Greeting Spanish Lime Families,
October was full of local field trips, cool fall weather activities and settling into our enrichment programs. Below explains what each enrichment class has been working on.
In Physical Education we have begun our soccer unit. Half of the class has had prior soccer experience playing in teams locally while others are learning this sport for the very first time. Learning basic rules, drills and warmups are the main focus of this unit. The students have shown great excitement, cooperation and teamwork towards this unit. In order to truly experience what a soccer game is all about, we plan to attempt a game the last day of this unit, November 15th at Bayview Park! Soccer enthusiast are welcome to cheer us on!
In Art enrichment Ms. Ann Fergus has introduced the children to sugar skulls and the history of the Dia de los Muertos. A celebration mainly seen in Mexico, Michoacan, Puebla, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Guerrero, Guanajuato, Chiapas and the Yucatan. All Souls and Saints Day is a similar holiday celebrated in countries in South America, Italy, and Spain. Traditionally families would visit cemeteries and spend the day cleaning their ancestors graves and honoring them with decorations, parties, food, pictures, storytelling, etc. The art of creating a sugar skull was originally made with sugar but overtime people have adapted to using clay. The skulls are decorated with bright colors and designs to help honor and represent a departed soul. The children enjoyed the process of flattening out the clay, designing is features and painting it with vibrant colors.
In Music Ms. Ann McFarland received a generous Cayo Hueso Music grant. We were able to receive many musical instruments like a bass, xylophones, glockenspiels, and drums. The children sing and practice twice a week with the instruments. We are hoping for a holiday concert around December!
On walkabout days we were able to visit our local fire museum and get a personal tour with a retire fireman chief, Castro. The children were fascinated with the history of fire fighting in Key West and could not believe that people did not have phone and had to use street bells and alarm systems to report an emergency. The children also laughed when they found out the old fireman poll is in fact a water pipe, only in Key West! This month, November 16th, we have been invited by the Key West High School to view The Peter and the Wolf symphony. No chaperones needed for this trip. Donna Wissinger, the art director, will be visiting our class November 7th to explain what a symphony is and some background on this performance. We are excited to immerse ourselves in music and theatre!
For the remainder of the month we will continue our unit study on the second great lesson of the coming of life and focus our research on botany, animal habitats and ancient life. In lieu of thanksgiving and fall harvest we have teamed up with our toddler community the last Friday before thanksgiving break to do a shared snack/harvest share. Keep an eye our for photos on how we gave back to our MCS community.
Many Thanks,
Ms. Sally
