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!

Bartholomew and the Oobleck

Recipe for Oobleck

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

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.

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.

Hard at work creating a beautiful display for the classroom.

Seuss-a-thon!

Students from Sharon's Children's Literature class came in to share Dr. Seuss books in celebration of his birthday.

We have put the camera in their hands...a museum-style showcase of their pictures is in the works!The overhead projector gets a new lease on life in our room.

Team lego building

Read All About It

We took a break from boat building and camping out to read this rollicking good tale. Ask your child how the marshmallow battle started and what happened to the two towns in the end.

Map to the Party Boat

Sailing to "Corta Rico" on the Pirate Ship and Party Boat

On board the pirate ship they exclaimed, "We are sailing to 'Corta Rico' to visit Joshua!" They were then off to see Diego at the animal rescue house. Some created maps for their journey while others took pictures of the castle.

On board the party boat, they were all busy decorating for a graduation celebration! The only thing they said that was missing was party music which singing soon filled the void. Either ship they may have been on, it was surely an adventure.

Campfire Songs

Today in the classroom some of the students took to creating a campfire in the block area with their work buddies. It soon spread to other's in the classroom and became a "sleepover" around the fire. Miss Catherine brought out the guitar for some entertainment. Some songs were more traditional like "On Top of Old Smokey" while others sang more contemporary as well original pieces.

Camping With the Wild Things

Things move pretty fast around here. When this group built a campfire and began reading stories while their feet warmed by the fire, we brought in a big box, which they quickly began decorating, for their tent. Earlier that morning, Miss Teresa read Where the Wild Things Are and we had the idea of making some of the wild things out of clay. And then, here's where it really get's fun...camping trip meets Wild Things!I posed the questions "What if Max didn't come back home where his supper was waiting for him? What if he stayed with the wild things? Could we turn that tent into his tent? What if you stayed with him?" So, we began painting the tent.

Then, of course we had to build the boat, so they could said around the island. In circle this morning, Miss Teresa asked them where they would sail if they were Max. Most of them said "to where the wild things are!"
Where will we sail tomorrow?

Book Talk

We read this in two parts on Friday. The suspense was too much for some of them, who grabbed it off the easel and secreted it away to the book area to look at the pictures and try to figure out who helps the mouse out of the hole, and how. Ask your child about it...it'a fun story!

Before reading The Library Mouse, we asked the question,
“What does an author do?” Here are some of their answers:

“Get a pencil, draw some things, turn the page, draw some more.” –Joshua
“You write words.” – Zachary
“You say words…they write books.” –Makayla
“When you draw a symbol, you are an author.”

Been fiddling around with technology, trying to get video uploaded and such. In lieu of that, here's a few words about what we have been up to this week, so far.

We had a wonderful trip to the library this morning and came trudging back to school with great new books to share with each other.

We worked together as a class to follow a recipe and make chocolate chip cookie "cake"...an experiment of sorts, that turned out yummy...and good practice for our baking tomorrow (cookies for Facilities).

When we come in from one of our outside times, we have a short meeting in circle to talk about what we did outside, how we may have solved a problem, who we played with, and just otherwise re-enforce positive social skills and share discoveries.

And did you know that super-puppies wear high-heels?

Telling Stories

Sometimes, one hand is just not enough!

We have been spending much more time with our journals (notebooks). As they are working in them, we move around the room to hear and record some of the stories they tell to go along with their pictures. What looks like a straight-forward drawing suddenly becomes a wedding in the snow, a magic door that only a rabbit can open, or a dual between super-hero forces.

We miss our Beautiful Stuff!

Coming soon to a preschool classroom near you (very near!)...Bag Opening Day 2010.
Stay tuned for more details.

What do you love?

We asked this question in circle last week. Watch this video to see what some around Stephens love...including the preschoolers!

Vivian said " I feel nice on ice!"

A great project to kick off our recycled materials sculpture (that we are starting next week), these flowers brightened up our room for the party. We were busy during our short week making decorations, preparing the Friendship Tree, and learning the Chicken Dance!

We spent much time this week talking about what it means to be a friend, how friends solve problems, and of course sending messages to friends. We plan to continue with that next week and expand it a bit to the bigger Stephens community. Next week, we will be sending notes and expressing thanks to the people at the facilities department who help keep our building clean and well maintained. We will also visit Coach Pavlovich at the gym...have basketball, will travel!