“Arnie the Doughnut”

First off, I selfishly chose this book because I find it completely hilarious. I cracked up more than the kids did, although they rather liked it as well.

If you haven’t had the opportunity, check it out: Arnie is a doughnut, born with chocolate icing and sprinkles. He eagerly looks forward to being purchased and going out into the wide world, which is exactly what happens. To Arnie’s great consternation, the man that purchases him, Mr. Bing, decides to eat him, at which point hilarious surprise and confusion erupts from both parties. Can a little doughnut create a different course of destiny for himself other than that of being eaten?

You’ll have to read it to see…interesting to ponder with preschoolers.

This week, we strung the beads that we made last week from our Sculpy clay. We also worked with Cinnamon dough to create little snowmen (our take-home gift for the upcoming holidays)…Senior Kindergarten handpainted glass vases instead. (Thank you, Robin, for the generous donations each year!) Lots of good fine-motor activities and also multi-step, multi-week projects which develop those listening skills, memory, and patience. Also, again, think of cooking as science…combining ingredients to form something new…using our senses to understand the properties of the materials we are using better…using our logic to determine why we wouldn’t be interested in eating these…

CINNAMON DOUGH:

1 cup ground cinnamon (I recommend purchasing this in bulk at a restaurant supply store–MUCH more economical if you have over a hundred to make as we did)

2 tablespoons of Elmer’s glue mixed well with 1/2 to 1 whole cup of applesauce

Combine wet with dry…you are looking for a dough consistency…too loose, add cinnamon, too dry, add more glue and sauce. Sprinkle work area with cinnamon before rolling out…dough rolls out better if kneaded thoroughly first. Cut to shape with cookie cutters. Don’t forget to make a hole with a straw if you are planning to hang these…they make AMAZING air fresheners or ornaments! Let them air dry on a cookie sheet, turning daily to prevent curling…takes about two days if you are in a dry, winter climate like Chi-town.

Also in preparation for next week’s Winter Party, we designed our own gift bags and cards as well…we emphasize a WINTER theme as opposed to a holiday theme. Our population tends to be pretty diverse, and I leave it for parents to determine what they want to teach their children about holidays, religions, and the lot.

dinosaurus MAXIMUS!

dinosaurus maximus found us discussing fossils as we did simulated fossil rubbings with crayons–we expanded on prior knowledge to redefine “fossil” as not just dinosaur bones, but also ancient insects, plants, prints from animals or plants, and sea life as well.

we colored an Apatosaurus as an introduction to carnivore/herbivore review…we also discussed the physical differences between meat-eaters and plant-eaters to help us predict and hypothesize in future classification activities.

free play included a fossil dig station where students could dig up “bones”, brush them off with soft brushes, examine them with hand lenses, and then try to rebuild the dinosaur–very fun.

our book today was “How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight” which features a variety of dinos and is very fun to act out together while we read, i.e. slam your tail and pout, wave your head from side to side, etc. most of our students are pretty familiar with this book (and some of the dino names) so they get to be “experts” as we read…for example, Triceratops has three horns for easy identification (which leads to the discussion of “tri” meaning “three”, tricycle, triangle, triad). Apatosaurus is featured again in this book, along with a number of others, including Dimetrodon, who isn’t really a “true” dinosaur at all!

needless to say, it was upROARiously fun!

key words included: carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, apatosaurus, triceratops, dimetrodon, extinct, and fossil

processes discussed: how fossils form, dinosaur extinction, the visual body differences between meat-eaters and plant-eaters, and what is paleontology

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“Miss Nelson is Missing!”

I have loved this book since I was in grade school! It is so silly and clever…and teaches children an interesting, but not preachy, lesson.

I thought it would be fun to talk about being a “detective” this week–four and five year olds are just starting to become familiar with this word and what it means–Scooby Doo is a big help. Little ones love looking for clues and solving puzzles, so an intro to detective work and simple forensics fit in perfectly with this book.

We learned how to fingerprint ourselves and also that each fingerprint is different and unique, just as we all are. We looked at four common fingerprint patterns as well.

We also experimented with chromatography, or, as we put it, seeing what colors were hiding in our markers. Children are delighted to find yellow hidden amongst the green, purple hidden inside the black, etc. We teach them how to use eyedroppers with alcohol, explaining first about safety (keep away from eyes and mouth), and making sure our building is well-ventilated. We then color canvas pencil bags or canvas aprons with Sharpie permanent markers. The final step is to drip the rubbing alcohol onto the item–the alcohol immediately begins to separarte and evaporate out different color pigments “hiding” in the student’s art, creating a beautiful, magical watercolor tie-died effect.

Items are left to dry for about 30 minutes and then taken home at the end of the day. This lesson really helps to get students to use their “detective eyes” when looking for things–how often do teachers (and parents) hear, “I can’t find my (insert item name here)!!!” Being a “detective” empowers children to use their eyes and look for clues, to stop and think about what makes sense, and to begin to make inferences–all higher level thinking skills and crucial for becoming critical thinkers.

I do believe Miss Nelson and Miss Viola Swamp will be paying us another visit later in the year!

Autumn Nature Walk

Even in the midst of the city, a nature walk around the block can be made into quite the event.

I give the students tiny little dixie cups to collect nature “treasures” and we talk about what we might find before we go outside collecting. We stick together and stay away from the street as we explore our block. My only collecting rules are that they have to be natural finds (no garbage or rubber bands, etc.) and that the item must fit in the cup. Seeds, leaves, rocks, mosses, twigs, bark, etc. are usually the order of the day–as always, we found lots of specimens–sweet peas in dried seed pods, tiny flowers still blooming, ginkgo leaves, and three different types of moss in the sidewalk cracks.

Children come in and dump out their haul, using hand lenses to see more details. They get pretty excited about their finds and we do a lot of, “turn and tell your neighbor” things–most interesting, smallest, most colorful, etc.

Our art tie-in was a leaf-rubbing wax resist, painted with water paint.

Storytime was “The Tiny Seed” by Eric Carle, which is wonderful and apropos.

“Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude”

First off, I love this book. I have adapted it into a play and done it with kids for camp. I have used it with younger kids and older kids…it works in so many ways, on so many different levels. A great language arts tie-in for older grades is to have them write “partner stories”–use this book as a model for how two people can go back and forth creating a story, and then compromise to reach an ending.

I use this “funny fairytale” week for some great hands-on science. We make “frog slime” and “magic potion”…here are the recipes and instructions. It is really important to remember to talk safety before you do this and also to look for those “teachable moments”–these experiements are visually stunning and really help kids get excited about being magical scientists!

FROG SLIME (great way to see if two liquids can combine to form a solid):

DO NOT EAT! KEEP AWAY FROM HAIR/FUR/CARPET!

Brew #1: Mix 2 Tbs. Borax with 1 cup warm water. Pass around the table having children do 1-2-3-stirs and pass it on!

Brew #2: In separate dish, mix 1 cup Elmers Glue with 2 drops of food coloring and ½ cup warm water. Pass around the table having children do 1-2-3-stirs and pass it on!

Pour Brew #1 into Brew #2—do not stir. Gently slosh side to side for 30 seconds. (I have the kids tap their fingers on the bowl and say magic words like “sham-a-lam-a-ding-dong!”

Reach into the bowl and pull upward dramatically! Ta-da! Slime! Tear off small chunks to share with all. Knead out excess water & it becomes like silly putty! You can stretch it, roll it, bounce it, etc. Great to send home in Ziploc baggies with instructions.

MAGIC POTION:

Get two small cups and a plate or shallow bowl. In cup 1, pour a small amount of vinegar (about an inch or two), squirt in some liquid dish soap, and one or two drops of food coloring. Swirl gently to mix. Model this to students and let each do their own.

In cup 2, put two teaspoons of baking soda. Set cup 2 on the plate or bowl—this will get messy. Have students hold up Cup 1 and make a magical “toast”—1-2-3-POUR CUP ONE INTO CUP TWO (or liquid into solid)…

Your students will delight as they watch the foam magically appear! Smaller cups work better because then the foam can cascade over the edge and down the sides. They can feel the foam and comment on what they see, smell, and feel. I usually have them play with this for a few minutes, and then we all make a “giant” potion by pouring our liquid into one big clean-up bowl.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie!

WEEK THREE of Fun Club brought us Laura Numeroff’s wonderfully fun books, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” and “If You Take a Mouse to School”.

Children love the cyclical nature of her books, along with the great illustrations and crazy animals…plus, the familiarity and repetition makes these great for emerging readers.

To activate our prior knowledge, we first used shapes to create our own little mice pictures. Children discuss what mice look like, how many ears and eyes and whiskers and whatnot…then they create on their own using the shapes provided. As you can see, they are far more creative when given the freedom to make it their own way within the given perimeters!

We also baked “Mouse’s Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies”. (For our diabetic and gluten-free students, we checked with parents first for the appropriate accommodations.) I love baking with the children because cooking is such a great lead-in to science, especially chemistry. They “taste test” most of the ingredients, smell the vanilla, help cream the butter, and sift the flour. They take turns and pass the bowls, usually doing “1-2-3-pass it on!” I use counting and simple questions to slip in extra Spanish and French…today it was “Que es el azucar?” and 1-20 en espanol. When all of the ingredients are mixed, the children roll their own cookies, getting SO messy in the process…but they are so excited to do it themselves, to get to experience what the dough feels like, to be the “chefs” (evidenced by the flour on our noses), and of course, to get to take home their cookies at the end of the day!

I’ve said it before…simple pleasures are so divine!

1 c. salted butter
3/4 c. brown sugar, packed (so cool to compare to sand at the beach / sandcastle making)
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs (important that they don’t eat raw dough because of this…also, what other animals lay eggs besides chickens? good discussion ensues.)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla (how can it smell so good but taste so bad?!)
1 1/2 c. flour
2 c. oatmeal
1 1/2 semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine all ingredients in given order. Mix thoroughly. Drop onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool. Hide from your mouse friends!

Kites Take Flight!

Week ONE of FUN CLUB brought us watercolor painting, “The Cat in the Hat” (great tie-in to kites as Thing One and Thing Two fly their kites in the house), Rules to Keep Us Happy and Safe (done as a guess-what’s-happening-in-this-picture game), and playtime with friends.

Choosing stations included: Playdough, dinosaurs, magnet letters, chalkboard coloring, quiet reading (all Dr. Seuss easy-readers this week) in the reading tent, or connector blocks.

Week TWO of FUN CLUB brought us some review and reminders, a walking trip to the Sedgwick Playlot, experiments with our kites, and playtime! We were lucky to have gorgeous, unseasonably warm weather to make our walking outings extra fun.

Before walking outings, we practice an action/memory game on how to walk safely. We:

STOP!!! (we all do “stop” with both hands)
HOLD HANDS (we all grab hands with the person next to us at circle-time)
LOOK BOTH WAYS (we all show with our heads looking left-right-left)
WAIT FOR A TEACHER OR GROWN UP (we show waiting patiently for the go-ahead to cross the street)

When we go on walking trips, we wear BRIGHT yellow shirts with all of M. Club’s info listed, we recruit parent/caregiver volunteers for extra eyes and hands, we walk in a “train” with teachers in the front (engine), middle (cars), and end (caboose), we hold hands the entire way with friends, and we take first aid items, parent cell phone numbers, and water with. We begin the year with a short walk down quiet streets to help everyone learn and practice in safety.

All of the eight classes did an EXCELLENT job, and were rewarded with stars toward our token economy known as the “Teeeeeny, Tiiiiny, Toy Store”!

At the playlot, we talked about basic flight concepts. This will tie in later in the year when we make and fly paper airplanes. I held a lifeless kite and asked the children why my kite wouldn’t go? They all answered, “Because there’s no wind!!!” I asked them how I could make wind…answers ranged from “Blow on it!” to “Run really fast!” to “Get a BIG fan!!!” I then asked them to think quietly for a minute about other ways they could make wind on the playground. Experiments ranged from spinning in circles to walking to running to sliding down slides different ways to jumping from up high to down low to going down stairs to dangling a kite over the edge of something and waiting for a good breeze.

Kites were sent home at the end of class along with smiling students!

***”Thing Two and Thing One! They ran up, they ran down. On the string of one kite we saw Mother’s new gown! Her gown with the dots that are pink, white, and red…then we saw one kite bump on the head of her bed!” from The Cat in the Hat***