Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Yellow and green, Father's Day!

Hello Purple Room Families,

We continued our theme of colors by brainstorming things that are yellow and green. Sun, grass, trees and plants, lemonade, and other common materials like paint, crayons, paper, etc were some ideas from our friends. What was more interesting is that when they saw anything that was yellow or green, they would applaud it loudly. For example, the # 2 pencils that we use at school are mostly yellow and it was announced loudly in class by a friend as soon as the thought struck his mind. We also reiterated about yellow being the primary color and how yellow and blue made green!

We made collages and it was fun to see everyone's unique creativity...






We also worked on fruits and veggies in that color family....






They also did some carving and designing with toothpicks as per their perception of what they see...



Some saw a monster in a cut bell pepper while some thought it was a cat with ears, and to some it looked like a mad face!!!



Friends also noticed a dried grape and called for my attention right away. They mentioned and shared all of what they knew about grapes turning into raisins and had an entire conversation on wines, our chandelier which is a grape wine, vineyards, colors of grapes, grapes with and without seeds came into picture!!! This is what we called a sparked up discussion :)



Friends were also amazed how nature held the blend of colors....when we cut the green watermelon open, it right away popped in our friends' minds that red and green were complimentary colors which made the watermelon look so beautiful like Christmas colors. They even asked how Mother Nature knows what colors to put in!!!! See how tough our job is...we have to answer all these smart questions ;)









Friends tried the green lime...



Green lime facial expression ;)






Friends also started working on the color wheel...






Enjoying the green play dough and getting creative with it all through the week!!!















Father's Day!

A special thank you to all the great dads/ grandpas who gave us a chance to make them feel special by coming to the brunch! For those who couldn't, you were still with us in our talks and thoughts!

Our friends put in lot of efforts creating a rock theme present for their dads! They carefully chose each color that you guys love to go on the rock (paper weight) and also the proudly chose the hat and tie to pose for their picture to go on the brooch! I have no words to say how much they love you and are proud of you!!!






Keep seeing you around.

Hugs,
Teacher Rashida :)

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

June is full of colors!!!

Hello Purple Room Families,

During the month of June, we focused on colors - red and orange being the first ones. At circle time, friends could brainstorm many things that came to their minds as soon as they heard "red" and "orange." It was like a rapid fire game where they had to guess a thing in just a few seconds. Some answers that came out were fire, lava, sunset, sky, dresses, salad with carrots and tomatoes, other fruits and veggies, crayons, markers, paper, flowers, bugs, butterflies, juice, etc. At the same time, we introduced the concept of the color wheel where we got further involved in learning about primary and secondary colors, warm (red, orange and yellow) and cool colors (blue, green, and purple), and complimentary colors. One of the friends said that the colors of Christmas, red and green, are complimentary colors.

For red and orange, friends collaged using various materials. It was a warm day, and as a result, we opened the activity on floor which was much cooler and calmer!



Later during the week we also did red and orange shaving cream painting which had a great smell and texture!



Tropical day...
This day we explored two tropical fruits- the pineapple and the coconut. After learning a few facts about both the fruits, our friends wanted to cut them open and explore them in and out! Some friends were hesitant to hold the pineapple because of the spikes and poky "eyes". So other friends decided that it should be swaddled up like a baby and handled with care...hahaha...what a great way to problem solve. Love their creativity of thought!!!



Feeding the pineapple some milk with a baby bottle :)



Feeding the coconut so that it can give us more milk when we crack it open...



Friends experienced the entire process of opening the pineapple and the coconut, both of which were not very easy to cut. However, the end result of eating them was worth every effort!



Friends decided to save the pineapple body and head as a centerpiece at a table for the rest of the day. So we did some still observations in our journals!!!






Friends were super interested in building ramps, towns, farms, and cities with wooden blocks. Blocks are an excellent medium to develop the basic mathematic and science skills of balance, symmetry, height, space, weight, etc. and our friends have been putting in keen efforts to make sure they work on it at their own pace and up to their full potential! Teamwork is such a major part of this learning area!



This animal town which was so finely created with great ideas about habitats and wild life by a team of a few friends, soon was moved from the table to a structure (refer to the next pic) where more ideas about animal lives were generated and conversations about the animals sparked up!






Outdoor picnic...
We ended our week with an outdoor picnic where we ate lunch outside under the cool shade on a hot day!



Keep seeing you around! More colors are on their way!

Hugs,
Teacher Rashida