Ice Cream Project
We have made some exciting progress on our ice cream study this week. I think everyone officially loves to vote now! We have been so excited to make our voices heard and have been realizing how to form an opinion and make a choice. For some of us, it takes a little pondering before we can commit to just one in a set of choices. For others, the choice is immediately clear. This week we brainstormed ideas for our shop name, and then overwhelmingly voted for "Wheels on the bus ice cream store." Next week we are going to dedicate time to creating our store front, and figuring out what we still need to run a successful ice cream shop! To help support these ideas, we have some new books to introduce to the class.
And we made our very first ice cream! Using frozen mixed berries, yogurt, milk and a tiny bit of sugar, we made a delicious treat. At first we thought that the ice cream machine was going to be really loud, but it's much quieter than the blender. And we all took turns peeking inside to see the ice cream forming- and were excited that it was pink!
Next week we are planning to make a banana sherbet!
The ice cream truck has been a very popular and much enjoyed activity during our mornings. We have been observing the type of play and have seen some interesting things: some friends are interested in matching the bowls and spoon colors together. Others have practiced using the magnetic ice cream scoops with the ice cream. We've used the bowls for stacking and building. And there has been a great deal of sharing and offering ice cream to friends. We can't wait to see how everything continues to develop next week!
Specialists
Cooking with Diane: We made homemade butter this week using heavy cream and a bit of sugar. We spread this yummy butter onto mini bagels.
Spanish with Ernestina: A new song was introduced to us this week that talked about foods we like and foods we don't like (me gusta and no me gusta).
Soccer with Jojo: We scored a lot of goals this week! We continued using small and large soccer balls, small and large cones, and worked on listening and following directions.
Cooking with Mitzi: Mixed berry frozen yogurt!
Sensory Projects
Clay: this week we took out an entire block of clay and used our hands and feet to explore. It was Jayce's first clay experience -- but even for the clay experts it was exciting to be able to stand up on top of the clay. We heard rich language being used to describe what was seen, felt, and observed. "It's cold!" "It's so heavy!" "It's breaking!" "It feels good." "I like it." "It's stuck on my fingers."
We also talked a little bit about the "ingredients" that differentiate playdough and clay, since we often get them confused. Playdough is made predominantly out of flour, and clay is made out of sand or dirt! Clay is always a natural color like brown or gray or white, and playdough can be any color!
Drawing: We continue to see marked improvements in fine motor control, especially while we are drawing. Shapes are becoming very clear and recognizable. It won't be long before we see people, pre-writing, and other milestones appear throughout the drawings!
Science: This week we attempted to make some rock candy. Everyone took turns dipping a piece of string into water and then rolling it into sugar. Then we wrapped the strings around a popsicle stick and left them hanging in a jar of sugary water. Unfortunately our crystals didn't form yet, but Rachel will be testing it out at home this weekend so we can finish this project!
Puzzles
Today we started using jigsaw puzzles. Now that we are able to identify and match patterns and colors, we can work on strategies to finish puzzles that are more complex. We'll also talk about identifying the pieces with straight edges that stay on the outside of the puzzle, and even about the pieces that have two straight/flat edges.
Reminders:
We are closed tomorrow, Friday, March 2nd for Staff Development.
Next Tuesday, March 6th is School Picture day. Our scheduled time is around 10:30, but things tend to be a little crazy and behind schedule, so I would think we will probably have our pictures done between 11-11:15. However, being ready for 10:30 is important (just in case!).
Parent Teacher Conferences are on Thursday, March 15th. School is closed for children.
Our trip to Eataly Downtown is Monday, March 19th
Literacy week begins Monday, March 19th and goes through Friday, March 23rd. Our class will have an amazon wishlist of books that we'd love your help purchasing! We will be looking closely at the author Leo Lionni and reading different stories he's authored throughout the week. Literacy week will culminate in a special Book Character tea party on that Friday- we encourage you to dress your children up as their favorite book character (i.e. Pete the Cat, Llama Llama, Peppa the Pig, etc.)