February 16th, 2021

Pod A

Making our Classroom Beautiful: The New Mobile
At morning meeting, teachers revealed some supplies they ordered for our new mobile.  Based on the drawings children made in our planning sessions, teachers deduced that children were most leaning towards an idea with rainbow colors and gold elements.  Our new supplies include clear ornament bulbs and gold thread.  Today, we began to gather materials of every color of the rainbow as preparation for decorating the bulbs.  Children searched the Tucker Closet, sorted materials, tore tissue paper strips, and assigned each color to a bag for safe keeping.

​Then, with help from a teacher, children put worked together to create a list of all the colors we have assembled for the decoration of the bulbs.  Andy started us off by writing "Red" and "Orange" and placing a check mark next to it.  Aida, Olivia, and Oliver followed by writing the rest of this list, sounding out each word carefully and assigning the sounds to letters.  As children get more confident with literacy, they make important associations with letters and sounds.  Today when Olivia wrote the letter R, she said, "It looks like a camera", presumably thinking about a camera set up on a tripod.  When we were sounding out the second P in "Purple", Aida said, "It sounds like Burp!"  Aida also noticed that W is like a "backwards M".  

Map of the USA
Today, we had conversations with children about the places in the United States that are the most meaningful to them.  We want to continue studying the map to research other countries, but decided it would be relevant to focus on our own country at first and find out some of the most personally special locations.  As we talked, we put our symbols on the map with tape to indicate the important places.
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Olivia: I used to go to Florida 'cause my grandpa and grandma used to live there.  (What other places are important to you?) Where Aunt Deena lives. 

(Aida wasn't sure at first, so we asked about important people in her life, such as her grandparents)
Aida: They live in Virginia.

Andy: I have two places: Texas and New Jersey. (Why is New Jersey important to you?) Because there my grandparents live. (Why is Texas important to you?) Because I want to go there.

Oliver: Washington DC.   Virginia is where my swimming class is.

Fletcher: Ocean Grove.

Dakota: Washington DC, my dad took me skiing on mountains and that’s my favorite part. I like California because I used to live there and I have SO many friends there and I’ve been making friends here. We went to Pittsburgh a couple times because that’s where my mom’s mom and dad lives.

Maren: Texas, because my cousins live there. Florida. Jackson Hole because I’m gonna go to a super fun camp. (Where does your family go to the beach?) Bethany Beach.

Grace: Florida. My grandparents live there, my dad’s mom and daddy. (Where does your cousin Ford live?) I know where they live, Nashville.

Pod B

Clay Numbers for the school birthday
   Gigi and Nora returned to the number line representing the school birthday today.  We’ve had two thorough discussions about what numbers need to be repaired and added.  We’ve made a several new clay numbers, but we still were not sure if we had all the numbers needed.  In our last conversation, Gigi suggested forming a line of numbers and using that to determine what we still needed to make.  She returned to this idea today:
   Gigi - Yeah, you write all the numbers and put checks if we have it and “x” if we don’t.
Nora began by writing the numbers in order.  Working together, the two realized that there are only a few broken and missing numbers.  After identifying that they had new clay numbers for those, they moved on to the new numbers needed to extend the number line to 24.  By using the exiting number line, the new clay numbers, and the chart Gigi developed, the children determined that the only number they were missing was a four!
   Meanwhile, in the classroom, Cannon, Lane, and Palmer were rolling clay coils in anticipation of needing to make more numerals.  Gigi and Nora returned to the classroom and worked on creating the number four.  We are thrilled to know that we can finish the required numbers before the school’s birthday on March 4th!

Outside Time
Pod B started our outside time with one of our favorite activities: races.   Cannon and Palmer added to the experience by becoming Ninja Turtles and setting up a variety of traps to be avoided (or not) while racing.  The traps were constructed from hollow blocks, wood, and hula hoops.
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   Palmer - If you get caught in a wooden trap, you get splinters.
   Cannon - (While building with hollow blocks) This is a jail dungeon and lots of vampires are in there. But we’re Ninja Turtles and we have special shoes so we don’t get stuck in the traps.
   While waiting for the traps to get set, Gigi, Lane, and Nora were making pancakes and other treats.  They invited the Ninja Turtles to try some of their goodies.
    Cannon -We just need pizzas.
    Lane - Then that’s what they’ll get.
    Cannon - (putting sand into a bucket)  This is for pizza dough. I’m just making a pizza.
    Palmer - (Joining Cannon) Yeah!  A pizza dough trap!

This and That  (slideshow)
   More than anything else, it was great to be back together after the long weekend.  Children explored pattern, counting, and measurement with cuisenaire rods.  Children painted both at the easel and at the table today.  The light table was also popular.  Lane set up a valentine party design.  Later in the morning, Cannon and Palmer made an “upside down cycle” and noticed how the light affected the color of the materials they were using.
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