Time

Our week brought us lots of fun and learning as we discussed the artist Salvador Dali and his famous painting called "Melting Clocks".  This was our second venture looking at surrealism.  Salvador Dali had a great imagination.  Sometimes he used his dreams and nightmares as subjects.  He liked to put objects together that were either too small or too big to fit together.    Therefore the viewer would be made to think, which was his goal.  The class chuckled when seeing his long moustache and hearing that he once had a baker on a ship make an eight foot long bread and filled his limousine with cauliflower.

There are views on the blog of our friends molding a clock shape of their own choice using model magic.  Others in the group are painting their clocks.  The last part of the project is the gluing of numbers, also shown here.

The teachers tied in the study of time with this clock theme.  We read books and saw pictures of the different ways to tell time.  Some things included were how a sundial was in use a long time ago, the phases of the moon, a stop watch in particular for sports, Roman numerals on clocks, how night turns into day and more.  Everyone saw Big Ben from London.  Our discussions also centered around how the time in far away places may be opposite from our time.  Our journal topic this week focused on ways to tell time.

Ruby is featured for the letter of the week which was "V".  She did a very good job and is on the blog holding a valentine, a violet colored bear and some fresh vegetables.

Martina celebrated her fifth birthday in class.  It was quite the party.  The decorations on the tables all featured the theme "Frozen" which she loves.  Since pink is her favorite color, the delicious cupcakes had pink frosting on them.  All of us will miss Martina for the rest of the month while she is in Argentina.

You will also observe children at play.  Remember this is their work and how they learn.  There are elastic boards to create designs, play sticks for building, pretty ponies for dramatic play, number match ups to learn to count from eleven to twenty and sewing cards for eye-hand coordination.  As you can see, there is a purpose for every thing we offer here.  That is all of our news this week.  

Watch for an email forwarded from the mandarin teacher.

Rolene and Jackie

Another Artist

As we are moving right along to prepare for our upcoming art show, our class spent the week learning about Rene Margritte who was born in Belgium and lived from 1898-1967.  In particular the class focused on his painting titled "The Son of Man".  This is actually a portrait of Rene himself with his face hidden behind an apple.  The children of course loved to hear that this man painted objects of odd shapes and sizes and put things together that really did not relate to each other.  Objects were floating.  He switched sizes around in order to challenge peoples' minds.  The name for these types of art work is surrealism, creating a dream world.  A few friends can actually now define the word surrealism.  Margritte painted over one hundred pictures and became more famous as he grew older.

Ask your preschooler what Rene always wore on his head.  The answer is a bowler hat.  On our blog are pictures of children making their own version of "The Son of Man".  Some are painting a background on their canvas.  Others are tracing, cutting and gluing the five pieces needed for their own version of this famous art piece.  We cannot tell you more so you can be amazed when you come and see our contributions for the art show.  We had fun with the bowler hat idea and read stories about hats.  In our journals the youngsters drew pictures of hats and wrote appropriate names such as a nurse's hat, a French beret and a top hat.

Also on our blog is a photo of Ruby coming up to tell us the date and day of the week and the number of the year.  She told  us if there were any hidden words involved and was the leader that day.

Riya filled the letter box for "U" which is a challenge for anyone.  But Riya rose to the occasion and wore her UGG boots and pants with unicorns on the knees.  She is holding her own drawings of a ukulele and a unicorn.

We recently told you that we are learning about the artist Frida Kahlo.  So at the end of the blog are friends painting a special flower as part of our study.  You will see more on this later but for now enjoy the cooperation shown here.

Finally just a gentle reminder:  the weather was beautiful the last few days so we did not need your bags of extra outerwear.  However this coming week we will apparently not enjoy this warmth.  Please send your bags of winter clothing once again every day.  Thanks so much!

Rolene and Jackie

Lions/Lambs and Goodbye Takuma

 Our week began with some science about the March winds.  You can see a little experiment on the blog with both a wet and a dry chalkboard.  Does wind make the wet one dry faster?  Another experiment taught us whether or not wind from a straw can move cotton balls.  Any kind of science draws great enthusiasm from our respective audience.

We talked about the saying "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb".  The group chose paper of various shapes to create lions and lambs.  It is amazing to see that each and every animal is different from the others.  The pictures of both lions and lambs being put together are shown here, along with completed bulletin boards displaying these creatures.  Their habits were contrasted to coincide with observations of the weather.  Ask your preschooler to sing the "Leo the Lion" song.

Margot is using paint at the easel.  This medium has not been out here for awhile.  The easel has only been in our room for a couple of months now.  It is great for muscle development as a youngster has to stretch up his/her arm to work on the pictures.  The teachers vary the tools: paint, chalk, crayons, markers, etc.  This easel also allows for partner planning, creating and cooperating with one person on each side of this structure.

Mira presented the letter box for "T".  She is featured here holding a teddy bear, a tutu and a baby picture of her brother Tima.  For those of you who do not know Tima, he is a graduate of the Whole Note classroom.  Mira did a terrific job.

Finally our week ended with heartfelt farewells to our friend Takuma.  Probably some of our classmates do not really understand that we will not see him daily any longer.  We hope to meet some time on zoom.  The children made him a book to take with him.  Everyone made his/her own page with a drawing about something fun to do with Takuma.  Topics included playing on the outdoor slide, building towers with blocks, reading books together in our library, drawing side by side and the like.  Words dictated said "I love you, I will miss you and Goodbye".  Takuma drew his favorite activity all year which was our Thanksgiving celebration.  He wrote that he liked everybody.  Whole Note friends are shown writing and illustrating their pages on the blog.  Rolene appears here reading the book to the class and Takuma is taking center stage with it.

Takuma's Mom sent us wonderful cupcakes and balloon themed accessories to allow us to have a party to wish our friend a hearty "so long".  We will miss Takuma very much as he was an integral part of our class.  Needless to say, the other children are also.  

We hope you share our weekly photos with your children.  They will love them.

Rolene and Jackie