Homemade Banana Ice Cream

Today for our special snack we had homemade banana ice cream.

The wonderful thing is that the only ingredient is banana.

Slice bananas and lay them out on a cookie sheet and freeze.

Then put them in a food processor.

 

Keep blending it, stopping a few times to scrape the sides,

until it is creamy.

It is delicious.

 

We talked about different things you could add;

frozen strawberries or blueberries, peanut butter, chocolate...

Mmmm any extras you can think of?

 I found this recipe over at Come Together Kids.

Have a peek at her blog, you'll find many great ideas.

Story - Tops and Bottoms

"Tops and Bottoms" is the story I told at our Spud Celebration.

It comes in book form and I've read it to StrongStart families before.

But it's very easy to tell without the book.
The story is about a lazy bear and a hardworking rabbit.
The rabbit tricks the bear into getting the best part of the harvest.

Dressed for the Oscars

Today was our school's final assembly and it has become a tradition to hold it as if we're going to

 The Oscars.

Staff and students came dressed up.

It was a lot of fun.

For the occasion, I set the craft table so we could make a little "bling".

Bells and beads, we've done it before and we'll do it again.

It's an activity that improves their fine motor skills.

From the first time doing this activity this year

to today

I've seen a big change in the children.

They've become independent in their choices

and capable of threading themselves.

When finished and dressed,

our principal led the school into the assembly.

And there was the red carpet to welcome all.

The countdown is on to the last day of school.

Spud Celebration

Today we wrapped up our study on growing potatoes.

Over the last couple of weeks we've talked about different ways we can eat potatoes.

As you see from the above list, mashed potatoes was mentioned first and often.

So we, the teachers, decided to have a mashed potato sundae bar.

This idea was mentioned in our Spuds in the Tubs training session.

 Our sundae bar featured...

a scoop of mashed potatoes,

 sour cream, shredded cheese,

 chives, bacon bits

and surprisingly chocolate sprinkles which we called dirt.

Before we choose our toppings our big buddy teacher talked about our 

Spud experience.

StrongStart, grade 1 and our grade 3 buddies all participated.

We had 5 tubs and our harvest was about 200 potatoes.

She had samples of potatoes.

How they looked when they were dug out of the dirt,

then washed off,

then cooked and mashed.

It was a great visual for our littlest ones.

Time to pick our toppings

and enjoy.

 It was a big thumbs up delicious.

Making Sunshine

Happy Solstice!

First day of summer, I almost forgot.

So quickly changed focus at the art table today.

Even though the sun was shining for us outside

we made our own sunshine inside.

 They spooned powder paint on to the tray,

and sprinkles if they wished.

Then sprayed water like rain falling.

 She asked how do we mix it,
we wiggled

our fingers

and her face lit up.

 She added a bit more paint (I mixed a little flour in the paint to make it thicker)

 Then made a print,

She now has her own sunshine to take home.

Hope you enjoyed the longest day of the year.

Play Trays week 20

What was on our trays last week?

Have a peek.

 Fishing bobbers, egg carton sections and tongs.

Next we had a stone X and O slate game with

glass stars and shells.

Then laminated pea pod cards with numbers.

Roll the plastercine into peas and place on the cards

to match the numbers.

Last you've seen before but this week I put our marble tree into a deep tub.

It worked great.

The marbles were contained and they could play with no worries of the little choking hazards getting all over the floor.

Riddle Me This?

We are focused on the ocean at the moment and I found

these riddles that describe different ocean creatures.

 

The paper pockets with matching pull out cards, I bought at a dollar store

sometime ago.

 

The riddle is on the outside of the card with the picture answer on the inside slide out.

Yes the answer is on the outside too.

If your children are reading then I would delete the answer.

But at my program the parent/grandparent reads the riddle for the child.

 

I like that the riddle also includes a word that rhymes with the answer 

on the third line.

 

The pictures I found on google images.

 

If all the cards are pulled out and mixed up they can easily

be matched

because the back of the pull out card is the same pattern as the pocket.