Saturday, April 14, 2018

Week 31: Countdown to Arts Night!

Week 31: April 9 to 13th  Countdown to Art's Night

This Week:
https://gvsps.blogspot.com/2018/04/week-31-countdown-to-arts-night.html

Last Week:
https://gvsps.blogspot.com/2018/04/week-30-april-2-to-april-6th.html

Dear Parents,

This was a very exciting week as we prepared ourselves for Arts' Night.  We practiced our songs a lot this week, as well as worked hard on some artwork inspired by some famous painters.  We also took some time to enjoy the spring weather, looked for birds and some creatures, and start a Biology unit.  We also welcomed Ms. Katie back to our classroom with our new class baby Everett!

Monday:  We reviewed the seasons and talked about what happens in Spring in terms of the amount of daylight, the weather, Animals coming out of hibernation and began talking about plants.  We had a "Spring Flowers Lesson," which is a three part matching in a circular form that gives the spring flower names to some common plants.  We also are activity looking for signs of spring outside on our playground and some friends are counting/looking for the sprouts in the garden.  Other popular works include abstract painting project,  free drawing, Creative writing: Postcards,  Coffee Grinding, Lacing, Flower Families, Early Writing on Dry Erase Board and Stamp Game Addition.

Tuesday:  We began the day reviewing the date and calendar and then talked about the Parts of a Plant.  We talked about how Stems hold up a plant, bring nutrients to leaves and flowers from the roots, and stems determine the height of a plant (and how much sunlight it can get).  We did a quick experiment using paper to demonstrate capillary action inside the stem of a plant.  And then we cut a white daisy flower and put it in green water to see what will happen.  At circle, we pointed out that Art's Night was coming up and what we needed to do to prepare for it as a class.  We decided that we need to practice all our sings each day and choose student role models to lead the singing.  Through out the day we practice lining up on "stage" and singing without teachers.  We also had Spanish Class with Sra. Rosa, where we talked about types of fruits that we eat.   In the afternoon, we read A Place for Birds, by Melissa Stewart and talked about ecology in terms of what we can do to help our bird friends and how they are important to our environment.

Wednesday:  We started the day with our Seasons Mat to celebrate a Birthday Walk.  Happy 4th Birthday H****!  During the work cycle a new geography work was placed out, which categorized some trees to different continents.  It can be used as a three part matching initially, and then tree families and geography/history research can be extensions.  We also had Music class with Mr. Wolfe.  It is great to hear our songs put to music.  He reviewed how we would stand on stage and we practiced taking a bow.    We observed our white daisy flower, which had a little green coloring around the center of the flower and started bruising green spots.  Some friends added their own flowers to the water mixture to see if theirs would do anything else. Other popular works included:  Ribbon tying, knobbed cylinders, brown stairs, sweeping works, puzzle maps, and word problems.

Thursday: Another birthday walk started our day!  Happy 5th Birthday M****!  Thank you for the beautiful donation of flowers to our classroom!  Everyone seems to be super excited by the warmer weather or maybe by Arts Night so we're doing a lot of group motion activities,as well as practicing our songs today.  Popular works include Life Cycle of a Pea, Starting a Seed, Knob-less cylinders, Sound Cylinders,  Stamp Game Addition, and Bead Math Multiplication.  We observed that some seedlings were popping out of their testa and we had a lesson on planting a Seedling. We decided that we'd plant a few and also leave one or two in the bag to see what is going on under the surface of the dirt.   Later in the afternoon we read Condor's Egg, by Jonathan London which is a poetic and beautifully illustrated book about a Condor's egg, which lead us to talk again about endanger birds and what we can do to help them.

Friday:  Pizza Day!  Today we reviewed the date and calendar.  Then we had an Art lesson about Vincent Van Gogh, and used the beautiful sunflowers that M brought us to inspire a painting work.  It was a *Beautiful* warm day which allowed us to enjoy recess without jackets!  (Teachers and Parents  alike do a happy dance that this may be the end of snowpants!) We are also very excited that tonight is Art's Night, so we practiced our songs several times.  Other popular works include Flower Families, Early Handwriting on the Dry Erase Board, Coffee Grinding works, Bank Game 4 digit addition, Free Coloring, Letter Writing, Painting Sunflowers, Journaling and labeling parts of a story, and reading out loud.

Later on Friday:  (Art's Night)   The kids did wonderful waiting for the show to start.  We played "Bug in a Rug" a few times, made sure everyone had gotten their water and bathroom breaks and then we lined up to go on stage.  Despite everyone's excitement to perform, we held a silent line for 10 minutes!  Then we walked out to the stage and sang our little hearts out.   We started with "Puff the Magic Dragon," then "Down by the Bay," and ended with "I'm a Clever Tea Pot."  We even got to take a bow on the stage and then find our parents in the audience.  I hope all our friends and families got to walk around the galleries and find our hard work on the walls.  It was a fun night had by all!

Well I can't wait to see everyone on Monday!  Thanks for a great week!
Ms. Becky and the Preschool Staff!






























No comments:

Post a Comment