Photogenic Friday

April 26th, 2013

With light streaming through our Cardinal classroom windows, this morning felt fresh and bright filled with friends building upon this week's productivity in all areas. We continued our Spring inspired activities with a fun art project that used some of our left over seeds from our plantings.

Then our middle school friends stopped by to join us for the morning. The joy in the children's faces showed how much they appreciate the relationships that they have developed with our older peers.

A few minutes after their arrival we headed over to Gwen's library to read a story about a happy little chipmunk who explores a backyard. As the weather gets warmer Gwen shared with us that there are sometimes chipmunks near the entrance to Lower School and to keep an eye out to spot these furry friends.

Back in the classroom the block area was bursting with added sections of buildings, so much so we nearly ran out of blocks to use!

So they took out the Legos too.

Other friends revisited our collaborative sculpture, adding new beads and using different materials.

Friends also found a teacher or a middle school friend to read with in a comfy spot. Snack was a wonderful social experience today as children enjoyed eating together and having conversations spread throughout the classroom. Numbers were also running through our minds as the children initiated math games with each other and their middle school friends.

The rest of our morning was spent in the outdoor space soaking up the sun! Please take a walk through our day as the pictures tell the story:

Have a weekend full of warmth (hopefully in weather and spirit!).

Thursday News

April 25th, 2013

This morning was a fun day of cooperation in the classroom. The children showed a real sense of community with everyone involved in some kind of group activity. There were readers on the reading rug sharing stories, as well as geo-boards out and children involved in various activities. There were doctors taking care of any patients who came by their office and animal families on adventures. There were also clipboards out for observing and recording interesting events around the classroom, exercising those pencil grips and letter writing.

The community togetherness continued with a demonstration of just how far the class has come this school yea,r showing off the amazing building skills that have been growing and developing further since our building unit way back in the Fall. Today's buildings in the block area could impress any modern architect with their dramatic designs and daring structural composition.

A few highlights included a castle complete with striking spires and a bridge surrounding the structure that would fend off any intruders easily.

Another inspired building constructed inside the play house made use of the play house structure itself as a stabilizer for a precariously perched balancing act of a building.

The Cardinal class was called upon again today to have an extra art activity with a visiting art teacher. Today's art adventure explored lines and started out with a fun book called "The Straight Line Wonder" which told the story of a straight line who decided to try out bending and twirling instead of always staying straight, and what happens to this line after this decision. The children were engaged by the story and when they were presented with a large mural paper and markers, they experimented with different applications of simple concepts and did their own line drawings trying out lines that were straight, twisted, wavy, and much more!

After art, we had a Lower School Fire Drill and the children practiced fire safety. We followed the exit route and gathered together with the rest of lower school. 

The Cardinals have begun expressing new interests and stemming from our discussion on rocks and what else we would like to learn about, we noticed a pattern of many comments surrounding the outdoors and what lives outside. Today, we began a new language experience chart, adding ideas and questions about "Things that Live Outside" and many of the Cardinals shared about flowers, plants and things that grow. We are moving into a new spring-spirited study as our eyes and minds have been opened by the changing environment of the season. 

Enjoy the beautiful day!

Taking on Thursday

Thursday, March 14 - The Cardinal News

A Photo Walk through Thursday:

Spanish

Spanish with Alicia was an exciting introduction to the parts of the face. Through song and repetition of lyrics, we recited the names of each part of our face in Spanish. The children visually made the connection with each word as they pointed to the corresponding spot on their face. Here are the words that were added to our emerging Spanish vocabulary today:

-pelo: hair

-ojos: eyes

-orejas: ears

-nariz: nose

-boca: mouth

*You could try a game challenging your child to remember these terms by playing "Simon Says" or having them lead you in a point and name game for each part!

Center Time: The children worked cooperatively and independently in various centers during Choice Time today. Building with magnet tiles and smaller legos continues to be an area of interest where the children strengthen their fine motor skills and experiment with cause and effect. The play dough table sparked the sculpting spirit that was felt at Art with Sam yesterday. Through sensory forms of art, such as this, the children demonstrate patience and awareness as they use the dough. They are becoming aware of how their hands are affecting the dough and taking more ownership and pride in their abilities. Today, many different shaped things were formed as the children experimented with the process of rolling, patting, cutting, and attaching pieces together to represent their ideas.

After enjoying our outdoor classroom, we closed up our morning together with A Pocket for Corduroy. This familiar story tells the tale of Corduroy as he goes to the laundromat with Lisa. Through the story, a lesson is learned about listening to directions and always asking for what you need or letting your feelings be known. While reading, the Cardinals noticed a few art themes, as a painter was a main character in the story and Lisa became a sewing artist as she used fabric and thread to make a pocket for Corduroy. The children listened intently and were able to make predictions as they followed along with the reading.

Enjoy your Thursday!