Rain, Rain, Go Away!

We had quite a rainy week last week, which means there was a lot of extra time spent in our classroom. We had to figure out ways to make the most of our energy that would otherwise be expended running around on the playground. So, during the start of our week, we conducted our own music class. We had Tyler on the harmonica and the rest of the gang shaking along with their egg-shakers (similar to maracas with out the handle). After rocking out, they got to show off their dance moves to the sounds of the Beatles and each had a turn in the center of our circle. I think many of them have been strongly influenced by the NYC break-dancing we often see on our sidewalks. Just check out the pictures when you get a chance.

The kids had a chance to check out some very colorful squash this week from the Union Square Farmer's Market. They noticed that some are orange, yellow or green, long or round, or striped or spotted. Squash come in many different variations... just like us!

As I mentioned last week in the blog, we have added a new and very important aspect to our day-JOBS!! The kids have been doing so well at making sure they're doing their specified job for the day, and they even check up on their friends to make sure they're doing their job, too. I'd have to say that the current job of choice is the "1-2-3, eyes on me!" helper. Sarah suggested we have a cockroach checker, but I had to do my best to assure the children that there are (hopefully) no cockroaches hiding under our rug.

Joshua brought in a mystery-bag from his recent trip to the beach, and all of the kids had a fun time guessing what was inside. Emma thought there was a princess inside, Leo thought there may be a sandcastle, and Dylan thought there may be cupcakes inside. Wishful thinking, I suppose. It was actually full of pinecones he collected on the beach, and decided to share them with his classmates. Some of them wanted to work together to make a pinecone mural, which is hanging over the easle. They also made individual paintings during a visit from Joshua's dad. Paul and Josh showed them cool new ways to use a pinecone, and they learned that painting doesn't necessarily have to be done with a paintbrush. They all got to experiement with this new art material by dipping, rolling, dabbing and scratching their paper, and came up with really beautiful pieces.

We also had some other special visitors this week to celebrate Tyler's birthday. His mom, Diana, and sister, Olivia, came in to read "Where the Wild Things Are", and to enjoy homemade oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies. Tyler got a lot of Birthday hugs from his friends, and everyone got to have fun pretending they were "Wild Things" with Diana as she read the story.

On Wednesday, on their way back to the classroom from the playground, the kids were pleasantly surprised with a classroom full of silky spiderwebs. They loved exploring the texture and the elasticity, especially. Many enjoyed crawling under and through it, getting tangled in it, and then figuring a way out of it. They also knew that, if they want to keep the webs up in our classroom, they can't tug on it too hard!! We've still got the webs up. Needless to say, they did an awesome job.

During mathgames this week, we learned about weight using our scale, which is along the same lines as our previous more than/less than conversations from previous weeks. If one side of the scale contains more weight, it will move closer to the ground. If both sides have equal/the same/balanced weight, each side of the scale will be the same distance from the ground. The kids got to use the scales on their own to test their knowledge on how to balance objects, and to discover what happens when you add or take away objects from either side.

Towards the end of our week, the kids voted on whether we should cook the acorn, butternut or spaghetti squash. We had 7 votes for butternut, 10 for spaghetti, and 5 for acorn. We have 17 kids in our class, so you'll notice we're still getting the hang of the '1 vote per person' deal. After selecting the spaghetti squash, we talked about what the inside might look like. Spaghetti was the unanimous response. One person took it a bit further and mentioned meatballs, too. We let the squash cook to soften it up before cutting it. After it was cut, they were able to observe the inside and proved their hypothesis was right, but rather than meatballs, there were actually seeds. Other words and phrases used to describe it were "trees" and "a bathtub with lots of toys". Each of the kids had a chance to smell the squash, add a pinch of cinnamon or sugar, and then eat it. They ALL tried at least a bite, and most of them liked it. YAYE! Here are some of the reactions they had:

It smells like...
Emma- "A pancake"
Julia C.- "A cupcake"
Dylan- "Syrup"
Sarah- "Chicken and corn"
Greta- "Spaghetti"
Darby- "Shells"

It tastes like...
Tyler- "I don't like it"
Eva C.- "A banana"
Eva Y.- "Leaves"
Sarah- "Cinnamon"

Some of the stories we read this week were "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" and "The Very Busy Spider". While reading "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs", some of the kids were angered to hear that a huge pancake fell on the shcool, and the school had to close! They thought, if that ever happened to us, we would have to eat our way out, or a helicopter would have to lift the pancake off. Some kids decided they would run away really fast instead.

Reading "The Very Busy Spider" posed a different kind of dilema. The last page had been ripped out of the book. ARG! But, have no fear, the kids used this as an opportunity to make up their own endings. Many of them were familiar with the story, but they still had fun with originality. Darby decided the owl was going to eat the spider web. Dylan thought the spider left his web for all of the birds to see, and Julia C. thought the spider fell asleep in her web.

The last thing we did on our wet Friday afternoon was have a little scavenger hunt. The teachers turned out the lights while hiding the pretend cakes from dramatic play, and each child had a chance to find one. They had a lot of fun with this mystery game and did an awesome job with no peeking!!! For the last round, some of the kids had a turn hiding the cakes for the teachers. They must've played this game before because, I'll admit, we had to ask for a hint. Although, I'm sure you know that asking a 3 or 4 year old for a hint always results in them telling you exactly where it is, but we all had a lot of fun anyway.

Next week, we will be cooking some more squash- either acorn or butternut. I'd like to take a trip to Central Park because we weren't able to go last week due to the rain. We shall see how the weather holds up. Also, Janet is going to be doing a science experiment with the kids that will involve paper towel or toilet paper tubes. If you have any, don't throw them away-- I have a box in the classroom by the sink for you to drop them off in. Lastly, I want to thank those of you who have been signing up for snack. So wonderful!!! Please, please, please be sure to sign up. We've had snacks such as fresh date-bread, yogurt, melon, strawberries and pirate's booty, which are all much better than pretzles and graham crackers. Thanks!!

I'll see you during the week,

Amanda