Building, Cooking, and Herb Observations!

What a Wednesday!

We began our morning checking in on our herb infused oils. We examined the jars closely and noticed some herbs had floated to the top while other pieces sank to the bottom. We did not see a drastic change in the color of the oil and are looking forward to checking back to see this process unfold!

After a very busy Choice Time, we gathered on the rug and Paula showed us the materials she had purchased for us to display our gratitude for the people in our community. Paula purchased seven boxes of Pumpkin bread and introduced us to the different measuring and mixing materials we would need for the delicious display of "Thank You" to the people who work in our school and help the Cardinal Class. We happily engaged in the cooking process creating pumpkin breads to perform our very own acts of kindness for Debbie, Crissy, Jason, Sam, Gwen, Tricia and one for our class.

We want to express our Thanks to everyone for all the help and support they provide to our school, including the teachers and the children especially during this special time of year. We wish everyone a happy Wednesday and want to remind you that there will be no school on Friday as it is Conference Day! 

Busy Tuesday

Over the past several weeks we have had wonderful conversations about kindness.  Children are thinking about acts of kindness, kind words, and thoughtful ways of showing friends that they care about each other.  Children are beginning to incorporate the words and concepts into their play with each other and are using the word  kind more often in working through problems and conflict resolution.  An example of this was overheard this morning at Choice Time when a child was upset that his tower was deliberately knocked over in the Magna Tile area. In a frustrated tone he said,   "that's not very kind that you just knocked over my Magna Tile tower." We are seeing the children begin to apply and develop skills in the area of conflict  resolution.  We have also been talking about ways that we show appreciation and kindness to others who help us everyday.  Thanksgiving holiday is a perfect time to delve deeper into these thoughts and we have had wonderful conversations about the people in our community we want to thank as well as our families.

Wyatt's mom Lauren , and Radha 's mom Subba shared an idea and activity  that they thought our children would enjoy supporting our work with the children in this area.  Their suggestion of making Herb Infused Oils stemmed from herbs they had growing in their garden.  The project included just a few steps; children smelled rosemary and thyme and decided which one they liked better and then sprinkled the herb into a glass jar.  They measured 6 ounces of olive oil and then poured the oil into the jar and sealed it tightly with a lid.  The instructions suggest leaving the oils in a sunny area for 7-10 days before using them for cooking. We placed the jars in our beautiful box window and we will observe the oils over the next few days.  Each child will work with a small journal to document their observations through drawing and words.   Our hope is that the children will be able to share the cooking oils with their families for the Thanksgiving holiday and experience the joy of expressing acts of kindness with their families.    Thank you to our families for supporting our program and our cardinal class

 

The children continued to explore their building structures they had worked on yesterday.  Today we used small wood pieces and wood glue in the Art Studio.  Many children were thrilled when they discovered that the pieces of wood that they had attached yesterday were still in place!  Several of the children wanted to add to their existing structures and certainly seemed more familiar working with these materials today having had the experiences yesterday. It was wonderful to observe the growing confidence in our children.