Thursday, September 22, 2016

Peace, Love, And Happy Fall!!

Happy International Day of Peace!

We started the day by talking about chemical reactions. That totally relates to Peace Day, right??!! More than you would think! It was Day 4 of our MGT  theme Science Lab. The "Question of the Day" on the daily topic poster was,"Would you rather mix things together to get bubbles, or a very loud 'BOOM!'?" Not surprisingly, the boys were far more intrigued with the "BOOM" and the girls wanted to make bubbles. :)

It just so happened that reading about Alfred Nobel (in this month's storybook, Ingenuity) was on the lesson plan for the day. I spent a little extra time talking about how Nobel used his influence and finances to encourage others to be creative in their fields by offering awards for outstanding contributions to society, such as the Nobel Peace Prize, among others.


I threw in another "Peace" element to the art project of the day by drawing a peace symbol on the paper, outlining it with glue, and letting each child add whatever other designs they wanted before we sprinkled it with salt, and painted with sparkly watercolor. Admittedly, it didn't quite turn out pinterest photo worthy final products. I've done salt painting before and it turned out great, so I'm not sure if it was the difference in consistency of the Japanese glue, or teacher error in not waiting til the glue dried...But, what mattered most is that the kids were AMAZED and EXCITED about their "Peace Art" creations, so whatever it looks like when it dries (because they were still soaked with paint at the end of the day), it will be counted as success.




We read the same excerpt about Alfred Nobel in the Kindergarten class and they enjoyed playing with the story pieces and thinking up rhyming words to write in their word books. One group played with the colorful alphabet cards included in this month's box, while the other group arranged math manipulative "pie pieces" to create colorful peace signs and practiced drawing it on small white boards. Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of that activity.

We also read one of my very favorite children's books by my favorite author, The Peace Book by Todd Parr, on my iPad. Our Kindergarten "Peace Art" and writing was inspired by the book. Somehow it worked out that one table decided to make the peace sign, and the other table decided to draw the world and "friends", as seen on the cover of the book. They did such a fantastic job! I was super proud of their creativity, expression, and great handwriting!








                



There is a lot of room in this world for us to grow and promote peace with each other. My students make me proud, and give me hope for a Peace-filled future!

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