2-6 Newsletter

April 2010

Heath Extended Day 2-6 Newsletter

During the month of March:

In the beginning of March, we continued our Olympic theme and played many Olympic games. The Heath Extended Day Olympics started with the opening ceremonial parade.  Each of our seven countries was represented by their self-created names and flags.  The Olympics events included soccer games, speedball games, cup tower building and scavenger hunts.  All teams were enthusiastic and showed team spirit.  Each Olympian also showed great sportsmanship through out each event.

As St. Patrick’s Day approached, we did a variety of activities in celebration of this holiday.  These activities included making our own Irish Scones and green milkshakes!  Another activity was a clover hunt leading to a pot of gold. The kids also made many art projects such as making our own clovers out of pipe cleaners.    

The last two weeks of March were dedicated to an Edible Art theme.  The children created art mediums, projects and foods using edible materials during this theme.  The children really enjoyed making art mediums such as paint and clay out of common foods that they eat.  Four different kinds of paint were made and used to make vibrant colored and creative pictures, which are displayed in the upstairs 2-6 room.  For the different paints they used corn syrup and food coloring, condensed milk and food coloring, JELL-O and whipping cream (they loved turning it into whipped cream) and food coloring!  After making two different types of dough, one made of oatmeal and one made of Kool-Aid, the kids designed creative sculptures, where their imaginations ran wild! 

Along with art mediums, the children created a variety of edible projects (of course they were eager to eat the final product).  The children made compliment flowers using fruit roll ups and gum drops. They gave their flowers to someone that they wanted to give a compliment to. They also made edible arrangements where they cut up different tropical fruits and arranged them beautifully in a tin.  The kids also enjoyed making “stained glass cookies” where they painted designs on top of cookies with egg yolk and food coloring. After they baked, they were beautiful glossy cookies! Along with all of this, the kids also made different lollipops (out of chocolate and life savers), candy collages and pretzel art.

We ended our edible art theme by playing an April fool’s joke on the K-1 teachers! We made “chicken-NOT-pie” where the kids cut up candies such as Starbursts and Airheads to make little corn, carrots and peas. They also cut up dried apple rings and bananas to look like chicken and potatoes. After mixing all the ingredients with vanilla pudding, we put it in a chicken pot pie tin and covered it with a baked crust. The K-1 teachers horrified to find out that the delicious treat we made them was fake! The 2-6 kids really got the teachers!

What to look forward to in April:

Recycling Weeks!

In celebration of Earth Day, the week before and after April Vacation will be dedicated to learning about Reducing, Reusing and Recycling. We will be learning about the importance of the three R’s, how we can be more environmental friendly and will also be making many projects out of recyclable materials. We’re excited to see the creative ideas the children will come up with while using every day recyclable materials!

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Please bring in any recyclable materials you may have before or on April 16. This includes but is not limited to cans, denim, jars, newspaper, paper towel rolls, etc.

Continuing to Build Peer Relations

 We’ve been working on different types of interactive games that allow us to team build and simulate social situations. We played a type of rock paper scissors game called “clique.” Two players go face to face, and the loser joins the winning team, cheering for them and supporting them. Eventually, one person may be facing a group of 20 people cheering against them. We used this as a teaching moment to think about how talking about somebody or bullying somebody may seem like you are just part of the crowd, but you don’t think about the person who is on the other end.

We also have been taking advantage of the nice weather with games of survivor knockout. It’s a basketball game where players can eliminate each other from the game. However, when the player who got you out gets out himself or herself, then you can come back in the game. This encourages the children to stay and watch and root for one another, and has helped build our community.

We will continue games such as these, sometimes talking about them as a group and sometimes just using them to build a sense of community and team.

Fundred Dollar Project:

The children will be working on the FUNDRED DOLLAR BILL PROJECT. This fundraiser is to help raise 300 million dollars to provide the resources to de-lead the soil in New Orleans and help protect and prevent future problems. The soil in New Orleans is contaminated and with children playing in it and breathing the dust, it is causing health problems. This fundraiser is to help make a safer environment for everyone. The children will be creating there own $100 bill and our goal is to make ----------- and then an armored truck will come to Health Elementary and collect our money and bring it down to Washington DC to congress. When the FUNDRED has reached its goal of $300 million, congress will then hand over $300 million in real cash to go towards making a safer environment in New Orleans.

This is a great opportunity for the children to learn about what is going on around them and to get involved in a cause that affects peers their own age.  If you would like to learn more or get involved on your on about this fundraiser please visit FUNDRED.ORG.

Mark your Calendars:

April 19-April 23 NO SCHOOL- April Vacation