We had some beautiful warm fall days for playing word tag, being chased by zombies, building houses, bird watching, riding bikes, and digging. All the new five year olds are very much enjoying being the big kids who can go into the classroom to get water bottles for anyone who needs one. For Monday art the children made pinch pots out of clay. We learned that long ago there was no plastic, glass, or ceramic, so it was common for Native American’s to use clay to make pots and bowls. Throughout the week at the art table children also made necklaces using a variety of wooden, straw, and plastic beads. They were introduced to the use of a needle for the first time – how to thread the needle through the eye then how to string the beads through the needle. We enjoyed a visit from Dr. Tarkleson on Wednesday morning. She discussed what her job is – to keep us healthy – and introduced and demonstrated the various medical instruments that she uses to examine and treat her patients, including a stethoscope, otoscope, ophthalmoscope, reflex hammer, tongue depressor, sphygmomanometer, bandages, and syringes. The children were excited to try on her medical caps and coats and test out the instruments. Thank you so much Dr. Tarkleson!
We read several more Stone Soup stories, including the Pete Seeger and Paul DuBois Jacobs version, Some Friends to Feed. We discussed how giving and sharing can help others and can make us feel good. We let the children know that if they would like to help some families, they could bring in some food, and we recognized that some already have brought in items to donate. We will keep the box out for the next couple of weeks before the children take it over to the local food pantry in the Methodist Church.
Thursday morning Spanish with Zeanny was once again filled with lots of fun activities. We practiced the song that tells us to move in different directions – salgo, arriba, abajo, and entre. In la caja magica we once again found the diez Calabasas and we sang the counting down song. There was also the book La oruga muy hambienta (the Spanish version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar) and a paper bag la oruga (caterpillar). Zeanny passed out the various fruits and foods from the story, and when she read the story each of the children took their turn “feeding” la oruga muy hambrienta. Zeanny introduced us to the words me gusta (I like it) and no me gusta (I don’t like it) then the children made pictures of the foods they do and do not like and pasted them onto a poster. We said goodbye to Casey this week. Everyone was sad to see her go, though she promised to come back to visit. Casey was our resident artist who skillfully helped children create and explore with a variety of techniques and mediums. She will be missed!
For Friday science the children created primitive scales with boards and blocks to introduce the idea of equal weight. They used beanbags, blocks, and animals to experiment with creating balanced ends. They carefully set items at each end to keep the weight distributed and prevent the board from tipping over.