Friday, December 11th

Is it time for music? - Lucas

Enjoying another Friday morning sing along in the outdoor classroom.

We decided to keep some music playing while enjoying our extended outdoor time for backwards day.
We decided on a holiday music playlist! 

Children shared their enthusiasm while listening ... 

Susana has these songs in the car! - Lucas 
Sam: Which is your favorite? 
All of them! - Lucas

Mom plays this song for me at home. - Finlay 
(listening to Frosty the Snowman)

This is about Santa! It's a Christmas song. I like 'Elves in the Pool'. - Cape 

Some of us did some dancing too!

The dancing and music didn't end there.
​We brought our holiday spirit inside the classroom too!

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Working on an image for a "Holiday Card"

Last week, our friend Jen visited the Brown Room and explained to some of us that our school creates a holiday card every year. We discussed some things that come to mind when we think of "holidays" and the children quickly shifted  the conversation to focus primarily on Christmas.
Christmas makes us think of ... Presents, Christmas trees, cookies, reindeer ... 
After our conversation, some children offered to cut paper strips with the thought that these materials could be used to create a holiday image for the school's holiday card. 
Children wanted to glue their paper cuttings to a base. A plexiglass base was provided and the gluing process began.

It didn't take long before an interesting discovery was made by our friend Hugh. Hugh noticed that he could "draw" with the glue on the plexiglass and began to use the glue to create a reindeer. After expressing concern that they glue would dry (and this would change the image he created), Hugh was offered sand to add to his glue drawings so that his work would become more visible. He continued working on his holiday scene today and was also joined by his friend, Bea. 

This deer is perfect. It's a baby deer. - Hugh
Hugh uses the glue to "draw" a baby reindeer. ​

Bea decides to add "snow piles" and "snowflakes" to the scene using glue and sand. 

It was also observed that the glue on top of the plexiglass on it's own creates an "icy" appearance. 

I make ice with glue because glue is very slippery. - Hugh 

This is a really good winter. There is snow all over the place! - Hugh
Maybe this project will continue next week, or maybe it's now completed.
​ Either way, we discovered a new way of expressing ourselves throughout the process! 

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Christmas in Germany 

​A globe was sitting on the studio table when we arrived inside and prepared to have snack. We wanted to have a more in depth discussion about where Ines will be when she's not here at school with us next week. 

Where are we currently? Where is Ines traveling?
Here are some highlights from today's group meeting / conversation:

Is this where we are? (Hugh)
*Noticing an area already marked on the globe*

Ines explained that the blue circle placed on the map shows us Washington D.C.

I live in ... my family live in ... THERE! (Finlay)

Ines then explained how she will be traveling from Washington D.C. to Germany using the globe as a visual tool and told the children how long the travel would take. 

9 Hours? That's like 50 hours! (Finlay)
Do you know what Germany have? Nutcrackers! My mom told me. (Finlay)

Sometimes when you fly in the night you kinda sleep in the airplane because you're tired. (Hugh)
I'm gonna miss you. (Hugh)

Do you know who gonna have Christmas in Germany? You! (Finlay speaking to Ines)

After, Bea sums up the whole conversation for us using the globe. 
​

We will miss you, Ines, but we know it's not goodbye for long!

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Our favorite Friday moments

To wrap up our school day, we asked the children to think about the moments they enjoyed most throughout their day and to share those with us.
​We explained that we would add their thoughts to the blog for parents to read. 

Going home! (Finlay) 
*We tried not to be too offended by this one*
I love to go outside. I play catch. (Finlay)

I liked putting the sand on the glue. (Bea)

Putting sand on the glue too. To make snow. Because for my holiday card. (Hugh)

I like shoveling sand out there. Outside on your guys playground. (Cape)

I like tickle! (Lucas)
​*Lucas was tickled by both friends and teachers today which led to lots of giggles outside*

It's snack time. Cause its gonna make me me hungry. (Michael)

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Want to know what Ines and Sam's favorite part of today was?

This was definitely one of them ...