Native American Heritage Month is a great opportunity to celebrate the diverse histories, traditions, and cultures of the indigenous people. Playing tribute to rich ancestry through reading stories is a great way to honor and learn more about the Native American people. To continue learning more about native american culture we read the book Fry Bread written by Kevin Noble Maillard, illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal  which is a story about family, history, culture, and traditions, new and old. Frybread is a dish of the indigenous people of North America that is a flat dough bread. The food we eat is intertwined with culture/traditions and many of our favorite memories are associated with gathering during special celebrations, helping our community, or simply enjoying comfort food together. By exploring and learning about different foods and traditions from around the world children can learn, respect, & experience a lot of different cultures. Fry bread is food . It is warm and delicious, piled high on a plate. Fry bread is time. It brings families together for meals and new memories. Fry bread is nation. It is shared by many, from coast to coast and beyond. Fry bread is us. It is a celebration of old and new, traditional and modern, similarity and difference.After reading the book we invited the children to make their own fry bread with playdough, rollers, pots, pans, bowls, baskets, and more. Play-dough is a staple in early childhood. It is a powerful way to let a child use their imagination, strengthen the small muscles in their fingers, and encourage a child's language + literacy, science, math and sensory skills. It is quite possibly one of the most powerful props for learning. Since children learn and retain information through their senses, integrating a sensory material such as playdough will deepen their comprehension and connection to the concepts of the story all through the power of their imagination by play!

We have been exploring the artist Vincent Van Gogh’s by reading books about him & looking at images of his creations. Since his art has a certain child-like simplicity to it, especially in the use of bold colors, children are instantly interested in exploring the details in his work. Exposing artists of the world helps children develop & become aware of the beauty in the different styles along with techniques in art from around the world. Here are 3 ways we explored the artist: 1. Invitation to Create Starry Night with Loose Parts on Mirrors: We invited the children to create their own rendition with loose parts (flat marbles, rocks, acrylic shapes/rocks) on acrylic mirrors as the base. Loose parts provide unique inspiration, endless possibilities, challenge them to think, & encourage them to be creative with unusual things. This is not only a creative way to create from an artistic point of view, it is a way that encourages brain development, scientific experimenting, mathematical thought, risk taking, & trial/error learning. Through this kind of creating, children are really creating: using what they have and what they already know, and combining that to create a whole that’s greater than the parts. Combining loose parts & acrylic mirrors becomes an even more engaging source of visual sensory input. Children are naturally drawn to the reflection of mirrors & it often provides a more meaningful process. 2. Sunflower Provocation with Playdough: We set up a provocation where the children were invited to create his Sunflower painting in a 3-D way with playdough & loose parts (sunflowers/sticks). A provocation is a technique used to stimulate children's thinking, to inspire them artistically, to empower them to take control over their learning, to open their minds, to create an environment for reflection, to challenge children, to observe the world around them, & to encourage creativity. 3. Fruit Still Life Painting: After looking at images of Van Gogh's fruit paintings, we invited the children to paint their own renditions. We provided images of his art work, fruit in a basket, tempera paint & paper to let them paint! Inviting children to do a still life is a drawing or a painting of an object or a group of objects is a wonderful way for the children to observe every detail in the objects, compare similarities/differences, & challenge their cognitive abilities as they attempt to create work that is inspired by artists from around the world.

The book We Are Water Protectors is a perfect book to read during Native American Heritage Month. The story written by Carole Lindstrom and illustrated by Michaela Goade is about indigenous led movements to safeguard the Earth's water. While reading this story we had such a great discussion in order to deepen the children's understanding of the importance of water. We asked the children questions like: How is water used daily? Where does water come from? What can poison water? What can we do to save water and the environment? How can we do better to help planet earth? Why is water so important? These types of questions teach children about community, how we can take action to help, and empower them to do better together for our environment. Since the book is full of images of nature we integrated the literacy experience by inviting the children to collaboratively paint water through resist art with liquid watercolor and salt glue/hot glue designs. Integrating art to deepen the connection with the literacy experience is a great way to continue the discussion of the book as well as giving the child the freedom to be creative. Creativity is as important as literacy so when the two come together it sure makes for beautiful art.

To continue learning more about Native American Heritage Month we read the book  When We Are Kind / Nihá’ádaahwiinít’íigo by  Monique Gray Smith   (Author),  Nicole Neidhardt   (Illustrator),  Mildred Walters   (Translator). The bilingual indigenous book celebrates the simple acts of kindness and encourages children to explore how they feel when they initiate and receive acts of kindness in their lives. After reading the story we asked the children to express what kindness means or feels to them. We wrote what they individually said on a hand, placed it on butcher paper, and invited them to collaboratively color with Colorations Tempera Paint Sticks. Together they created a beautiful kindness collage!  Encouraging kindness in the early years helps children develop behaviors that have value far beyond their school years. When you provide opportunities to talk about, model, explore, and show kindness, we send the message of its value in our community. The more we prioritize kindness, it helps children see the impact of the words they use and actions they take on many dynamics of life. Children who learn from a young age to treat others with respect and generosity, to have value in the environment, and more will give them the ability to carry these values throughout their lives. Recent research suggests that acts of kindness from a young age will have meaningful ripple effects in our larger communities.

November is Native American Heritage Month and we have been reading books as an opportunity to celebrate the diverse histories, traditions, and cultures of the Native people.  We read the book Look, Grandma! Ni, Elisi! written by Art Coulson  and illustrated by Madelyn Goodnigh t. This book is such a great way to celebrate diversity, math, and the power of storytelling! In the book Bo wants to find the perfect container to showcase his traditional marbles for the national Cherokee Holiday. He goes through so many different sizes to find the right fit. After reading the story to make the literacy experience come to life, we set up an invitation to explore the volume and capacity of varying containers. It was such a great way to integrate the book through a hands-on measuring activity that uses math. To set the invitation, we placed different sized containers along with loose parts such as flat rocks, marbles, and crystals. We invited the children to explore fitting the loose parts into the containers. Through this they are discovering and exploring math just like the story while learning about volume and capacity through form of measurement. Learning about measurements starts as early as infancy and develops throughout early childhood often without any adult guidance. The child‘s mind applies concepts of measurements in many of their everyday activities from infancy and throughout their childhood. Whether they are stacking blocks, weighing rocks, seeing how long a worm is, sorting objects, filling a container like in this invitation, measurement is present everywhere and everyday in their lives. Building on children's intuitive early concepts of measurement both in formal and informal ways to develop their vocabulary and understanding of measurement and comparison through exploring loose parts and reading books with mathematical themes will help develop a strong foundation of mathematics at a young age. Playing tribute to rich ancestry through reading stories is a great way to honor the people while continuing to  honor, explore, and learn about Native American Heritage Month.

Diwali is the Indian “festival of lights”—a holiday that celebrates the triumph of good over evil. Diwali is a five-day celebration where friends and family gather to light their brightest lanterns to rejoice in the victory of light over darkness. While there are many traditions during this festival, on the second day of Diwali homes are decorated with diyas (candles, lamps and lights) along with beautiful designs and patterns on floors known as Rangoli. Rangoli is thought to bring good luck, prosperity in the house and in the family, and to welcome guests. We have been reading books about the traditions of Diwali the past couple of days during circle/story time. Books are such a beautiful way to open a child's mind to the beauty of each culture and their special traditions. The more children learn and see representation of all cultures in classrooms and in our homes, the more knowledge and understanding we provide for everyone while making every child feel seen and heard in their community. After reading the books we invited the children to explore two ways of celebrating Diwali: 1. STEM Diya Building: With translucent plastic cups, clay diyas, LED tea light candles, and marigolds we invited the children to build and decorate. 2. Invitation to Decorate Rangoli Designs with Loose Parts: With Colorations® World of Art India Rangoli Designs from Discount School Supply as the base, we provided a variety of colorful loose parts to invite the children to decorate unique designs.

Mazie's Amazing Machines by By Sheryl HaftOn Tour and Illustrated by Jeremy Holmes is about a girl who loves to build all sorts of fabulous inventions to solve household problems. With the power of her imagination and creativity she makes engineering so innovative and fun. Since today is National STEM Day, this was the perfect book to read before inviting the children to invent just like Mazie McGear. STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) opportunities are designed to engage & stretch a child's thinking especially when they are challenged to create in new ways. The engineering & design process is a natural fit for children due to the fact that children's work in the early years is to build & problem solve with just about anything and everything to learn more about how the world around them works. This literacy & STEM invitation is a perfect opportunity to invite the children in a building center & challenge them to think, create/invent in new ways, and be inspired by Mazie Mcgear to enhance their problem solving skills! With blocks galore, loose parts, tools, and the power of imagination the children were invited to invent whatever they wanted just like mazie together! The beauty of pairing loose parts and block play is that it truly provides the opportunity for a child to have limitless opportunities to create a world through their imagination. We know that block play in early childhood is something that is constant and continuous throughout the many stages of their development. As they grow by adding loose parts to be on hand, it encourages them to deepen and extend their play. This type of play with loose parts lets the child truly shape and create according to their own vision and since loose parts are so versatile, they can become anything and everything. Happy National STEM day!

Every year in the Pre-K Class during election season we invite the children to learn about the voting process. Throughout circle and story time we read books and discuss election day to lay the foundation for understanding about such an important & impactful day. After the children can somewhat grasp the process, they nominate a bunch of class names, and they narrow down the list to four candidates. Once the children have narrowed it down to four options, we create visual ballots, set up a polling booth with a ballot box and invite them to vote! The children color or circle the name they would like to cast their vote for, receive an I VOTED Sticker, and then we count/graph the votes to see who one. This year the winner is the Rainbow Kitties! Children learn about themselves and the world they live in through experiences such as these. An election in the classroom or even at home is a great opportunity to not only talk with children about civic responsibility but an optimal way to lay the foundation in the early years of the power to make decisions that can bring about change. They are learning to vocalize their likes and dislikes, their interests, and their abilities through communicating what they want their class name to be all while learning about math too. This role play is developing important complex thinking skills, by projecting what they desire. They are experiencing first hand what is going on currently in our society but on terms that they can grasp. Hopefully we are laying down the foundation of voting at a young age that will instill the importance of voting throughout the rest of their lives!

Discount School Supply #gifted these amazing Illuminated Glow Roller Shakers - Set of 6 . The cylinders with illuminated contents for rolling, shaking, stacking, and turning are perfect for light exploration. The shakers light up and change colors when switched on and provide an engaging and multisensory experience. To set this invitation to explore the glow rollers were set on a light table in a dark room and the children were invited to explore. Did you know from infancy light and color fascinate any child and it carries throughout their childhood. They are always enamored with the wondrous world of illumination and color as it is something that they are naturally drawn to because they are able to explore a whole range of theories and enhance so much of their development. Light and color continuously fascinates and deeply engages the interplay of the shapes, patterns, shadows, effects, spacing, imagery, light, sizes, and colors. Since light and colors magic is ever evolving, materials such as these glow rollers ignite a child's curiosity and provide a tool to continue to blossom their imagination. So let the magic of light and color continue to enamor the child by honoring their ability to explore the world through the power of illumination.

There are so many ways to explore spider webs through art, here are five ways to create and explore webs! 1. Salt Spider Web: On poster paper create a spider web design with white glue and place salt on top. Let it dry. Then provide Colorations Liquid watercolors with droppers and invite the children to paint. 2. Hot Glue Gun Spider Web: On poster paper create a spider web design with a hot glue gun. Then provide Colorations Liquid watercolors with paint brushes and invite the children to paint. 3. Resist Tape Spider Web: On poster paper create a spider web design with blue painters tape. Then provide tempera paint and invite the children to paint. 4. Black Glue Spider Web:On poster paper create a spider web design with black glue. Then provide Colorations Liquid watercolors with paint brushes and invite the children to paint. 5. Tempera Stick Resist Spider Web:On poster paper create a spider web design with a white tempera stick. Then provide Colorations Liquid watercolors with paint brushes and invite the children to paint. The freedom to manipulate different materials in an organic and unstructured way allows for exploration and experimentation in a child's creative process. These artistic endeavors and self-directed explorations allow young children to feel creative, empowered, and curious. By continuously giving them multiple creative outlets, mediums, canvases, materials, and more will encourage their expression and well-being in so many facets of their lives.

Discount School Supply #gifted the perfect Excellerations® Outdoor Wicker Sofa (Preschool Height) just in time to transition our mudkitchen out of spooky season. The classic yet contemporary design with clean lines and neutral palette complements any decor. Creating a cozy corner with mushrooms can make for foresty fall fun as well as transition into to an enchanting magical holiday exploration area to create. There is no denying that children love to use their imagination especially during play! A fun way to enhance any space (mud kitchen, comfy corner, dramatic play, block area) is changing it up with a creative theme, current interest, season, holiday or celebration.

Today we invited the children to put aside their normal paint brushes and use skeleton hands instead as their tool to create! We provided butcher paper, paint, and skeleton hands galore! The children jumped right in and loved exploring the different ways they could use the skeleton hands in order to paint on the butcher paper. Children who paint learn to think with an open mind, to look at situations creatively. Working on the vertical painting surface puts a whole new spin on the experience. They develop critical-thinking skills and must make decisions about what works and what doesn’t on their own, how to mix colors to create new ones, or how to make certain movements/techniques to create designs and get the paint on the paper. Through painting, children continuously gain so many skills which gives them a foundation to look at the world with curiosity and wonder. Physically they are using the large and small muscles of the arm with vertical painting. Simply moving the skeleton "brush" from the paint bucket to the paper requires focus and control which enhances their fine and gross motor skills. All these movements enhance their hand-eye coordination as well. Continuous exposure to these movements through large scale vertical painting also helps control their marks later on. Visual art deeply affects children, for it is one of the most important forms of communication. Painting freely has a fluidity that is different from other art media which in turn make children more empowered and confident to express their creative artistic style.