Here is another discussion from today, Halloween logistics: At snack, Melanie asked the children who was going trick or treating. Ada: I’m going on the prowl. Brooke: What is that? Ada: You knock on somebody’s door and you say trick or treat and they give you some candy and if they don’t give you some candy you play a trick on them. Ada (to Grace who is sitting beside her): You knock on somebody’s door and say trick or treat and they open the door and give you some candy and if they don’t give you candy you play a trick on them. Grace: No, if you don’t get candy you go home. Ada: No, that is not what you do. You knock on the door and say trick or treat and (if) they don’t give you candy, play a trick on them. Grace : No, you knock the door, you open the door and then you get candy! Ada: And if they don’t give you candy, you play a trick on them. Grace: Yeah. At snack, we also showed the kids the Halloween gifts from Ada. Thanks Ada! (Friends who don't come to school on Wednesday will get their's tomorrow)
This morning, Melanie and Jen took a small group of children to explore light, shadow and color: In the classroom there was collage and crane play: Have fun trick-o-treating!
0 Comments
Evelyn's actual birthday is Monday but we celebrated today so that her grandmothers, who are both in town, could partake in the fun! Evelyn's mom, Lizanne, and her dad, Joe, also came. A fun start to our Friday! 
Wolf, Ellie and Oliver worked on Evelyn's birthday committee. She requested jewels and they delivered!
Afterward, Evelyn completed her candle ceremony by walking around the candle 3 times and blowing it out. We finished by singing her happy birthday. Later, at snack time, everyone enjoyed eating a mini cupcake, and we sang to her again.
Thanks to Evelyn's family for celebrating with us today. Happy birthday Evelyn!
Light, Shadow, and a Few Rainbows... Lately, our class has been exploring light and shadow using the projector. The children are learning and observing as the objects on the top of the projector are manipulated. Some concepts that are developing include:
We continue to familiarize ourselves with the school... When we take trips to the bathroom, we are often enamored by these clay ducks made by children from KW last year.
Ending our day with some of our favorite outdoor activities...
We started our day with the first all school chapel. We sang songs and read a book about family together. The Brown Room friends were enthralled with the candle lighting/snuffing and the bell ringing!
But the end of the day was also exciting and offered a new experience! While we were outside, we noticed that the crane was unloading large, steel beams from a flatbed truck. Thus, we asked the children if they would be interested in watching the crane "in action" from out in front of the school. Their interest was piqued. After a brief discussion about safety, we exited through the gate and sat on the front steps to watch.
James came over from the site and talked with us about what they were doing and answered some of our questions. We shared with him how we watch the crane from the classroom and wanted to see it in action.
We learned about Ronnie, the crane driver, and waved to him way up in his perch. He saw us waving and waved back! Ronnie climbs a large ladder to get up there and stays there all day, only coming down for lunch.
Though we were only out there for about 10 minutes, it was a great way to extend our understanding and thinking about the crane and the construction site. Additionally, it provided an opportunity for us to begin building a relationship in the community. We were excited that the opportunity presented itself! Today we celebrated Lane's school birthday! Her mom and dad (Marguerite and William) came to join us! OH - and cookie monster too.
This morning the children were very busy outside! Cannon suggested using the bubbles so we got out the wands and the bubble mix. Many of the children explored making bubbles.
Recently there has been a growing interest in the bird house. The children often ask a teacher to get it down from the tree so that they can inspect and explore it. Olivia brought some play doh to school. She put it in the birdhouse and soon a group of children were trying to figure out how to get it out. The children tested theories: shaking it, using a shovel, inserting a twig:
Problem solving occurs naturally during play. The children also went in two small groups to preview the book fair books. Towards the end of snack Wolf started a conversation with the friends that were still eating: Wolf: I have pumpkins at my home. Maren: I got pumpkins at the pumpkin patch with mommy and daddy and grandpa and grandma. Ada: I got mine at the grocery store with mommy. Melanie: What about you Cannon? Cannon: Three. Outside. Evelyn: One, two, three. Ellie: I'm going to the pumpkin patch with mommy and dad. It's at a church. We also played in the classroom! Another GREAT day in the Brown Room!!! Have a wonderful weekend!!!
We went outside to enjoy the chilly weather and bright sunshine...
As dedicated educators we are intentional with the provocations that we provide to spark the children's play and learning. But, there are times when we get excited about a provocation and all the potential it holds - only to realize that our plans and hypotheses don't match the children's reality: their needs, their vision, their interests. Today was one of those days. To continue our work around families and relationships we decided to revisit projecting the family photos (which some children had experienced on Friday). However, this time we used the shadow screen down in Blake Hall. We thought the children would play with their shadows and be inspired by the large space to interact with the projections of their family photos. But here's what happened:
Eventually we moved on and began the slideshow of the family photos. There were moments of interest as they looked at the photos and named who they saw. And a couple of children interacted with what they saw: Overall, what we thought might happen and what did happen, ended up being rather different. We used this information to adjust the provocation for the second group of children. We shifted the focus to be simply about the shadow screen. The second group was more engaged with the concept of shadows: Though today didn't go quite as we had anticipated, we will learn from the experience. By revisiting the video and photo documentation we can think about potential next steps and/or new areas of interest. Below are some photos of our time in the classroom and outside:
If anyone needs a makeup consultation, Lane is your gal! She walks us through the process and then guides Ada. Who knows, she might be the next makeup mogul à la Kylie Jenner or Bobbi Brown!
Painting Our Loved Ones At morning meeting, we asked children to tell us if they have a special friend. They responded by mostly mentioning sisters, brothers, and cousins. Our challenge in the studio was to paint some of these special people in our lives.
After second meeting, we usually go outside. What a beautiful day we had today!
As we continue pretending the climbing structure is a castle for princesses, Lane contributes this pipe: "Here's the friendly dragon. He's my pet. His name is Orca."
|
Archives
June 2021
|
RSS Feed