These past two weeks have been full of excitement, presentations, celebrations and fun!
Our first school wide presentation was about Middle Eastern Culture. A special thank you to Mrs. Younan who put it all together. Mrs. Younan is the mother of Madison from the Lilac room and Tristan from our Olive Room. She did a great job gearing it to children. We watched a slide show presentation. There were pictures of famous landmarks: The Great Pyramids and Petra a 2000-year- old city carved into the red mountain rock to name a few. We were introduced to Arabic numbers and Egyptian Belly Dancing. Also, the children wore traditional clothing from Jordan.
If you would like to give a presentation about your family celebrations or Homeland just let myself or Dr. Perry know, we would be glad to schedule it with you. If you are planning a PowerPoint, we have a projector available for your use.
Apple Orchard Field trip to Celebrate Fall. It was certainly a Fall like day weather-wise. Overcast and a little chilly and hooray no rain! It was nice being outside the cool crisp air kept the bees away! It was enjoyable seeing so many families participating.
Halloween
Art:
Using liquid glue and paper squares to make a mosaic pumpkin. The children paint/brush the glue on the squares. The pumpkins were used for our backdrop for pictures.
Wearing costumes to school and parading for treats is always a fun tradition. The children had a Spook-tacular time participating. We played a few games, heard stories and modeled our costumes.
Additional Halloween themed activities:
Practical Life
Who couldn’t resist this Pumpkin activity? Not many!
Pumpkin scrubbing.
Poem:
A pumpkin is just a pumpkin
until it has a face.
Then it is not a pumpkin
it is a Jack-o-lantern!
After the children drew a face on the pumpkin with a washable marker, they cleaned it by spraying it with water and wiping it dry. Now it is ready for the next child.
I‘m not sure which was more enjoyable – drawing the face or the spaying of water! Lol
The zipper dressing frame has been introduced. These small exercises help children to improve their fine motor skills, concentration and hand eye coordination. Also, independence and self-pride; I can do it myself!!!!
Strengthening those fingers by screwing on nuts to bolts.
Diwali
The “brightest” holiday of the year for children in India is Diwali, or the Festival of Lights, which falls in late October or early November depending on the cycle of the moon. The festival is a celebration of happiness and peace and the New Year. Diwali is celebrated by Hindus all over the world.
Mrs. Bhilare gave a Diwali presentation for our classroom. She demonstrated how to make a Diya which are candleholders or oil lamps.
Art: The children made their own clay Diya.
There also was a school wide presentation about Diwali given by our assistant teachers. They came dressed in their traditional clothing which are beautiful! Happy Diwali!
Sensorial:
In sensorial, children were introduced to the three-dimensional shape of a sphere and cube. The Geometric Solids are one of many Montessori materials that challenge and shape a child's stereognosis sense, which is their ability to perceive and understand both the form and nature of objects through touch. By working with these materials, children become aware of how shapes form the basis for everyday objects.
We explore how each Geometric Solid moves. The sphere rolls, the cube slides and topples over when pushed.
Credits:
Created with images by • ActionGP - Top view photo of halloween decorations pumpkin baskets spiders bat silhouettes and violet sequins on isolated orange background with empty space • chinnarach - drawing group of spider web at the corner on retro vintage black color chalkboard background for halloween night party design concept concept