Recycling

Dear Parents,

This week we learned all about recycling. The children also learned a new recycle song:  "R-E-C-Y-C-L-E, recycle, it's really up to you and me, RECYCLE!"  We read the book, "Where Does All the Garbage Go? by Melvin Berger.  We then discussed how not to pollute our environment by throwing trash in the street and filling up our dumps with trash.  We learned that the dumps are almost full and the environment is getting dirty.  

We discussed how we can recycle bottles, plastic, aluminum cans, and glass instead of throwing them in the trash.  The children learned that collecting food scraps and leaf clippings make compost which can be mixed in our soil to make our gardens grow. We recycled single serve cereal boxes, push up ice cream cups and sticks, and stickers.  The children made the most fabulous recycled trains with them.  They also cut strips of paper and glued them together to make train tracks.  They had so much fun racing their trains around the track. 

Please stop by and look at our Math, Science, and Social Studies board.  We added a Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle chart.  The children were given stickers with pictures of things that could be recycled and things that cannot be recycled.  They put them on the appropriate containers.  

We celebrated Idris' 4th birthday.  Thank you to his family for providing the delicious cupcakes.  

On Wednesday, Lauren from the MFA visited our school.  She showed the children a picture of a peacock fiddle from the MFA collection.   The children observed that it had a head, a face with eyes, and a tail.  Lauren then played what the peacock fiddle sounded like and the children said that it sounded like a violin.  After, Lauren handed out various musical instruments to all the children.  They were instructed to play them in groups based on the shape of their instrument, then loud to soft, and soft to loud.  

Lauren then showed the children a print of a Stuart Davis painting called "Hot Still-Scape for Six Colors-7th Avenue Style.  The children pointed out all the six colors that were used in the painting.  There are many different shapes, lines, and patterns in the painting which are based on the busy NYC landscape where Davis lived. Lauren then divided the children into small groups and each group was given a large piece of red felt and an assortment of small shapes and colors similar with Davis' painting.  The children were encouraged to design their own collages.

In music class with Lisa, the children practiced forming whole, half, quarter notes, and rests on the activity board.  The children were asked to make the note, then say either blue (one beat), jello (two beats), pineapple (three beats),  huckleberry (four beats), and crossing their fingers for rest. 

Ms. Peishuan brought in Chinese dumpling wraps and play dough in orange (meat) and in green (vegetable).  She first showed the children the various steps in making a traditional dumpling by putting water on the edge of the circle dough, then putting the vegetable or meat in the middle and folding it in half.  The children then pinched the ends and made sure they stuck together. 

We will be celebrating Valentine's Day next Thursday, February 14th.  Please bring in 15 valentines.  It is not necessary to address each valentine.  Just have your child sign them.

Love,
Ms. Bonne and Denise