~portrait of Zachary, by Sebastian

I am so proud and amazed by the work our preschoolers do everyday. Their work reinforces why it is so important to me as a teacher to provide a space for them to be creative, to show us what they know through their drawing, block structures, singing, clay creations...As Kim said today--looking at their work and the stories they tell "I want to be in that place where they are, where all that comes from." It's poetic and it makes me smile.

"Stephens Island"

Fun work in the sand box with water

Self-Portraits

In the morning, several students have chosen the table where they could create self-portraits. They looked at themselves in the mirror, drew what they saw, and then painted their picture.

Beanstalk Observations

On the Friday before break we planted bean seeds after reading Jack and the Beanstalk. Everyone drew a picture of what they thought it would like in their observation journals before we left. When we returned, we found many tall bean plants which they are excited about planting outside.

We read this story today. Ask your child what was in the egg!

Turn up your speakers to appreciate to the fullest!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw

Tone Matrix is another interactive site I read about on the Bakers and Astronauts blog. Like the Invention at Play game Tinker Ball, I couldn't stop playing with the music maker.

This Lullatone melody maker is also fun...think I may have found some new music for quiet time, only now the children can be the composers.
~Have fun and Happy Spring Break!

Creating Music in the Castle

This book has been inspiring some of us to look at little closer at that hollowed out place at the base of a tree, or a little dug out space in the sand box. We also prepared the sensory table for some fairy house construction of our own.

Weaving Bracelets

TRAMA Textiles

Stephens College will host Oralia Chopin and Amparo de Rubio of TRAMA Textiles of Guatemala Monday, March 22 through Friday, March, 26.

TRAMA Textiles is a 100% worker-owned women’s weaving association made up of 400 back strap loom weavers in the western highlands of Guatemala. The association offers quality products that ensure fair wages to the artisans.

Today the women visited the school where they learned about the women's culture and their daily lives. Cat Withrow translated for Oralia and Amparo while answering the students questions. Most of the children left with a beautiful bracelet and the women said they would continue to visit the school until every child had one.

For additional information visit TRAMA’s website, www.tramatextiles.org or contact Cat Withrow at cwithrow@stephens.edu

Trip to the Theater!

Here are a few pictures from our exciting field trip to Macklanburg Playhouse here on campus. They picked out clothes from the dress-up area and then created their own character names for the day. They enjoyed finding out about the theater from Ruth Ann and several theatre students.

Glockenspiel and Glissando

During Music with Brenda, we took turns playing the Glockenspiel (not to be confused with a xylophone, which has notes made from wood instead of metal). We learned a technique called 'Glissando' which is the way you are playing it when you glide the stick up and down the notes. We thought it sounded like the sound we should make when we turn the pages of our fairy tale books.

Magic Shoes

We thought of a creative and artistic thing to do with the dramatic play area: create magic shoes! Take a look through your closet and see if there is an old pair of shoes you wouldn't mind donating for them decorate and create fun shoes for the dress-up area. They would have the opportunity to paint, bedazzle, and decorate the shoes they wish so it should be shoes that you wouldn't mind leaving in the classroom. Please send them in with your child by next Wednesday if you would like to participate. Thanks!

Exploring Fairy Tales

During work time, some decided to explore the Little Mermaid and create their own collection of things. They picked different characters from the story like Ariel, mermen, and a cowboy as well to add a little to the mix.

Signed by the Artist

I showed several artists in our room how other artists sometimes sign their work--with the other end of the paint brush. But why stop with just a small signature? It's a great way in itself to work with paint.

Look What the Overhead Projector "Swallowed" Today!

Now that our Beautiful Stuff has taken its rightful place in our room, adorned the castle, and been used as pirate treasure, it was time for another exploration. We pulled a couple tubs of it off the shelf, sat on the floor and after Catherine noticed that she could see through some of the things in the collection, I jumped up to plug in the overhead projector. Last week we played around with black and white paint at the art table and the experience today has me thinking about more ways to explore black, white, transparency and shadows.

Exploring Fairy Tales

Today in the classroom we started discussing fairy tales. We talked about what makes a fairy tale. Some of them said there had to be a princess, a king and a castle. We also talked about that most of the stories begin with "Once upon a time" and end with "and they lived happily ever after." The castle was brought out for them to use during work time which they enjoyed. At the castle they were busy baking cookies and making mexican lasagna. Some of the students worked at another table creating princess hats, wizard hats, and armor. I can already tell this unit is going to be very exciting!

Creating Flags

This morning in circle the question of the day was, "Where have you seen flags?" Some of the answers were on buildings, by schools, on ships, Puerto Rico, on golf courses, and several other locations. We then talked about what was important to us and what we might want to put on a flag of our own. Some had more traditional answers like stars and stripes while others said they wanted butterflies and super heroes.

Bag Opening Day

Since Wednesday was so jam-packed, we decided to move bag opening day to Thursday. They had fun sorting them various ways. One group thought we should sort them by shiny and old dirty stuff. Another group said they should be grouped by color. The third group chose to sort them in three groups which were circles, wooden or natural materials, and plastic.