A New Batman Show!

We were so lucky to have a special story time today!  For the past week, if not longer, we have been working on backgrounds for our "super hero movies" and today we got a sneak peak at the first episode!  Trevor and Carter were the story tellers for "Batman and Robin in Action"

The children have been working hard on drawing and painting the buildings in the background....

They have been drawing all of the superheroes and "bad guys".....

And when they thought the backgrounds were just right..........

They started practicing the movie to show the class...

We cut the shapes of the superheroes out so that the shadows show up on our backgrounds.  As we move them around the back drop, we can tell the story and move the characters around! 

We are also working hard on writing the names of our movies and all of the characters we made......

When the show was ready to start, all of the children came and gathered around the overhead.  Trevor told the story and Carter helped him sound out the names to tell the class what names they wrote.

We had so much fun watching and listening to the story.......

But the most fun came at the end when the superheroes "knocked the spider off of the building and he fell to the ground"! 
"THE END"!

Nurturing Creative Potential

Many important experiences are taking place in our classroom that may go unseen by people passing by.  One may look at an activity and not realize the creativity or learning that is taking place in that instant.  Take for example, Noah.......

From the outside looking in, what he is doing here looks like a "mess"!  It is our natural reaction to tell him to put everything back where it belongs.  But if we take a minute and look into what he is doing, we would be quite impressed with how he is able to put so many different things on the overhead so softly and carefully so that nothing fell off! ;0)   This could be the making of a future architect!

We believe in nurturing creative potential.

Creativity is what prepares children for life.  Encouraging the creative process is very important in their early years.  Children learn to discover, explore and imagine their own unique ways as we help them on a path to becoming creators, innovators, and problem solvers of the future.

We motivate children to use their creativity by engaging in unique and inventive art making and problem solving projects.  We guide them to discover that solutions are not right or wrong, but rather their own.

Which is why Noah could stand back and look at what he created and say, "Look, I made something beautiful!"

And indeed, he did! ;0)

Will drew a shape on the paper, look at the shape and said, "I am going to make this a ghost!"  Look at how precise his coloring is!  He made sure he did not miss a spot!

Dimi showed us that art does not always have to be in the form of markers and paint.  He made a series of three pieces using the sand and different materials.....

He was so proud, he asked us to take a picture of each piece.  These three would look nice framed, don't you think?

When the children wanted to make bugs, they surprised us by using the hardware we had in the classroom!  Who would have thought to use a hinge for ladybug wings??

It is exciting to see the children discover their own styles and selves.  Their individuality, uniqueness, and originality should be affirmed.  We have a respect for our children, for their processes and what they produce.

All Of The Work Going Into Our Garden

Of course we cannot start planting in our garden with out writing and drawing out our plan!

We have been drawing out the garden...........

Writing the names of the seeds we are planting......

And working hard planting our seeds and plants....

We even made signs for our seeds.  We wanted to use a nail and hammer to secure the wood.  We did put our signs in the garden, but our "younger friends" down the hall don't like the signs in the garden!  ;0)  The one year olds think they need to keep to pulling them out and running around with them!

So, we are thinking of another solution! ;0)

Some of us LOVE the plants we brought in so much, that we wanted to make pictures of them and write the names of them!

So far, we have plenty of sprouts from our seeds, and blooms on our eggplant, squash and pepper plants!  We have lots of oregano, mint and rosemary!  Starting next week on Fridays we will have homemade pizzas for lunch, with herbs and what ever vegetables grow in our garden!  Yummmmmm!