News from Miss Gloria's Class: 10/28/11

 
Friday, October 28, 2011
LETTER OF THE WEEK: G

On Monday, we talked to the children about our trip to the Art Museum. We discussed going on the school bus and wearing our seatbelts for the ride. We talked about what we would be doing in the museum, how the children had to stay with their grown-ups, and how they should use their eyes to look at the art. We explained that we would walk through the galleries, read Jennie’s Hat, make an art project, and have lunch in the museum. The theme of the lesson is Fashion in Art. For our class art project, based on Jennie’s Hat, the boys and girls made their own hats. Jennie’s Hat, written by Ezra Jack Keats, tells the story of Jennie’s plain-looking hat, a gift from her aunt. Jennie really wanted a hat filled with colorful flowers and ribbons. Jennie’s bird friends tried to make her happy by adding leaves, colored eggs, a paper fan, roses, a picture of swans, and a bird’s nest with chirping young birds onto her hat. Now Jennie was very proud and excited to have such a fancy hat. We also looked at some of the pictures in the book A is for Art Museum by Katy Friedland and Marla K. Shoemaker. This book is filled with works of art that can be found in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Tuesday was our trip to the Art Museum. All of the boys and girls had a wonderful, first trip, to the museum. We looked at the painting called Woman with Loaves by Picasso and we also looked at three paintings of women wearing hats by Pierre Bonnard. The boys and girls made guesses as to why the woman was carrying bread on her head in Picasso painting. Most of the children thought that she did it just to be funny! For our museum art project, the boys and girls made their own hats.

On Wednesday, the story group read Fall Leaves Fall by Zoe Hall. The children in the journal group colored fall leaves. In yoga, Miss Jackie read The Earth and I by Frank Asch. As she read about the ways to care for the earth, the children used their bodies to yoga pose in each of these ways. Their favorite yoga poses were planting seeds, making the rain and thunder, and growing tall.

On Thursday, we read Mr. George and the Red Hat by Stephen Heigh. In this book, Mr. George, a squirrel, finds a red felt hat. He cannot find its owner, so he decides to keep it. At first, he uses the hat for his acorns and peanuts. When he hears that a mother bird needs a home for her babies, he kindly gives the red hat to the bird family to use as its new home. For our art project, the boys and girls used orange tissue paper to make pumpkins. We also played a parachute game. Each child had the opportunity to sit in the middle of the parachute and name their favorite kind of cake. We sang a song about each child making a mistake and sitting on their favorite cake.

On Friday, we read A Color of his Own by Leo Lionni. All animals have a color of their own, except for chameleons. They change color wherever they go. A lonely chameleon, in search of his own color, finds a new friend who is just like him. For our art project, the children made a color wheel.

*Thank you to Luke, Alejandro, Noa, Alexander, Massimo, Robert, Gemma, Charley, Izzy, Lincoln T., and Lincoln K. for being our super “kids of the day” during the past few weeks.

* Please enroll your child in Afterschool Arts. The boys and girls have so much fun cooking, experimenting in science, creating art projects, using their body in movement, and learning and singing new and familiar songs. If you know of any children who are not enrolled in the Playschool, but would like to participate in our Afterschool Arts programming, please let me know.

*Thank you to all of the grandparents and special friends who spent last Friday morning at the Playschool It was a pleasure to meet everyone and we hope that you enjoyed our programming.

*Thank you to all of the families who attended and purchased food for the Shabbat Dinner on October 21. We had a fantastic turnout and we will have another dinner in the spring.

*Please let us know if you will be purchasing your child’s painting for our Playschool fundraiser. Their preschool art makes a great childhood keepsake.

*Thank you to all of the parents who accompanied us on the trip to the Art Museum. Our second trip will take place on Tuesday, January 10, 2012.

Next week, we will learn letter C. Have a great weekend!
Miss Gloria, Miss Michelle, Miss Mindy, Miss Polly, and Miss Rebecca