#butterspiders

[theteachingmama]

This Week with the ButterSpiders October 15-19 • Costume Making – Last week, A_____ brought her mermaid bra made of paper plates. Inspired by this we got some fabric, ribbon and whatever else we thought could make a good costume for Halloween. Some of the boys made capes (i.e. like Batman or Superman) and many of the girls made skirts and dresses. • Where is Knuffle Bunny? – In the book “Knuffle Bunny Free”, Knuffle Bunny got lost and wandered around the world. We were looking for Knuffle Bunny when he unexpectedly “emailed” me about where he’s been. We looked at the pictures and the children talked about the countries they were from and other places they’ve visited. • Mr. Potato Head’s Birthday – We’ve been practicing our writing making Mr. Potato Head’s birthday cards. We finally got to celebrate on the 18th of October. Our birthday tradition is to hold our inflatable globe and walk around our yellow, plastic, happy-face, sun. Go around as many years you've been on Earth. So if you're three, you go around three times. But Mr. Potato Head is 37 years old. So we just counted by tens and then the seven. For snack Mr. Potato Head brought some popcorn as a special birthday treat. • PE – It’s our first week of gymnastics. We got to explore the giant swing, jumping on the trampoline and climbing levels. • Art – The clay sculpture we made two weeks ago have been baked and are now rock hard. This week we got to paint on them. • Picture Day – Along with Mr. Potato Head’s birthday we also had picture day! Each student came in with their best smile for their individual shots. For the group shots we got to do a serious pose, a hugging pose and a wacky pose. • Planning for the Filipiniana Party – Next week Thursday is our school's Filipiniana Day. So we looked at what we needed for our celebration: pictures of Filipino food, decorations and games.

[theteachingmama]

This week with the ButterSpiders October 8-12 • Making and testing boats – We got more materials to make even bigger boats to test. • The “F” Store – the fire truck we made has disintegrated into a big mess. So we’ve removed all the fireman stuff and we now have a store. • Pizza Making – S the mom of O taught us how to make pizza on pita bread! She brought mozzarella cheese, green & black olive and corn for toppings. Yum! • Visiting the Grade Twos’ 1000 Museum – Some of the friends volunteered to visit the 1000 Museum where the Grade Twos have objects that add up to 1000. They saw 1000 pieces of popcorn, 1000 coins and the like. • PE – We had a roomful of balloons! We learned how to volley. We also had the giant rainbow tunnel and the balancing maze. • Library – We read the last book in the Knuffle Bunny series. • Music – We listened to the rooster in the Carnival of the Animals. We pretended to squawk when we heard the clarinet. • Art – We worked with Crayola Model Magic, this playdough like material that hardens and dries after 24 hours, without being baked. We had beads, small sticks, feathers and buttons. We could either make an impression using these materials or keep them stuck on the Model Magic.

[theteachingmama]

This week with the Butter-Spiders, October 1-5… • Making Books About Fire fighters – We printed small pictures about firefighters for the children to color. We also prepared small booklets for them to glue in the small pictures or they can draw in their own. • Boat Making – We put out materials for boat making such as straws, paper plates, small branches, pieces of wood, popsicle sticks, egg cartons. The children are also free to use toys around the room as long as it doesn’t get permanently soggy. • Lego Nook At The Block Area – We sectioned off a part of the block area with some low shelves for a Lego nook. We placed the hollow blocks for that area along with the Lego and people figures. • Fire Station At The Dramatics Play Area – We have the firefighter hats, coats, goggles, flashlights and hoses. We also made our own fire truck from a giant box. • Drawing On The Wall – We projected a picture of what happens beneath the street as part of our “Where does the water go?” exploration. There’s paper on the wall where the picture is being projected and the children can trace the pipes or add their own drawings. We also projected a fire truck as part of planning how to make our fire truck for the dramatics area. • PE – Coach Pekin prepared a long rope we can hold on to as we go along with our backs on our scooters. The line goes through a “mountain” made out of gymnastics tumbling mats. • Library – We read Knuffle Bunny Too. Then as usual, the kids were able to borrow their books to take home for the weekend. • Music – Our music teacher Ms. Moshi introduced “Carnival of the Animals” by Camille Saint-Saens. We listened to the Royal March of the Lions and pretended to roar like lions when we heard the piano. The piano represented the Lion in the orchestra. • Art – We explored clay. Our art teacher Ms. Lint, will then bake out creations and we can paint our sculptures next week.