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Classical composer: Franz Peter Schubert (1797 –1828) was an Austrian composer. We listened extensively to his “Unfinished Opera”, the Ave Maria sung by Andrea Bocelli, and the Military March, which you may recognize: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D7fXgR8K4M
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Spanish: el Rey (the King), la Reina (the Queen), la Princesa (the Princess), el Principe (the Prince), la Corona (the crown), el Cuento (a Story)
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Table Activities: weaving placemats (Andrés is a Weaving Whiz!), letters and pegs, crayon rubbings, soft cubes, bowls and tongs, sliding from top to bottom puzzles to make a picture of a sick child turn to a picture of a happy child (practices another dimension of sequencing), placing paint-chip colors in order from darkest to lightest, and drawing illustrations for our class book. These were the offered opportunities. It is interesting to see which activities the different children pick and how they play with them. 
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Music: We had fun with many fun activity songs this week including "Brainstorming", "Noble Duke of York", "Shake them ‘Simmons Down", "Let’s Go Swimming", "We are the Dinosaurs", "Dust..Dust..Dust", and more.
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Art: Miss Cristina began teaching the students about contrast. They learned that white shapes are easier to see on black paper rather than white and vice-versa. They created some contrast projects using white crayon on white paper, and then covering the crayon with watercolor. They also glued contrasting colors onto paper and had fun seeing which colors had the biggest contrast. These pages will be put together into a small book for the art portfolio. 
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Handwriting and Reading: Our sound train sound is the short /o/ sound for Octavian the Octopus. We now have learned enough sounds to make many different words, so you will see some exciting reading in the next few weeks.
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Theme:
Fairy Tales has proven to be a very engaging theme! We were treated to a lovely story by Marko’s mom, Gordana, Dance, Jiggles, Dance!, about a donkey whose greatest wish was to sing in a show. 
She lent us a beautifully illustrated, British fairy tale book she received in Serbia.
The children loved the play-acting that often sprung up spontaneously this week. We created stick puppets for Little Red Riding Hood and acted it out in rotating groups. The children had so much fun they wanted to do it over and over! We also did an amazing brainstorming activity as a group that we wish we had captured on video. These are some imaginative and creative kids! We talked about the four main story elements: Characters, Setting, Problem, and Solution. We discussed “brainstorming” and the students brainstormed characters and other items for our own class fairy tale. Each child contributed characters that are in the final story as well as other plot points, setting ideas, and creative suggestions. Miss Tracy took the ideas and wrote them into a story, being careful to maintain as much of the classes content as possible. The Water Castle is truly a class effort and the children loved it! It is so fun to see their pleasure as their ideas are read, or they recognize one of their friends’ ideas! We capped off the week by playing dress-up with our velvet capes, crowns made earlier in the week, dresses, accessories, and swords & shields. The children acted out The Water Castle and delighted in being their favorite character. 
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Storybooks: Lullabyhullaballo, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Frog Prince (Usborne publishing, illustrated by Mike and Carl Gordon), Little Red Riding Hood, Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Queen of Hearts, P is for Princess
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Music: We had fun with many fun activity songs this week including "Brainstorming", "Noble Duke of York", "Shake them ‘Simmons Down", "Let’s Go Swimming", "We are the Dinosaurs", "Dust..Dust..Dust", and more.
.
Art: Miss Cristina began teaching the students about contrast. They learned that white shapes are easier to see on black paper rather than white and vice-versa. They created some contrast projects using white crayon on white paper, and then covering the crayon with watercolor. They also glued contrasting colors onto paper and had fun seeing which colors had the biggest contrast. These pages will be put together into a small book for the art portfolio. 
.
Handwriting and Reading: Our sound train sound is the short /o/ sound for Octavian the Octopus. We now have learned enough sounds to make many different words, so you will see some exciting reading in the next few weeks.
.
Theme:
Fairy Tales has proven to be a very engaging theme! We were treated to a lovely story by Marko’s mom, Gordana, Dance, Jiggles, Dance!, about a donkey whose greatest wish was to sing in a show. 
She lent us a beautifully illustrated, British fairy tale book she received in Serbia.
The children loved the play-acting that often sprung up spontaneously this week. We created stick puppets for Little Red Riding Hood and acted it out in rotating groups. The children had so much fun they wanted to do it over and over! We also did an amazing brainstorming activity as a group that we wish we had captured on video. These are some imaginative and creative kids! We talked about the four main story elements: Characters, Setting, Problem, and Solution. We discussed “brainstorming” and the students brainstormed characters and other items for our own class fairy tale. Each child contributed characters that are in the final story as well as other plot points, setting ideas, and creative suggestions. Miss Tracy took the ideas and wrote them into a story, being careful to maintain as much of the classes content as possible. The Water Castle is truly a class effort and the children loved it! It is so fun to see their pleasure as their ideas are read, or they recognize one of their friends’ ideas! We capped off the week by playing dress-up with our velvet capes, crowns made earlier in the week, dresses, accessories, and swords & shields. The children acted out The Water Castle and delighted in being their favorite character. 
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Storybooks: Lullabyhullaballo, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Frog Prince (Usborne publishing, illustrated by Mike and Carl Gordon), Little Red Riding Hood, Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Queen of Hearts, P is for Princess .
Math: We had three math lessons prepared, but because of the success of our imaginative play this week, math took a backseat. We continued with our daily counting and calendar skills and will get back to our small group math sessions next week. “Flexible” is our middle name!
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Free-Play Fun: We decided to put the train table we were trying to give away under the reading loft and, boy, it is a hit! These children can hardly stand to leave it alone. We did find a nice big cover so that the focus can be elsewhere, but it is a wonderful addition to our free-play time. 
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