Puppet Talk

You might remember us asking you to send in some extra socks. No, we didn't keep them to replenish our spares that have all disappeared. We actually did something much more marvellous; we made sock puppets! 

One by one the children got to sit down and bring their sock to life. Lose parts (pipe-cleaners, feathers, buttons etc.) lay on the table and each child got to play around to figure out exactly what they wanted. Whenever possible, the children were encouraged to practice their fine-motor cutting skills by cutting up fabrics for clothes. 

Each morning we would do puppet talk as a group to help really bring the puppets to life. We would play games and sing songs using our puppets, and slowly our puppets started to show some personality. Puppet talk was led by a very loud, elderly puppet named Edna (named after my dear 90 year old grandma). One of the girls has met the real life Edna once at church, and was quick to point out that the real Edna was not loud and the real Edna's hair was white not grey. 

Some of the games that we played were just to get the children used to talking with a puppet. Other games were to get the children to practice expressive puppet body language. Other games were to get the children to practice using different voice tones to convey emotions. Some of the children noticed that being a puppeteer is quite the arm workout!

And now what you have all been waiting for! As you probably have heard, our very own puppets starred in the official music video for the ever so popular song "What Does The Fox Say". Well, it's not really the official video but it's on Youtube so that makes it pretty official. 

Click here to view our puppet music video:

Some artists decided to draw their sock puppets.

Their portraits turned out wonderful!

These are the only photos I managed to take during puppet talk. The children decided to try out their sock puppets on their feet!

I think this might just be the next big fashion trend!

The children had very interesting names for their puppets. Names ranged from Sparkle and Sunshine to Chomper and Logan. There were a total of three puppets named Luna.

Here's Chomper! I love the teeth!

Rudolph, upside down!

Here's Logan!

Our Beautiful, Symmetrical Visitors.

Throughout the year we have had many interesting visitors in our classroom. More specifically, we have had many interesting insect visitors in our classroom. First we had our mysterious snail, our wonderful worms, an ant from inside a lunch bag (last week) and lastly our beautiful butterflies. They weren't always butterflies though.

Painting butterflies. 

Our beautiful Painted Lady butterflies came to us as tiny caterpillars no longer than an eyelash. They lived two caterpillars per tiny condiment container happily munching on their strange tan coloured food. We left them on Friday and came back Monday to some chunky caterpillars. They certainly hadn't gone hungry over the weekend.

Painting butterflies.

We observed as the caterpillars began to hang themselves in J positions to prepare for eventually building their chrysalis. The children noticed that the caterpillars reached this stage of development at different rates. 

Once each caterpillar was safe and snug in their chrysalis we were able to slowly and carefully transfer their lids to a larger netted enclosure. Two were not as secure on their lids and dropped to the bottom. After some Google-ing we determined that they would be fine as long as their was paper towel on the bottom for them to dry their wings when they emerged.

The children watched patiently as the butterflies began to emerge from their chrysalis. Each morning we started off the day by counting how many had emerged and how many had yet to emerge. It quickly became hard to count as they were very active. 

The children came up with interesting solutions for how we could more easily count our butterflies. One child suggested that we could line them up in a row and count them quickly. We discussed how butterflies are not like dogs; you can't train them to stay!

The butterflies brought so much joy to our classroom!

Here is a photo of us trying to count the butterflies. I had to count about 4 times before I had the right number! On Friday we were just waiting for one more butterfly to emerge, which eventually it did.

That afternoon, after some hard work transplanting our organic veggies into the garden with our Study Buddies we set off to the Back to Nature area to release our beautiful friends.

Walking down the path holding hands.

We released the butterflies while singing our butterfly song. Here are a few of the butterflies sucking Gatorade from cotton balls.

Once released, a few of the butterflies landed right on the ground in front of the children. The children took turns carefully holding the butterflies.

Keeping his hand steady.

While all the magic was happening, an ant decided to crawl up her arm! She said it really tickled.

Such beautiful symmetry. 

Having the butterflies perch on their hands and fingers was mesmerizing. 

It gave the children a chance to get an up-close look at the butterflies that they had only seen through the screen.

One of the butterflies had deformed wing. The children noticed first and were worried. This observation allowed for us to touch on the fact that all species can be born with deformities, including humans. 

The girls found a quiet, shady spot to set down their butterfly.

Getting a chance to see a butterfly's life cycle first hand is a wonderful experience. Developing strong relationships with other living things at an early age can help children develop into empathetic, caring and conscious human beings. 

Collections Fair

Children naturally want to collect things; be that something as simple as shells from the beach or stuffed animals from the mall. Growing collections can sometimes become over-whelming but there are many reasons why this sometimes clutter-inducing practice can be a positive one for young children. 

Collecting requires children to assemble an assortment of objects based on similarities. This process involves the use of mathematical skills such as sorting, comparing and categorizing. Collecting also promotes positive social interactions through sharing and can encourage children to use related vocabulary (same, similar, different, larger, smaller). Caring for a collection also demands a great deal of organization and responsibility. Although some of the objects children tend to collect may not seem all that important or valuable, they often hold some sort of sentimental meaning or value to the child. 

After slowly collecting and sharing the children's collections throughout the week, the day of our Collections Fair finally arrived. The children were spread out around the room at different tables and waited patiently for our visitors to arrive!

He jumped in the photo last minute! So funny!

Parents beginning to arrive! 

Such a creative and long-lasting way to display his collection!

The children were equally as excited to see their friend's families. 

Showing off her collection to her Dad!

It was so nice to have siblings come to visit!

It was fun to see the different ways that the children displayed their collections.

Friendship.

A table with a view! 

Her favorite rock!

What a coincidence! They sat at the same table and had some very similar rocks.

That's a proud smile!

Monkeying around.

Sharing her collection with her mom and her sister!

Her favorite rock!

Engaging his audience.

Sharing his collection with his mom and his sister!

Such a good shot!

Wrinkly papaya seeds.

Reorganizing his collection. It seemed the seeds liked to jump out of the display!

Sisters.

Having a good laugh!

Parents kept the children busy going from collection to collection!

Taking a break from sharing his collection to make a sibling feel welcome.

We want to say a big thank you to parents for helping to organize collections and for stopping in on Friday!