Bike week and Spirit week!

Hello Purple Room Families,

Friends were so excited that this week they were going to get a chance to bring their own bikes or other riding vehicles to school and let them stay at school for an entire week. After knowing the safety rules, all our friends came very well prepared for the bike week. We biked in our enclosed school parking lot all week long. We chose a shady area under the huge tree as our REST AND WATER AREA.

GO bikers!!!!















All week long we also talked about the bike timeline and learned a lot about how bikes were first made. We came across many fun types of bicycles and even watched related videos of how people biked in olden days. Beginning from bikes with no seats and no pedals back in the 1800's to today's modern bikes we discussed almost every type and its pros and cons. The best one friends liked was the BONE SHAKER and they still talk about it!

A few friends really wanted to try tree climbing. With adult supervision, they really showed their great tree climbing skills.



We practiced coloring a safety message about always wearing a helmet when riding...



A wanted to spread the message strongly and thus pretended his coloring sheet was his helmet so that everyone could see and read clearly and follow it :)



We also got involved in learning about the anatomy of bikes and their different parts and uses. After that we brought out some open ended materials and friends designed their own bikes...






During this week we also enjoyed cooking and eating our ever favorite English muffin Pizzas. Friends now know to make this so well that they need no further guidance :)

Spreading the sauce and sprinkling cheese...



Getting ready to put them in the oven...



Enjoying the snack before going off to bike outside...friends said that now they will get more power to be super bikers :)



We concluded our bike week with making vitamin C and antioxidants smoothies. Both the preschool rooms combined to enjoy the jamba juicing :)
Friends helped put the ingredients in the blender and we enjoyed the smoothies outside at the pit stop for the bikers!!!






Spirit week!!!

Crazy hats and glasses...



Disney princesses!!!



We enjoyed baking strawberry shortcake during spirit week...

Setting up all the ingredients...



Friends helping measure and pour them one by one...






Putting it together with a layer of whip cream and fresh strawberries...everyone enjoyed it to the last crumb...



During the weeks we also did a few activities...

Racing car art...where friends raced them through the tubes/tunnels, while some just drove over the squishy gooey paint...



Decorating the pet rocks...



Wrapping our pet rocks in cozy blankets..



Shaving cream fun!!!



Drawing and shading with chalk pastels...






Colored wooden geometric figures...



Well it was also time to bid farewell to our two girl graduates - D and A. Thank you D for the yummy cupcake treats and thank you A for the delicious cookies!

During treats time friends got to say a message in the form of a vote of thanks or any feedbacks and comments. All our classroom children have been doing great wishing their graduating friends good luck and letting them know how much they will be missed! Almost every graduate has been with us for two years and we can truly feel their absence. I bet it is not easy for them either :(



As is our class custom, we made bye-bye, miss you t-shirts for them...



A was super excited to be presented with the t-shirt...



We will miss you girls. We wish you all the best in everything you do! Each kindergartener in our classroom takes a pledge/oath promising to visit us whenever they get time. This feeling of anticipation definitely makes all of us feel content :)

Keep seeing you'll around!

Hugs,
Teacher Rashida

Rainbow, 4th of July, & duck fun!

Hello Purple Room Families,

Our weekly color theme this month finally culminated with Rainbows. We put all the colors that we had learned about so far into one rainbow project. Rainbows are always fascinating to children and just talking about the rainbow art lit up our friends' eyes.

We started giving them blobs of paint in sequence while singing the rainbow song, and they chose to spread the colors on their paper the way they liked :)



"Red orange yellow green blue purple....these are the colors of the rainbow"...was something we hummed over and over again all through the art project.






In the end we gave them cellophane wrap to place on our painting and tapped on it with our fingers...this gave a lot of texture to our art. After it dried, we slowly peeled the wrap and sprayed shellac to hold the paint stiff so that it doesn't flake. Friends loved to feel their art. Some were poppy, spirally, bumpy, enchanted, and some even looked like falling drapes. It was interesting to see how the end product came out!



For 4th of July, we made fireworks with glue and sparkles. We talked about the word "independence" and even sang the Pledge of Allegiance. Some of us weren't familiar with it, so they just heard other friends sing and respectfully participated to honor the flag and our country with pride to be a part of this beautiful nation!



We also celebrated the 4th with an Ice Cream Social. Friends got their choice of toppings to share and we enjoyed our evening with family and friends!



I scream you scream , we all scream for ice-cream!!!



We wore red, white, and blue and enjoyed many projects all through the week, such as playing with playdough, making stars, squirting red/blue water with syringes etc.












Blue Room had duck eggs, out of which one hatched that week. Our week was busy keeping track of the duckling's growth and observing all that he was doing. We frequently visited our neighboring Blue Room to check the duck out. It was sooooo sweet to watch. Friends introduced themselves to the ducky anticipating that the duck will choose one of them as their mommy or daddy :)

A few friends also had a chance to babysit the duck overnight and had so much to talk and pictures to share the next day! With the knowledge that we had to send our new friend back to the farm soon, we enjoyed many moments with him!

Introduction time...






Watching it grow...



Giving it a swim...



In order to celebrate the ducky's birth, we made potato salad...

Friends chopped/ mashed boiled potatoes...



Cut tiny pieces of celery using their best fine motor skills...






Added salt, pepper, herbs and transferred everything together in a bowl to sit back and enjoy it!



Happy birthday L!

L's family was really creative and brought two different kinds of apples, peaches, and nectarines as treats for his birthday. We talked a little bit about the difference in each fruit on the plate. Later, they put the entire class to a taste test. We first had to guess what fruit we got and in the end we voted for the most liked one. L helped us with the recording and counting the highest vote. Bravo L! Overall, It was a great activity that put most of our senses to work :) We really had a lot of fun!



Keep seeing you'll around,

Hugs,
Teacher Rashida.