Friday Recap

We ended our week of Penguins... The kids were excited to try to waddle with their penguin egg, but it turned out to be pretty hard for them. They got frustrated pretty fast and decided that there were other more exciting things to do this morning :)

Here they are trying, but not understanding why it's not working. They gave it a few minutes and then asked to be done and proceeded to open the "eggs." I used old Leggs Pantyhose Eggs and put a jar of baby food in it to add some weight. They were more intrigued by that than trying to move the egg on their feet. Although it did give them an understanding of how hard it was for the Daddy Penguin to keep his baby warm and safe.

As promised we put the ice in the flour... and wouldn't you know it the ice didn't melt. As of right now (around 1:44 EST) it is still pretty solid. HUH!! Now I am going to have to ask my big boys science teacher the reason behind that, because the questions were flying. We hypothesized that 1. the ice would melt & 2. it would turn the flour into "goop" and we could play slime... but it didn't happen. Here are some reasons the kids came up with:

R: "Um, it (the flour) is soft so it won't melt"

B: "No, it is because the flour is cold"

L: "Maybe it's because it's..." she looks at me and with a huge smile shrugs her shoulders

S: "It's because it's in there with that" and she giggles and giggles like she has just figured out all the wonders of the world

They tried to break it up with the toys, but it was actually hard to break. I will googled it and see what I can find, if I can't find something use able to explain to the kids on Monday, I will call the kids science teacher.

We got this toy from our neighborhood Smart Start which has a lending library for people who work with children 0-5 yrs old to check out. I have taken this one out before and the kids really seem to like it. It is nice to be able to check it out since they like it only for a week or so and then they get bored. This way I bring it back, someone else gets to use it and I don't have to store it. Then after a reasonable length of time, I check it out again and it's like it is brand new!!

Another Smart Start find. Someone made this box to teach or reinforce the concepts Small, Medium, Large. The kids first sort all the materials in the box into categories, like there are 3 zippers, 3 cups, 3 spoons, etc... Then they sort the individual categories onto the Small, Medium, Large circle. I don't know who made the box, but I love it!! We were having a hard time with the word Medium and this really gives them a more concrete picture of it and to practice sorting in groups, sorting by size and introducing the language needed to describe size.

The kids like this activity... a little name reinforcement and it was like Magic when it appeared.

At the Art Center the kids worked on their Snowstorm picture. When we watched The March of the Penguin the kids were interested in a part where the Daddy's are all huddled up during a Snowstorm to keep their babies warm. So we thought we would recreate it on paper (sort of). We used bubble wrap to make prints with white paint (some of the kids used fingers and/or brushes also). We then made a little penguin with a black oval shape, and torn paper.

Here is just one Snowstorm... but they all did one and it was a nice end to the week :)

My Favorite Picture of the Day... I don't know the babyness of her, the chubby cheeks, the smile, and how she is looking off and laughing... even as I look at it, I'm not sure what she is laughing about :)

Next week we are going to read The Mitten by Jan Brett, introduce the letter O, the Oval Shape, and introduce some Color work trays. Have a Great Weekend!!!