Monday News

This morning the children settled back into their classroom routine. Choice time was quiet, but busy with many small groups working together in the magnet tiles and block area. After a little while, some of our second grade reader friends stopped by with books they asked to share with us. So we paused our activities and split into different groups to listen to our second grade friends as they read to us from books they had picked out just for us.

The children in both the 2nd grade class and the Cardinal class truly enjoyed and grew from this experience.  Building community and making connections is such an important goal we hold for all of our children at AFS and this time together certainly facilitates this purpose. Our 2nd graders had the opportunity to practice oral reading skills and our children aspire to someday be able to visit a younger classroom and read aloud to younger children. Children teaching children is a value that we feel is so meaningful for children of all ages.

Sculpture work continues to evolve in our Studio.  Today Evan shared at morning a robot /straw sculpture he created at home this weekend.  He described how he used straws to create the body of the robot and how he used tape to connect the straws. The children were very interested in the straw component of this project and we invited children to use straws at the studio today.  Donny used the straws to create a bed and then Kate decided she wanted to make a bed for her doll. Ideas emerging and our Studio is in motion!

When our second grade friends left us, we headed outside with our hats and gloves to enjoy some of the gloriously sunny weather. There were many different explorations happening on this bright day. In the outside building area was an elaborate house coming together, on the play structure, another classroom had brought out some large pieces of cloth which were spread over some of the structure's railings to create a fun tent that all the classes enjoyed playing under.

After a long time stretching our legs out in the fresh air, we settled back into our classroom for a story from the Rainbow Fish series. After listening quietly, we spent some time recalling themes and events from the story to make sure our memory and listening skills got a good stretch inside, like our legs had outside.