Last week seemed to go by so fast. We learned that Dia De Los Muertos is a day that we remember our friends and family that have died. We learned people from Mexico and here in America might put pictures of their missed relitives out along with momentos and foods. A commen offering to the Dead is Pan de Muertos or bread of the dead. Pan de Muertos is a type of pan dulce or sweet bread. We took a trip to the Mexican Market in San Rafael to find pan dulce for ourselves. We found it in a big clear cabinet and choose the pieces we wanted for ourselves and our families then took a walk to look at all of the different foods the Mexican market had an abundance of. I pointed out the Mexican cheeses, beans, rice, and Galletas(cookies).
While looking through the store Maddie saw Pepsi, Coke,7up... and said "and look at all of the Mexican soda!"
Holly , while playnig later, said she was making food for her "dead friends".
Kali was very interested in in the big case of helados(ice cream) and wanted those.
Cec liked the dulce(candy).
We welcomed our new friend Ryan this week. He is such a loveable little guy and we can't wait to get to know him better.
We also...
fingerpainted
made spooky houses
made Halloween cards

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
Worth your 20 minutes!

Day of the Dead parade and celebration in San Francisco

http://www.dayofthedeadsf.org/
One of the most Famous DOD parades in the United States!

http://www.childcareexchange.com/eed/news_print.php?news_id=2364
This is an article on brain development and the young child as it pertains to media and "academic" education too soon. I find it important for parents and educators both to have this information.
ENJOY!

We have been working on our Fall books for the last two weeks and they will come home next week. The girls have been talking a lot about all of the things that happen in Autumn- have they at home? We have learned about leaves loosing their green color as the weather gets colder and about harvest.
we have continued to chat about corn and it's many uses. We learned that corn relates to Hispanic Heritage month because it was a gift from the Mayans from S America. We made corn bread and used corn meal as an ingredient. We learned cornmeal is made by crushing dried corn kernels until they are like sand. We talked about using the cornmeal mixture to make corn dogs.You can also use it to make corn tortillas . You use corn tortillas to make corn chips by frying the tortilla in corn oil and so on. Our small study of corn relates to Fall and to Hispanic heritage month.
For art we used black paper to cut out shapes to create a jack o lantern face, we used Fall colors to paint, and had a great time with Halloween stamps and ink.
For Fall and Hispanic Heritage music we downloaded the 5 little pumpkins song. We also checked out a Dora CD from the library. We love to listen to Santana' Oye como Va as done by Dora. You can imagine how cool we sound while driving down the road blasting that!
Next Week we will start to talk about Dia De Los Muertos- Don't forget your pictures!

Tortillas