Marching through Mt Denali

March 2015 » Oh, the Places We Went in March!

This month, we got to celebrate an honorary friend's birthday, Dr. Suess! Very familiar with his work, the children were excited to explore and celebrate literacy by reading a few classics and adding a few new stories to our collection. Among one of our favorites was “Ten Apples On Top” where the children were given the opportunity to integrate both literacy and math into an art and gross-motor activity. Warming up our fingers and working on fine-motor skills, the children practiced signing numbers 1-10 in ASL. Curious how someone could possibly balance ten apples on top of their heads, we decided to test out the theory and see how many different types of objects we could balance on our heads. Using various books from our library, each friend took turns making predictions and estimating how far they could walk before the book fell off their heads. Realizing we needed to come up with a strategy, it didn’t take long to discover that the slower we walked, the farther we got before the book fell. This challenge was harder than we thought! Afterwards, we decided to step into the illustrator’s shoes and create our own representation of the story. Using imagination and creativity, each friend drew their own Dr. Seuss character and using one-to-one correspondence, we counted and numbered 10 apples. Then using basic math skills, we practiced numbered sequencing and glued 10 apples on top!

Of course, we couldn’t celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday without dressing for the occasion! After reading “Fox in Socks” and noticing all the crazy clothing and antics the characters were up to in the book, we decided to experiment with mixing colors and dye socks! Using a homemade recipe, teachers mixed together three colored packets of koolaid with vinegar to create three bowls of red, purple, and yellow dye. Once the koolaid packets had dissolved, the children practiced using fine motor skills by pinching droppers into the dye and releasing drops onto theirsocks. Curious how well this homemade recipe would work, the children were excited to see what colors the dye made once they mixed together. Then we bagged up our socks, laid them to dry in the sun and washed them to see if the dye would stick. Sadly, once all the pairs of socks were bundled and mixed in water, the red dye dominated the mixture and turned all our socks a pinkish red. Here, the children were able to make predictions about cause and effect observing what would happen once we dyed and washed our socks. On the bright side, the koolaid made our socks smell great!

As we move closer to the end of the year and taking that next step into Kindergarten, Dr. Suess provided us with some helpful advice for the future in "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" Here's a look at where to find us in the distant future as each child was asked what they want to be when they grow up:

Colt: "I want to be a garbage man!"

Noah: "I want to be a football coach."

Owen: "I want to be a veterinarian."

Eli: "I want to be a garbage man too!"

Reza: "I want to be Lightning Man!"

Silas: I want to be a dump truck driver!"

Lilian: "I want to be a mom."

Taavi: "I want to be a football coach too!"

Cruz: "I want to be a motorcycle race driver."

Jackson: "I want to be a garbage truck driver."

A little bummed that St. Patrick's Day was on a Tuesday, we decided to go ahead and get into the holiday spirit by exploring leprechauns, shamrocks, gold, and Irish culture. Discovering mysterious footprints all over our classroom, Denali detectivesjumped right on the case and grabbed their magnifying glasses to search for clues in the classroom and figure out who could’ve left them. Noticing clover-like footprints, we realized it could only be one thing, a leprechaun! Not only did the leprechaun leave behind footprints, but he also left behind some gold coins on his way out of Base Camp. Decorating pots of gold to use on our hunt, each friend took turns hunting for treasure outside on the yard. Once there were no more traces of gold, we counted how many gold coins we found using one-to-one correspondence and discovered the leprocaun left behind 50 pieces! Good thing we were there to clean up after him!

Among some of our favorite green day activities was exploring shamrocks through the use of beads and green bell peppers. Practicing fine-motor skills and basic math skills to create patterns, the children prepared themselves for the “tickles” coming their way in case they forgot to wear green on the big day. While creating patterns, we noticed that even though all the beads were in the shape of a shamrock, they were also all different colors and sizes. So, to help classify the beads, each friend worked in pairs to sort by color and size using our sorting trays. Afterwards, we made a surprising discovery when we noticed that slicing a green bell pepper in half created a shamrock shape, and were even more surprised when we realized that we could use a bell pepper for a new art medium! Dipping each half in green paint, the children made shamrock prints and added a stem by finger painting with one finger.

Curious to learn more about Irish culture and food common to the region, we decided to make our own Irish Soda Bread to share with families for Family Picnic. Working together as a team, the class helped one another label and list ingredients, identify measurements, and mix together all the dry ingredients to make the bread. Developing both fine and gross motor skills, the biggest challenge was being able to knead the bread and shape it into a loaf. But, three loaves later we had our very own Irish Soda Bread! We hope you all enjoyed it as well!

Happy March!

With Love,

Ms. Lisa and Ms. Keri