Cooking in the Sun

Cooking class was outside this day. Circles we can eat!   

Students identified small medium and large circles, then drew their own interpretation of the activity.

Zucchini, summer squash, onions and garlic with a few other spices.  YUM!

First the students sprinkled spices on the circles; second, stirred in the garlic and olive oil; third, baked in the sun oven at 350 degrees for 30 min; and last, melted mozzarella cheese on top. Mmmmmmm!

With our cooking classes and our solar oven we have baked things from corn bread, muffins, and beans, to Mr. Logan's birthday cake. It is very safe as the outside gets no hotter than the Children's toys. The inside is not accesible to the children and has a thermometer to make sure foods bake at the correct temperature. We can put it behind the chain link fenced area when the children are on the patio.
The children are learning to save energy as well as the effects of solar power.

SCIENCE

P.PK.5 Identify hot and cold.

KP.2.C.2 Students know that objects can be described as hot or cold relative to another object.

KE.PK.3 Students understand that the sun, moon, and stars can be seen in the sky.

KE.2.A.3 Students know weather changes from day to day and seasonally.

KN.2.A Students understand that science is an active process of systematically examining the natural world.

MATHEMATICS

4.PK.1a Identify 2-D shapes (circles, triangles, rectangles, and squares) regardless of orientation.

K2.K.9 Sort and classify objects by color and shape..

 

Meal/Snack Time

We are big on sitting family style and having conversation at HO4K. One of the biggest challenges the children have is portion control. They want to eat more and more of the crackers, cookies etc. At HO4K we reinforce nutritious amounts with statements like, "4 crackers is how much our body needs to be healthy and have fuel for energy. If you'd like more....you may have____"(offering fresh veggies and fruits)
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
1.PK.1 Demonstrate personal hygiene skills (hand washing.)
1.PK.3 Identify healthy foods.
1.PK.8 Identify the basic need for air, water, and food.
SOCIAL/EMOTION
H1.K2  Listen to stories of family members, local residents, and prominent figures to highlight the human experience.
H1.PK.3 Share information about their family practices, customs, and culture.
H3.K.4 Demonstrate respect for each other in the classroom and school.
H3.K.5 Share those events that are important to the students and their families.
4.PK.1b Express common courtesy to others (saying "thank you", "please", "excuse me")

 

This is a great article from Exchange EveryDay!

Learn politeness from the impolite.
-Egyptian proverb

"How people eat is often as important as what they eat," observe Sharon Bergen and Rachel Robertson in their guidebook, Healthy Children, Healthy Lives: The Wellness Guide for Early Childhood Programs. They continue...

"In the past meals took time to prepare and families gathered around a table to eat them together. As they ate their food, they spent time talking. Often this was a bonding experience. It also helped people stay healthy. By eating food they had prepared themselves, they knew what ingredients went into it. Eating together encouraged eating slowly, which aided digestion and helped them know if they were full or still hungry. Today the average family's schedules and the convenience of restaurant meals have decreased the time people spend preparing and eating food. Further, restaurant foods are often high in additives, sugars, and fats. These ingredients can affect immediate and long-term health and often lead to overeating and weight gain.

"Teachers can help children read their own bodies' cues so they know how full or hungry they are. To that end, children should be offered food at regular time intervals throughout the day. Additionally, children should not be required to eat when they aren't hungry. They should not develop a habit of snacking throughout the day, either. Food should be used to give their bodies energy. It should not be treated as a reward or a punishment. Children need food for energy and most of them eagerly choose to eat at allotted times."

 

Making Tortillas

Last week, two of the students were reading Highlight magazine and noticed a recipe for tortillas.

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL

1.PK.2a Express ideas for activities; initiate and participate in discussion with teachers or peers.

 They asked if we could use it in our next cooking class. We read and followed instructions and made our own tortillas.

LANGUAGE
4.PK.1  Demonstrate and understand that printed material contains information.
4.K.7 With assistance, listen to and follow pictorial and written directions to complete tasks.

 PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
6.PK.2 Demonstrate the muscle strength, dexterity, and control needed to manipulate items.

We didnt quite master rolling them into circles... but that's ok,

our shape was oval last week anyway!

MATHEMATICS

4.K.1 Identify 2-D shapes.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

1.PK.1 Demonstrate personal hygiene skills (hand washing).

1.PK.3 Identify healthy foods.

Letter L l, Lighthouses, Long brown lines, and Healthy Birthdays!

This week we've been learning about the letter L l and the color brown. 
Cute kids shining light out of their homemade lighthouses!

This student is practicing painting LONG brown Lines.

 

For student's birthdays, we sing happy birthday to celebrate their special day. You are welcome to bring a snack. We recommend low sugar and on the healthy side. This way it teaches that we can celebrate with healthy food. Some ideas include fresh strawberries with shortcake, crackers with easy cheese or sliced cheese, fruit kabobs, monster toast-which is very fun! 

Here's what our latest birthday student brought...angry bird made out of a bagel or round bread with cream cheese, salami or pepperoni with a cheese or carrot nose and olive eyes!

Here's an interesting articlefrom Exchange EveryDay about healthy habits for children...

The Obesity Crisis

Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, Love, Love, that is the soul of genius.
-Mozart

Rising childhood obesity in America is a national health crisis. The seriousness of this crisis was made clear in the February 2011 “White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity Report to the President":

“One in every three children ages 2-19 is overweight or obese. The life-threatening consequences of this epidemic create a compelling and critical call for action that cannot be ignored. Obesity is estimated to cause 112,000 deaths per year in the United States, and one-third of all children born in the year 2000 are expected to develop diabetes during their lifetime. The current generation may even be on track to have a shorter lifespan than their parents.

In response to this crisis, Exchange has developed a video training series, "Preventing Obesity and Promoting Wellness in Early Childhood Programs" to help early childhood programs learn how to seek solut ions. You can view one short segment, "Why Children Are Obese," on the Exchange web site. 

 

 

LANGUAGE

6.PK.1  Experiment with writing tools and materials to communicate.



6.PK.5  Share drawings with others as a response to an expository text.

 

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

1.PK.3  Identify healthy foods.

1.PK.1   Demonstrate personal hygiene.  (Students always wash hands before and after meal/snack time.)

Chocolate Moose

We just LOVE a good book! What fun we have when we learn after reading a book that motivates us to explore and play!

. 

This sweet children's book is about a chocoholic moose who accidentally misreads a help-wanted sign for a mouse job at a bakery! In such a small mouse-sized bakery, this large moose runs into problems, making many mistakes and plenty of messes! But his sweet boss Mrs. Mouse, is patient and clever in helping him to feel useful! This wonderfully illustrated book helps children learn more about friendship and even the importance of reading!

After reading the story Chocolate Moose we were inspired to use our 5 senses in creating a project! First we ate chocolate "mousse" pudding. Boy, was it yummy! Next we used our fingers and the left overs to finger-paint brown paper to be used in the future! This was messy, delicious, and most of all FUN!

Throughout the story, the author uses colorful onomatopoeia (“Slurp, gulp, burp!”). We had fun coming up with our own sounds as we tasted our pudding.  This story really was silly!

Look at those sweet messy faces!  

                            After tasting and painting, we made moose antlers with our brown paper!

What a great story and what great fun we had making our very own moose antlers! This story is now one of our favorites!

Horticulturist

 

 

Further learning of the letter H, this week students were horticulturists! We have been observing our cotton plants and are excited to see growth! Students are careful to take care of the plant, making sure that it stays protected and is nourished with the things that it needs to flourish! We cant wait to continue to monitor the growth and cotton produced by our plant. What will the kids make with the cotton when it grows? We cant wait!

 

 

Are you a horticulturist with silk plants? Students continue to practice and learn about plants, using even silk ones in play! Here the children are talking about the different parts of a plant and discovering together. Even our little ones are intrigued with plants.

 

Snapping Beans!

There are lifelong benefits to teaching our children that it is their responsibility to keep their bodies healthy. At HO4K students continually learn about appropriate eating habits and physical activities to promote a healthy lifestyle. 

In the above picture, students are properly preparing their vegetable to be served with lunch. The have learned how to wash the beans and then "snap" off the ends so that it can be cooked in time to eat! What a great lesson! Not only is it yummy and healthy, but they are learning a life skill! Next time you are making dinner, don't be afraid to have your little one help out!

Some of the Nevada State Preschool Standards addressed are:

Science
L.PK.5 Identify the basic need for air, water and food.

Physical Development
1.PK.3 Identify healthy foods.
1.PK.8 Identify the basic need for air, water, and food.

Easter at HO4K

Celebrating holidays is always more fun when surrounded by excited children! Easter was not any different. The children loved talking about eggs. Where they come from, how they become hard boiled, different ways to eat them, etc. But most of all the kids loved dying them! What a great way to revisit our color wheel and how to create new shades of colors. The children each got to dye 3 eggs. Using the prongs, which are a great small motor tool, children selected the colors, mixed and then dipped!

Even our little ones got involved and with some help participated in the dying of the Easter eggs. While the children were outside playing, the Easter Bunny must have stopped by. That tricky bunny came and took our eggs. He then hid them throughout school. What fun we had finding the eggs in all the hard places! We worked together as a team and found them all!

Raising independent children

At HO4K, we focus on developing the "whole child" preparing them to become independent and successful older children, teenagers and eventually adults. Although they seem young, our little ones are capable and often eager to learn daily tasks exhibited by adults. It is through much practice and experimenting that children can learn how to be responsible and complete such tasks. 

Although cooking/preparing food with a child always requires more patience, this is a critical and necessary skill for them to develop. The students are learning how to make their snacks; dividing up the bread equally, making sure everyone has 2 slices of bread, creating a pattern as they use "bread, cheese, ham, bread sequence", understanding the right portion sizes, using their hands and the utensils needed to make the sandwich and finally cleaning up after the task. WOW! What a sense of accomplishment they have when they sit down to enjoy a yummy sandwich made just right!

 

We want our children to understand the importance of hard work and appreciate all that goes into keeping our world clean and beautiful. The children love being able to play outside in a safe and clean environment. They have learned all that goes into maintaining their play area. Above the students help to clean up and pull weeds that have developed in the "kid zone". They are excited to contribute to keeping their school beautiful. They continue to build lifelong lessons of responsibility and have pride in their work.

PLUS, what parent doesn't want a little extra help outside pulling weeds?

After all the hard work we love to be able to enjoy the beautiful outdoors and embrace all the nature around us!

Some of the Nevada State Standards addressed through activities such as the ones above are:

2.PK.1b
Move through routines and activities with minimal adult/teacher direction.

2.PK.2
Demonstrate self-help skills (e.g., put blocks away, pour juice, use soap when washing hands).

2.PK.3a
Use toys and materials with care.

2.PK.3b
Clean up or put away toys and materials when finished.

Compost

It is that time again where we assess the progress in our compost bin. This on-going project is a favorite, as all students participate and contribute to our recycling and reusing of old materials. We love seeing the soil that we have created and cant wait to put it to good use this spring as we plant new things! What a great lesson for children about life cycles and environment.

As stated in the Nevada State preschool standards the 4 main science goals are:

To enhance children’s natural and instinctual observational skills.

To support and guide children’s curiosity and their need to experiment.

To encourage exploration and discovery.

To highlight the wonders of the world around them.

These goals continue to be addressed throughout our science curriculum and the activities that students are engaged in at HO4K.

Students tested their past hypotheses as to which materials would decompose over time and which would not. Here students sort out objects such as a pen, spoon, plastic stickers off the fruit, wipee, paper clip, bracelet, straw, plastic wrapper, ribbon, yarn.....and a plastic cup! These results were concrete and observable, making it easy for the children to draw their own conclusions. These early explorations and experiments will help young children to gain a greater understanding of the world around them.