Pinata Party Week

Piñata Party Week ended with a bang, as we "banged" away at our Piñatas, and broke
them open!

Ice painting was a highlight of the week!

We spent time practicing for the Peace Assembly!

We happily seized the opportunity to play outdoors in the fresh fallen snow of "Winter"!

Additionally, the children delighted in exploring two new playground structures that were made possible by a very generous donation from a friend of the Parker School.

We also bid farewell to our wonderful HVCC student teachers, Jen and Taylor.

Looking Deeper:  Exploration and Learning through Play

Let's take a closer look at making a Piñata.

As the photos illustrate, breaking the Piñata was lots of fun.  Making the Piñata was fun as well, and the process was a valuable learning experience for the children on many levels.  Making things with the children teaches them how those things come to be, a fact that may be obvious to grown-ups but is often a mystery to children.  Additionally, it illustrates that the process has sequential components that happen over time.  If the Piñata is to be strong and durable, no step can be missed and the process cannot be rushed.  That in and of itself is a great lesson to teach as it is an important metaphor for life! 

Including the children in the Piñata making process not only educates, it empowers them and honors their capabilities. 

We capitalize on every opportunity to reinforce the children's understanding that they are not only helpful, they are important, and their participation is essential to the classroom community!

Yes, making the Piñata was fun for the children, however, it may be one of the few times when destroying their creation was as much fun, if not more, than making it!!!

Have a fun and restful Holiday!

Winter Week II & III

Winter Weeks II & III brought continued "snow production"  at our art table! 

We continued to read, discuss and enjoy Winter story books, and "snowman" songs were sung daily! 

Most importantly, we began the process of making Piñatas for our Piñata Party!
So far we have blown up the balloons.

Put on the first coat using newspaper.

And put on the second coat using news print.

We happily seized the opportunity to play outdoors in the Fresh fallen snow of "Winter"!

Divertido con Espanol / Fun with Spanish

Senora Jen joined in the winter fun as she read, "Me Gusta La Neive!" by Hans Wilhelm.

Looking Deeper:  Exploration and Learning through Play

Let's take a closer look at story time.

Over the past two weeks we have read many winter related story books, with "snowmen" being a recurring theme.  While all of the "snowmen" books have been fictional, they were none the less a wonderful vehicle for teaching Science!  Each book dramatically described the enthusiastic building of a snow-person, and the inevitable thawing, melting and transformation of the "snowy friend" into a puddle of water!  Happily new snow fell, and the beloved "snow- person" was built anew!  The children have loved hearing multiple readings of Bob the Snowman by Sylvia Loretan, Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright, The Snow Child, by Freya Littledale, and Sadie and the Snowman by Allen Morgan!

During the readings we talked about why snow people melt.  "Because it gets hot!"  We talked about why puddles disappear.  "Because the water goes up into the clouds!"  We talked about why it snows again. "Because it gets cold and the water turns back into snow and falls to the ground"!  After several such discussions, I introduced the words, "precipitation", "evaporation" and "condensation".  I then routinely used these words in subsequent discussions.  By week's end, some of the children were able to use these words appropriately, and nearly all of the children were able to tell me which word meant snow falling down, water going back into the sky, and water turning back into snow.  These fictional story books were not only a source of great factual information, they were also the catalyst for our doing a little "experimenting" of our own as we made ice cubes to observe in the classroom.

We observed and discussed the melting process, until ultimately, all we saw was water in the dish where the ice cube had once rested. 

Then we predicted whether all the water would evaporate by "tomorrow", and we left our dishes containing the melted ice cube water out over night.  The children could not wait to have a look at the dishes upon their arrival, and they were very excited to see that they were indeed dry!

A closer look at Story Time reveals the ease and importance of integrating subject matter for the children, (fictional literature and Science), and of course the excitement of the experimental process!

Have a fun and restful weekend!