France, England and more “soup” on the playground

We had a special treat for breakfast this morning chocolate croissants, for lunch we had fish and chips and for snack, some of the kiddos this morning (the girls only, but by choice) helped make blueberry scones. We read a book called Say Hello by Rachel Isadora and it teaches children how to say hello in different languages AL SALAAM A’ALAYKUM-(Ahl sah-LAHM ah ah-LAY-koom) Arabic BONJOUR-(Bohn-ZHOOR) French BUENOS DIAS-(BWE-nos DEE-ahs) Spanish CIAO-(CHOW) Italian HOLA-(OH-la) Spanish JAMBO-(JAM-bo) Swahili KONICHIWA-(Koh-NEE-chee-wah) Japanese NI HAO-(NEE how) Mandarin SHALOM-(sha-LOHM) Hebrew. On the playground we made “soup” again! They loved this project so much the first time that I had to do it again. This time we used oranges, limes, lemons, mint and vanilla extract for smell, parsley and dill because that is the only dry herbs we had, and colored water. At the table we painted over a cut out of the Eiffel tower and then pulled it off when it was dry. We also examined our globe one more time and found United States and Missouri, Mexico, Hungary, Africa, Italy, France, and England we pretty much circled the globe this week and it was so much fun!
REMINDER- PLA will be closed for the next 2 weeks for Summer Vacation and Teacher Work Week. We will be having an Open House Thursday, August 7 from 5:00-7:00 for tours, playing, families meeting families, meeting staff, registration, and updating paperwork. Have a great last couple weeks of summer! Thanks for making our first Summer Camps AWESOME!! And a BIG THANK YOU to my daughter Emilea for helping us out and making this summer so much fun! Also my “daughter” Samantha for stopping by every chance she got to play and help! Love you Girls!

Africa

Today we went to the continent of Africa. We found it on our globe and compared it to the United States, Italy and Hungary. Henna is popular in Africa for weddings and special occasions. The henna dye slowly fades from your hands in 1 to 2 weeks. We looked at images of Henna Hands and then made our own Henna Hands by tracing our hands and decorating them with markers. Here is a link to the activity http://kidworldcitizen.org/2012/06/07/henna-hands-a-simple-craft/

Italy

Today we explored Italy! We located it on the globe as well as the United States. We looked at beautiful paintings of Italian Sunflowers. Tuscany is full of sunflower fields this is a place that I would love to visit one day! http://justwanderlustblog.com/2013/10/where-to-find-sunflower-fields-in-tuscany/ During table time we did still life paintings using a vase and sunflowers. For breakfast we had a BLT Pie minus the L and T http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/impossibly-easy-blt-pie/4bf7743b-4800-423e-afda-d97667f81706 because I forgot to buy them and for lunch we had spaghetti. Miss Emilea’s friend Katie is going to Italy as a foreign exchange student this school year, and she helped us plan our menu for the day. I have never heard of a BLT Brunch Pie and I am sure this one is far from authentic with the bisquick and all, but it was very good!

Hungary

Today we learned about Hungary. A few fun facts about Hungary… “Kids in Hungary enjoy swimming, bicycling, fishing, horseback riding and playing soccer. Kids in Hungary go to church every Sunday. Girls go with their mothers to her church and boys go with their fathers to his church. On December 6th they celebrate St. Nicholas Day, and on the last Sunday in May it is Children’s Day.” http://cies.einaudi.cornell.edu/system/files/Hungary.ppt Since, Gabi was no help on a craft/art activity we painted the flag of Hungary and ate a Hungarian Dish for lunch. She did give us some helpful hints on our Pasta dish. This was pretty yummy… Sour Cream, Bacon, Feta what’s not to like! http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Turos-Csusza-Pasta-with-Cottage-Cheese/ This is the recipe we used, but Gabi told us to use feta instead of cottage cheese for a more authentic flavor, and not to bake it.

It’s a Small World

This week we are celebrating diversity. Today, we learned about Mexico. We had Huevos Rancheros for breakfast (this did not go over so well) and Tacos for lunch. We listened to the Mexican Hat dance and watched 1st graders perform the dance on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvRRvMw9-fg. We read the book Whoever You Are by Mem Fox this book talks about how we may all look different on the outside but on the inside we are all the same. At circle time we looked at a brown and white egg and talked about how they looked different, we then cracked them open and discovered they look the same on the inside. We also talked a little about the Day of the Dead and looked at pictures of sugar skulls at the tables we created our own sugar skull masks. The sun is something they use a lot in their art http://www.inside-mexico.com/sun.htm. At the easel we posted some of the images of sun art. We also welcomed a new friend today!

Art Week Comes to an End

Art is a very important part of our day in preschool. We are always creating and exploring… that is the way we learn best. I also like the fact as I look around at all of our art this week that everything is unique and different. It is important to let children be themselves through their artwork. If everyone drew a house in exactly the same way what a boring life we would live. Accept your child’s artwork for what it is. Ask them questions, feel their excitement about the beautiful art they have created. It may look like a blob of paint to you, but to them it is a monster, dinosaur, spaceship…
Today we talked about illustrators of children’s books. Eric Carle is one of my favorite author/illustrators. He makes his pictures out of colored tissue paper. We watched a video, looked at the pictures in a few of his books, and read The Very Hungry Caterpillar. http://www.eric-carle.com/slideshow_collage.html We talked about how authors write the story, and illustrators draw the pictures. We then practiced our drawing skills by first telling me what they would like to draw, then drawing it, and when they were finished I had them tell me again what they drew. We had monsters, dinosaurs, dogs, houses and even a nice tornado. We created our own masterpiece on a canvas board, and did a group painting project outside.
Next week is the last week of summer camp… How is that even possible! Our theme is It’s a Small World. REMINDER we will be closed July 28 – August 8 for Summer Vacation and Teacher Work Week to get ready for our new school year starting August 18th. We will be open August 11-15 childcare only. We still have spots available for Fall spread the word!! Have a wonderful weekend!

Pablo Picasso

After looking at Picasso’s art work we noticed that most of the faces he painted were very different looking. http://makingartfun.com/htm/f-maf-art-library/pablo-picasso-biography.htm We were going to cut out face parts from magazines to make our own Picasso inspired art work and then Miss Emilea had the brilliant idea of using a picture of their face. It took a little convincing to get them to cut up a picture of their own face and make art out of it, but after one child did it they thought it was fun! I love the way they turned out… this is my favorite art project so far this week! We also did another group canvas painting.

Vincent van Gogh

Van Gogh was our artist of the day. I was very surprised when I brought the 4 pictures of van Gogh’s paintings out to show the children one of the kiddos knew the name of Starry Night…. Very impressed! At table time the children painted their own Starry Night inspired painting, and I sat out parts of a sunflower for them to glue to make their own sunflower masterpiece. Some of the children also worked together to make a group painting. For more information on the Starry Night – http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/starry-night.html his Sunflower paintings – http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/sunflowerindex.html and his biography http://makingartfun.com/htm/f-maf-art-library/van-gogh-biography.htm.

Monet

Our artist of the day was Monet. We looked at some of his paintings and talked about things we saw. We then painted our own Japanese Footbridge painting from an idea I found on Pinterest. Here is the link – http://www.thecraftyclassroom.com/CraftArtistMonet.html and for more information on Monet’s painting here is another link – http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/gg85/gg85-74796.html. We also taped Monet paintings to the easel for a little painting inspiration. At the playground we used the slide and balls to paint with.

Art Week

This week is art appreciation week. We will be learning about a few famous artists, as well as creating some of our own masterpieces, and learning about color mixing. Our book of the day was the dot by Peter H. Reynolds. This book teaches you that anyone can be an artist! My favorite line in the book is “Just make a mark and see where it takes you.” We made our own dot art today. I gave them all a square with a big dot on it along with markers, crayons and dot paint. I also sat out small black squares with dot stickers for them to create with.