A Photographic Friday

The Cardinals joined confidently in our routines this morning and the day flowed seamlessly. We began our day with Choice Time and then participated in an engaging Spanish class, reviewing past vocabulary and reciting new terms for the parts of a family! The children's ability to remember these Spanish terms has increased as they have listened to Alicia question them in the language and now are forming their responses in Spanish.

Our children are dedicated and persistent in their fine motor work in our studio and drawing areas. They created observational drawings of natural materials and continued creating self portraits using colored pencils. Work on paper stories continues to be a strong interest as well. 

The Cardinals enjoyed the idea of going on an outdoor adventure and became excited about going for a walk. We decided to visit the playground across our campus. This was an inviting place for our children to direct their play to an area of interest to them. Swinging, climbing, imaginative games, hide and seek, digging and building all took place with the children working collaboratively.

More Friday Photos:

Dear Families and Friends,

Please enjoy your weekend,

To all of you, it is well wishes that we send!

Love,

The Cardinal Teachers

Tuesday News

April 9, 2013 - A Day full of Wonder

The Cardinals have been enjoying the experience of attending Lower School Assembly with all of the the students in Lower School.  The confidence we have observed in the children as they walk through the halls to go to the Muller auditorium and the excitment to be part of the larger school community is a true joy to see. Children have the opportunity to see siblings and friends and this feeling of being connected is such an important part of their overall school experience. This more formal gathering of children and teachers into one space where we sing together , listen to student performances and learning is a critical componet in building a sense of community. Our children welcome the mornings where we attend assembly. Today's program included: 

      Guitar Sharing with Raji and Friends

      Storytelling - 2nd Grade Students

      "State My Name" - 4th Grade Students

We also had a special impromptu visit with one of the performers, a 1st grader named Noah.  Noah is a 'graduate ' of our Earlychildhood program and he took much pride in spending a few moments talking to our Cardinal class about music.  He explained to us how he became interested in guitar when he was the same age as the Cardinals. He then took lessons, learned chords, and practiced to put together musical performances just like the one he did today. He showed us his guitar, the case that keeps it safe and the pick that he uses to play.

Children teaching children creates a world of learning that honors the gifts that we believe all of our children bring to our community. 

Stella arrived at school this morning with an apple and her Mom, Kristina suggested placing the scraps of her apple in a worm bin! Lucky for our Cardinals, the Doves are exploring worms and have their very own worm bin in their classroom. A small group from our class traveled over to visit the Doves and learned more about feeding the worms and the process that is happening inside the bin. We identified the types of food that are good for them to eat such as fruit and vegetable scraps. Cris explained that dairy and bread products are not foods that the worms can break down easily! In the bin, the food scraps and soil with the help of the worms is being broken down into a nutritious mixture for our garden in our outdoor play space.

We arrived back at the classroom for Choice Time and explored at a few centers. During this time, the Cardinal artists had the opportunity to continue their Mondrian inspired paintings for the art show. Our gallery collections are coming together and we are feeling a sense of pride and anticipation with the show getting closer!

We enjoyed our time in the outdoor play space for the remainder of the morning and worked in small groups as we decided on games and areas of interest in the inviting area.