Samuel Morey Preschool: March 5

This week, we started our unit about illustrators by learning about Eric Carle and how he makes his artwork. On Tuesday, we read Eric Carle’s book, “Pancakes, Pancakes!” We also learned about some celebrations that were happening around the world on that day: Mardi Gras/Carnival and Pancake Tuesday. In the United Kingdom, some people celebrate the day before the start of Lent by using up their eggs and milk to make pancakes. They even have “pancake races” in some towns where people race down the street with a pancake in a skillet and flip the pancake while they run! To celebrate Pancake Tuesday and the book “Pancakes, Pancakes,” we made our own pancakes! The students helped to measure the ingredients, mix them together, and put a cupful of pancake mix on the skillet. Some students decided to add blueberries to their pancakes, and some kept them plain. Once all of the students had made their pancakes, we had a “pancake party” and ate our pancakes! Some students had strawberry jam on top of their pancakes, just like the boy in the story! Our pancakes were delicious! On Wednesday, we started an Eric Carle-inspired art project. The first step that Eric Carle takes in creating his artwork is painting on tissue paper. The students used different kinds of paint brushes, rollers, and dotters to create designs on their tissue paper with paint. That afternoon, we had Spanish class with Mrs. Leslie and learned some words related to school! On Thursday, we took the next step in creating Eric Carle-inspired art by using stencils to draw the shape of an animal, ripping up pieces of our painted tissue paper, and gluing those pieces down on our animal outline. The finished products were amazing! On Friday, we finished the art project. We also voted on our favorite colors and determined that the most students liked the color pink best. Next week, we will learn about Lois Elbert and Leo Lionni who both use collage in their illustrations!