Russian Tea Party

The children learned about Russia by having a tea party. The children learned that
due to the cold climate in Russia, 82% of Russian consumes tea on a daily basis, and
tea is part of the Russian tradition. The children really
enjoyed it and they loved seeing the water change
colors ones the tea was inside. Some of the children
were not very impressed with the tangy taste of the tea
with lemon in it. So, we also tried two other kinds of
tea, peppermint and vanilla chamomile tea. The
children were able to determine which one was their
favorite tea.

A little bit of Geography
The children learned about their families
geographical backgrounds by participating in
another Visual/Spatial activity using a world
map. The children used this map to explore the
continents which link their families diversity.
Here is China! pointed W accurately.
The children got also hints about how their country of
origin looked like, Italy looks like a long boot. Who can
find it? asked the teacher. After a long observation of
the European continent, M replied, Is it this one? It
looks like a boot! The children also enjoyed
discovering other features this atlas map includes such
as, industry, minerals, flora, and fauna.
Introducing geography to young children creates awareness of space and distance and
also an understanding of human influences on the world.
These reasons sum up the two halves of geographical knowledge and understanding physical geography and
human geography. We need to keep these two key elements in mind when introducing children to the world around
them through geography.
Learning Russian
By using an iPad the children were able to interact with an application that was
found by searching Learn Russian For Kids. The children were able to pick
a category (numbers, colors, foods,
transportation, music and dance,
clothing, body parts and letters) and
swiped the real life pictures while
listening to the word being said.

Inspired by Russian Architecture
Using the classroom smart board, on Tuesday the children
learned about Saint Basils Cathedral in Moscow.
Through this activity the children talked about the different
shapes in the structure. The children were inspired by the
intricate design of the cathedral and traced the different
lines and arches on it. They were all very fascinated by the
onion looking towers and were all convinced that it was not
a cathedral but a castle!

A Vietnamese & U.S Exchange
As part of our global studies, the children are participating on a video exchange activity
with a school in Vietnam. Students received their first video and they were very excited to
meet their Vietnamese friends. They learned how to say Xin Chao which means hello in
Vietnamese and they also created a video for them where they sang our Hello Song and
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. This video exchange will continue throughout the year to
give the children the opportunity to learn about other
cultures and learn how to utilize technology to
connect with the world around them. We are all very
excited to see what the response video will have.
I applied streaks and blobs of color onto the
canvas with a palette knife and I made them
sing with all the intensity I could...
Wassily Kandinsky
Farbstudie Quadrate

Wassily Kandinsky was born in Moscow in
1866. Kandinsky combined in himself Eastern and
Western strains. His father's family came from Siberia and one of his ancestors was an Asiatic princess.
As a child he was dazzled by the colors of nature. He studied music, law, economics and ethnography, and
only after a thorough grounding in each of these disciplines did he decide to become a painter. He was one
of the great masters of modern art and the outstanding
representative of pure abstract painting that dominated
the first half of the 20th century.
Farbstudie Quadrate
(c.1913) is a teachers favorite not
only for its rhythm of colors and
shapes but because it is music to
the eyes of children and aspiring
artists. It is such a visual symphony and it beautifies any
wall or gallery that displays it.
The students
participated in a Prairie
Style representation of Farbstudie Quadrate using
tempera colors on a cardboard poster. The first part was
to assign the children one square each to paint with the
challenge of staying within their square and not painting
their neighbors. Then, the children used their gross
motor and hand-eye coordination skills by spinning a lazy-susan turntable while
holding a brush with watercolors on a paper. The last
part was to glue the circles over the cardboard and to
display it. Please walk into our classroom and ask
your child where the Kandinsky replica is.





Introducing The Nutcracker
The Prairie students have acquired appreciation for classical music
and it is heard as background music in the classroom throughout
the day. The children have heard about Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-
Korsakov in their favorite Classical Baby
episodes, the Pandora Station and
teachers personal music repertoire. It has
become a habit for the students to request
the teachers to play classical music to dance
ballet. To incorporate the childrens interest
with our global studies of Russia, we have introduced them to The
Nutcracker; a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius
Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Boys and girls paid
close attention to the graceful and delicate movements of the Mariinsky Ballet dancers.
They were amazed by the scenography, makeup, and costumes. The students enjoyed wearing tutus and making
their clothes move when they practice the arabesque, pli, or Port de bras among others.

PHILIPPINES
Keeping the Water Clean
As the prairie children have started to learn about the Philippines
for global studies they were introduced to its environment. The
Philippines has the second largest coral reef area and the local
communities of the different Islands work hard to protect and
conserve its beauty. Coral reefs are fragile ecosystems which are
the homes to twenty five percent of marine life and are
endangered by climate change and pollution. Since pollution is
such a front page issue it is important to teach children about its
effects. The children participated in an activity where they
experimented with water and garbage to see the effects that these have on the color and
texture of the water. They expressed their discoveries through captivating comments.
Responsibility with the Under World
As the children continued to discover the underworld, they also
practiced using responsibility to create a coral reef diorama.
The children learned last week that everyone is responsible for
conserving the ocean water clean. Therefore, this week the
children participated in an activity where they were given
different portions of coral reef to complete. This
activity allowed the children to recognize how
everyones work is important and once the project
was complete the children realized that this would
not have been possible without all of their
cooperation. Engaging children in group activities
teaches them about interpersonal responsibility.
Throughout the activity the children also learned that corals are living animals that need sun light and adequate
water temperature in order to survive.
Who Swims in the Philippines Ocean?
The whale sharks do! The Philippines is one of the countries where these
mammals enjoy living due to their tropical and warm waters.
The children learned that whale sharks are
not dangerous for human beings, on the
contrary. Though their mouth is about 1,5
meter wide, the opening to the stomach is very small. Whale sharks only live on
plankton and krill.
The children in the Prairie participated in the making of a baby whale shark
which will be exhibited during Diversity night. They observed that these whales
are gray and have lines and lots of spots.



Tropical Storms
As the prairie children learn about the tropical climate in the
Philippines they are learning about the different characteristics of
a tropical cyclones also known as typhoons in Asia. To help the
children understand the different aspects of typhoons, the children
participated in various activities that explained their formation.
The children experienced the evaporation and condensations
process and the effects of wind. They also
explored the sound of thunder as they made
thunder in the classroom and saw how rain
occurs. As the children continue to learn
about storms they will be introduced to the
effects of natural disasters in the Philippines.
Talking with children about these situations
is important to help deal with reactions of
anxiety, fear, helplessness they might experience.
The Island life
The students continued to learn about the Philippines as they
discussed with their teachers the different aspects of the islands.
They covered some earth science as they talked about the growth
of islands through volcanic eruptions. To further explore their
curiosity about islands and volcanoes the
children were able to create their own island,
and through this they learned that islands are
bodies of land that are surrounded by
water. They explored life in the Philippines through sensory
play. Through their play children showed what they thought
people in the Philippines live like. C expressed they use trains to get to work and Z said,
they eat sand from the beach. The children also discussed about the biodiversity in the
country. Many of the children insisted that dinosaurs live on the different islands. A said, the leaves are falling from
the palm trees because its cold. The teacher then explained to the children about the tropical climate in the
Philippines. Through these provoking comments the teacher presented the children with various activities to give
them a realistic representation of the life in the Philippines. This allowed for the children to be culturally aware and
open to the differences in cultures.
Landmarks of the Philippines
Continuing our newest exploration on the Philippines, the students
learned the many landmarks that make up the island. Students
watched and observed videos of the waterfalls in the Philippines and
noticed as the liquid fell from high above and wondered where the
water was going. C predicted that the water
was going into a river and K said the water
was going into the ocean! The Prairie
students enjoyed making their own
waterfalls at the sensory table and
used various size ramps to create
waterfalls of their own! Another landmark that makes up the
Philippines are the various volcanoes! Students have been
exploring the gasses of a volcano that causes them to erupt as well
as learning about lava and the process of solidification. At the clay
center, students practiced making volcanoes! J exclaimed, Im making a
cano! Look out! Another famous landmark in the Philippines are the
Chocolate Hills found in Bohol. There are estimated to be between
1,268 1,776 hills stretching up to 390 feet in height. When the grass-
covered hills dry up during the seasons, it turns the grass brown making
them look like endless chocolate kisses giving the name, Chocolate Hills. A
announced that I have chocolate hills at my house! Students used clay to
practice making these chocolate hills and enjoyed pretending to eat them





Painting with Lava
Volcanoes are a hot topic in the class as they learn
about the Philippines! The children have been very
intrigued by the formations of volcanoes, erupting
volcanoes, and of course, hot lava. The students
have become quite the expert as they absorbed
and retained the information about lava.
Before participating in this activity, the
students had a discussion about what hot lava was.
E said, Volcanoes are there and then the lava
start coming out. J participated by sharing, The
lava is what comes out of a volcano, its hot! M
added, Theres smoke because the lava is so hot and
we cannot touch it! The children picked out the
colors; orange, red, and black to add to the shaving cream to
create their lava paint. The students used their fine motor skills and creativity as they put their paintbrushes to the
paper and created some texturized artwork.
Seashore Plants
Why did the students have paint in their feet? Well, because they were
painting sea grass for our Diversity night Donsol Island and rice field display.
The children were skating, marching, and even jumping on the paper while
they spread the green and brown paint with their feet.





Rice Terraces
The students have been working diligently on their pieces for Diversity Night!
The Philippines is the 8
th
largest rice producer in the world accounting for 2.8%
of global rice production. The banaue rice terraces climb up the mountains
enhancing the rigid
look. The original
builders used mud and
stone to carefully
carve the rice terraces into
the mountain as a way to
create flooded ponds for
the cultivation of rice.
Students observed
pictures of the various rice
fields found in the
Philippines and guess what they could be. Many students had a hard time grasping just how huge these rice fields are
and pondered how something so small like rice comes from something so vast. To increase their understanding,
students watched videos on how rice is grown and produced. For our Diversity Night, students have been helping
prepare some scenery by painting but not using a paintbrush. Along
with painting the coral reef, students used their feet to paint the rice
fields. The students loved feeling the cold squishy paint between their
toes and enjoyed smearing the paint on the canvas beneath them. Be
sure to keep an eye out on Diversity Night for their rice fields!








Coral Reef Display
The Prairie students continue learning about coral reefs as part of the Philippines Global Studies. Coral
reefs are some of the most diverse ecosystems in the ocean, meaning there's much to be studied and discovered.
Coral reefs are built by coral polyps as they secrete layers of calcium carbonate beneath their bodies. The corals
that build reefs are known as hard or reef-building corals. Soft corals, such as sea fans and sea whips, do not
produce reefs; they are flexible organisms that sometimes resemble plants or trees.
Other types of animals and plants also contribute to the structure of coral reefs. Many types of algae,
seaweed, sponges, sediment, and even mollusks like giant clams and oysters add to the architecture of coral reefs.
When these organisms die, they also serve as foundations for new corals.
The children are proud of how their coral reef is coming together. For the last 4 weeks, the students have been
making different kinds of corals using different materials such as branches, yarn, pasta, pine cones and foam. Many
arts and crafts techniques have been applied to give this colorful display variety in texture and organic shapes as the
real reefs. Some toy fish have been added and the children have been playing Finding (and hiding) Nemo under the
anemones.
The taste of the Philippines
This week as part of the prairie classrooms
taste of the Philippines the children tasted
jackfruit. Jackfruit or Langka as it is known in
the Philippines is a tropical fruit that is popular in
Southeast Asia and it is known for its delicious
sweet taste and interesting texture. The jackfruit that
the prairie children got to explore was 20lbs and they
were very intrigued by the fruits texture and size. As
the children touched and smelled the fruit they shared
their experience. Most of the children really enjoyed it
and were very exciting to try this exotic new taste.




A Taste of the Philippines
The participated in cooking Turon, a popular Filipino snack. Turon is made out of
sliced bananas and rice paper. While participating in this activity the children were very
responsible at following the instructions for the recipe.
They very carefully sliced the bananas and lightly wet the
rice paper to make their rolls. During the cooking activity
the children were also very curious about the reaction
between the water and the rice paper. As they touched the
paper A said, its sticky and R commented yea its because its wet. Through these
observations the teacher was able to explain to the children
that the paper was made out of rice and becomes sticky
when it is cooked and hard and when it is dry. The children
were also great food critics as they tried the Turon. R said
I like the banana and G responded, I like the banana too but not the rice paper.