Stupendous Thursday!

Thursday June 6th, 2013

Our classroom had more visitors today than we have had all year! Everyone brought a snuggly friend with them to school and our classroom was filled with happy friends sharing their favorite lovies with one another.

After morning meeting, we began our day with another classroom visitor. Lilly had brought with her not only her gigantic elephant lovey, but her mom, Alix, as well! Alix is a type of scientist called a geologist, and she brought with her a fun activity to share with the children some of her knowledge. She showed everyone some of the tools a geologist might need including a tool called a hand lens which is a tiny magnifying glass which she uses to look at rocks up close. Alix not only studies rocks found here on earth, but also what can be found on other planets. She brought a book with her to share with the children about the moon, and we talked about how we study other planets in our solar system. She even showed us a picture of Mars that she herself took by sending a message from her computer to a rover that was visiting the planet!

The experiment she brought to share with us looked at how craters are created. Alix explained that there are many many rocks in space that come from other planets, sometimes from craters making other craters, or from when our solar system was formed. These rocks sometimes run into planets or moons, and this makes craters. Alix brought an activity with flour covered in a layer of green sand. Taking turns, everyone was allowed to choose a ball of different sizes and weights and dropped them into the sand and flour as if they were rocks hitting a planet out of space. After dropping the "space rocks" the children discussed what they observed with Alix.

                                                                       

Our scientific Thursday continued with a visit to our middle school friends in Violet's mom, Kristin's science class.  We enjoyed the wonderful invitation from the Middle School to experience volcanic eruptions. They walked us through this hands-on process and interacted beautifully with the children as chemical reactions were created mixing together baking soda, vinegar and food coloring. The Middle School Science class even sculpted their very own volcanoes using modeling dough and shared with us their idea of giving them to our class as gifts so the Cardinals can try out this new experiment at home. Look for the volcanoes and a letter coming from the our Middle School friends in days ahead!                                                                  

Tomorrow is our Spring Concert - "I Dream A World of Blue". We will be having a full rehearsal with the lower school tomorrow morning and the performance and art exhibit will take place in the afternoon. Please see below for details:

I Dream A World Of Blue
An AFS Early Childhood and Lower School Spring Program

Friday, June 7, 2013
1:30 p.m.
Abington Friends School Muller Auditorium

~ Spring Program Performance Attire ~
All lower school students should dress in black shirts and long, black pants.  Students are welcome to add a blue accessory as a way to connect to our program theme (a blue bowtie, blue hair accessory, a blue scarf, etc.)  We encourage students to be creative with this choice!  Students are welcome to bring their concert attire clothing to school onThursday, June 6, 2013.  All students will be given the opportunity to change at schoolon Friday morning prior to the performance.  
Please note that all students will be involved in movement activities on stage and should wear pants and comfortable shoes (no heels, sandals or flip flops please).
We look forward to celebrating our accomplishments with you on Friday, June 7th in the AFS Muller Auditorium beginning at 1:30 p.m.

Thank you for all the support and help that the Cardinal Families have provided us this year. We look forward to the next few days and the special events that will be taking place. 

Sturdy Structures

Budding Builders

The Cardinals enjoyed a visit from Carlito's Mom and Dad, Carlos and Marcia. Carlos is a builder who has a vast knowledge of working with wood, various tools, and other materials as he constructs houses and performs carpentry tasks. We welcomed Carlos' mom and dad and gathered on the rug as Carlos spoke about his job. He continued to spark our interest by showing us materials that he uses such as wood, wood glue, tape, nails, screws, hammers, and even power tools that require batteries and electricity to work. He showed us how he is able to attach wood pieces together using a combination of materials. He performed many demonstrations and set up four different experiments of attaching two pieces of wood together including to create stable structures that would last: 1. Glue and Tape, 2. Glue and Screw, 3. Glue and Nail, and 4. Glue and Pipe Clamp. He explained to us that we can check on these structures to measure their stability. After becoming more familiar with the routines, techniques and items involved in building and construction, each Cardinal received a pair of safety goggles an was sure to cover their eyes with this other important tool. Next, three centers were set up, one with wood and glue, one with hammers, nails and screws and one with power tools, hammers and screws. The children were invited to visit the centers to begin construction and exploring how to create structures with the assistance of Carlito's Mom, Dad and the teachers. Beautiful and elaborate structures were made as the children showed dedication, patience and persistence. Their impressive logic and reasoning shined through as they worked through problems with spacial relationships between different sized and shaped pieces and how to best fit them together. This was a strong community building morning where the Cardinals fully engaged with materials, teachers, families as they learned the roles and duties that a Carpenter or Construction Worker might have.

It's Our Turn...

A brief fire drill couldn't hold us back. We showed tremendous accountability and awareness as we lined up at the sound of the signal and followed the teachers outside to practice this important safety procedure in case of emergency. After a group count and safety check of the school, the Cardinals returned inside to continue  their work in the building centers. As an extension of our building, we invited Sam to visit our classroom for Art today. She arrived in our classroom, assisting us with building, attaching and figuring out how we wanted to create different structures. We loved working with the different items today and each shared some thoughts:

Alexander: "I liked building my boat. I used a little piece of wood and one big piece."

Carlos: "I built a surf board man with no hands and no head."

Chelsea: "I was screwing and I put glue with the wood."

Donny: "I liked watching Carlito's dad build."

Evan: "I liked the tools. I liked spending time with them and getting to say goodbye."

Hannah: "I like to build. I like to hammer."

Jacob: "I loved that we got to build with them and I love how my structure was made out of wood. I glued some parts and nailed some parts."

Kendall: "I liked when I was making the wood stick together."

Jayden: "I liked to get the drills and the hammer."

Kate: "I liked when they helped us build. Shannon helped me put the tape on."

Lilly: "I liked him drilling with us."

Radha: "I love to build with sticks. I made a boat. I liked the hammers."

Samuel: "I learned how to make a house."

Stella: "I loved that he played with me. He helped me drill and glue."

Trace: "I liked hammering."

Violet: "I loved hammering. She put a very small nail in and let me finish it up."

Wyatt: "I liked gluing the different parts on the wood and putting tape on it."

Thank you with all our hearts to Carlos and Marcia for sharing their time and knowledge with us. We enjoyed our building and construction experiences together and have developed deeper and meaningful connections with our work and what we can do with our hands! This was a great way to challenge our minds and bodies!