Art can be a part of everything!

This week in the Pirate Pete Preschool we talked about the different forms of art!  This included music, painting, drawing,  literature and dancing.  We colored pictures of drums, guitars, violins, and saxophones and discussed how some them work. 

Then we sat in a circle with instruments and made a beat together, speeding up and slowing down for a fun challenge! This allowed us a chance to name various instruments in the classroom and learn how to play them correctly too.

The beginning of the fall season brings us new activities and subjects to talk about!  Whenever we talk about fall in the preschool, the children love to talk about the leaves on the tress changing colors and falling to the ground; nature's canvas.  In this activity, they got to make their own fall trees and create some nature art of their own.  Each leaf had one letter of their name on it which they then glued to their bare tree to spell their name.  Some then chose to add tissue paper leaves or flowers of various colors as well while others liked the look of a winter tree.  

Pumpkins also remind us of the fall season!  After painting our mini-pumpkins with glue, we added glitter to the create a beautiful fall decoration!  The children were able to choose what colors they wanted and then we let them dry before sending them home on Friday.  

Later we talked about music notes and counted them on paper and practiced writing numbers next to the amount of music notes.  If you have checked your child's homework you will see there might be some incorrect answers, these are there to show you what your child said as they counted so you can work at home more on counting and writing numbers too.

Speaking of writing, we practiced writing our names by going one letter at a time practicing the order the letters go in as they are read.  For example, the a name Paul would be listed as such: _aul, _ _ ul, _ _ _ l, _ _ _ _

Since we will miss a lot of Homecoming week next week we decided to create Pirate Pete art by coloring and mounting pictures of a pirate onto red paper.  We can't wait to hang the artwork around the room next week.  You will see it featured again to show the progression of art among age levels.  As the children turned their pictures in, the teachers loved seeing the progression of skill level by age.

To end the week of the arts, we played musical chairs and enjoyed listening to a variety of songs we as paraded around the circle rug until we found one lonely chair.  This is always a favorite game of the children as well as the teachers and as children were eliminated they sat with the teachers and cheered on their remaining friends.

We created virtual art of sorts using an app called SpinArt.  The children created many terrific designs by choosing colors and methods of 'spraying' the colors onto the circles as it spun around.  

Lastly, we read the book, Giraffes Can't Dance, by Giles Andreae.  The students picked up on how mean the other animals were as they teased the giraffe because he didn't know how to dance and talked about how that made him feel.  Then, they discussed how the giraffe felt after dancing any way he wanted. 

What's Coming Up?

• There will be no preschool on Monday, October 5th and no preschool on Friday, October 9th.
• We WILL still hold preschool on Wednesday, October 7th and talk about sports as it is Homecoming Week for Palatine High School.
• Columbus Day is Monday, October 12th so there will be no school either.