It's a Zoo in Here!

 We have embraced some wildness this week as the children continue to explore animals we see at the zoo! 

On Tuesday, we used crayons and colored pencils to draw pictures of our own animals.

"It's a monkey and a stomach ache!"

 We also worked on some counting and numeracy skills by putting bears in caves. Ms. Krysti asked each child to put a certain number of bears in each cave, and then we recounted how many bears were in each.

Today, we learned that animals are sometimes artists too. We looked at a picture of a monkey who makes paintings. The children pointed out that the monkey was using its hands to paint, and some decided to paint like the monkey!

Some friends really wanted to try the finger-paint, but were not thrilled once they touched the paint. We encouraged them to keep trying but cleaned them up if they really were finished.

Indiana Early Learning Foundations:

ELA3.1: Experiment with a variety of writing tools, materials, and surfaces

M1.1: Begin to apply verbal counting sequence to objects in order to develop one-to-one correspondence

M1.2: Begin to recognize different number symbols indicate different quantities

M1.3: Begin to develop the concepts of more and less

SC3.1: Name characteristics of living organisms

CA3.1: Express preferences for certain art materials

CA3.2: Explore a variety of media

Welcome Back!

 The children were so excited to be back today and we were so excited to see them! We jumped right in with an exploration of zoo animals. 

The children have been big fans of the book Giraffes Can't Dance, and love hearing about how Gerald the giraffe found his dance moves. We decided to make our own giraffes dance! The children started with the toy giraffes and we turned on some dancing music. They chose paint colors, and then went to work. Eventually, they added more of our classroom animals! 

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Indiana Early Learning Foundations:

ELA2.3: Recite parts of well-known stories, rhymes, and songs

ELA2.4: Show preference for familiar stories

SC3.1: Identify living organisms by name

CA3.2: Use a variety of media

CA3.3: Express likes or dislikes of certain colors or patterns

Pajama Day!

 We had so much comfy fun today! We started our day with some watercolor paint as requested by one of our Katon kiddos. 

Then, we read this book:

We decided to see what our boxes could be, and came up with many things of our own. Our boxes became a garage,

an animal cave,

a lesson in spatial awareness,

and a fun game with the bean bags!

"Yay! Two points!"

One of our boxes broke, so it became a ramp for the cars...

...and a new surface for the children to paint at the easel!

We also made some color explosions with baking soda, vinegar, and liquid watercolors. The children giggled as the vinegar made colorful bubbles in the cups. This kept them occupied for quite a while as they made observations about what colors we could see and what happened when we mixed the colors!

We took the pajama fun outside to the playground where the children explored for almost an entire hour. They were so happy to be outside! We even took the guitar outside so we could sing our Pesach songs!

Indiana Early Learning Foundations:

ELA2.4: Answer simple questions about a story

SE1.2: Express both positive and negative feelings about participating in activities

APL1.1: Verbally express a desire to complete task by self

APL1.2: Use active exploration to solve a problem

APL2.1: Show creativity, inventiveness, and flexibility in approach to play with adult guidance

APL3.1: Focus on an activity for short periods of time despite distractions

SC1.1: Use simple words to describe sensory experiences, objects, and how objects move

SC4.1: Use tools to serve a purpose or solve a problem

SC5.1: Demonstrate curiosity and ask for more information

CA1.1: Sing along to familiar songs

CA3.1: Express preferences for certain art materials

CA4.1: Use objects as symbols for other things