Glorious Gloop!If you haven’t made Gloop yet, then this is a must for any toddler or child to try. It is super fun and super messy, but the fun was clearly evident on the children's faces. Gloop is an interesting mixture with a unique texture to explore and play with. Playing with Gloop is a fabulous sensory, science activity to learn about the concepts of what a solid and liquid is. First the children had the chance to touch the dry corn flour, feeling it's silky texture. Then they added the water and explored the magic. Sensory play promotes many learning experiences:
WHAT YOU WILL NEED: You will need 2 cups of cornflour, 1 cup of water, two drops of food dye and a large container. Encourage your child to mix and play with the Gloop before it is completely mixed together, the fun and learning starts here. Explore the texture and talk about what it feels like; sticky, slimy, cold and powdery. Snow and sandwiches.The children love to eat both of these! There was more moulding and shaping to be done during our big snowfall this week... and it was even sticky enough for snowman building. The playground looked like a snow village when the children were done. They really surprised me with their strength at rolling and lifting these huge snow creations! Towards the end of the week it was time to open our class sandwich shop the "Bread Barn". The Little Red Hen would like a job there, so the children had to teach her all the useful, polite phrases she could use with the customers. They then showed some brilliant skills of spreading, slicing and cutting (whilst sneaking in some talk about fractions) making a real favorite sandwich. They then wrote the recipe for it to display in the shop. So many fine and gross motor skills at work this week!
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Hooked on Bread
11/16/2018
Our new study theme of Bread, kicked off with a blind tasting session. The children explored, flat breads, bagels, Hawaii bread, amongst others, describing their texture and taste before being told which bread it was. After lots of discussion as to what foods were bread, the children decided that pizza was their favorite type of bread. We prepared a trip to our local shop Papa Murphy's. The children got a wonderful hands on experience of making their own pizza's. From using the giant dough mixer to showing their muscles using the cheese grater, they were now "hooked" onto how to make bread. Building the Bread Barn...After returning back to school, the children were very enthused to make our own pizza shop which they named and labelled "The Bread Barn". They are now busy taking orders, topping their pizzas, popping them in the pizza oven, and serving up as waiters and waitresses. Talk for Writing
Snow, Spirit Week and Celebrations
11/3/2018
There was much excitement this week for many reasons... This week we saw the first snow of the year! For me the first snow I have seen in many, many years. I think I was more excited than the children! In addition to this fabulous experience the children were invited to do a whole week of dressing up for "Spirit Week". Some of our favourite days were the animal dress up and our Halloween parade. This day gave even some of our most shy and reserved children the chance to experiment being a new character as we saw lots of role playing happening in the classroom and around school. Twin day meant that the children could come dressed like a friend. Not only did our three dragon characters dress like each other, but they even built using symmetry, developing and designing their own feeding station!
Friday was the final day for our tree theme so we celebrated by making Gruffalo Crumble. These budding young cooks have now become quite independent in their baking skills, measuring, mixing and pouring without much guidance at all. Everyone agreed it tasted delicious too. I can't wait to see them develop further as we enter our new theme new week. |
Melissa SmithMs. Smith has a degree in Early Childhood Education and has taught kindergarten for many years. Alaska has been home to Ms. Smith for 28 years, and she can't imagine living anywhere else! She has four children, a dog and two cats. She loves reading, camping, gardening, and genealogy! Archives
April 2021
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