This past week was all about the good 'ole USA and we had so much fun studying about our country! We started the week with an amazing activity. This is an art project I have done before BUT it has evolved. My class cuts extremely well for 3 and 4 year olds so I let them cut their very own stripes for our flags.
I think Betsy Ross would be very proud!
We also started talking about The Constitution. Now I bet I know what you are thinking . . . is she kidding??? NOPE! And my little sponges loved it. We really just focused on the Preamble, you know the part that says, "We the people . . ". We couldn't actually recite the Preamble but at least we got the first few words AND their meaning. After all these years my class can still amaze me!
Thursday was spent discussing our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. The fact that he lived in a log cabin had everyone talking! So, of course we had to make our very own log cabin and Abraham Lincoln.
This time I cut the strips and the children glued them on. I'm going to veer off topic for just a second (skip down to the next paragraph if you don't want to hear me rant.) Do you see the "dried glue" on these (and ALL) of my class' art work??? Do you see the smeared handprint on the bottom photo??? Do you see the crooked eyes and logs??? This is proof that my students do their OWN WORK! I cannot stand to see children's art work that looks . . . hmmm . . . well . . . like an adult did it! Because if it does, then the child did not do it by him/herself. Children are messy and they should be! I will NOT do an art project for my students!!! I will guide them, I will cheer them on, I will support them with every fiber of my being but, I WILL NOT do work for them. OKAY, I done. Back to our week . . .
We also learned about what it means to vote. On Thursday, we pretty much voted on everything. We voted on what color we like best.
You can see blue won by a landslide!
We voted on what books we read too! I think everyone liked voting because I was asked if we could "keep doing it"! YEA! Success!
I found these cute little "Pledge Badges" over at Little Miss Kindergarten. I enlarge ours and each child colored them. (I KNOW . . . "Mrs. Karen's class actually used crayons!" SHOCKER!) Everyone was very proud to wear them in carpool! Oh, yes, everyone in my class can and does recite the Pledge of Allegiance each and every day!
Our "Fabulous Fun Friday" was turned into our Unusual Day! We have done this for several years and I do believe each year is more fun. The children came in to find new books. All the books about our country and the presidents were gone! In their place were Christmas books, books about Thanksgiving and even books talking about summer! AND our blocks were gone too! I traded them in for . . . .
After our unusual art work was finished we gathered in one of our "large" rooms and played a little under the table game.
This was our "U" week (you know . . . for United States of America)! We had to eat something fun . . . red, white and blue cookies? NOPE! Uhhhh . . . how about Ugly cookies! YEP, that sounds better! We headed to the kitchen . . .
we put drops of EVERY color food coloring we had into the bottom of little cups. Next everyone got a spoonful of vanilla icing. Here comes the fun part . . . . . we stirred it up and spread it on our cookies!
We had some rather strange colors but no one minded because they tasted so good!
Thank you for stopping by! I hope you come back again. Next week is our Dr. Seuss week and I'm sure it is going to be even more fun!
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