Picnic with Pops

"My dad is funny and handsome."
"My dad is nice and helpful."
"My dad is silly and I love him."
"My dad is sweet and nice."
"My poppy is silly and funny."

We were so  glad to have such a nice turnout on Friday at the park for our Picnic with Pops. The children wrote and shared such nice things about their dads, uncles, fathers, and other visitors that came to spend time with us at the picnic.

Students decorated back scratchers as a Father's Day gift for their dads. They wrote special messages on the wood with markers and decorated them with interesting patterns. They were delighted to give their special gifts to their dads. This will be a day they will never forget! Thank you to our dads for making this day so special.

Happy Father's Day!

Anansi the Spider Video Conference

      Students enjoyed the opportunity to have a video conference with the Center for the Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Georgia this week. The video conference topic was Anansi the Spider, so we have been learning about African folktales in our Art, Computer, Music, and Library special classes for two weeks. Students have also been reading stories about Anansi during our Literacy block. Ask your child about Anansi and the stories that he is in. We learned that Anansi is a trickster and many of the stories he is in are called "trickster tales". Students have enjoyed learning about African culture, art, and music through our study the past few weeks. We will continue talking about Anansi and listening to similar stories through next week. This has been a great learning experience for them and they have enjoyed the stories.

Students listened to a the story, Anansi and
Sister Turtle during our video conference.

Students followed directions given by the instructor from
the Center for the Puppetry Arts to make a shadow puppet.

     During our video conference, students acted out a story of Anansi the Spider, watched and performed a shadow puppet performance, and listened to another story of Anansi. Students also learned about African culture, too. The instructor discussed foods that we eat and foods that are eaten in West Africa. The instructor also showed students how to make a shadow puppet with the materials Mrs. Sowers prepared for them.

We did a little shadow puppet performance
after our puppets were complete.

Students showing off their shadow puppets.

     What a great experience! Talk to your child about the video conference and what it was like to talk with the instructor. Students did a tremendous job answering questions based on the stories and the experiences they already had with African culture and folktales. We look forward to more discussion about folktales as we continue our unit on Anansi the Spider.

Students posing in Art Class with their visual art project of Anansi and his web.

Some of their masterpieces. Come see more pieces displayed at our CME Art Show.

Students followed a recipe to create a candy Anansi the Spider.

The finished product. Students had fun making
(and eating) their delicious spider treats.

Run, Run as Fast as You Can!

"You can't catch me. I'm the Gingerbread Man!" Students enjoyed our fairy tale, The Gingerbread Man, this week during our reading block. On Friday, they enjoyed decorating their own gingerbread people as well as some other fun activities related to the story.

students decorating their gingerbread cookies

students graphed which part of the
gingerbread cookie they bit into first

students decorated their own gingerbread man vests