Monday

April 29th, 2013

This morning the children came to school determined not to let the grey drizzle that was happening outside dampen their enthusiasm for learning. The children wrote journal entries about their weekends and filled the pages with colorful depictions of their thoughts.

They also worked on some longterm projects like self portraits in the art studio, and our wire basket sculpture which has somehow become even more colorful!

After a busy early morning choice time, the whole class came together for a morning meeting. In meeting our friend Xander shared with us a book called Ben Franklin and the Magic Squares. Xander was excited to share this book with the class and we enjoyed reading it together and learning about this very famous man.

Then we talked about the month we are in right now, April. We discussed how we are at the end of this month and that soon we will be in a completely new month of May. With this in mind, we thought about beginning a new study based on things we as a class are interested in right now. And so it is with plenty of excitement that we begin looking at how April showers might bring May flowers!

Our wonderful science teacher heard of our interest and invited us to her resource room for a special science class to look more closely at flower. She was amazed at what the Cardinals already knew and showed us a model and diagram of a flower so we could start to identify the different parts. The Cardinals were very interested in the pollination process and how this helps in the formation of new flowers. After our discussion, Roseanne invited us to explore the Science Room and the Cardinals immediately looked at books, began asking questions about the tanks and animals inside and examined some starter plants created by another class. During this free time, great questions were asked and the Cardinals displayed their wealth of knowledge and how curious they are in our environment and the living things that are a part of it.

We returned to our classroom to finish up our choice time work before lunch. Around lunch time the children felt they'd like to stretch their legs before sitting down to eat so we walked to the front of the Lower School as a group and escorted our half day friends out, waving to them as they walked to their cars. At the front door we ran into the half day friends from the Owl classroom who had just finished reading a book about a young mouse who wants to join her school chorus. We had never heard of this book, so the Owls let us borrow it to read before lunch. After reading the story, we talked about what a chorus is and how someone can learn how to sing for a chorus and Christina shared with us that she has been teaching voice lessons this past week to kids who want to learn to sing, like the main character in the story. The Cardinals were interested in the singing process so we did a quick singing lesson explaining what some of the exercises a vocal student might practice that can help someone learn how to warm up their voices for singing experiences like what happen in the story.

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!).

Thinking back on Thursday...

As the Cardinals entered our classroom this morning, they quickly began following the Morning routine by participating in our daily emerging literacy activities. This includes signing in, reading and casting their vote for question of the day, and working in their journals. The cold weather inspired our journal writing today, as the children enthusiastically drew a picture in response to the question, "What do you like to do when it is cold outside?" The children dictated various stories that illustrated their home experiences. The work of the children in their journals is growing in detail as they are drawing faces and structures, depicting the setting and characters of their stories. Their verbal dictations clearly connect to the specific shapes and colors seen in their work.

Our morning continued and flowed to our meeting together which began with the sharing of our "cold weather" stories. This acknowledges the work of the children and allows them to feel a sense of accomplishment and pride as their work is read aloud to the larger group. This sense of acknowledgement and recognition continued as Kate brought in a plastic dinosaur and was very interested in sharing it with her friends during Morning Meeting. Throughout our day, learning experiences often arise such as this, that may be unexpected. We used the dinosaur, "Don" as a tool to continue our study of sculptures. "How?", you may ask! The teachers began by discussing a step in the sculpting process that artists may go through. We talked about observation and identifying a thing or a "model" that we may want to make a sculpture of. This led us back to "Don", as we used him as a model for sculpting. With the help of the Cardinals identifying the different parts and shapes of Don, the teacher molded and shaped a dinosaur sculpture. Following Morning Meeting, many Cardinals tried out this process using wooden cars and blocks as models for sculpting at the play dough center. 

The children took in the fresh, crisp air by running, jumping, and climbing in our outdoor play space. After strengthening our large motor muscles, we warmed up inside with a shared read aloud on the rug. Shannon introduced, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by John Scieszka and Lane Smith. This story changes the point of view with the Big Bad Wolf telling his side, defending  himself with the explanation of "a bad cold" which led to sneezing the houses down. This story led to a meaningful discussion of right and wrong, demonstrating an emerging understanding of ethics among the children. After the story, the teacher posed the question, "Do you think the wolf was really a big bad wolf or not?" The answers show the higher order thinking process that the Cardinals went through to determine their answer. Some responses included, "He was a nice wolf because he didn't mean to do that.", "I think he was kind of nice and kind of mean because he was making the cake for his grand mom but he still ate the pigs.", "A bad wolf because he sneezed so hard and the houses fell down.", "A nice wolf because he was trying to get sugar from the pigs for his granny.", and "He was a nice wolf because he didn't mean to do that." The story posed a different perspective to a familiar story which challenged the children to also look at it in a new way. 

The morning quickly came to a close with children exploring our large space in our downstairs common area, beading on our collaborative art sculpture, painting at the easel, cutting shapes, and participating in dramatic play!