SNOWBALLS and collage art

This is the book we are focusing on in class right now. 

In your newsletter you saw some examples of collage artwork done by the children and their families inspired by this book.  I am including a few of the pages from this book as an example of collage art as illustration.  The children LOVE this story because of the illustrations.  If you can, borrow this book from the library and read it with your child.  Actually, your child could probably read it to you!  Here are some of the pages from the book.

Below are examples of some of the art work that has already been brought in and shared with the class.

 

     These are a few examples of some of the art work that has been done so far by some of the students and their families at home.  We hope everyone will bring their snow person (or snow cat, or snow dog, or snow dragon, it doesn't matter) to school no latter than February 4th, 2011 which is next Friday.  We will be taking pictures of each child's art work.  They will printed off in color and placed into page protectors.  The children will write the stories for their illustration and each story will be compiled into one big book for our library.  This will be the wrap up project for our snow unit.  We really appreciate your support on this project!  Keep checking back for more information.



snow and ice

We hope you all survived the snow and ice January has brought us!  Sorry I haven't posted since the Ronald McDonald House Event.  The snow and ice have put me a little behind to, not to mention the holidays!  Some of December and January will be mixed in together for the next couple of posts until I can get caught up so bear with me.  For this post I am posting about what we did today taking advantage of the snow and ice.  Here are a few pictures of the students doing some snow painting.  I am also including some pictures of the children doing some ice painting  last week before the snow days (who knew we would have the real thing happening?).  Enjoy!  Come back often.  I have a lot of catching up to do so I will be adding a lot of posts over the next few weeks.

In this picture dried tempra paint was put on paper and the children used frozen water to "paint" their pictures! 

The children learn how to blend colors and practice their pincer grip for writing.

This is a great snowy day activity to do at home.  Just freeze some ice cubes, add water color or regular paint (may I recommend the washable kind!) and let the children go crazy.  You may even want to join in the fun.

We had some water color paint left over from spray painting snow last week and wondered what we could do with it.  We brought some of the snow in from outside and placed it into the sensory table.  We placed large and small paint brushes in the table with the water color paint and waited to see what the children would create.

A blue snowman!



The children realized that this snow was different from the snow we played with last week.  This snow was "heavier" and "stuck together" better.  Some made snowballs.  Some of the students went and got their gloves and mittens out of their cubbies because their hands got cold but they didn't want to stop playing.  What great problem solvers!



Working together.  Playing collaboratively meaning to play interactively, not just side-by-side.  These two students are talking back and forth, working together to create a picture together, discussing what colors to use, how to take turns and who should paint where.  They were using lots of social and descriptive language.

Again, next time their is a snow day, fill up the bath tub or sink with snow, color some water with food coloring (watch out though, it will stain) or water down some paint, get out some paint brushes and let your child(ren) paint a masterpiece.  Better yet, paint with them.  Build sculptures inside or outside and paint them.  Don't forget to take a picture and send it into school with them so they can tell us all about it.  Believe it or not, this is where the real learning takes place.  It is not just play.  Size, shape, colors, number, language, sharing, taking turns, working together, problem solving and just plain having fun and making memories all are vital to your child's long term development.

In the afternoon class one of the other teachers gave them some ice cycles to examine.  Even though our lesson plans didn't have ice cycles in them the kids taught us a thing or two!  They put them in the sensory table and started painting them with the water color paint.  They turned into beautiful works of 3-D art!

One thing we have learned as teachers, always listen to the children.  They see the world in ways that we have forgotten as adults.  They saw the ice cycles as something different than just plain old frozen water dripping off the building.  They saw them as dazzling, magical and amazing objects to be painted, explored and manipulated into something new and even more beautiful than they were before.  I think that is why we love our jobs so much, we get to see the world fresh and new each day again, and not the way we are taught to see it as adults.  See the snow and ice as the children do.  Glittering.  Soft.  Fun.  Cold.  Yummy.  Not as we are taught to see it as adults.  Inconvenient.  Annoying.  Difficult.  Sometimes just changing your perspective can bring about joy in places you forgot it existed..

So, until next time, try to find a little fun in the snow.  It will be gone soon and before you know it the days will be long again and we will be in shorts and it will be 100 degrees outside and we will be wishing we would have enjoyed the snow while it was here.  With that said, drive safely.

Ronald McDonald....We're Lovin' It!

Ronald McDonald came to our school to pick up the almost 300 pounds of donations the children of room 411 collected (along with the help of their friends throughout the whole school of United Services East) on Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010.  The children were so excited when they got to school and saw his van parked outside of our classroom!  

Ronald came to our room and listened as we told him why we collected items for the Ronald McDonald House and Family Rooms.  He told us what he was going to do with all the donations and how they were going to help all of the families who were going to be staying at the Ronald McDonald Houses and using the Family Rooms at the hospitals over the holidays.  Ronald was very impressed with how hard the children and families worked in collecting all of the donations.

A few pictures of our Ronald McDonald Donation Tree outside of our classroom and some of the donations.

Ronald McDonald hanging out in room 411



Ronald McDonald accepting donations from some of the children in room 411



Ronald McDonald and the children getting up close and personal.  The children spent lots of quality time with Ronald asking him questions and teaching him all about preschool, friendship and Paws Laws.

Sometimes as adults we forget that the magic of the season is all about believing in miracles.  Some miracles come in packages of toothpastes donated by preschoolers you never met, some miracles come in pretty packages under a tree, and some miracles come with red noses and red hair.

 

Gazing in admiration at the big man with the yellow and red suit.



She's Lovin' It!

Magic time!  Ronald McDonald put on a magic show for every classroom that brought donations to room 411 for him to take back to the Ronald McDonald Family Room or Ronald McDonald House as a way to say thank you.



How did he make those rings do that?  Even the grown ups were amazed!





At the Ronald McDonald House and Family Rooms volunteers bake cookies and serve them to the families who stay at the houses or use the rooms at the hospitals while the children are sick.  The children of room 411 decided to act like those volunteers and serve cookies and snacks to the classrooms that brought donations to Ronald McDonald.  In this picture Ronald and some of the other adults are getting ready for some of the classes to come and get their goodies.  The children of room 411 are busy getting the cookies and milk ready to bring out and serve to the first class to arrive with donations.  This was part of room 411's curriculum on giving for their December curriculum.



The first group of students from another classroom have brought their donations to Ronald McDonald and the children of room 411 are busy serving them milk and cookies while Ronald hangs out and talks with the kids from the other room.  The children of room 411 were wonderfully unselfish and so giving by sharing their special guest with all the other friends and instead of having a traditional "Christmas" party for themselves they volunteered  their time to serve their friends instead truly  giving to their school community this season.

The children have learned how to document their environment all year.  They take turns being the "photographer" when we do experiments.  The children's camera (that was bought for our classroom by a class parent last year) is kept where they can always get to it.  This child grabbed the camera and started documenting their experience.  Several other children took turns with the camera that day capturing special moments.  Ronald McDonald was amazed when the children explained what they were doing to him.  Who knows, their may be a future investigative reporter in our student body.

We invited Ronald to come to morning meeting with us.  We were working on area and perimeter.  I think Ronald almost fell over when the children could explain to him that area was measuring the "inside" of the gingerbread man (that is what we were measuring) and the perimeter was measuring around the "outside" of the gingerbread man.  The children offered to teach Ronald how to do area and perimeter.



Ronald and Ms. Carole Dawn

 

Ronald and Ms. Sarah

Everyone was so excited about what the children in room 411 had done for Ronald McDonald that even the news found out!  Channel 2 sent out a camera man to take video of Ronald McDonald thanking all of the children at United Services East for collecting so many donations for the Ronald McDonald Houses and Family Rooms.

The children would have loved to have had the opportunity to spend more time with the camera man and ask him questions.  Maybe we can work that into a future lesson plan!  Maybe we can get a real camera person to come out and teach us how a video camera works and how to make a movie!  Or maybe we could be news reporters.  This nice news person did make sure Ronald McDonald's thank you was on the TV that night!  It was so exciting that even though we were only three, four and five years old, we made a big enough difference to make it onto the nightly news.  It is true what they say, it is not how big you are in size, but how big you are in heart that matters!



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Before I end this post, I have to thank a bunch of people for making this wonderful day happen for the children.  Team 411.  The teachers, the therapists.  Room 106 who took on this project with all their hearts.  Room 407 who supported us as well.  Our Team Leader who supported us100% from the moment she found out one of our parents had this great idea for a community service project.  Every classroom teacher that put the donation list in their newsletter and encouraged their children and parents to do acts of kindness this season (some did our project, some helped a family in need, some participated in Toys for Tots, and some did bake sales and other fund drives for food banks).  Thank you to all staff (no matter your title) who shared stories about their experiences using the Ronald McDonald House Charities, who donated items and who donated time to help make this event happen.  Thank you to all the parents who shared their stories about their experiences with the Ronald McDonald House Charities.  Thank you for sending in donations.  Thank you for really working with your children to helping them understand why they were doing this project, it was obvious you were working with them at home on concepts like giving, volunteering and helping others.  Thanks you for sending in cookies and other snacks to serve to the other classrooms.  Thank you for giving up having a traditional "holiday" party in the classroom this year.  Thank you for coming together as the most wonderful group of parents we have ever had the pleasure of working with and making this a reality for the children.  Special thank you to Caren and Mark who made Ronald McDonald aware of United Services and Room 411.  Special thank you to Sarah and Nancy who put in countless hours to make sure the children understood the true meaning of giving and who made the room look like home.  This was one of the most special lessons I have ever been lucky enough to be part of.  Thank you United Services for letting us Focus on our Families by letting this idea that came from one of our families flourish into this wonderful learning opportunity for the children.

So, as Ronald drove away we all settled down with our Happy Meals and smiled.  We said goodbye to each other and wished each other a Happy New Year and marveled at what a special day we had.  And I couldn't help but wonder what incredible adventures lay ahead for room 411 in 2011.