2022/2023: Week 16

Building, birds, bouncing, and barbers! It's Letter B Week!

Each morning as students arrive (after good morning greetings and putting our things away) their first stop is the Name Station. This week, students used beans to shape the letters in their first and last names and then took their turn on the board to write it out. Each week, our name writing employs a different media and affords children the opportunity to develop name recognition and spelling while also taking into account their developing brains and bodies. Our students signed their names on the board this week and we are so proud of their progress this year!

This week, students were introduced to England-based street artist, Banksy.

We painted our own brick wall, used spray paint to add color, and then stencils to create a Smart Start-style graffiti banner for our classroom.

We also started a piece inspired by Claude Monet's Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies.

This week, students used tape to design their bridge, their way, and then bounced bubble wrap on the canvas to create the hues of green and blue. Next week, we will come back with broccoli (yes, broccoli. And that's just one of the vegetables we'll be painting with next week. 😉) to add pinks and yellows for the flowers. Once dry, we will remove the tape and talk about resist.

In science, we learned about winter birds and how we can welcome them to our outdoor spaces by providing a source of water, nesting materials, and food. Students used big, soft pretzels (like the ones in our story Walter the Baker by Eric Carle), Crisco, and bird seed to create bird feeders.

We also did some baking with bananas! Baking is a multisensory learning experience that offers lessons in science, math, language, and more. This week, we mashed bananas with our hands, stirred in oats, and then students chose mix-ins and toppings.

One of our concepts this week was balance. During morning invitations and end-of-day centers, students visited the balance table that featured two balance challenges. In the Wiggle Room, we practiced balance using our bodies, bean bags, and a balance beam. While baking, we talked about how we balance flavors, and in the building center, students created marble mazes and then used balance as a way to move the marble through the maze.

We also played balloon versions of volleyball and tennis in the Wiggle Room. We had a blast learning how to bump and bounce the balloons back and forth!

We rounded out our letter B learning a play with rescuing buttons and bugs from the beans, LOTS of building, a Barber/Beauty shop, and water coloring bugs and birds. From start to finish, a BEAUTIFUL week!