Kk is for kitchen, so we spent the week there to celebrate our letter of the week! Our homework from last week was to bring in 3 foods and 3 tools from our own kitchens at home. During Circle Time, we each showed what we'd brought and discussed what the tools were used for and why we chose the foods we did. We have so many things to choose from in a kitchen! It was fun to see what everyone brought. We discovered tools like a whisk, tongs, utensils, hot pads and even a garlic press. We also had applesauce, cereal, sandwiches and pasta noodles. As we shared, we sorted the items into two piles- kitchen foods and kitchen tools. 
To continue studying the kitchen, we took a mini-field trip to the kitchen in Ms. Marianne's house and got to open all of the cabinets to see her kitchen tools. We found the refrigerator and freezer, pantry and work surfaces. When we found the kitchen table, we sat down and Ms. Marianne showed us some of the cool things in her kitchen, like a cheese grater, colander, meat tenderizer ("meat hammer!" hahaha!) measuring cups and spoons, a rolling pin and pots & pans. When we opened the refrigerator, we found cheese, eggs- both brown and white!- juice, jam, carrots- with the greens still attached!- corn- inside the husk!- fruit, peppers, and more. Then the pantry added things to our table like vegetable juice, onions, potatoes and cereal. Once everything was on the table, our exploration continued as we played with all the things we'd found. We touched, smelled, and even made a drill from the bunch of carrots and little dueling men out of the eggs. :) Who says the kitchen is boring??
Now, you can't study the kitchen without using a kitchen, right? So, we USED the kitchen! We made huge messes and cleaned them up (sort of, anyway!)
On Wednesday, discovered where wheat for bread comes from and played in the wheat berries (whole wheat) and then the soft ground flour. Afterwards, we ground wheat berries into flour by hand and made our own wheat bread rolls and loaves. We had a lot of fun learning what yeast is and how it makes the bread "fluffy", and then practicing our motor skills by rolling the dough into spheres. But the best part was probably eating them when they came out of the oven all warm and golden brown. Yummy! 
On Thursday, we spent our time in the kitchen making chocolate chip cookies! Woohoo! We learned how to measure dry ingredients (scoop to fill the measuring cup and then use the flat side of a butter knife to level the amount to the lip of the cup) and wet ingredients (watch the level of liquid rise as you pour until it reaches the level on the measuring cup that you're waiting for) and then had fun watching the mixer blend all of our ingredients together. Next, we used our ball rolling skills again and rolled balls of cookie dough to bake on the sheets in the oven. The hardest part was remembering not to sample! We tried and tried to tell Ms. Marianne that our moms let us "lick the spoon" at home, but she just told us we'd have to make cookies with you at home so we could do that. :) But the warm-from-the-oven cookies that were all ooey and gooey were worth the wait!
Our Kitchen unit has been so much fun, but we also began a new month this week, so we discovered all about February. We found the "special days" on the calendar and marked them so we can look forward to them. There's Valentine's Day, a friend's 4th birthday, Presidents' Day and Groundhog Day! We discussed Groundhog Day at length on Tuesday (it was Sunday, Feb. 2nd). Ms. Marianne introduced us to Punxsutawney Phil-the groundhog who leaves his burrow each year on Groundhog Day to predict either 6 more weeks of winter (if he sees his shadow) or an early spring (if he doesn't see his shadow). Then we watched the video of him emerging here. We read the book It's Groundhog's Day! by Steven Kroll and talked about how this groundhog didn't see his shadow, but Punxsutawney Phil did, so we're due for 6 more weeks of winter (as if that affects us here, lol!) We went outside and learned exactly what a shadow is and then waved to, danced and played with ours! To get us in the mood for Valentine's Day (next Friday!), we read Ms. Marianne's favorite "Hearts Day" book called Slugs in Love by Susan Pearson. Such a cute book! We also read One Zillion Valentines by Frank Modell to practice the word one- a sight word we're studying this week, along with my and and. Since next week is Valentine's Day, Ms. Marianne said she'd be sending out an email with names of all my preschool friends and invitations to bring things to our party on Thursday.
Monday, February 17 is the day when we celebrate Presidents' Day. When we were discussing February during Circle Time, we learned about George Washington "our first President", who's also on the quarter we worked with in the last few weeks, and about Abraham Lincoln, who "said 'No More Slavery'" and who's picture is on the penny. Saying these phrases helped us to keep the two Presidents straight! Of course, we had a long discussion about slavery... kids are so insightful! 
Next week is all about Valentines and Volcanoes. We already decorated with hearts that we made ourselves, so the preschool room is ready! On Thursday, we'll make cool Valentine mailboxes and decorate our own Valentines... you will be so surprised! :) We'll be discovering volcanoes for the letter Vv on Tuesday, so make sure I wear something that can get a little messy!Love,
Your Child
and
Ms. Marianne
