Tsukuba International Preschool

It feels rough and bumpy

P2 & P3 students explored their senses while making old fashioned lemonade. We thought about which senses we were using duirng the process, from start to end. Students used their oral language, gestures and body language to express their thoughts, ideas and feelings. Below are some photos, and a copy of the recipe we used.

Squeeze and twist!

Stir, stir, stir

Smell and taste

Ingredients:

6 lemons (we substituted with yuzu)

1L of bottled water

1/2 cup sugar

Directions:

1. Juice the lemons to make approximately 1 cup of juice. To make your labor easier, FIRMLY roll the lemons between your hand and counter top before cutting in half and juicing.
2. In a bowl or jug, combine lemon juice, sugar, and cold water. Stir. Adjust water to taste. Chill and serve over ice.

During maths time, we graphed the results of who did and didn’t like the lemonade.

Do you like lemonade?

Paper mache is a fun and easy craft activity for young children. It can be used to make many kinds of things, from bowls, to props, and decorations. At TIP, we are learning about our senses, and so this also provided a very good sensory experience, as children talked about needing to have their newspaper pieces very wet and slippery for them to stick effectively to the balloons. Here is a step-by-step guide of how we made our paper mache Jack-o-lanterns.

1.Blow up a balloon.

2. Tear newspaper pages into inch (2.5 cm) wide strips.

3. In a bowl, mix one part water to one part flour to make a paste.

4. Dip pieces of newspaper into the bowl of paste, making sure the entire strip is covered in paste, and cover the balloon with two layers. Repeat again a few days later after it has dried. Make a small opening at one end, pop the balloon and remove.

*To make painting the project easier, the last layer really should be done with white paper

5. Paint the project!

This is a very easy to make pizza recipe from ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen. This recipe makes 5 small pizzas.

Ingredients:

2 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

2/3  cups water

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Method:

1. Mix flour, salt, baking powder and water in a bowl.

2. Knead the dough on a floured counter for about 2 minutes.

3. Roll (or stretch) the dough out into 5 small circles, about 0.5cm thick.

4. Spread oil over bases with fingers or the back of a spoon.

5. Spread your choice of pizza sauce on top, and add any toppings you like, with cheese on top. (Corn seems to be  popular topping)

6. Bake at 200 degrees for about 15 minutes or until golden.

7. Eat and enjoy!!

We have put together a calendar which contains literacy, maths and other activities that you can do with your children every day of the summer holidays. It is specifically designed for P2 children going into P3, but it can also be a nice challenge or opportunity to review some things for our other students. Just click on the link below and download to your computer. Have a fantastic summer!!

Summer Activity Calendar (PDF)