March 30th, 2021

Happy Birthday, Cate!
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On Monday we celebrated our friend Cate's 4th birthday and got to meet her new stuffed animal; a bunny named Floppy!
During morning meeting she shared photos of her first birthday with us, which she celebrated in Paris. This year, she said, "I celebrated my birthday outside but not in France." After strawberries and macarons, singing the special birthday song for her together with her mom and dad,  Daniel and Jade handed Cate her hand-sewn pink birthday present. The birthday committee was very excited to finally share their beautiful work with her. 
After the celebration we enjoyed a dance party in the outdoor classroom with some of Cate's favorite songs, including "We're going on a bear hunt" and "This little light of mine". 

Remy singing "happy birthday" to Cate during snack time.

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Is it a different projector? - Lily
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​Over Spring Break the classroom has changed a little bit and the children were exploring the new sewing area.
​What did we find?

The children were instantly enthusiastic about investigating the new sewing machine further.  Together we learned about the different parts of the machine such as  the presser foot (which can be adjusted with the presser foot lifter to hold down the fabric or paper), the upper and bobbin tread, the reverse switch lever ("to sew backwards"), and the foot switch to adjust the needle speed. In the process of sewing we also had to thread needles and learned how to change needles in case the tip breaks off. 

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A few impressions from trying out the sewing machine in the classroom for the first time on card stock:
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Cate

Cate noticed how the tread is creating lines on the card stock and how you could created image with sewing as well. She then brought her paper to the message center to draw a flower on it before returning to the sewing machine. Cate then tried to "trace" her flower drawing with the needle.

Remy

Remy was mostly fascinated by using the reverse switch lever repeatedly, which created sharp zigzag lines on her paper. 

Luke

​Luke showed great interest in moving the paper around and making the needle "go super fast!" by pushing down the foot switch.

Hugh

​Bea

​Bea, at first a bit hesitant, touching and guiding the paper with only one hand and on the edge of the paper, developed great confidence quickly. After only a couple minutes she operated the sewing machine all by herself, being able to adjust the needle speed with her foot comfortably. 

Finlay

Similar to Cate's discovery, Finlay also noticed how you could create images on the paper by moving it around while sewing on it. 

It's a rainbow. Actually it's a dragon. It live under water. - Finlay