Science Room Tours!

Both PreK classes had a tour of both the science and art rooms this week!  The students were introduced to all kinds of new animal friends including crabs, turtles, mealworms, fish and cockroaches.  I am looking forward to exploring many wonderful science activities with them this year!

Also,  if you're looking for a great outdoor event this weekend, be sure to get over to the  Morris Arboretum Fall Festival happening this Sunday.  There will be many activities for children, including the Philadelphia Zoo on Wheels.  Hope to see you there!

Sharing Family Traditions For Rosh Hashanna

Paula shared special family traditions that her family enjoys as they  celebrate  the holiday of Rosh Hashanna.The children were excited to see the  beautiful display table which included candle sticks and candles, challah bread, apples and honey and Rosh Hashanna books.  As the children gathered on the meeting rug, we lit the candles and the children settled in to listen to the story of Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah is the celebration of the Jewish New Year.

 We read Sound The Shofar by Leslie Kimmelman and New At The Pier by April Wayland.  Humor, touching moments between family and friends, and lots of information about the Jewish New Year are all combined in these lovely picture books for holiday sharing.

     Dipping apples and challah in honey symbolizes a wish for a sweet and happy New Year.  Paula sang the prayers over the candles and Miranda and Annabelle joined in singing the prayer  over the bread.

What Does Community Mean To You....

 During Morning Meeting the children were engaged in a conversation about community. We have been talking about our classroom community, AFS Lower School community and our family community.   This led to a conversation about  " What Does Community Mean To You?"  The following are some of the children’s responses: 

• Talking Being nice to people 
• Sharing your toys 
• Building with people and sharing
• Sharing your crackers when you run out of crackers 
• Helping to put away blocks
• Community is asking to have a turn after somebody is done with the swing. 
• People 
• Helping 
• Driving a bus
• Playing with a toy with somebody 
• When a friend gets hurt with a block, I kiss him.
• Picking up garbage in the woods is community 
• Helping people
• Community is doing nice things and playing with each other. 

This led to a conversation about people in our community who help each other and help to make our community safe.  Fire fighters, police officers, doctors, veterinarians and lawyers were a few that were mentioned.

Emily's Visit Helps Us Build Community

Maggie's mom Emily asked if she could visit with our children in our classroom to further our exploration of self awarenss and awareness of others. She noticed the work in our classroom such as our self portraits which have led to wonderful discussions about how we are all similar in some ways and ho we are all different. Emily wanted to share with the children how her body is special and different.  She had overheard the children earlier in the week talking about how she moved her body and sensed that the children may have questions  that needed to be addressed.  She showed a picture of Maggie and herself on a very special power operated scooter that she uses to help her move that helps her because her body does not move or bend like most peoples bodies.

 

Emily asked the children to think of any  questions they may want to ask her and together we had an extrodinary, sensitive conversation. The children were empathetic and compassionate and were curious about "how she drives her car, if her  body hurts, why she has little fingers and why her arms "move" like that" .

Emily commented, " This is how I was made and it makes me special and it makes me differerent."  We learned that Emily's role in our community is a priest.  We had an amazing discussion about what her work  entails.  Emily is a community helper that helps people in her church community.  She loves helping people and feels so lucky to have a job in our community taking care of people.

Self-Portriats

A Self-Portrait project is a wonderful way for young learners to discover art and become aware of the multiple aspects of self-concept. Our Self-Portrait project also served as a thoughtful way to introduce the various cultures within our very own classroom community.




As children focus on specific attributes or features such as hair color and texture, skin tones and shape or eye color, they are exploring the concept of self. This visual art helps children to learn about what people look like, how similar and yet different people are, and at the same time helps to develop additional skills such as fine motor skills, shape and color recognition and creativity.





Creating a self-portrait is a community-building activity that helps our PreKer’s get to know each other and feel comfortable in their classroom space.




September 2011

Chinese Peking Opera

We had the wonderful experience of attending a special assembly where the Chinese Peking Opera performed for our Lower School and Middle School.  We learned that the Chinese Peking Opera includes expression of several different forms of the arts.  It includes, martial arts, acrobatics, theatrical acting, and singing. Today, we watched two performers perform The Monkey King.

We first viewed a short newscast video about the Chinese Peking Opera which showed the back stage work that is involved in creating these magnificent operas.  We saw costumes, make-up , staging and rehearsals that gave tremendous insight into the world of the Peking Opera.  Today we watched two Perking Opera performers prepare and then produce the opera The Monkey King.

We watched as the warrior transformed himself into the character of the monkey by applying make-up.  It was fascinating to watch as he applied face paint in strategic places to create his character.  Interestingly , he told us that when he is in a real full production it takes at least 45 minutes to apply his make-up.  This particular segment of the opera was focused on marital arts as we watched and enjoyed the incredible martial arts movements during the performance.

We learned that one trains for 8 years before they are able to join the opera and that each day involves 12 hours of practice.  Each performer practices and must become excellent in all areas of the arts.  One must learn and perform 200 operas before they can complete their education and join the Chinese Peking Opera.

This was an incredible cultural experience that we shared with our larger AFS community.

International Day of Peace

Lower School honored the International Day of Peace and our PreK class joined in this special day of recognition.  During Meeting For Worship in our classroom, we first read the book Peace by Todd Parr and Can You Say Peace  by Karen Katz and talked about 'what does peace mean and feel like for us.' We asked the children to picture a drawing they would create to show a feeling of peace and we shared our thoughts.

" Peace is being nice to each other...Peace is sharing in the block area...Peace is giving someone your toy when they ask for a turn...Peace is when it is quiet....Peace is giving a friend  a hug..." were a few of the shared feelings the children expressed.

We joined in shared silence during a brief Meeting For Worship and experienced a warm sense of community.  This was a wonderful beginning for our  Meeting For Worship experience that we will build upon throughout the year.

The children were all given ribbons to tie to dream flags which reflect hopes and images of peace.  The children were asked to "make a wish for something peaceful" before they tied their ribbon to the beautiful banner that graces our Kindergarten playground. The children seemed to sense the connection to our larger community and delighted in making a personal wish for peace.   We continue to  build community as we grow together.

La Clase de Español

How wonderful to have Spanish class with Pre-K three times per 7 day cycle! Ask your child to tell what the following colors mean: rojo, azul, café, blanco, verde, violeta, rosa, negro, amarillo, naranja. What is your favorite color? ¿Cuál es tu color favorito?
It was a delight to play "weather maker" today as we learned ways to describe the weather. Hace frío, calor, viento y sol.

Our First Fire Drill Inspired....

AFS Lower School experienced their first fire drill this week and the children handled the experience beautifully!  We had prepared the children for the first drill and discussed what a fire drill was, what sounds we may hear to tell us the fire drill is starting and what we need to do when we hear the fire bell.  Immediately, and quite enthusiastically Marcellus joined the discussion and shared lots of important information about fire safety.  Marcellus' Mom and Dad are both firefighters and he confidently shared so many personal experiences and facts!  The children were both interested and reassured by their friend Marcellus' insights and words!

Later the same morning we had our visit to the Library with one of our librarians Helen. Library experiences are wonderful ways to support and connect the interests and work that we are exploring in our classrooms. We had informed Helen of our exciting morning experiencing our first fire drill as well as one of our areas of interest thus far this year which is building community.  Helen prepared a fantastic library session for our children beginning with reading aloud a book on Fire Fighters-Community Helpers!  The simple, colorful photographs depicted  basic aspects of what the world of a fire fighter may look like.  The huge boots, coats, gloves, engines....were just a few of the photographs that captured the interest of the children.  A discussion followed about "what it means to help someone and be called a community helper..who are other people who live in our community and help us..".

Helen read a second book titled Kitten  red yellow blue by, Peter Catalanotto which was a delightful story about 16 kittens who went on a adventure and each one had an encounter with a community helper! What a perfect story for our children who happen to also LOVE kittens!

 The library shelves are filled with wonderful puppets and the children enjoyed playing with the puppets during the last part of our visit!

 

Self-Portraits

   

A Self-Portrait project is a wonderful way for young learners to discover art and become aware of the multiple aspects of self-concept.  Our Self-Portrait project also served as a thoughtful way to introduce the various cultures within our very own classroom community.

As children focus on specific attributes or features such as hair color and texture, skin tones and shape or eye color, they are exploring the concept of self. This visual art helps children to learn about what people look like, how similar and yet different people are, and at the same time helps to develop additional skills such as fine motor skills, shape and color recognition and creativity.
Creating a self-portrait is a community-building activity that helps our PreKer’s get to know each other and feel comfortable in their classroom space.