All in a Day's Work: 2010-02-28

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Invention at Play

Check out this inspiring and interactive site. We will definitely try our hands at Tinker Ball next week. I couldn't stop playing it this morning...it's trickier than it looks!

Friday, March 5, 2010

2 cups of corn starch
3 drops of green food coloring
enough water to make a thick mixture (about the texture of pancake batter) I usually measure equal amounts of water and corn starch, but mix water in slowly.

Mix all ingredients together. This makes a fun mixture to play with textures. Use different utensils, such as a spatula, bowl, and funnels, to see what form the mixture will take.
To celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday, Ms. Kim created oobleck and read "Bartholomew and the Oobleck" which was a hit with some of the kids.

A Letter About the Parent Group

March 5, 2010
Hello parents,
A small group of parents have been communicating about starting a parent group. The purpose of the group would be to support the school by coordinating several social and fundraising events and to serve as a conduit to address common parent questions. (Any funds raised would be used for teacher appreciation, teacher wish lists, and extracurricular events such as school wide picnics or parties.)
We are currently planning several bake sales for this semester. The first bake sale will be on March 17 and 18. In the past, parents have provided goodies for the children to sell to the Stephens College community. To that end, sign up lists will be posted at the school to solicit your support with this endeavor. We hope you will participate by baking or purchasing items for the children, teachers, and college students to sell.
Additionally, we are planning on having a teacher appreciation event on May 5. Venus Morris will be heading that effort and will be seeking volunteers. So, please be on the lookout for more information about that in the near future.
Of course, no parent group will be successful without the support of the parents. If you have any ideas, questions, or concerns please feel free to contact either of us.
Sincerely,
Erika Fadel (Manny and Olivia’s mom – multiage) erikafadel@hotmail.com
Mellissa McAllister (Jackson’s mom – multiage) melissamillmcallister@yahoo.com
Venus Morris (Marvin’s mom – multiage) ygmorris22@hotmail.com
Chimene Schwach (Zachary’s mom – preschool) cschwach@hotmail.com
Jeanne Sullivan (Joey’s mom – multiage) Jeanne@more.net

Thursday, March 4, 2010

A New Addition in the Classroom

How does it feel?

"It feels like rubber inside.

It feels so soft and slippery."

What do you hear?

"I hear the ocean and the waves!" said Willa.

"I hear the crab's snapping inside," said Vivian.

"I heard a tiny baby," said Catherine.

Work Buddies

On board the pirate ship they sailed to find the buried treasure. Vivian said she would have the parrot on her shoulder and Zachary would have one eye. The pirate talk they used included, "Ho! Ho! Ho!" and "scerby dog." Zachary created a flag for the ship. When asked where they should fly their flag, Zachary replied, "To Tennessee! "

Joshua and Brandon worked together to find an area that they both wanted to work at. A lot of the options appealed to them but they decided to work at the sensory table.

Kalen and Catherine worked together to chose which activity they would like to do together for the work buddy time. She created a ''fancy mailbox" for Kalen that could send the mail flying to the postman.

Kalen created a wall fan that he said needed more power. He said that his finger was what powered it.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Creating the Ocean!

The beautiful creation.

Several of the students enjoyed painting outside to create an ocean for our classroom on a shower curtain. They were busy using their imaginations with the three colors. Sebastian said to Ellery, "Yours is the green ocean." Ellery asked Makayla if the yellow was the sand for the ocean. Sebastian suggested that we should add black while Ellery thought red would be a nice addition as well.