Thank you so much for your support in coming to our art show. It will all be up for a few weeks just because it is so beautiful. I never finish all of my planned projects, so we’ll be taking some time in the next few weeks to take a look at Picasso and make our own self portraits. No one has more Picasso in them than this age group. I’d also like to make some Picasso inspired cardboard guitars… blue period style.. that we can play along with Marci. I don’t use many videos in my class, but I always like to show the children actual video of Picasso painting on glass. Maybe we could find a piece of plexiglass and set up something similar. We’ll need a sunny day to make our own “photos” on photoreactive paper outdoors, and I’d like to give the children time to manipulate our own self portraits digitally.
I thought we’d continue with our vet center and talk about dogs, cats, and our pets. Can you send in a picture of your child’s pet… or desired pet.. and we’ll put them up in the vet center. I’m hoping Malene’s mama might bring in her big giant therapy snake. one of our other friends wants to learn more about turtles. We’ll see where our own pets lead us. We just adopted a leopard gecko at my house, so maybe Weebee can make a day trip to our school. We’ll read stories about pets and maybe even have a pet show like the book by Jack Ezra Keats. ( Stuffed Animal Pets)
I’d like to lean into winter with some group soup making, so you’ll have to tell me what your children might love to eat. Are we vegetarian? The kindergarten class recently made a potato soup with sausage and kale and really enjoyed eating it. I’ve made vegetable soup with noodles with this age, and it went very well. We can do it Stone Soup style and everyone bring a veggie to chop together.
Please remember that now is the time to stock up on warm weather clothes for going outside. We always go out if it isn’t pouring rain, and some of my friends have been cold. I like to go out for thirty minutes if it is 32 degrees or over and maybe for a shorter time if it is colder. An extra pair of snow pants is even great… because leggings can be cold out there on the tundra. Hats and mittens are a must. My rule is that we start out with our coats and take them off if they get hot. If you want me to require your child to keep their coat on please let me know and we’ll communicate that together.
It would also help us if you left all toys at home with the exception of snugglies for rest time. Those can go into the rest bags. Having toys in cubbies can be distracting and the children may want to go out to visit them and not understand why they aren’t coming into the classroom. Sometimes it is good to create a ritual of putting those type of toys or dolls in the child’s carseat and buckling them in. We will have our version of show and share the friday after we come back. It is book show and share. Wear your pajamas, bring your favorite book, and we’ll make the popcorn. During the morning we’ll drop everything and read all of the books.
I hope you have a warm and happy Thanksgiving with your families.
Sally and Lauren
