Monday, November 11, 2013

Hockey and Nature!

It is fun to see how they are building up their interest in the game of hockey. Friends in our classroom also spoke about the current and the upcoming hockey games.
We played some hockey in class, but space was an issue, so we decided to make something appropriate for indoors. Thus, we discussed making our own hockey table and brainstormed ideas to put it together. It was a great learning opportunity for me too, to learn about the hockey field and the different teams as well. Some ideas that came in were drawing the field by looking at the image in the iPad, making a Lego stadium, using some strawberry baskets as goal nets, and making our own hockey sticks. We put them into effect and worked through our goal!
























Making the score board and using it to update scores when they played!












Our light/sand table got creative by using paintbrushes to try strokes and adding colorful balls to give a leap to their imaginations!




K said, "Its Mr. Sun"




K said, "Its a Moster!"




J said, "It looks like an eye!"




These were some eggs on the beach :-))




P said, "Look a caterpillar!"




This week we introduced the children with the letter 'N', and made letter N collages (numbers, nine, nickels, letter N stamps, letter N stickers, Nascar, and newspaper cutouts).




















A super fun project that ran for the entire week was our 'N'ature walk! We headed outside on Monday with clipboards and a checklist of things we could find around in nature (i.e. the yard and the parking lot). They were very excited to hold those boards and have a little Ziploc for collectibles. As per their request, later in the week we headed for a second one. We put together a book with our fun pictures and drew about ourselves on the nature walk and our favorite findings. Introducing the checklist was a loved idea and I encourage parents to ask children to write basic checklists with simple words . For example, in the grocery list, include milk, eggs etc, or ask them to check it off when you buy the items on the list.
Start off...




Collecting items from nature...




Digging to see hidden insects...




Collecting rocks and dirt...








Leaves and flowers...




Looking at ants...




Checking off the items found...








Trying some fun tree climbing around our premises...








Putting our book together...




















We ended our week with making 'N'achos! (chips, avocados, beans, salsa, and cheese)
















A few other activities we did during the week were making 'N'ecklaces; writing and decorating our 'N'ames; and, doing some free art.




















We wrote what new color we got and how...








O said, "Teacher, now I have more color on my hands!" :)




This week we also talked about the 'N'ewspaper and got a chance to look at it and read it. We touched on a few aspects like the front page, the day, the name of the paper, the weather forecast, etc. They told me it was too big to be held, so they laid it flat down. They also said it was super long and had very tiny writing. Some said it was colorful. D found the news on hockey and the SJ Sharks. He excitedly exclaimed about those and took that part of the newspaper home to show his family.








See you next week!
Rashida