Wednesday, September 6, 2023

"I was so excited when I woke up this morning because I have CW today!"        Isabelle

Enrollment in our afternoon program is at an all-time high! In today's blog, we thought we would highlight our daily routines.   We start the afternoon with outside time, which allows the children from Rainey, Tucker, and eventually Brown rooms to spend time playing and exploring together.   

Tablesetting

When we come inside, we wash our hands and bring our lunches to the Tucker Room.  Each day, two children set the table for their friends.  This process involves math as children calculate the correct number of chairs needed based on that day's attendance.  The rest of the group listens to stories and has conversations at this time.

Next comes lunch! This is often a highlight of our CW day!
Check out the photo on top of this CW page!

Building Big...

After lunch, a variety of experiences are offered.  This week we've been building a lot.  Here's some examples.

Charlton and Ford began working on a penguin environment.
    Ford - (Adding more blue materials) I'm making a blue river.
   Charlton - At first there were only ice animals.  We started with penguins.  Then came a snow leopard and an arctic fox.  Those were allowed.  (Here Charlton uses another math skill: classification!)

Fay used measuring, problem solving, and spatial awareness to make sure the beams for the roof would fit across her structure.
   Fay - It was easy, I just knew which blocks to use.  I left spaces for windows in the roof.

Balance and stability are also important concepts when building.
   Jack - (Upon seeing the building in the above left). It's so big!
   Ellie - (Adding smaller blocks on top of larger blocks) Don't make it too heavy or it will fall down!
   Jack - (While lining chess figures up near the building.). These can be the guards.

Whit carefully built a three-story building with a roof-top space.  When it was completed, a variety of animals came to live in this beautiful home. 

...and Building Small

Last year, Small World was a favorite building and storytelling experience.
​ Children jumped right back into it this week!

Paint Mixing

Studio experiences are also part of our time together each afternoon.  Today, we mixed paints for the atelier.

   Ford - (While squeezing the paint bottle.) It's so hard!
   Will - I only got a drop!
   Whit - I made dark blue.
   Charlton - I made dark blue, same as Whit.  Next, I'll make light blue.  
   Ford - Oh my gosh, look at the amazing purple I made.
   Will- The purple that I made turned out really good.  I mixed lots of red and lots of blue.  And I also made dark blue and light blue, but I can't remember the recipe for them!
    Isabelle - I made pink, so I needed red and white.  

Finally, Isabelle knew that pick-up was at 3:00!

​Our first two days have been fantastic!  We can't wait to see what happens next!