The Friday expanded class has moved on to a story-writing activity.  Our stories will feature a very colorful parrot puppet we named “Rainbow”.  Each child will have a turn to take Rainbow home for a week and to write a story about Rainbow’s adventures, along with their very own illustrations.  This is a very popular activity with the children and they eagerly look forward to hearing each new story at circle time.

We wish to extend many thanks to several of our parents and friends who gave presentations to the children during our multicultural weeks.  Melissa Bebelos gave a presentation to the Pre-K2 and Primary-2 children on how oriental rugs are made, and the children had an opportunity to color yarn with dyes made from fruits and plants.  Miss Chris’s friend Pasha came to visit the Wednesday afternoon class and showed them some Hawaiian dances.  Deirdre Sassaman also joined the Wednesday afternoon class to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

To complement our theme of multiculturalism, multicultural paint and crayons were available at the easels.  These colors include several skin tones that are reflected in our country.  Some of the children tried to “match” their skin tone when drawing people while others just enjoyed putting the paint or crayon on the paper.  This was great exposure to reinforce we are all similar but not exactly the same and that’s okay.  We also had cut flowers (thanks to our wonderful volunteers) and beads the children could string to make leis.  They were all proud of their creations.  Many children also made one for their Mom or

siblings – how thoughtful!  They really enjoyed this activity and practiced their fine motor skills at the same time.  To honor Valentine’s Day, we currently have red and white paints and heart-shaped paper with Valentine stamps at the easels.  Up next will be black and white paint and watercolors. 

The children really enjoyed the dish tubs filled with red and blue water in the sensory table.  They used turkey basters to mix the water.  They had so much fun filling the basters and making the water turn purple.  This was also a fun social time and children certainly do love to play with water!  The children also enjoyed “playing” with cooked spaghetti in the sensory table.  They used a variety of tongs to move the spaghetti from bowls to measuring cups and vice-versa.  Some of them were “master chefs” and other enjoyed putting their hands right into the spaghetti and squeezing it – a wonderful sensory experience.   Last week there was dry spaghetti and fruit loops in the table.  The children love to put the fruit loops on the spaghetti, fill it up and then watch them all fall off!  Again, this was a great social, language and fine motor activity.  This week the sensory table offers dry sand and animals to roam and hide! 

Beautiful blue playdough with sparkles was available at the playdough table along with many sculpting tools.  The children made the most delicious pizza, cupcakes, cookies and blueberries to name a few of their creations.  Currently, there is purple playdough with heart-shaped cookie cutters available.  Manipulating playdough, rolling it out and using cookie cutters all help to strengthen their hand and finger muscles while having lots of fun.  Up next will be black and white playdough.

The children were especially pleased to share their snacks with some very special guests, their teddy bears!  In honor of these royal guests, a quilt was spread out on the carpet,