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

Continued creativity and exploration...

Hello Purple Room Families,

Teacher Richa had brought to our class a great branch from a wine grape plant. Our friends were eager to turn it into something exciting! When asked about what they want to do, the majority replied saying that to them it looked like a chandelier and they wanted to make a chandelier for the classroom. So preschool friends together decided to turn this into a community project where each one's creativity would reflect their unique personalities.

Friends first scraped the tiny bark off to give it a smooth texture. They enjoyed ripping, scraping, and even brushing the bark off the branch.







At circle time, it was fun to see how each one perceived the branch in their own way. Some of the answers that came up were that it looks like a chandelier, an antler, a spooky tree, an owl's home, a laid down ladder, a hurdle jump, and letter Y. Interesting perceptions!






Continuing the community project, friends came over one by one to pick their choice of string with a pretty bell chime tied to the end.






Next they chose their choice of beads. We had a lot of varieties like glass beads to reflect the sun, rainbow beads, wooden beads, golden and silver accent beads, regular plastic beads, different shaped beads, and custom beads that our friends made a week prior out of clay which were then baked to harden!






They worked together in their own trays creating patterns or just randomly choosing beautiful beads to go together.






They we so engrossed in casting their string of chime...






Finally, friends decopauged their photos onto little tiles that were hung on the other end. They also created some clay figures to go on the back of the tile, so one side of the tile had their picture and the other side had their clay figure.






Next, we added lights and tada! Our chandelier was the most mesmerizing thing to admire. It was so magical that friends hit on it gently just to hear the soft chime. Blue Room went through the same process so that our chandelier is really a preschool community project. What fun work!







From caterpillars to butterfly...
Our friends continued to keep a track of the caterpillars' life cycle by doing weekly observations. Soon, the caterpillars went into their chrysallises. For our friends, it was such a sight to behold!







We transferred them from the jar to their net habitat. They were still under the keen observation of our friends who waited each day to see them hatch. Friends already started collecting flowers and deciding what fruits to put in when the butterflies would be out! Caring is such a big part of their lives!

Exploring gak made from clear glue is an adventure in itself! Friends got involved in discussing the science behind mixing different ingredients and seeing how glue when combined with borax and hot water can transform into such an exiting mixture - SLIME!





Stay tuned for more fun stuff as we look forward to the end of the year and graduation!

Hugs, Rashida

In our classroom...

Hello Purple Room Families,

It was a big achievement last week when we finished our last letter of the week and are now in the process of reviewing them. Friends enjoy playing challenging games related to numbers and letters. Every correct answer confirmed how much they've learned this year! While pre-k was running on one side, our other 3- to 4-year-olds worked on basic letter recognition and penmanship.

Along with all the basic pre-k curriculum, everyone has been enjoying doing art and talking about it. Friends also got involved in learning about the butterfly life cycle when the caterpillars arrived. The older kids remembered about the process from last year and were helping the younger kids by passing on their knowledge :) Facilitating each other's learning like this in a mixed-age preschool gives the older kids a sense of leadership and helps build community across the age groups. It's wonderful to see their relationships and communication grow together!

Friends kept a close eye on the butterfly life cycle and...



...Drew observations weekly to trace their growth...



Friends also got to see hundreds of lady bugs that hatched out...






Letters...























Working with sculpting clay...



Clay models/figures created by friends....









Friends did geometrical art drawing lines using a ruler and coloring different sections in chalk and oil pastels....









Birch trees...

Friends first painted the barks...



Then chose their background oil colors...



Stroked and painted it...



Tada...a new gallery display of their hard work!



To cook during letter Q week, we made quesadillas...




Then later on, pancakes and waffles...















Gluten-free cake was a different experience in baking chemistry...



Discussing all about GLUTEN...













And Cat in the Hat "hats" (fruit kabobs) for Dr. Suess's birthday with strawberry and banana stripes...






The children always bring so much excitement to each project or activity, making it more fun both for themselves as well as the teachers!

Keep seeing y'all around,

Hugs,
Teacher Rashida,