Wrapping UpOn our last day of KW before Christmas Break, we had a small group of just Tegan and Lou Lou. The children wanted to finish up some projects including hand-sewn ornaments and a blanket Tegan had been sewing for Saoirse since the beginning of the school year. Tegan was determined to complete the blanket today so she could wrap it for Saoirse to open on Christmas. So she cut out a layer of stuffing and sewed it between the two sides of her quilt-like fabric. Both girls put final touches on the ornaments and decided they would be gifts for their families. Of course this led to wanting to wrap the ornaments. Lou Lou and Tegan worked on skills such as how to fold and tape the corners during wrapping. We wish you the happiest of holidays and look forward to seeing you after the Christmas Break!
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Our Gift for Kurt
Another kind of gift....We also spent time making something for ourselves! Children measured, mixed, and kneaded play dough to take home over the break. . They loved scooping cupfuls of flour and salt to make the big batches of purple or green dough. Everyone took some home with them today. Enjoy! Baking GingerbreadToday we took out the prepared gingerbread dough from yesterday to continue our cooking project. Children rolled the dough out flat and cut it into two shapes. It was decided that we would do the shape of trees for Rainey Room's snack in connection with their recent interests. Alternatively, the children cut out gingerbread people for Tucker Room. It looks like the children cut so many cookies we may even have enough for Brown Room's snack as well! Oh, and the smell of the molasses the children weren't too fond of? It has dissipated and the entire building smells delicious. Of course, now everyone is looking forward to tasting the treats come Monday! Sewing and MessagesA few of the children chose to sew today, including Hugh who worked on an in-progress patchwork piece and Will who decided to sew some larger fabric pieces together. When Will saw how some of the children had chosen to combine fabric and paper, he decided to try his hand at mixed media sewing. As Will worked, he seemed to be placing pieces together almost as a puzzle, even tracing and cutting a sheet of card-stock to fit a space between his fabric. In between turns with the machine, the children drew pictures and made messages. Lily worked with letter stamps, Hugh drew, Will made a message for his mom, and Tommy wrote messages to his Granny. Will and Tommy spent a great deal of time writing out their messages, occasionally asking how to spell words. They seemed to work off of each other's ideas such as Will trying out Tommy's idea to write, "How was your day?" Then Tommy decorated envelopes with washi tape as Will had done. Teamwork & Boating Around the WorldDuring our outside time, the children used muscles and teamwork to flip a wooden boat together, even noticing mid-flip that a shovel was in the way. Hugh quickly moved it and the children finished turning the boat. Lily, Hugh, Tommy, and Will rowed to London while Lou Lou and Sam took their fast boat to North America.
Sewing, Sewing, and more Sewing!Today was another day with multiple options for sewing. Everyone continued the hoop of red materials which will be a gift for Kurt. Then we had options for individual hand-sewing and sewing at the machine. Choosing materials and developing the skills necessary to work with the materials in this way is complex work. The children are truly engaging with attention and patience! They show pride in their work, selection of materials, and decisions on how to sew those pieces. At the machine, children have been enjoying making choices about what type of stitch to use, when to implement the reverse stitch, and how to line up their work at the presser foot. Hand-sewing a Gift for KurtMachine SewingOutdoor ChallengesWhat would a day in KW be like without some time to play and work in the outdoor classroom? Today we saw collaborative digging work in the sandbox and children challenging their independence and strength on the swing. Welcome Will!
Despite the cold temperature, the sun was shining. Everyone enjoyed their time spent outside. Once inside, children worked on messages with holiday-themed materials. Messages were sent to friends near and far as Lily and Hugh once again chose to make messages for Max in California. Parties and PresentsKW was invited to Leigh's (Rainey Room) birthday party today. The children had pizza and cupcakes and decorated gingerbread houses. After the celebration, we reminded the children about a gift idea the teachers had decided to as a school. Each classroom chose a different person in our St. John's community to create a gift for. KW chose Kurt who works in the church. After introducing the idea to the children last week, we discovered Kurt likes the color red. and we had ideas around what types of gifts we could make. One idea was to create something with sewing. So today we began working on the present. We sewed all kinds of red materials and items to a hoop of mesh. Each child took a turn sewing. We're looking forward to see how the project looks when we're finished working on it! It had been a long time since our Tuesday group had ventured out into the neighborhood. Today we took a trip to Montrose Park. It was a special trip right from the beginning, our bus was decorated with holiday garlands and ornaments! Upon arriving at Montrose, we first walked down to the water. Children quickly began picking up rocks and throwing them to make wishes, Maisie wished that Tegan would always remember her and always be her friend. Tommy made a similar wish regarding Hugh. Louise made a sweet wish for real babies. On our way back up the hill, children stopped at a log to count the rings of the tree. There was a wide range of opinions about how old the tree could be. We finished our afternoon at the playground. It was a super fun day, and we didn't have one complaint about the cold! Enjoy these images! Sewing Papers and Miscellaneous Materials We had another fabulous day with our sewing explorations. Today we noticed the children chose all non-fabric materials to sew with. Sam chose to continue sewing his bubble wrap piece from earlier in the week. He worked with focus as he sewed buttons on, giving extra reinforcement by sewing through multiple holes in the button. It was Hugh's and Tommy's first time using the machine and they were quick to pick up the steps. Tommy also made sure everyone was staying safe as he cautiously watched out for fingers near the needle. Lily confidently used her sewing skills to attach plastics and papers together. Then she, Hugh, and Tommy got to try out the reverse-stitch button! Hugh used it to sew several pieces together in one long zig-zag pattern as he slowly turned the papers under the needle to switch directions, reverse, and sew forward again. Lily and Hugh did some drawing. Hugh turned his drawing into a card which he attached his sewing work to. Outside, the children organized themselves to rake up a large section of leaves. They took turns using rakes and shovels and were adamant that Jill and Jessica could only hold the tools as to allow the children to do the work themselves. |
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