Making Pizzas

Today, we read Syan's book book about being thankful. We learned that all things come from God, even macaroni because all of our food ingredients come from the earth which God created. Syan's book was similar to one of my favorite books, The Little Red Hen Bakes A Pizza. We read both books today and we made some foods of our own. As you can see from the pictures, we made pizzas during art. Each child choose his/her ingredients to go on their mini pizzas. Also, we baked our own pizzas to eat for lunch. The children love this activity! We had a great time outside today. The weather was beautiful! Several of the children drove the Fisher Price race cars. You should have seen them. I thought that we might have to hire a pit crew to do some repairing after they got finished riding:-) They had fun. Oh, speaking of recess, did you know that physical exercise strongly correlates with increased brain mass, better cognition, mood regulation, and new cell growth? Interesting, huh? The Internet provides us with great information regarding the benefits of play and exercise. I think that there is enough evidence to encourage us and our children to get out and play. Here is a link that you might enjoy (I have many so let me know if you are interested in reading more): http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleId=39 In addition to the activities that I've mentioned, we also worked on writing and dictating sentences today. The children are reading the Teddy Bear Teddy Bear poem from our chart which is helping us with sight words. They seem to love this activity. We read it at least three times today! Thank you for sharing the wonderful books with the class this past month. I think that this month's lessons were a hit with the children. I am looking forward to our last unit study of the school year, "All About Art." Beginning next week, we are going to learn about different artists and participate in projects where we can implement their techniques.

March 19, 2008- Marbled Paper

I've posted some wonderful pictures of the children with the paper that we marbled today. If you want to view the pictures larger, just click on each one. This project is one my favorite art projects and I think that the children enjoyed it, Andrew especially. I don't think that he has ever worked on a project as long as he did today. The girls finished long before he did. He really enjoyed swirling the paints in the water and "lifting" his print. We read Allyson's book today, "Mama And Little Joe". It was a very sweet book which allowed all of us to talk about important things such as helping others and being kind. Speaking of helping, we all missed Allyson's helping hands today. We really missed her presence most of all. We hope that you are feeling better, Allyson! The children practiced writing letters with shaving cream this afternoon. After that, each child wrote in her journal. Some practiced writing names and some wrote something about our day. We are always working on those fine motor skills but we have fun while we are doing it. Next week, we will be making our own pizzas for lunch. Just pack a few sides and a drink next week. Happy Easter!

March 12, 2008

Here are some of the wonderful pictures that I captured today. Some of our activities today centered around Michaela's book, "Nap Time For Slippers." Michaela's sister, Carissa, read the story to all of us. We made dog treats from scratch and I've posted the recipe and pictures of the children grimacing at the smell. It really did smell like dog food! 3 Small Jars (21/2 oz.) of 2nd stage baby meat (we used turkey & rice) 9 tbs. of powdered milk 13 tbs. wheat germ Mix all together. Mold in shapes. Bake at 350* for 12 minutes. Store in refrigerator.

A Colorful Day

What a beautiful day that we got to enjoy today! The sunshine went right along with our theme of the day, God's creation. Halei and Andrew shared their favorite books. Halei's book was about the sea and Andrew's book was about a star so we also inncorporated the story of creation. We talked about all of the colorful and beautiful things that God created for us to enjoy and we made a list of those things. Some of the children even wrote their own lists.

Speaking of colorful, if you did not get a chance to see the art project that your child brought home you must take a look! We made "rainbow stew" today. We mixed cornstarch, sugar, and water and cooked it on medium heat until it was thick. We then poured the liquid in separate bowls and added food coloring. We spooned each color into a plastic sandwich bag and squeezed the colors around. It was a beautiful sensory art activity!

We all practiced writing our letters today but in a fun and tasty way. Did you hear? We used Cool Whip instead of shaving cream today. All of the children practiced writing on a paper place with the Cool Whip before tasting.

See you tomorrow at Monkey Joe's!