November 2013

A RECENT SUCCESS

 We enjoyed celebrating two different cultural celebrations in the class.

We talked about pumpkin parts and visually watched them in our playground; the flower, veins and pumpkin.

We carved pumpkins during circle and children explored the parts.

At the end of the month, we celebrated “festival of lights called Diwali” by lighting diyas, making rangolis and crafts with the help of Jiya’s mom Pooja and Ira’s mom Haritha who helped with rangoli art and Aparna, Aanya’s mom for coloring sheets.  Many thanks to all.

We were busy last month learning about spiders. Children learned some fun facts about spiders and where they live, their characteristics like body parts, eyes, legs, fangs and spinnerets. The most interesting thing to the children was how they spin webs and we discussed how the web helps to trap its prey.

We took a break from spiders and traveled to the smallest continent: Australia. We explored different landforms and found out Australia is an island, surrounded by water on four sides. Children figured out how to travel there by plane, by ship or build a bridge and drive. We learned about the different states, its landmarks, people, food and animals. Barri, Will’s mom, made a cooking project with children. They made Anzac biscuits, traditional Australia cooking with children.

 We learned about Australia’s unique animals: kangaroos and koalas. Children learned about the habitat of marsupials and how they carry their children and explored how their long legs help them to jump faster than other animals and how their tails support them for their sitting posture.

This month we are exploring colors, art and artists. Children will be learning about primary and secondary colors with a variety of art projects. Kindergarteners will learn about different artists and their works. The classroom will be doing a community project to display in the class.