Fall is here!

Noticing Changes in our Environment

While in the outdoor classroom last week, Ford made an observation about the sun in the sky and trees:
"I see something (the sun through the trees). No leaves!"
This observation led to a conversation about the leaves on the ground in the outdoor classroom and the changes that we are starting to see in our environment. Coupled with the children's interest in exploring the environment at St. John's even more, we explored our neighborhood by taking nature walks on Monday and Wednesday.

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Nature Walks in the Neighborhood

During our nature walks, children collected natural materials. Each child had their own collection bag that they carried with them throughout our exploration of the neighborhood around St. Johns's. On Monday, we looks for all kinds of natural materials. Children collected leaves, twigs, bark, rocks, shells and pebbles galore. On Wednesday, we had a more focused agenda, collecting items of wood to be used by our next birthday committee. 

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Sorting Leaves

Sorting our collection together back in the Brown Room.

"This one is a red one." -Fay

"The brown goes with brown." -Charlton

"Sorting rocks." -Ramsey

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Creating Thanksgiving Table Scapes: Printing On Clay With Natural Materials

To introduce the children to the task at hand, creating decorations for our Thanksgiving Feast, Elena and Karen shared some of their families' Thanksgiving traditions. Elena shared how her family has a big meal of all of their favorite seasonal foods, while Karen shared that her family has a big game of football to play before sitting down to dinner together. Children found slabs of clay and sorted natural materials in the studio as a provocation.

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Emma: I doing teeny tiny this. What happened? (after pulling the leaf back out of the clay). Leaf! Pressing down. What happened? Pressing down. This and this! Clay!

Ellie: Rolling. Rolling. More shell. Me have that pine cone (then rolling the magnolia seed pod on the clay slab).
​Isabelle: Me have some. A shell (commenting on a shell that Emma had chosen to use).
Mimi: Tiny piece. Tiny piece.

Louisa: A leaf. A ginkgo. Ewwwww! Pointy! (describing the magnolia see pod). ​​​​​​
Bailee: Ah! Ah! (Bailee laughs) A-ha!

Fay: Now I wanna get a big one. I’m making it again. I’m doing this. I’m making holes everywhere. A big howl. I’m making lines. I’m going to put it right here. Another one! They’re the same! (noticing two prints made with the same shell were the same)

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