Friday, May 31, 2013

Snail Slime Painting

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We cover the garden with mesh when we are playing somewhere else.
But on the mesh we’ve noticed that the snails slide, upside down and leave
a slimy trail behind.

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What can we use that will leave a clear shiny trail like a snail?

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                                 Corn syrup!
We bring one of the snails to the art table to see how it moves
                   and what it leaves behind. 
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     It moved very slowly and changed directions,
                      so we did too.

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   We returned the snail to his garden for lunch.
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And I returned to clean up the wonderfully slimy art table.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Bike at the Playground

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It's Bike to Work week and we had a fantastic turn out for our
             first Bike at the Playground event.
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At least 60 children came riding, pushing and scooting this morning.
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They decorated their bikes with streamers, ribbons and balloons.
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Spent some time washing bikes, scrubbing right down to the tires.
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                     Ready to ride. 
We drew a figure 8 on the pavement and set up traffic signs
as a course for the children to follow.
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Or they made their own course, rearranging the obstacles
as they went.
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Each child was encourage to print their name on a badge and
add it to the wall of fame for riding their bike today.
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                        Awesome day! 
              Worth repeating next year.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Snail Time

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Every year we create a snail garden right from scratch.  Planting their food,
grass, lettuce and a few surprises from the compost.
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Tending the garden is an important part of learning to care for others. 
Learning what they need and following through. 
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Keeping the soil moist and making renovations to the grass when it
gets too long prepared us for the snails arrival.

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Combining art and the caring of the snails helps us look closer
at them. 
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What do they look like?  How can we replicate it?
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Using lazy Susan turntables helped us learn about spirals. 
If we used our finger to follow the spiral on the snail's shell
we learn that it goes round and round.
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Holding our paint brush in the middle of the plate and
spinning the turn table helps us get a similar effect.
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And just like the snails each of our art work is unique.


Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Love to Ride My Bike

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This week is Bike to Work week and we will be hosting
a Bike at the Playground event on Thursday.
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I've had a difficult time finding good, easy to sing bike
songs and each year I try a new one.
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This year I learned a song I heard on Jamie Barnett’s
cd called Ride My Bike.
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I made magnet board pictures and added sign language
to the song.

Here is a video on me singing and signing the song.

 We love to ride our bikes, do you?
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Do you have a song about bikes that you could share?

Monday, May 27, 2013

Tree Rubbings

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We went out into the woods again today to have a closer look at trees.
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We went prepared to do some rubbings. 
Each page in our books told us what to look for.
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As they walked through the woods they touched every tree, connecting
with nature in a new way.
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Making comparisons to each others rubbings.  How are the leaves different?

Finding rubbings wasn’t the only thing we discovered.
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            We found a fort to play in,
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    lots of mushrooms poking through the ground,
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a snail without it`s home and a tree perfect for climbing.
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    We found the oldest tree in this woods.
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  It took seven of us to measure around the tree.