Pajama Day!

Tuesday June 4th, 2013

Happy Pajama day!

The children came into the classroom in all their pj splendor, and found places to snuggle on the book rug, or found friends to show their fun, colorful pj's to around the classroom.

Soon it was time for Meeting for Worship, and the children set aside their lovies, grouping them on our rug so they could "have some shared silence" of their own while we walked over to the Meetinghouse with the rest of our Lower School friends. Meeting For Worship was really special today as it was our last gathering in the Meetinghouse for the school year.  Many of the 4th graders that will be moving onto to Middle School shared their feelings and sentiments about leaving Lower School and how much they loved and will miss the teachers and friends.  They all promised to visit often ! We have known several of these children since they were 3 or 4 and it is always such a special feeling to share in their milestones.

After MFW, we had rehearsal with Jason. Into the music room we headed, with all the other EC classrooms.

After an exceptional music practice, the children came back to the classroom for open choice time. During choice time we set up a special surprise for our Shannon who's birthday is today!

The Cardinals sang her Happy Birthday and presented Shannon with a card they had made for her.

Together we enjoyed  birthday cake and delicious chocolate chip cookies made by Donny and his family, on Shannon's special day.

Outdoor play was magnificent today! We could not have asked for more perfect weather to enjoy our outdoor classroom.

We had such a good time outside, it was decided we would have lunch in the outside space by our garden. When we had eaten our fill, everyone took a little extra time chasing butterflies, exploring our mud kitchen, and observing the growing plants in our garden before coming inside too cool off and rest our bodies after a busy pajama day!

Busy Wenesday

February 13, 2013

The children began the morning eager to get involved with a variety of choices in the classroom. We haven't worked on sculptures in a few days and we thought this was a good time to bring out the new items we have been collecting over the past few weeks.  Interest and self directed learning was at it's best!

The creativity continued at another back table full of markers which filled up as children came up with many wonderful stories to go with some beautiful artwork, often including the friends around them into exciting adventures, to the delight of those friends.

We paused our choice time for an early morning meeting and settled our bodies into the shared silence of meeting for worship. Wednesdays are Lower School's day for Meeting for worship and we feel our children are ready for this very mature and amazing experience and they had some very nice reflections.


After our MFW, we shared some fun new events that have happened to our friends recently. Samuel shared some pictures from his trip to Disney, Evan displayed his latest artistic sculpture, and Carlito showed his friends all of the Valentines he had brought for tomorrow to put in our Valentine's bags.

After morning meeting, we continued our productive choice time activities. Our sculptures have evolved into towering structures, buildings, and even "box people". We saved our creations and will continue to add to them. Our creative Cardinals also began decorating a thank you card for our middle school science friends who made flubber with us last week!

We were able to enjoy a long outdoor play time today and the children loved having the opportunity to run and engage in creative, imaginative role play outdoors.  The  growth in social development  amongst all of our children in the class is very exciting to observe.  The children are clearly playing in groups and the level of communication that is required to sustain this more sophisticated level of imaginative play is reflective of their developing social skills.

Wednesday News

This Wednesday...

Music Class 
Today's music class began with a special performance by the 4th graders who have begun preparing for the Lower School Winter Show. The big kids' dance was very impressive and we were sure to show our appreciation by clapping afterwards and even sharing some of our thoughts with them. Trace said, "You were really good!" Then we started our own class and the Cardinals were excited to hear that we would be learning a song to perform at the Winter Show too! Jason gave us the song as well as some fun hand motions which we will be working on from now until the show. We worked hard to do our best with the new music. We did so well that Jason asked if we would let him record us singing to be an example recording for all the other classrooms who will be learning this song! So we warmed up our best singing voices and did a great job. We were thrilled to listen to our very first Cardinals' singing recording!

Choice Time Invitations

Beading
We introduced beading today and the children were fully engaged in this fine motor activity.  Donny said" Look I put them all over it. I made mine cover the whole pipe cleaner." "I made one and Christina helped me make a butterfly" said Kate.  The children worked for extended periods of time practicing fine motor skills. The children looked at the different sizes of the beads and they especially liked looking at the different shapes of beads. We were reminded of the shape book we had been looking at and compared a few bead shapes to the pictures.  Children were curious about how may beads would fit on the pipe cleaner and they were interested in exploring ways to bend the pipe clearer to make beaded shapes.

Meeting For Worship
We gathered on the rug for Meeting For Worship this morning and the children setteled into silence with ease.  We lit a candle and listened to the story If Peace is... by Jane Baskwill. The children are learning to appreciate quiet moments together and we are all feeling a warm sense of community during this shared time together. Respect and thoughtfulness towards to each other and our Cardinal community continues to evolve.

Building
Building continues to be an interest in our classroom. The children engaged with the big wooden blocks creating an elaborate house structure today. They began adding details to set the scene, picking out different wooden tree pieces to create a front yard and back yard to the house. Magna tiles also are a strong material and support in our building study. The children are becoming more focused in creating height to the structures created with these magnetic tile blocks. This helps to strengthen their fine motor skills while also allowing the children the opportunity to identify different parts, rooms, and other pieces of a building.

Making and Manipulating Dough
Another center attracting many children was the dough center. Today, we began this activity by looking at a recipe to identify the materials and tools we would need to mix up to make this tactile mixture. The Cardinals experienced number identification and measuring as they determined how much of each ingredient and then proceeded to scoop and pour them into a large bowl. We used flour, warm water, and salt to make a moldable dough. After a few minutes of stirring and working the dough with our hands, it was ready to be used for sculpting. The children then eagerly used their palms and hands to figure out what it felt like. Children created food, animals, or even worked at making a mold of their hands as they pressed into the dough. It was interesting to see how engaging this material was and see the different ways that the children approached it in their play.

Our Morning ended with exploration of our outdoor area. The children continue to engage in each area, establishing deeper connections with friends and even branching out to introduce themselves to new friends. Today, a small group of friends from the Cardinal Class began a game of hide and seek with each other. It was a wonderful way to close our morning time together.