Tuesday, November 2nd

Happy Backwards Day! 

Did you know that this year our backwards days are on Tuesdays and Thursdays?
That means that on those days, we begin our day outside and are able to explore the outdoor classroom until 10:30am. Similar to last year, some children wish every day was a backwards day. 

Today we would like to share some work with you that has been happening recently in our outdoor space. 

Visiting the Doctor

Remy and Cate often engage in doctor play together. They discuss the role of patient and doctor as well as how to best take care of a health problem or emergency. This week, a new concept was observed in their play; using an x-ray machine to help take internal images of the problem area. When Remy had something wrong with her leg, Cate took x-ray photos to get a better idea of how to fix the problem. 

Traveling to Outer Space 

Cape and Jade have been constructing special vehicles that can help them travel.
​Often this travel takes place in outer space! Sometimes the structure created is referred to as a rocket ship, an airplane, or a saucer, but is always intended to be a mode of transportation. 

Both the picnic table and a large wooden plank have been used repeatedly in their creations. 
​Step one is to construct the the vehicle:

The plank often functions as a loading ramp so that they can load up their vehicles with necessary materials for the trip. 

Cape teaches Remy how to use the ramp for loading and unloading:

Sometimes there is a crisis that needs to be solved! 

The rocket ship is stuck. A big meteor hitted it. We can’t get it unstuck. Cape is stuck in it forever.
​We’re air driving and we need to fix it with sand and water - Jade

​Other times, space travel is boring... ​

​It's not very fun in outer space. You just have to stay in the rocket ship and read the newspaper. - Jade


​In the image to the right, Jade and Cape were reading a "newspaper" about "stinky Neptune", the planet where they decided to travel to. 

​Today's adventure drew in a larger crowd of friends who participated in the play as well. 

Other Vehicle Construction

Daniel built a train today using many large blocks and wood pieces. The train included a seat for the driver in front and more seats for people behind it. Daniel shared that he used "glue" (sand) to stick the train pieces together and that steam came out of the train too. 

Witches 

Spooky season has had an impact on our outdoor play as well.
Lily recently shared a story about a witch that visited her at her house in the night and the witch taught Lily everything she needed to know about being a witch!
​Since Lily had been taught by a "real witch", she was able to teach other friends how to be witches too. 

Lily tells the story of being visited by a witch:

She said she was a mean witch! Well she was nice to me because she’s nice to nice people. And she’s mean to mean people. You have to go to your house to make a plan. The whole trick is surprise, so in the nighttime so they don’t see. 
She just told me how to fly. Well it’s easy. You just get on. Thats the easiest part. And then the tricky part is to control your broom!

We‘re witches on brooms. - Lily
It’s time to hop on our brooms. Do you want to fly with us? - Lily
I hid my things with my magical powers because I’m a witch. -Lucas
They fly on their brooms at night time. - Cate

Caring for Babies 

Taking care of babies doesn't just happen inside the classroom, we actually first observed this interest take place while spending time outside and incorporating the animal figurines into our play. 

​This is how you hold babies.
(Gently rocks it in her arms)
It’s my baby. I just had it.
​- Frannie ​

You need to take care of them to feed them food. And we already got them toys.
​And there’s one in my tummy. - Luke

Teamwork, Collaboration, Problem Solving

In all of our work, we embrace challenges that can encourage opportunities to collaborate and problem solve together.