The Pinata is quite colorful!

A week of winter fun and crafts. The children are very interested in the fate of the animals as it gets cold outside, and we have enjoyed many books and songs about hibernation, migration, and adaptations. Our favorite thus far was The Big Snow, which had a lot of words but gentle language and beautiful illustrations.

As you know by the amount of snipped paper at your house, we really like cutting and snipping snowflakes. The children have decorated our windows with their creations, and each day there are at least three requests for scissors or scotch tape.

The hollow blocks have been traded for unit blocks, and the children continue to practice their cooperative play skills in building roads and skyscrapers.

We have "rules" on the block rug : if someone asks you need to invite them in. If they need a block that you have you need to help them find what they need. We try to "ask" rather than "tell" our friends what to do, and if we want to play alone there are many places within the room where we can be alone. The "pow-wows" (discussions) that we've had about blocks have shown us that the children can be very diplomatic and thoughtful when faced with the challenge of group cooperation.

Words We've Heard:

"Can you show me how to make a human? I don't know how"..."Well, first you make a face and decide if it's a boy or a girl. then you either draw clothes or a dress."

Until Next Time:

Michele

Our room is changing it's look with the season as the weather changes. We are painting with white and glitter and looking at the shapes of snowflakes. Our books reflect our interest in the change of the season, as we're reading about animals in winter that hibernate, migrate, and adapt to the cold weather.

The pinata has a great beginning, and we will add layers to it as the days progress.

Our new message board generated a lot of interest!

Legends and Harvest Feast to come.....

baking with Ann

self portraits

"magic cutting"

a story with Grandpa Lou

Susan writes with us

sending a greeting around a "council fire"

It turns out that you can fit everyone in a block structure with a lot of laughter and a smiling face.

This week was an eventful one of baking, writing, and joining in with the crowd. The children explored the hollow blocks as a group this week and were very happy to have everyone join in.

We practiced our cutting skills and wrote with Susan, and had a guest reader this week, Grandpa Lou. "Legends" and stories continue to be of great interest, especially hearing the consequences of the animal's actions and words.

Until Next Time,

Michele

Legends and Lights

We had a few versions of a council "fire" this week and told stories and sang songs together.

The children composed a legend which we wrote down. They passed a "story shaker" as they added to the legend. They had so many ideas that we will have to write another one!

This week was also all about play and music. We received a donation of some new musical instruments which needed to be a choice!
We have been practicing songs for our upcoming Harvest Feast (please see sign up at door).

words we've heard:

"oh, that looks jazzy"

"we're worker princesses"

"don't forget your napkin manners!"

"are musical instruments a choice?"

"want to be in my play?"

Until Next Time,

Michele

VOTING!

Fitness Monopoly




We had a guest reader this week! Thankyou!

The Fire Station

We had a great November week of "fitness monopoly" with Darcy, a field trip to the Fire Station, and our big story this week, which was voting.

The children were very serious in their responsibility to practice vote for a candidate for president, and we discussed our options, filled out our ballots, and walked to James' room to deposit our ballots in the ballot box one by one. Their was a line at the polling booth, but the children waited patiently for their turn. When their vote was deposited, James said to them "Congratulations, you are a voter." Being a voter engendered a lot of discussion about being a good citizen of the classroom, responsibility, rights, and respect for other's choices.

We painted with purple and printed purple vegetables and were introduced to "legends" and a few songs about the Harvest and saying Thankyou to the Earth. The children are making shakers with egg cartons that will be very fancy when they are done.

We wrote a book about our Fire Station trip, and by popular vote the trucks were the "favorite part".

Until Next Time,

Michele