|
The 2-Day class provides children an opportunity to explore all that is Preucil—music, play, art, outdoors, etc. Children in the 2-Day class come on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Their mornings are filled with active exploration and hands on learning as they investigate materials and act on their ideas. We know that children learn best through play, so there is a large un-interrupted playtime for them to freely explore all the classroom and art studio have to offer. Children develop social skills as they build friendships and relationships with one another, learn about group dynamics, and figure out positive means of expressing their needs and desires. Children engage in musical activities (Tuesdays with Marit and Thursdays with Lauren), experiencing the joy of music and developing basic music competence. The art studio is open every day for creative expression and guided exploration. We come together every day to read stories and share. Outdoor play provides a means to practice using big body movements or relax for some quiet reflection in our green space. While only here for 2 days, children in this classroom get the full benefit of art and music, and cognitive and social development as the they actively explore and discover.
0 Comments
The two day class has been exploring what it means to be a good friend. We have shared with each other what it feels like in our hearts when someone is kind to us and what it feels like to be kind to another. We all agree that it feels much better to be kind even when we disagree about something important to us. After a blank canvas showed up in our room we decided to work together to make a work of art that depicts our conversations about friendship, kindness, love and peace. We started by taking turns painting the board a lovely shade of sky blue and off we went! Wait until you see what we did together. We followed up with books that support building a world of acceptance and love. This ideal seems to come naturally to our spunky, insightful, artistic, and most of all KIND two day kiddos! 
 Look what we can do when we work together!  Hands are for high fives ( and seeing what happens when you mix two colors together)!  Sometimes the teachers need a helpful hand or two from the students! Who's teaching who here?!  All hands on board! See A Heart Share a Heart and Extra Yarn inspired our next steps!  Teachers need to cooperate too (and they didn't want to miss out on the high five fun)!  We chose our favorite colors, we shared our kindest words, we laughed a lot and we worked together to make something beautiful. Friendship is fun. High fives all around!
Well, we tried! But the field trip kept disappearing. :) But that didn’t stop us from exploring apples in the 2-day class. As you know, we wrote an apple tale about Sad Boy and Happily. We read this story a lot and talked about other adventures they might have. Maybe they will come back another time for another story time in the spring!  We took a class tally about our favorite flavors/colors of apples: Green, red, and yellow. We did apple prints of those colors with real apples. After those dried, we decorated the edges with beads of the same color. We drew on brown stems and topped it off with a real apple seed.  We are excited about our Idea Books. This week, we had a “drawing class” about apples. We were given 5 different colored crayons – red, yellow, green, brown, and black. We drew shapes, added stems, seeds, and used crayons to color them. The next time, we used red, yellow, and green circle stickers. Then we added stems and seeds and faces (like Sad Boy and Happily).  Ms. Laurie shared the story of "The Little Red House With No Windows and No Doors and a Star Inside" by Caroline Sherwin Bailey. During this Story Theater moment, the children watched her intently as she told the story! It was very exciting when the end was revealed!  Of course, we tasted apples, talked about apples, read several books about apples - so all of this added up to us forgetting about the disappearing field trip! We look forward to trying again with another field trip idea!
 We have been busy in the 2-day classroom. Painting watercolor on our nametags, learning routines, and enjoying everything around us. The following things will be common in our everyday experiences:  Mindfulness with Laurie. Today we did a meditated about our favorite color balloon. We let the balloons go into the air then shared the color with the class. Many kids chose a rainbow colored balloon. We also learned a hand-washing song to make sure we wash long enough to get all the germs!  There's always ruby slippers to put on in our classroom Dress up is a daily activity and many kids explore our many costume options.  Play dough, play dough, play dough. Did we say play dough?  Our rainbow structure, houses, and people come to see us often!
Painting on the easels will render many, many, many rolled up masterpieces to be unveiled on a weekly basis! (Hint: they can be used a wrapping paper for birthday parties!)
The 2 day class loves things that go...cars, trucks, planes, trains. Last week I got out the long blue racetrack for the first time. Chaos broke out as everyone tried to get their car on the track at once. Pushing, pulling, jostling for position and howls of protest and frustration. Rather than imposing order myself, I turned off the lights and asked the group if it was working for everyone to use the racetrack at once. Unanimous agreement that it was not working. I asked if anyone had ideas that might work better. Several people suggested taking turns and someone suggested making a line. There was some early trouble forming a line...imagine an amoeba. We talked about a line being straight and that you follow one person. Then there was some trouble with the line failing to advance...we realized that when the person in front of you moves forward that you need to do the same. Having to go to the end of the line was tough for some initially...giving our less assertive students the chance to speak up for themselves. Catherine and I supported the process, but the kids created the solution. Within minutes cars were zooming down the track and people were happily waiting in line. We had a special visitor today at Preucil. Carly, the Friendly Beekeepers of Iowa Honey Queen, presented to both the 2 day and the 5 day classes. Carly has a wealth of knowledge about honey bees, and is a bee keeper herself. She packed LOTS of information into her presentation, and we all learned many new things about honey bees.
Ask your child about these interesting facts about honey bees: How many queen bees are in the hive? Are the worker bees males or females? What is propolis (bee glue) used for? How does the worker bee get nectar from flowers? When does honey go bad? What is purple honey? What happens to a honey bee after it stings you? How do the bees stay warm in the winter? Can bees make mummies?? We also did the bee review countdown: A bee has ... 6 legs 5 eyes 4 wings 3 body segments 2 antennae and 1 proboscis  paper bees inspired by our honey bee learning
 Each student in the 2 day class created a cardboard printing plate, using cardboard shapes and glue. Once our printing plates were dry, we rolled black ink over the shapes with a brayer. I encouraged each student to make an edition of 3 prints. The experience of creating an image and reproducing it is exciting and rewarding for the students.
Once the prints were dried, we kept one "as is", added paper collage elements to one, and added oil pastel drawings to one. They look awesome all together! Great work, printmakers!  We had a great trip to Wilson's Apple Orchard on Tuesday! The weather was sunny and warm, and the apples we tasted were sweet and juicy! We took a fun (and bumpy!) tractor ride through the orchard. Bessie had some trouble getting through the stream, but she perked up when we shouted "Go Bessie Go!". Thanks to all the family members who came along to help!  This week in the 2 day class we enjoyed getting to know each other a little bit better!
Some favorite activities were: • checking the progress of our caterpillars and chrysalis' in the insect enclosure. We made crayon drawings after studying their shapes. • enjoying the sensory experience of cinnamon-scented play dough. • discussing and labeling the parts of an apple tree and an apple. • watercolor painting, marble painting, and crayon rubbings. • painting and collage in the art room. • enjoying the warm summer sun and playing in the water table on the playground. Marit added "O Susanna" to our music class repertoire - and she sent home a list of song lyrics, did you receive yours? We read our class book - 2 day friends, and One Red Apple  We had a great first week in the 2 day class. We spent time getting to know each other, and getting to know our classroom and routines. Kirsten interviewed each student and teacher, so that we could have a class book to read and learn about each other. We sang new songs with Marit, and met Mr. Rabbit in Helen's theater class. We read fun books together, and enjoyed beautiful August weather on the playground. It is going to be a great school year!  We made a list of things we know about apples, and learned that our class will be visiting the apple orchard soon! We also had a performance by Dr. Sasha Garver. She played a few familiar tunes on her flute, and showed us a "kid-size" flute! We found a monarch caterpillar on our milkweed in the garden, as well as grasshoppers and other insects.  A few of our songs from this week:
Hard Day's Night I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing Apples and Bananas Lean on Me Wee Willy Winky Grumpy Pirate Johnny Works with One Hammer |
Catharine Gartelos
|
RSS Feed