Kindness Goes a Long Way....

 We have really exemplified kindness in our classroom these last few days, and our kindness and generosity extended to creating a glitter jar for our home for peacefulness.  We also created and gave away "snow friends" to a friend in the classroom. They were simple sock soft sculptures that included button eyes, and a scarf.  Snow FUN!

The Gustav Klimt Tree of Life painting was a "puzzle" that we talked about creating a community art work when all the pieces were glued together. 

The glitter jars created quite a stir! We used liquid glue and water and the children chose their glitter and colors, and then the color of the ribbon.  We glued the tops and apologize if their were snafus at home. 

Another part of our week was the SNOW! snow fun. We have sleds that encourage team work and giving each other rides.  

The snow friends project was epic, and occured so peacefully with all of the children.  Each child chose a name, and created a "snow friend" for that child.  The process included asking the friend what color they wanted for a pom pom, and a ribbon.  We used rubber bands to create the body and hat of the snowfriend, and worked hard to stuff and stuff the soft body. 

The whole process included a lot of conversation and interest! 

and pancakes and pjs? What could be better?

playtime in pjs smiles all around!

Finally a wonderful Peace Assembly performance, and a sweet goodbye for the break. 

take care,

 rest, 

and we'll see you soon......

Michele

December Light and Kindness

 When December rolls around, the days are dark early and the weather is sometimes cold and blustery. It feels like a good time to celebrate light AND dark with lanterns, special lights, and candlelight lunches.  We have rice and silvery animals in the sensory table, and candles to build with.  The light table is out again with translucent blocks.  

Kindness is the topic of the day. We talk about how we can be kind to each other, and fill in kindness circles with the help of each child.   We write a book about kindness, and each child describes how they are kind.  

Writing and illustrating our pages about kindness. 

We created lanterns with papier mache and colored tissue paper. They will light up our lunch spots for the rest of December.

We complete tasks by lantern light! 

Our greeting this day required some imagination, as gentle hands passed around an "egg" that was about to hatch. So gentle and patient with each other! 

The magna tiles take on a new luminosity with battery powered tea lights. 

The sensory table is calm and luminous. 

These two children created books together over the course of a few days.  They needed to problem solve as the tape was not holding their pages together. 

lanterns and lunch 

We projected a light show onto the wall, and the children explored their shadows.  Building with blocks in the light created interesting play!

The projection gave us the experience of colors and shadows, size and liveliness. 

We created bird feeders from seed and gelatin that will sit for a few days, and be ready to hang outside. We wonder if they will disappear   quickly?