Where is Ireland ?

Published on March 9, 2010 under Art

Do you know the real story behind St. Patricks Day? That is what we are exploring for the next two weeks. The past two days we have read a factual book about St Patricks Day. Ask your child what they remember.

Some of the “learning resources ” ( the kids call them toys ) that I have put on the table are used in ways they weren’t intended, but that is ok. That is how we learn. For instance, look at the rainbows. That is a stackable rainbow that teaches smallest to largest. One of the kids has taken and put little blocks on top and a bead on top of that. Here you see the beginnings stages of patterning. Then you see Audrey taking the little pieces of gold for counting and laying them on a purple piece of paper to feed her purple cat. Not only did she use her fine motor skills that she needs to be a great writer to pick those gold pieces up but she is counting them. And then… most of all , she is using her imagination with her kitty and the gold pieces pretending they are food. May we all… always have an active imagination. 🙂

A little leprechaun reading a home made book

Hugs for friends.

I put the oil pastels on the table today and the girls got busy. I love just taking out random things to see what they will do with them. Jessica- you see Clara’s window? Clara draws MANY doors and windows. Maybe she will grow up to be an architect.

Another leprechaun and some rainbow art work on the wall from yesterday.

Great white northern beans spray painted gold for counting.

Match the shamrocks to the number

They always love beading.

Stamping – I wrote Leprechaun on the paper to entice little hands to try – and they did !

Green playdoh and St Patricks Day cutters!

Rainbow

Today we also read a story called ” The Luckiest Saint Patricks Day;” As tradition would have it, I TRY to read all my St Pattys Day books with an Irish accent. The kids at first look at me kinda weird but then they begin to smile and enjoy it.

We looked on the map today to see where Ireland was. It was a LONG way away with lots of blue ( water ) between us. We used our transportation skills from last week to figure out how we would get there from Arkansas. We also watched an Irish jig. As we watched I pointed out how the dancers rarely move their arms – only their feet and legs. Circle time today opened with an Irish Jig and you should have seen the kids trying the dance. It was SO cute and made my heart smile.

Yep, another good day.

I have two videos to post. One is Geneviette doing a graph on her own. ( Yes she was back today. She was diagnosed with mono last week but returned today with a doctors note! )

The second video is of us playing ” hot potato”. We talked about the significance of potatoes in Ireland and that they have EYES. The kids thought that was funny. Then we played a fun game.