Yellow Week!

Yellow Week was filled with a wide variety of play-based learning activities!  Art, literature, song, and fine-motor activities were all vehicles through which the children explored the color Yellow.  The colors Yellow and Blue were also the basis for daily Spanish lessons.  The children have become quite familiar with Azul (blue) and Amarillo (yellow).  We interchanged the Spanish and English words during story time as we read Leo Lionni's book; Little Blue and Little Yellow.  I am confident that if you ask your child about the book they will readily retell the story.  They may even be able to tell you the author's name if you help them with the initial "L" sound. 

As this week's pictures indicate, the children are now exhibiting great comfort as they move about the room at will, building with blocks, engaging in dress-up, looking at books, and experimenting with Math concepts through fine-motor activities.  They are also a very social class and are making great strides at interactive play.

Physical Education classes with Darcy also began this week.  The children joined our Pre-K Four friends outdoors and had a grand time.  Darcy will continue to work and play with the Pre-K students every Monday and Wednesday from 10:45 to 11:15 throughout the year.   

Lastly, we welcomed our student teachers from Hudson Valley Community College.  Maureen Mickle, a first year student, will be with us on Tuesday mornings, and Keanna Gang, a second year student will be with us on Wednesday and Thursday mornings.  The student teachers will remain with us until mid-December.

The children are looking forward with great anticipation to all of the fun events planned for Green Week!

Maureen Mickle

Keanna Gang

Looking Deeper:  Exploration and Learning through Play

This week I would like to guide you through a closer look at our Art Table activities.

Upon first glance at this photo, one sees Sebastian happily gluing a Yellow Collage.  However, if you were privy to the actual experience this is what you would have heard; "JoAnn, I am going to glue a lot of these yellow squiggly things (yarn pieces).  They look like worms."  Sebastian proceeded to pick out "a lot" of yarn pieces, thereby utilizing the Mathematical principle of sorting.  As he glued them to the paper he said, "Look JoAnn, I made a person!"  Sebastian flowed within the process, utilizing Math skills, and engaging imagination and creativity, and to think upon first glance it looks like "just" a Yellow Collage!

For young children art is a process that often has little to do with the end product.  For them it is about observing and experiencing.  When we first introduce the children to glue, it is not unusual for them to cover their paper with glue and not place a single item upon the glue.  Working with the glue itself is the experience.  Louisa spent a good deal of time studying the movement of glue, watching it flow from the brush back into the cup, and then watching it flow onto the paper.  She delighted in this process, applying glue to several sheets of paper before she proceeded with her creation!

Making a blue and yellow paper collage was a follow-up activity to our reading Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni at story time this week.  Many of the children talked about the story as they glued, retelling some of their favorite parts.  Annabelle talked about how Little Blue and Little Yellow were best friends, and every time they hugged, they turned green!  Upon looking deeper at the art table you realize that in addition to gluing, a Book Report is also occurring!

As mentioned, we learned during our reading of Little Blue and Little Yellow, that mixing blue and yellow makes green.  So on Thursday we put out Blue and Yellow paint to see if we could make green.  The children were so excited as they observed the color green emerging on their paper plates as the the blue and yellow paint mixed.  Reid exclaimed to me, "JoAnn, I really know how to make green!  Making green is easy cause I know how to mix colors!"  This time upon looking deeper at the art table you realize that in addition to painting, a Science lesson is also occurring! 

Have a fun and restful weekend!