Green Week!

Green Week marked the second full week of school as we engaged in a variety of fun "Green" activities.  At the art table, the children glued green collages, and printed green leaves.

At story time, we read "Green Eggs and Ham."  Then cooked green eggs and ate them for snack.

Green Week also marks the point at which our color themed weeks merge with our Fall Gifts from the Earth theme, and so this week we began talking about the Earth and it Fall Gifts.

We began our conversation as we observed the beautiful trees outside our classroom window.

The leaves are mostly green now, but soon they will change color and fall to the ground.

 So in addition to green leaves, we printed leaves that were yellow, orange and red. 

 We talked about our upcoming field trip to Samascott Orchards where we will pick apples.  We took a pretend field trip and picked pretend apples within the classroom. 

We noted that beautiful colored leaves and yummy apples are two Fall Gifts from the Earth.  In the coming weeks we will continue to focus on our "color of the week", and we will also talk about and engage in activities that emphasize and highlight additional Fall Gifts from the Earth.

The children continue to engage in gross motor, fine motor, dramatic and outdoor play daily, and do so both independently and in small groups.

The magnificent weather enabled us to continue our exploration of the many beautiful garden that blossom on our Parker School grounds!

 We began P.E. class with Darcy!  We had a great time both inside and outside!

We celebrated with Kyle as he turned three years old!

We welcomed our Student Teachers from Hudson Valley Community College to our class this week and they will remain with us until mid-December.

Brittany, a first year student,  will be with us on Tuesday Mornings.

Cassy, a second year student, will be with us on Wednesday and Thursday Mornings.

Divertido con Espanol / Fun with Spanish

Vocabalo de Semana en Espanol / Words of the Week in Spanish

Verde / Green

Arcoiris / Rainbow

Por Favor / Please

Gracias / Thank You

Senora Jennifer spent time assisting the children with counting in Spanish, and followed up on last week's Spanish Storybook as the children colored pictures of  un perro/a dog.

Looking Deeper:  Exploration and Learning through Play

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

Cooking is always a favorite activity among the children.  This may be true because cooking is familiar, it serves as a bridge between home and school as many of the children frequently cook with their parents.  Perhaps it is because they get to eat the yummy things they cook.  Or maybe it is because there is something magical about cooking!  It looks one way at the beginning, and transforms into something different and delicious at the end!  In reality, cooking is a wonderful vehicle for teaching Science, Math and Language Arts skills to young children!  These activities call for identifying, sorting, ordering, measuring, counting, timing and observing, while at the same time providing exercise of small motor skills.  Look at those children as they use their observation skills!!! 

"Hmmm, maybe I do like Green Eggs  after all!"

Have a fun and restful weekend!