Week twenty-one 2009

Week twenty-one 2009 Theme: Under the Sea

Classical composer: George Gershwin (1898 –1937) was an American composer and pianist. He wrote most of his vocal and theatrical works in collaboration with his elder brother, lyricist Ira Gershwin. George Gershwin composed songs for both Broadway and the classical concert hall. Many of his compositions have been used in numerous films and on television, and many became jazz standards recorded in numerous variations. Quite a lot considering he died at age 39. Here is a recording of George Gershwin playing the piano for a 1927 performance of Rhapsody in Blue. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QxWxsK8_3s

Spanish: el pescado (fish, ready to eat), el pez (fish, in the water), el mar (the sea), el pulpo (octopus), el pulpito (little octopus), el tiburón (shark) Theme: Under the sea is fun for all sorts of pretend play. We pretended to be fish, seals, octopi, sharks, sea turtles, and many more sea creatures this week and had our friends guess what the child or teacher was pretending to be. The children created shiny fish by cutting the fish out (the paper was folded in half to cut symmetrically—a few kids even traced their own outline before cutting!), gluing on scales and fins, and drawing the gills. They all turned out so cute and unique!

We also revisited Saint-Saëns and used the plastic fish to go up and down with the music. We finger-painted beautiful ocean scenes and finished them with paper fish, sequin bubbles and paper seaweed. We introduced two large felt boards and dozens of sea creatures to create seascapes. This will be an ongoing activity for small groups to use at free-time or table activities. One of the most engaging activities was our science exploration of sea animals. We had live mussels and fresh, whole squid that the children touched and looked at through magnifying glasses. They saw the eyes, tentacles, and ink sacs of the squid and some squished out the black ink—very cool! We also had dried sea stars, shells, sea sponges, a seahorse, and a sand dollar to look at and touch. It was very fun to have this hands-on learning. . Table Activities: stringing beads, 24 piece puzzles, magnetic puzzles, wooden puzzles, completing our fish scenes . Music: George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue was a favorite this week. We used the ribbon wands to move creatively to the song. We also listened to some other tunes and talked about jazz. The kids know what to do when we say, “Jazz hands!” Activity songs included “The Goldfish” (Let’s Go Swimming) by Laurie Berkner, “The Octopus” (Slippery Fish) by Charlotte Diamond in English and in Spanish (“Un Pulpito”) . Art: Miss Cristina was sick this week so we will have a make-up art day soon. Get better, Miss Cristina! . Math, Handwriting and Reading: For math our Number Eating Alligators made their first appearance. We have a great song that the students really loved. You can listen and download for free by following this link: http://www.intelli-tunes.com/samples/number-eating-alligator.mp3 We practiced using alligator puppets with the symbol for “less than” <> on opposite sides. The students were able to place the alligator correctly 100% of the time and most were able to read the number sentences with help. (“8 is greater than 3.”) With one group we used only math manipulatives and with the other we used manipulatives and numeral cards. Because of the success of this activity, we will be taking it further in weeks to come. For handwriting, we used the felt HWT pieces to create many letters, and then practiced tracing them with fingers using the correct “strokes”. For reading we used the letters of the sound train to make words. The children also had some practice using word/picture templates and wooden letters to create the words and read them. We can tell that some of the students are getting phonics reinforcement from mom and dad at home…keep up the good work! We definitely recognize that the children’s best learning happens at home, one on one! We’re just happy to play our little part supporting your efforts in educating your amazing children! . Storybooks: Ten Little Fish, Bright Stanley, Blue Sea, I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean, Swimmy, Fish is Fish, Cyrus, the Unsinkable Sea Serpent, and we looked at some non-fiction books about sea life. . Free-Play Fun: Lots of great train track building, fun with Legos, reading books and playing in the reading loft. Next week we are going to have a “week of friendship” and focus on positive social skills with the theme, “I Can Be Your Friend…Will You Be Mine?”. We are looking forward to seeing great learning and practice as we teach specific friend-shipping skills. We are drawing on some phenomenal, published resources to build this theme. We will be providing information and tools for your use at home, as well. …………………………………………………………