Pasta Week!

Pasta Week was honed down to about a day and half, however given the time we had, we made the most of it!  Happy to be back at school with one another, the Children readily explored "Pasta" in a myriad of ways.

              Painting:

                    Gluing:

                     Sorting:

Exploring and Playing at the Sensory Table:

Pasta was incorporated into Music and Literature at Story Time.

We also cooked and ate Pasta for Snack!

Pasta Week was also a great lead into our Grocery Store Theme, because everyone knows that you buy pasta in the grocery store!  We look forward to the Grand Opening of our Classroom Store on Monday!

Happy Birthday to Gilbert who turned Four on Tuesday and celebrated with us on Thursday!

Sarah's Reflections

This week brought new meaning to the idea of "playing with our food." During Pasta Week, the children experienced both new and familiar shapes that they see in their everyday life, especially in their pasta!  We placed an assortment of hard pasta in our sensory table, which the children enjoyed sorting by shape, color, and size. While sorting builds on the children's mathematical concepts, the sensory table can also help children expand in other areas as well, such as creativity, critical thinking, and overall higher level thinking skills.

Many questions are addressed in a child's thinking as he/she explores and creates a design with the pasta; "Do any of these pasta pieces have openings?  Will the spaghetti hold the pasta?  Will it break?  What will happen if I hold the pasta a different way?  Will this shape fit through another pasta?" All of these questions are examples of the critical thinking that is taking place while the child plays/explores.  Providing environments where creative critical thinking is fostered for children, facilitates their success in today’s and tomorrow’s world!

I am always struck by the many abilities of the children within our classroom, and there was no greater feeling for me than seeing the pride on Benjamin's face as he ran over to show me his new creation. The children never cease to amaze me with their abilities to think outside the box!

Have a fun and restful weekend!