Red, Orange, Yellow, Green and Brown
As the weather has slowly started to get cooler, the chidlren have been eager to show their classmates and teachers their warmer clothing which has sparked conversations about autumn. The children used the art masterpiece that they had created the week before to inspire their autumn activities this week. One activity was fall foil paintings. The children used the colors from their autumn collage and painted on foil, which was intriguing for them. They commented on how the foil made noise when they painted it and how different the colors looked while they were painting. Please have a look at the process and some of their work samples in the space outside of our classroom!
The children also examined leaves and sticks and eventually placed them and other natural materials in fresh paper clay to produce some lovely pieces. After they dried, they continued to beautify them by adding some color.
Another activity this week that was very popular was the magnetic shaped puzzles. The children used autumn colored foam shapes and placed them in templates while improving their fine motor skills, color and shape recognition. Some friends began to notice that the shapes could stick together and others said it was because they are magnets. It wasn't long before they mastered these puzzles and they asked for them all throughout the week! Next week, the children will be able to discover more of the magnetic properties of these shapes as we change the way they use them.
Dragons and Tacos
Aside from the lovely fall weather and the gorgeous colors that go with it, the big area of interest this week continued to be our class dragon and our upcoming taco party. As we talked about the book, we reviewed the ingredients for tacos and decided that we will need: tortillas, lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese. Friends kindly drew their suggestions for the list that we plan to take with us next week when we all go the supermarket as a class when we buy the ingredients ourselves! We talked about a good day to have a taco party. Some friends said we couldn't have it '"today" because we didn't have the right ingredients. Others said, they didn't want to wait too long to have tacos because it was too "far away". We looked at the days we will be away from school and decided on the date. The children noted that we needed a symbol on our calendar for the day of the taco party, which they chose to be a taco. They have enjoyed counting down the days until the taco party.
After deciding on a date for the party and ingredients for the tacos, we agreed that our guest of honor, our class dragon, still needs some details. After many searching through various materials and having discussions, sharing opinions, voting, and re-voting, the children decided on a pink dragon with black cardboard wings, and a tail that will be blue, purple, and white. The children got into groups according to their preferences and continued working on the dragon. We will continue this mission next week as well.
The children have been sure to introduce visitors to the dragon and have been feeding him this week!
Practicing Our Cutting Skills While Building Tacos
We introduced the children to scissors this week by talking to them about how to handle them safely, how to hold them and how to use them to cut. They listened and watched the teachers attentively as they showed them and were excited to cut out yellow circles (for the tortillas) and green lines (lettuce) to practice making their tacos at the taco party. Then they used their finger muscles to fold their tortillas in half to form their tacos. Great job, Nursery friends!
We look forward to more excitement and creativity next week! Enjoy the long holiday weekend, everyone!
-Julie and Natalie
-Julie and Natalie