It Isn't About the Bunny - Easter 2013

I'm going to start by making most teachers extremely jealous . . . . we are on a TWO WEEK spring break!!!  The two main school systems in our area decided to do their spring breaks at different times so our school made the decision to be out for both!  (HAPPY DANCE!)  But since Easter is coming up Sunday, I wanted to show you what we have been up to.  Remember, I teach at a large Baptist church, so we celebrate the true meaning of Easter - God's love to us.

 

One of our art projects this week is very special.  We started with making a cross with the children's hands.  Next the children cut strips of paper for the grass.  They glue on the grass and little flowers (the flowers are punched from scrap paper) and the end result is amazing!  Look closely at them.

We have been working on patterns.  Can you see the patterns on the grass???

 

 

 

 

Here is an example of our pattern work.  We used colorful linking chains to make our patterns.  

 

 
 
 

Our letter of the week was "E" and there is nothing more fun than a good 'ole egg science experiment (or two!).  Of course we HAD to do the raw egg in vinegar experiment.  Everyone enjoyed watching the bubbles form and seeing the egg float up and down.  

 

 

I don't like to have glass containers in my classroom but, I kept the egg in my classroom all week so we could see it.   While we were talking about our experiment one of my students asked what would happen if we put an egg in orange juice?  To be honest, I had no idea!  So Tuesday . . . . we put another egg in a jar of orange juice and waited.  By Friday not much had changed so I sent the experiment home with him.  We will have to wait until after spring break to find out!

 

 

We really gave our fine motor skills a workout this week!  Our stain glass egg is always a big hit. 

We worked on our fine motor skills a little more as we made a beautiful Easter basket. Each child cut their own grass,  This student really enjoyed making patterns.  She even made a pattern with her grass!

Our beautiful "squishy" egg got an updated looks this year.  If you have never done a "squishy" art project, I highly recommend you try it.  First, I cut out an egg from poster board (the poster board we have is not very thick, but it works wonderfully for this project).  Next, I used a hot glue gun to draw a cross in the center of the egg.  Each child gets to pick their three favorite colors and we squeeze them onto the egg.  (We also added some white to make the colors more pastel.)

 

I cover the egg with plastic wrap and the children "squish" the paint all together.  This is a great sensory activity and the children love squishing the paint without getting their hands dirty.  After the egg dried, I added a bronze paint to highlight the cross.  I love the end results!







On Thursday, we worked on a project that was not only beautiful but very meaningful.  I cut some old scrapbooking paper into 1" strips and the children glued them onto a cross.

Friday was finally here!  Everyone knew that our spring break was right around the corner but no one was talking about that.  We wanted to see what happened to our egg! 

Yes, that is me!

 

It was fun to watch the children's faces as we looked at the egg and some of the bravest ones actually touched it!  The most fun came when we bounced the egg.  AND of course, everyone squealed when we bounced it a little too high and it burst!!!  WE LOVE MESSY FUN!

We also did a quick art project on Friday.  We call it the "Colors of the Cross".  We read and talked about each of the colors as we glued them on.

It was a great week!  I hope everyone enjoys their spring break (no matter when it is or how long it is).  I'll be back after Easter to share some more of our classroom fun.  I hope you will join us!