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!
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