Gingerbread Men, Latkes and the color "GREEN!"

The children have been busy learning about the many traditions of Hanukkah and Christmas as they enjoy the wonderful books that we read and discuss. After reading "It's Hanukkah" by Santiago Cohen they learned that each of the candles on the menorah represents one of the eight nights of Hanukkah. The middle candle is called the "shamash" and is used to light a candle each night. We also learned about "trimming" the Christmas tree!

 

The children could barely keep up with the gingerbread man when he escaped after being taken out of the oven, running from lots of animals along his way until.... he meets a clever fox! "The Gingerbread Man," by Karen Schmidt was a favorite for many! Next the children made gingerbread boys and girls by decorating them with rick rack, buttons, pompoms, ribbon and sequins.

After discovering in last week's Exploring that mixing a little yellow with a little blue made green, we tried it again, this time with finger paint! The children realized that their color of green might be a little different from their friend's, depending on how much of each color we mixed! After making really neat designs we placed a white construction paper Christmas tree on top and "tickled it" all over. When we removed our tree from the paint it was wearing our finger paint design! After it was dry, we used paint dotters of many colors to decorate our tree.

The children practiced pouring green water and using droppers of yellow and blue water to make different shades of green.

 

Building detailed structures of Legos and hammering are two activities that we love taking part in.

We had a special guest visit our class this week, "Coach D!" He played the guitar and sang some very fun songs. He even taught us a new "Hokey Pokey" that made us laugh and laugh!!!

 

One of the highlights of Exploring this week was making latkes with Mrs. Gootson. We began by grating the potatoes, then measured the ingredients and took turns using the spoon to mix them. The children enjoyed their latkes with applesauce. Many asked for seconds and even thirds!

Making "Rock and Roll Stars" was an exciting activity during Exploring. We created stars with their own unique design by dipping a ball in paint and the rolling it over the star. The children controlled the direction of the ball by moving the container as the ball rocked and rolled!

To decorate a special ornament the children chose different colored tissue paper squares. They painted over the tissue paper with water to make it stick to their ornament. They discovered that as the colors bled together they created new colors. After rest we examined the ornaments to find that the water had evaporated and the tissue paper had begun to peel away. Then we removed the tissue completely to see our colorful ornaments!

The Lively Ladybugs are always having fun, whether it is reading a book together, sharing with a friend who has been away or playing with our Alpha friends on the playground!

Holidays, Traditions and Stars

The children were overjoyed to discover a gingerbread house in the Exploratorium this week! We have been reading many wonderful books about Hannakah and Christmas learning about special traditions. In the gingerbread house they have enjoyed using hammers and blocks to make special gifts to give at holiday time. They are excited about the Holiday Gift Drive and giving to the children that are in need.

After reading the book "A Blues Clues Chanukah" by Jessica Lissy the children were making latkes and having a having a Hanukkah party in the dramatic play area.

The children really experienced the holiday spirit making gingerbread cookies. First we measured the ingredients, mixed with a spoon and used rolling pins to flatten our balls of dough. Next we chose a cookie cutter shape to cut our cookie. The tricky part was removing the extra dough from the edges in order to see our cookie!

Mrs. Mundell introduced us to the star shape and then we glued different sizes and colors of stars onto a large star. We are going to hang them on the branches of our classroom tree!

At the easel the children used blue, red, yellow and green paint to paint stripes, dots, ovals and zigzags designing our own special holiday gift paper!

Others enjoyed drawing with craypas at the easel and then writing their own names on their work!

Some of us had so much fun at the sensory table exploring with muffin tins, cookie cutters and flour!!

The coolest thing was using droppers of watercolor and squeezing it onto a tray of shaving cream. Then we took a picked scraper to blend the colors gently together. NEXT we placed paper on top and tickled it all over. When we pulled the paper away it was covered with the beautiful colors we had made and of course a little shaving cream that we scraped onto the table. Then we got to put our hands in it and PLAY!

During Exploring on Friday the children enjoyed decorating the gingerbread cookies they had made with icing and a variety of sprinkles. The best part was when we were finished and could take a bite!

We used red, yellow, white, blue and green beads and a jingle bell to make a jingle bell necklace! The children will wear their necklaces at the "Holiday Sing" on December 16th.

Mrs. McIvor joined us for Exploring and shared many musical instruments! The children used jingle bells, cymbals and tambourines to make beautiful music as they listened to holiday tunes. Triangles, bells and musical holiday animals were also enjoyed and created a delightfully festive atmosphere!

Mrs. Samuel read the book " Little Blue, And Little Yellow" by Leo Lionni and combined droppers of yellow and blue food coloring to make "GREEN." How exciting!! The children used a little yellow and a little blue finger paint to make their own green. They also experimented transferring green water into test tubes with pipettes.

Books read this week:
"Ten on the Sled" by Kim Norman
"Sleepy ABC" by Margaret Wise Brown
"Harriet and George's Christmas Treat" by Nancy Carlson
"Madeline's Christmas" by Ludwig Bemelmans

Field Trip to Publix and the Thanksgiving Feast!

 

The children practiced their fine motor skills when painting various shapes of wooden beads in beautiful shades of water color with hints of glitter. The beads were part of the Native American necklaces that they made during Friday's Exploring activities.

Inside the tepee we built Native American homes with Lincoln Logs and weaved yarn on the loom. We discussed how the Pilgrims learned about farming new crops from the Native Americans. "Thanksgiving Day" by Anne Rockwell and "The Littlest Pilgrim" by Brandi Doughtery were books enjoyed this week as we learned about the very first Thanksgiving!

 

On Wednesday the Lively Ladybugs were off to Publix to learn exactly what goes on behind the scenes! It was especially exciting as we have been shoppers and employees at our very own Publix the past few weeks. We were greeted at the door by our very special tour guide.

We saw all of the many items in the dairy department and then had fun putting on our hair nets before entering the meat department where we watched how the butcher cuts the meat, place it on the conveyor belt as it was wrapped and labeled.

We visited the produce section and saw lots of fresh vegetables that we know how those grow. Next we saw live lobsters in the tank and then were able to touch one!

We observed as a beautiful cake was iced and decorated with flowers. On Friday we enjoyed eating that yummy cake at our Thanksgiving Feast!

Then we divided into groups and did our shopping for our Thanksgiving Feast! We each were a part of check out placing an item on the moving belt!

What an exciting way to begin preparations for our Thanksgiving feast by picking our very own home grown squash from the garden!

Then we used vegetable brushes and water to scrub our squash clean! Next we used plastic knives to slice it for cooking!

Then we shucked the corn, not an easy task especially removing all of the corn silk!

The children picked the grapes from the vines, mashed the potatoes and sliced the hot dogs!

Then it was finally time for our big feast! We learned what planning and hard work go into such a special celebration. The children, parents and teachers helped to make this a special, joyous occasion where we were all appreciated what it means to be thankful! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!