"A Baby Blue Elephant"

Harry was so excited to share the new copy of Papa, Please Get the Moon For Me by Eric Carle he bought at the bookstore. When he arrived at school, Harry showed us his favorite page.

At Morning Meeting, we looked at the mason jar with the broken gourd Hudson stepped on yesterday. 

As the children took turns looking at the jar with magnifying glasses, the contents of the jar became magical as it became "a baby blue elephant". 

After Yoga we created an observation station for the children to look, draw, and write stories about what they see in the jar. 

We also read Harry's book and cut out a large round circle. The children felt the paper with their hands and their bodies. Then we mixed oatmeal and paint together and rubbed them on the circle to make a "BIG" moon. 

Lili: "The moon feels sticky. It's feels hard and bumpy."

Nico: "It's hard on your fingers."

We concluded our morning looking at the mason jar drawings and singing Aikendrum using pictures of real food: bananas, spaghetti, broccoli, pizza, and apples. 

"It's So Yucky!"

Scarlett began her morning working with the pattern blocks. "Look! There's all the colors," she said as she worked with the wooden pattern blocks. Then we played with instruments to Octopus' Garden by The Beatles. 

When the song finished something unexpected happened! Hudson stepped on a dried gourd we used as a shaker. It was an accident meant to happen. We ran over to investigate, see what was inside, and placed the remains in a mason jar to examine.

"Look what's inside the dried gourd Hudson stepped on!"

"Seeds. It's so yucky" said The Sweet Peas class.

Next we had dance with Elizabeth.

At Morning Meeting, we revisited our seahorse which has been a work in progress since last week. The children looked closely at the cover of Mr Seahorse by Eric Carle. I asked the children if they think anything is missing. "Fins!" exclaimed Brandon. So we worked more on our seahorse for Project Work. The children added more colored tissue paper using glue and a brush. Then they made spots using pegs dipped in tempera paint. 

During Free Play, Brandon and Scarlett became scientists as they investigated the dried gourd. They studied it using a magnifying glass and drew pictures of what they saw. Brandon drew "Mommy" and Scarlett drew a "friendly ghost." Before lunch, we sang Bumpin' Up and Down and Open Shut Them. Then we read The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle and sang nursery rhymes. What a great day!

Hudson helped Scarlett by getting her a tissue and helping her blow her nose. 

What a kind friend!

When The Moon Hits Your Eye...

Once the children arrived at school we worked more on our seahorse by gluing on different color tissue paper. We began Morning Meeting reflecting on the seahorse by looking at the cover of the book Mr. Seahorse by Eric Carle to see what we still need to add. 

"This!" said Scarlett and Nico making triangles with their arms.

"Aha ," said Jenny. "I think you mean fins." So we talked about how fish have fins. The next step is to add fins to the seahorse. 

This led to our next conversation about the moon. We looked at the moon in the book Papa, Please Get the Moon For Me by Eric Carle. "How did we say we would make the moon again?" Jenny asked the class. "Tiny or big," Brandon recalled. As we began to read the book to think of how to make our moon, we noticed that the copy of the book in the classroom is too small. So, we came up with the super idea of going to the Jefferson Market Library to get a bigger copy. The teachers drew a map of how we would get to the library. Then we explained that sometimes when you go the library they do not always have the book you want. So the next step would be to buy it at the bookstore if the library does not have it.

We sang Aikendrum before French and then it was off to the library! The children were amazing as we went on our big adventure. They held on to the rope, watched were they going, and were so careful.: Hooray  for the Sweet Peas Class! 

When we arrived at the library, Harry took pictures of us on the library steps. Once inside we asked the librarian for our book, but the library did not have it! So Harry is going to buy the book for us at the bookstore so that we can have a BIG copy. However, we did borrow three books so that we can explore the moon! Thank you Harry so much! Great work today Sweet Peas class!

 "when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie That's Amore!

How Sweet It Is...Sweet Pictures and Sweet Friends!

Everyone was very excited for picture day! The children played Octopus' Garden by The Beatles with instruments. Hudson requested Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys and we had so much fun dancing. The children explored the sandbox, train table with Lego's, worked with play dough, and made a paint collage with dot dot and tempera paint. Scarlett noticed that when she turned the brush upside down, it created wiped the paint, and created made lines. Then we out for a walk with the Sunflowers class. We heard  many different sounds including a bird, a taxi, and a helicopter. The children concluded the day by hugging each "good-bye" saying "see you next time!"

Come On and Play With Me!

When Max came to school, Max spelled his name with the letter beads. Hudson was feeling a little because he missed his mommy so began Morning Meeting playing instruments to Octopus' Garden by The Beatles and sang Come On and Play With Me.

At Snack, we noticed that Brandon had pancakes so read Pancakes, Pancakes by Eric Carle. While the Sunflowers and Daisys' classes were at the Art Studio in Tribeca, we explored their classrooms. We mixed watercolor and shaving cream together on round paper to make moons. Brandon and Max built a very long train track. Then we went on a subway train adventure in the Sunflowers classroom. Before lunch, we took turns throwing the beach ball to the number of syllables in our names.

What a fun and busy morning we had! 

From Horses to Moons

Katya, Lili's mom, began our morning reading The Artist Who Painted A Blue Horse by Eric Carle and Harold and The Purple Crayon while we ate snack. At Morning Meeting, we talked about how Eric Carle makes some of his pictures by collaging with tissue paper like in  The Artist Who Painted A Blue Horse. We passed orange tissue paper around the circle for the children to feel. "Soft" and "Sticky" were some of the descriptive words the children used as they felt the paper. Next, we had French with Deborah. During Free Play, the children played with Lego's and purple play dough.

At Reflective Meeting, we laid all of Eric Carle's books that we have in the classroom on the rug.  Each child picked a book and looked at all the pages. Once they had found their favorite page, they shared with the class what they liked about that page. Then we laid every one's favorite pictures on the rug and asked the children which picture they would like to create. "Moon!" everyone responded. Then we asked the children if they would like to make a big moon or a tiny moon. Next, Monday we will be making tiny moons just like the moon in Eric Carle's books!

Grandpa likes the red crocodile.

Harry likes the yellow duck.

Debbie likes the ladybugs.

Scarlett likes the ingredients page in Pancakes, Pancakes.

Nico likes the cricket.

Jamie likes the caterpillar on the cover of Eric Carle's book about shapes.

Lili likes the hermit crab.