudson and Max had their turn to share their portfolios with their mothers. It was so sweet to watch them as they took interest in all the hard work they have done so far this year. Then we had a very special Munchkin donut breakfast/snack.

We sang The ABC'S, Wake Up Knees, Wake Up Toes, Wake Up Hands and Wiggle, Wiggle, and The Wheels on the Bus. Next, we stretched out our arms all the way up to the sky and sat so small and so tall. 

After Dance with Elizabeth, we painted with watercolor. While Brandon was painting he said, "Look! The shadow is right here on on the paper!" He painted a shadow with gray paint and while he did so he noticed his shadow on the paper. What an exciting moment!

Next, we read Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site by Sherri Rinker and Tom Litchenheld. We then revisited Scarlett's block structure of New York City from last week. This led to a discussion about we see in New York City:

Hudson: "The Chrysler Building."

Max: "There is an excavator moving."

Scarlett: "Tractor."

Brandon: "Train!"

After our discussion, we went over to the block area. "Can you help me, Max?" Scarlett asked Max. "Yeah," said Max. Together they began to build together. "How about we put a square here?" said Scarlett. "Yeah and one here" added Max as they collaborated.  Brandon helped by bringing over the cylinder blocks which became the foundation. "We built lots of towers!" they said when they were finished building. Hudson built independently and when he was finished he said "I built a museum" with excitement.

Then we migrated over to Lego's. Scarlett noticed the rainbow in our classroom, pondered for a moment., and shared her thought about what she saw: "When I see the rainbow, I see the whole sun."

Before lunch, we visited the Daisies' classroom. While we were there, Brandon noticed a garbage truck outside the school. He came over to us to let us know and we went over to see. While looking out the window, Brandon also pointed out that he noticed a triangle and people. We are eager to investigate this topic some more!

Around and Around

Dashiell began her morning working on her place mat. We sang Around and Around What's Your Name? as we took turns passing the ball around the circle. Then We Bent, Stretched and Reached For the Stars. The children sang Who's At Buckle My Shoe Today? in such amazing big voices!

Next, we had French with Deborah. After French, we played in the sandbox, blocks, and dressed up in fire hats, and took care of the babies. Dashiell, Nico, Jamie, and Scarlett made yellow play dough. Then we opened up the classrooms and the Daisies and Sunflowers went on a dragon hut with us! At lunch, we read Knuffle Bunny and Goodnight Moon.

And The Winner Is...

After singing Come on and Sing With Me with instruments, we were ready to go on a dragon hunt. When we returned we played with flubber. The children noticed that the red flubber was becoming "harder" making it more difficult to work with. We came to the conclusion that it was time to make new flubber. However; the big question was what color should the flubber be? Brandon wanted to make it blue. Max wanted green and Hudson wanted purple. The teachers wanted to make orange. So the only way to decide was to vote. GREEN WON with two votes: one from Max and the other Hudson.  

Before we could make new flubber, we had to wash out the sensory table. This gave the children the opportunity to not only work and clean together but to also have fun with bubbles! Hudson and Max put bubbles on their cheeks and were being so silly! Finally when the table was clean we mixed glue, Linit liguid laundry starch, and green paint to make FLUBBER! Then we explored the Daisy's classroom. During lunch, we read Ladybug Girl. At Reflective Circle, we sang Goodbye Everybody Yes Indeed and Brandon sang in a very big voice!

 

 

"Too much snow!"

What a snowy winter snowy morning! "Too much snow!" Brandon commented as he entered the classroom. At Morning Meeting, we talked about the snow falling outside and sang If All of the Snowflakes Were Chocolate Bars and Milkshakes. Then we read Silly Sally. We glued cotton balls onto on black paper. These are some of the comments we heard while the children worked:

Lili: "Its snowing outside a lot. I am making a snowman."

Jacob: "Making orange snow."

Jamie: "I make a bubble."

During Free Play, we made red play dough, dug in the sandbox, painted with loofahs and white paint mixed with glitter, and built with blocks. The children were very excited when Evan came for Music. At reflective meeting, we sang The ABC's, If You're Happy and You Know It, and Where Is Thumb kin?. We looked out the window and watched the snow fall. We read No David! during the lunch.