Making Masks with Moms…

 

                                                     

  

Yesterday we had the most amazing time with Mom’s visiting the Twana Little School.  We invited them to come and do a special project with their children.  Last year, the Moms loved the opportunity to come and make homemade beads with their little ones, embracing the newness of the school and their children’s learning.   This year, many more mom’s came to enjoy this special moment at school.  The teacher’s thought it would be a lot of fun to make plaster masks of the children’s faces, which is not an easy feat. 

 

The Moms came at the beginning of the school day, played outside with the children, and then moved inside for morning meeting and a bible lesson.  After the morning routine was completed, and most of the Moms and children had arrived, we gave a short tutorial on how to make a plaster mask on a child’s face.  The Moms looked very confused, but intrigued at the idea of making the mask…

 

We split the Moms and children in half, having some go outside to start making masks, while the others participated in Choice Time in the classroom.  Outside the classroom, the Moms got busy applying Vaseline to the faces followed by the plaster strips.  I am sure the children were a bit apprehensive at first, but they all did great, trusting their Moms not to get anything in their eyes or nose. 

Inside the classroom, the children had drawn pictures of their Moms and wrote “what makes their mom special” at the bottom of the page.  The Moms thoroughly enjoyed seeing themselves on the wall and reading what their children thought of them!  After much encouragement from the teachers, they loosened up and began to “play” with their children.  Moms were doing puzzles, dressing up , dancing, reading books, playing with animals, driving trucks, and much more. 

At the end of the day, everyone had a huge smile on their face!!  The teachers were hanging on by a thread, after two full classes of Moms and projects, but they did amazing.  I am so proud of the way God is using the preschool as a means to bring the community together laughing, learning, and socializing.  The teachers are doing a wonderful job of getting everyone involved and keeping it fun and interesting!  Please be praying for these teachers and the roles God has them in!  Even if they don’t realize it, He is using them for His big plans in Mukamba…so they need all the strength they can get!!

              

‘Cool’ Science Ramps and Marbles

 

A new addition to the school this year is our Light and Shadow Studio.  In this space, the children have the opportunity to work with various materials on a light table exploring: shapes, colors, textures, shadows, light, and many other fun things.  At some point, a few of the children found the marbles and they were very intrigued with how the light would shine through them.  They kept them in the cup and shined their flash lights through them observing what what happening. 

                           

One day, they decided to put the marbles on the table.  The moment they released the marbles onto the light table, gravity took over.  They started chasing the marbles with their hands to keep them from rolling off the table.  Thank you to our builder who did not level the floor properly for this ‘cool science’ moment.  The teachers all thought it would be a great idea to provide ramps of different heights and surfaces for the children to explore with marbles…so we did:

 

                                     

   “The marbles run faster if you put them on the higher side.”

                                        -Pensive

 

 

 

“The small marbles roll very fast.” – Florence

                                                          

 

“The big marbles run faster than the small marbles.”  -Kain

 

               

             “The marbles spread out all over the surface when you let them go.”

                                                               -Venture

 

 

 

 

 

“When there is no ramp, the marbles go very slow.”  -Chanto

Measuring Mayhem!!

 

We are so blessed to have a wood working space for the children outside.  The older ones have been very involved in building things with scraps of wood, hammers, and nails.  While they were making their creations, some became very interested in the tape measure.  They started measuring the table, the wood pieces, their hammers, and anything else they could find.  What fun math they were already doing and we decided to support it by putting many other measuring tools inside the classroom to use during choice time as well.  The children went crazy measuring anything and everything they could from the items in math center, to the morning meeting rug, to the walls of the classroom, to their friends, and so much more.  Here are some learning moments we had with the children during their week of measuring mayhem:

                                    

 

Teacher:      What can you do if you want to know how tall someone is?

Sonya:         You measure them.

Teacher:      What can you use to measure them?

Sanford:       A toy (pointing to tape measure).

All:              A ruler.

Teacher:       What other things can we use to measure?

Fransiscar:   A stick.

Ruth:           Some grass.

Sonya:          A rope.

Teacher:       What were you doing at the math center?

Sanford:       Measuring.

Teacher:       What things were you measuring?

Oripa:           Our friends at school.

Jobby:           The table.

Anita:            Pipes.

Teacher:        Did you all use the same thing to measure?

All:                No.

Teacher:        What different things did you use?

Jobby:            A ruler.

Orient:           Grass.

Loson:           Tape measure.

 

 

Fain:              Look Florence, I am taller than you.

Memorial:      I am taller than you.

Kain:              No, I am taller than all of you.

Teacher:         What can we do to find out who is the tallest?

Kain:              We can use a tape measure.

Teacher:         So, who is the tallest?

Kain:              Fain is taller then me.

Crinet:           Chanto, hold here so we can measure this rag.

Teacher:         What is the length of this rag?

Chanto:          I don’t know.

Teacher:         Let’s count these numbers…

Chanto:          One…two!

Teacher:         Yes, two meters long!  Nice counting!

Ackinstone:    Look, I am measuring these blocks.

Rachel:            I want to count how many feet are in this ruler.