Good Evening families!

Another great week at Green Sprout! This week was all about dairy as we continued our April theme of Food.

On Monday we discussed all the different types of dairy and where they come from. We read about farm animals and talked about how we can get milk from goats and cows. We read "Down on the Farm" which was just a short picture book of different animals on the farm. We also incorporated the song "Old McDonald had a Farm" into the mix.

Tuesday was Earth Day!!!! So naturally, Green Sprout had a celebration to honor the exciting day. We started off with a morning dance party, and then enjoyed a community fruit salad. We went around the table and opened each dish saying "thank you" to the friend who brought the fruit, and we also were asking them to identify what fruit they saw. We also talked about different ways in which we celebrate the Earth everyday and what we can do to take care of the Earth.  Some friends had questions such as, "how does the Earth sleep?" So we had fun answering those questions and I believe they had a great time as well.

On Wednesday we had a great time painting spring flowers. We also went over dairy again during circle time :) We got to have fun with out Montessori puzzles in the afternoon. This always seem to keep the Tulips very focused on what they're doing. It's neat to watch.

On Thursday we colored pictures in morning and in the afternoon we made cream from coconut milk! Each Tulip got a turn to shake shake shake a container filled with coconut milk until it was ready to try. They then got to taste it themselves an exciting treat and seemed to really enjoy it!

Friday was of course our fun dance party! We also had special face paint happening which was fun and also hilarious. As you can see below your Tulips got some little mustaches! Too cute. (A little smudged from the nose rubbing, which made it even more comical). Our cooking project was making rice with cilantro and lemon, yum! We also did an activity where we made udders with a plastic glove!

We have a new song in Spanish from Ms. Daphne that is extremely catchy:
    Tres pecesitos se fueron a nadar
    El mas pequeno se fue al fondo mar
    Y u tiburon le dijo ven aca
    Ven ven ven
    Ven para aca
    no, no, no, no, no   
    no, no, no, no, no   
    no, no, no, no, no
    Porque se enjoa mi mama

The kids really enjoy the part where we all go "no no no no no" (in a jokingly manner),
it's quite funny.

Next week we will be covering Meat and Eggs!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend :)

<3 Jackie

Hello, Families!

Happy weekend! This past week we learned about grains. We read several books about grains, seeds, farms and gardens. We talked about all the different foods we eat that are made out of grains, and we sang “On a Picnic we will go” (sung to the tune of “Farmer in the Dell”)

On a picnic we will go (x2)
Let’s pack our baskets
On a picnic we will go.
Avey brings some rice (X2)
Let’s pack our baskets
On a picnic we will go.

The children love this song because we repeat it for each of them and they each get to tell us what they want to bring.

On Monday we sprinkled rice onto glue to make some textured art. The children seemed to really enjoy sifting through the rice with their fingers and sprinkling the grains onto their papers.  We also watched the rain fall and listened to the thunder when it stormed. We talked about how good the rain would be for our garden.

On Tuesday we painted egg-carton cups which we later made into tulips. These will be part of the community project we are working on with the other classes. Each class is contributing hand-made flowers and we will display our “flower garden” in the welcome center on Monday—be sure to check it out!

On Wednesday we spent time out in our garden. We checked out the strawberries which are getting redder by the day!

On Thursday we planted pepper and cucumber seeds in recycled almond milk boxes. We can’t wait to see them sprout!

On Friday we were very busy during our outside time. We weeded the garden, which was a pretty tough job, but the pre-tots were enthusiastic helpers. We also gathered grasses and leaves and used them as paint brushes to paint a garden/wildflower field for the flowers we made earlier in the week. The children had a blast painting, and were able to create some neat textures.  We also filled various containers with dirt and planted seeds in them.  On Monday we will check and see if anything has sprouted!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Best,

Magdalen

Good afternoon families!

To continue the April theme of food, this week we focused on vegetables. We read "Ra Ra Radishes" and "The Enormous Turnip". We sang "Carrots, Peas and Broccoli"(to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) which goes like this:
    "Carrots, peas and broccoli
    vegetables are good for me
    in my snack and in my lunch
    veggie sticks are fun to munch
    carrots, peas and broccoli
    vegetables are good for me"

On Monday for our art project we got to paint with nature using leaves as our paintbrushes.

On Tuesday we took a trip to our garden to pick some of the broccoli and taste it. I absolutely love seeing the kids interested in tasting food that is from our garden and try to always encourage it.

On Wednesday we used beets to paint with! I thought this was a really creative idea.

On Thursday we talked about the importance of recycling and composting. We each took a turn with a recyclable material and a fruit/vegetable to compost and put them in the proper bin. This lesson coincided perfectly with the community project led by the toddler classroom on recycling.

On Friday we started off with our fun dance party! Our cooking project for the day were "lettuce" wraps. We used leaves from the garden, brown rice, carrots and cilantro. Yum!
We also helped our toddler friends paint glue and shake glitter onto objects that were then glued to their recycled earth project which is displayed in the welcome center.

Our Tulips will be in charge of the community project for next week which is gardening! Our classroom lesson for next week will be on different types of grains.

Happy April, Everyone! This month we are learning about food, and we started off with a week on fruit. This was a lot of fun because our tulips really love their fruit. The books we read this week were “I Like Fruit” and “Go Go Grapes!” We sang “Apples and Bananas.” We also spent lots of time outdoors soaking up the lovely weather and watching the strawberries and other plants in our garden grow.

Monday was a special day because we got to celebrate Avey’s 2nd birthday!!! This was very exciting because we don’t often get to celebrate birthdays in our classroom. Avey’s mom brought in a delicious snack of fruit and coconut milk yogurt and we sang happy birthday to Avey who wore a crown. The children seemed to really enjoy it. In the afternoon we stripped the kiddos down and painted with eco paint. This paint was also brought in by Avey’s mom (Thanks!) and is made of fruits, vegetables, and flour. I included a picture of the box in the slide show if you are interested. The kids seemed to love getting their hands dirty, and the colors were beautiful. Several of the children tasted the paint, and others tried to eat handfuls of it (although it is completely non-toxic, we strongly discouraged this behavior).

On Tuesday we used corks as stamps to paint blueberries.

On Wednesday we had a lively snack-time conversation about the fruits that we eat. We passed around a banana and an orange, we examined the inside and outside of an avocado, and we tried tomatoes and apples. We used our hands to feel the fruit, our noses to smell it and our mouths to taste it. We even talked about the sounds the fruits make when we eat them. When we went outside we checked on our strawberries in the garden and some of our friends even helped me pull out weeds!

On Thursday Colette’s mom brought in some booklets from whole foods which were all about fruits and vegetables. The kids enjoyed looking through them and they even added some color to the pages.

Our Friday started out with our usual dance party. We all helped Ms. Ashley hold the hose to water the garden. In the afternoon we had another fun cooking project. We made “apple pies” using small pitas for the crust and we filled them with apple slices and cinnamon and topped them with granola. They were a hit!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. I look forward to another week of learning with your sprouts.

Best,

Magdalen