Sunday, October 14, 2007

Aah, Fall...

Cool air, crispy leaves, daylight savings... fall is quite a wonderful season. Doesn't it all make you feel like dancing? Specifically, the waltz?












This reminds me of the documen
tary 'Mad Hot Ballroom' (highly recommended) about ballroom dancing programs in NYC public schools. We seem to have some worthy contenders at Columbus Preschool!
Adelaida helped us learn proper posture (backs straight!) and hand positioning, and as the children took small steps back and forth, legs stiff, one child commented that "the waltz is like penguins dancing."

After a fantastic brainstorming session, where we discussed anything and everything having to do with autumn, we started to put together our fall collages, a multi-textured celebration of our favorite fall features. We will be working on them throughout the week, so feel free to bring in items to add!







This week, Spanish class begins! We are al
l very excited about this new addition to our day, and we have even been practicing ahead of time. Here is the first verse of our good morning song, followed by the (rough) Spanish equivalent:

Hello, how are you? Hello, how are you? Hello, how are you? How are you today?

Hola, como estan? Hola, como estan? Hola, como estan? Como estan mis amigos?

We are also learning to count in Spanish, numbers 1 through 5 forward and backward! Cuan emocionante!

And, as usual, creativity levels have been through the roof in our classroom. Whether mashing clay, rolling a painted marble over paper, gluing tissue paper and felt, or working at the easel, everyone loves making something beautiful.









And..........

In extended day, we have been collecting leaves and acorns for our murals, writing our first song, working with blocks, and experimenting with air:


Many of the children had their first taste of butternut squash on Friday, and we definitely have some new fans! I cooked it in the oven with some brown sugar for a little over an hour.
Next week, we will be enjoying fresh popped corn, right off the cob! Greenmarket at Union Square sells red blue and yellow corn on the cob that you can put in a paper bag and microwave. Yum!


....'til next time...

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