This morning we started out our activities with a science project.
I gave each of the children a sandwich bag with 1 cup of flour and 1/2 a cup of salt in it. They examined the contents (without opening the bag) and guessed what it was. Then we thought about words that would describe the ingredients- dry, fluffy, white, squishy, soft, etc. We thought about what would happen if we added water to the mixture. It would no longer be dry and fluffy, and it might not be white anymore.
Then each child chose a color of water either red or green and we added the water to the bag. The mixture became sticky, and solid and we started to see the white mixture mix together with the colored water. They enjoyed watching this process. As they continued playing with the bag the ingredients continued to mix and form play dough! The steps were so easy that I think I'll set up a center in our classroom for quiet work time that will allow the children to complete this project totally on their own. They love to add and mix and discover!
When all of the ingredients were completely mixed together we dumped out our dough and used rolling pins and cookie cutters to cut our Christmas shapes. We used a straw to make a little hole on each of the cut shapes so that when it dries we can put a string on it and turn it into an ornament. They really enjoyed using the rolling pins and got the hang of pushing on the cookie cutters hard enough to totally cut through the dough. We're working our way up to making gingerbread cookies, and cinnamon dough ornaments!
After our activity we had lunch- scrambled eggs, cheese, apple slices, peas and carrot sticks. Then we colored a picture of a star or "Estrella" as our Spanish homework. We are working on the shapes, numbers, and colors in Spanish. They are catching on nicely, although our Spanish teacher Ms. Cristina says that it will probably take a good 4-6 weeks until we really see them recognizing and responding to much of the language.
We then went downstairs and had our music class! The theme of the week for music class was Jingle Bells. We started the class by reviewing the sign language signs for snow and cold and then we learned the signs for Jingle Bells, Horse, and Sleigh. Then we worked on following directions by playing our jingle bells to "Shake those bells." Next we reviewed the finger play "snowflakes". Then we read and sang along to the storybook "Jingle Bells." Next we got out our streamers and danced to "Jingle Bell Rock." To wrap things up, we took turns playing our favorite instruments to some good songs.
We read our chapter of Junie B. Jones- we have one chapter left and then we'll be onto our 4th Junie B. Jones book already! The kids can't get enough of it!
We said our goodnight poem and got tucked into bed for a nice rest (I don't think there is much sleeping going on, as they are all snuggled together in one little spot of the room because we had to move the furniture around a bit for music class and we didn't move it back yet.
When nap time is over we are going to make pine cone Christmas decorations and eat some yummy gingerbread cookies made by Miel, Isaiah and their Mama! What a yummy treat!