Scribbles

The last couple of weeks we have had some fun with scribbles.

'Scribbles' makes it sound like it was random, with no purpose and thoughtless.  I assure you, both of our projects we none of those things!

1.  Our first project was a good thinking challenge and a challenge to some for coloring in the lines.  First, we made a big, swirling scribble on our page.  Then, we each picked three colors.  The rules for this project was you color in each shape made by our scribble but you cannot have the same color touching.  It was a little tricky, but some of them turned out so beautiful!

2.  The second scribble project was more of a game to review the concepts of line and shape.  I had the kids tell me types of lines and shapes that we had identified and I wrote them each down on a little paper.  Then, we took turns drawing one of the papers out and everyone had to put that line or shape on their paper.  They could choose the color and the size, but the line or shape had to be the same.  It was fun to see how everyone's paper turned out so differently.
After we had all had a turn to draw a paper out I had them try to turn their paper full of lines and shapes into an African Jungle.  It was fun to hear them say:  "this line is a snake!"  "I am making this into an elephant!"  they were really getting the idea that every object in art starts simply.

In My Africa

Today we headed to Africa.

We found Africa on a map.

Talked about 'r' blends like in Africa.  We found other 'fr' words.  And 'gr' and 'pr' and 'tr' words, too!

We read a book about animals in Africa called Cool Time Song and learned some animal names in Spanish.

We talked about the kids that live in Africa.  They may look different, dress different and eat differently than we do, but they are a lot like us.  They have mothers who love them, friends who play with them and they love to sing and learn.  We read a really cute book called "For You are a Kenyan Child" by Kelly Cunnane (winner of the Ezra Keats new writer award).  It is the story of a boy who forgets what he is supposed to do as he gives us a second person perspective view of a Kenyan village.

We usually do some music on Wednesdays so we reviewed adagio (slow) and allegro (fast) as we listened to some sweet African beats.  The kids loved beating on "drums" and dancing.  We learned piano (soft) and forte (loud).  We listed to marimbas and djembes and lots of cool vocal sounds.

Because today was the second of October we practiced writing 1's and 2's during calendar time.  We are getting to be better writers.  Please remind your child to hold their crayon 'the preschool way' and in their right hand.  I think all of the children are right dominant this year but a couple of them still try to switch back and forth.  It is helpful for children if they pick a dominant hand and do not switch.



A fun thing to do at home

There is an episode of the PBS show Arthur about Africa that I think is very cute.  We will not have enough time to watch it in class (it is about 12 minutes long) but I think it would be a great supplement at home.  I think they might want to watch it a couple times this month.

It is called In My Africa and is the second half of episode 9 from season 14.  You can find it on Netflix, Hulu and YouTube (the Youtube video I found had a problem in the middle, but maybe it was my computer.  Both the Netflix and Hulu versions worked for me).   If you play it on Hulu or Netflix you will have to jump to about 14:35 to start the In My Africa part.

This is a really cute song about all the countries in Africa.  It has lots of real photos from Africa, animals, food, people, culture, etc.  I think it would be fun for the kids to watch.

Thanks,
Miss Meg

The Continents Song

Last week learned the Continent Song.  Some of you wondered about the lyrics so here you go:

C-O-N-T-I-N-E-N-T-S

Continents!  Continents!  Ohhhhhh Yes!

How many are there?  SEVEN!  SEVEN!

Now can we name them?  Ohhhhh Yes!

North America, South America, Europe across the ocean blue, Africa and Asia and Australia, don't forget Antartica too!