April 16th 2013

For those of you who don't know, Mrs. McAuliffe has been incubating Duck eggs for weeks. Her classroom has been planning and studying the egg growth and designed a home for them when they hatched.  Our classroom has been talking about the eggs and predicting what would come out of them.  We would take trips to the incubator to check if anything was happening.

Over the weekend, Mrs. McAuliffe was keeping the teachers updated as they started hatching.  We were fortunate enough to have quite a few on Monday and have been talking about them ever since.

"I thought they would be smaller.  They look squishy!"

"They're so cute.  I bet they are fluffy and soft.  They have flippers."

"Where did the eggs go?  The mom is on the farm.  They have big noses."

"They are eating with the beaks."

"I thought they were going to be white!"

"I thought they were going to be blue, but they are so cute.  They have web feet so they can swim."

"I wish we could hold them."

If you're interested in seeing them, you can see if it is a good time to walk down and check them out with your child.  And there is always the Exhibit night on the 24th from 4:30-6.  See you there!

April 15th 2013

Join in the Celebration with

The University of Michigan-Dearborn’s

Early Childhood Education Center 

Early Childhood Program Exhibit

   Wednesday, April 24, 2013   4:30 - 6:00 p.m.

 

· Visit the Early Childhood Program Exhibit  to view classroom artifacts.

· View classroom investigations documented by the Lead Teachers and School of Education  practicum student interns.

· Enjoy light refreshments in the Gross Motor Room. 

Held at The Early Childhood Education Center

18501 Rotunda Drive Dearborn, MI 48124

For more information, please call (313) 593-5424

April 5th 2013

 Hello, my name is Ms. Jessica Stafiej and I am working in Ms. Kurtjian’s classroom with your children this semester.  After working with the children for about a week, I have seen an interest in painting. The interest in painting began focusing on color mixing. I noticed students were working on painting projects with primary colors but were surprised when they created secondary colors, unsure of how they made these colors.




 To begin the project, the students began painting with different combinations of primary colors to concretely understand how to make secondary colors. After this exploration students worked on mixing all primary colors, finding brown. Students then worked with white and black paint. At first they worked on making grey, and then worked on lightening and darkening colors. Student’s exploration continued through mixing his or her own paint colors to use in paint exploration.



Students are working on developing a variety of skills. This includes: body awareness and motor skills by using their arms to control where the paint goes on the paper as well as hold the paint brush in their hand. Students are exploring their interest in art by using materials in the classroom to create their own masterpieces. Students also practice their color recognition by discussing the colors as they work on their projects and exploring new color combinations. Students have also been developing communication skills by talk to their peers about their projects as well as asking them for materials.

 

During these explorations, I noticed students being very interested in two main things: painting families and painting with partners. These two threads are something I plan on working with in the next couple weeks in the semester. Please feel free to send in family pictures for your children to work on painting with. We would love the extra visuals to work with to help create family portraits.