Often as we sit down to eat together, T will ask "What do we talk about?" This question alone usually brings up several topics, and it's these conversations that I so enjoy as a teacher. I see the children connecting, relating to each other in the context of shared experiences and being curious about the unfamiliar.
Our topic this week was focused on weather. When we began talking about rain, last week's disappointment about losing our outside time came up. T chimed in about having gone to a fair and how his family saw some people painting faces. "When we went back, they were gone." It was clear that even though the rain and the missed face-painting opportunity were different events, they could still produce the same feelings of sadness and disappointment we could all understand.
On Wednesday, I asked the question: "What do you like to do when it's cold?" T, V and S all agreed that they liked to make snowmen. "A carrot nose" was necessary, T and V agreed, and S chimed in that she liked "hot chocolate".
Conversations were also instructive, whether the topic was real or imagined. Lots of talking was heard as the children spontaneously began working together on the giant farm puzzle, taking stock of the pieces and figuring out how to share the space. Deep negotiations took place on the placement of long blocks for a road as T and S often like to build similar items with different ideas in mind. Later, T built a bridge so "the alligator wouldn't get them"; there was a line of animals on the bridge, which led me to ask the children if they knew which animals were first and which were last. (First is by far easier for the children to determine.) But the alligator wasn't the last scary critter to avoid this week: as V, S and J took their baby dolls to the zoo to look at the chicks, V directed them to gather in 'the farm' (really under the kitchen table), telling them "We have to hide because the dinosaurs are coming!"
Storytelling also crept into our time together; S told us a story about a goat who had moved to a new meadow to "eat new flowers and the goat was very happy". On Wednesday T brought a story about Curious George visiting a chocolate factory, and a most delicious discussion about chocolates carried on as we read.
We also found ourselves trying out a new dramatic play space, an "office" in the hallway. S and V were playing they had a baby and S announced that she needed to 'go to work'. Then she looked around for an office, but the only reasonable single-person space at the puzzle table was being used. I suggested we could move the teacher stool into the hallway and asked her what she needed to do. "Read" was the reply. I then gave her a blank book and she asked for a pencil. This seemed to do the trick and sparked the curiosity of the other children. After a few minutes of watching, T asked to try it out and S handed off the book and pencil. All the children had fun visiting this spot and 'working' by drawing lines on the paper. Between the dolls and the children pretending to be babies, we made up extra beds on the floor with pillows, rugs and blankets. The kitchen has lately been busy with food being made for the babies, so expect to see the restaurant gone next week with more baby-play props available.
We had many other great moments this week:
On Tuesday we had fun print painting. We dipped all sorts of circular props into paint; the children were deeply engaged in both the printing process and using the materials to smear the paint and mix colors on their paper.
We explored a couple of our homemade shakers to see "what do you think makes this kind of sound?" No guesses, but the answers delighted the kids--some sea salt for the quieter shaker, and a small length of necklace chain for the louder one. The chain was examined by everyone ("does it make the same sound if you just shake it?") before it was returned to the shaker.
Singing in our Loud and Quiet voices. We did this at our Wednesday gathering to giggles, especially when T suggested singing "Yankee Doodle" quietly; S wanted it reprised with "cheesy pasta" substituting for the word "macaroni". Way to invent a new song game, S!
Giggles again around the table as I read "Caps for Sale", a children's classic. If you haven't read it, please do. The tale of the peddler and the monkeys cracks kids up and makes for a great allegory of the dynamics of the parent/child relationship too.
T and J working hard in the bean bin, filling up egg cartons with little scoops.
Our carrots are starting to form the first leaves of their fluffy, ferny tops and our peas have some beautiful purple flowers on them. The vines are now far taller than any of the children. Our planter of flower seeds is now a planter of flowers.
Watery sandbox play. With all the rain, we've had to bale out the sandbox nearly every day. On Tuesday, the water was baled out and then poured back into "Lake Plumtree" with watering cans. On Wednesday, the watering became so busy that everyone needed dry pants before heading home; on Thursday the watering cans took a rest while we did some great sandcastle work and ran around the yard screaming before running into the plum tree house, just because it's so much fun.
On Thursday we took a neighborhood walk--our Gathering was so boisterous that it was our best idea to get out of doors. V and S ran through grass, shouting "We're running through a meadow!" We had several chances to see the recycling truck in action and it was impressive with all the noises, piles of boxes and big banging bins. We picked dandelions, stalked a robin and notices a squirrel. "It flew into a tree!" said V.
We'll have more adventures next week, check on our growing things and will revisit our stamping and print-painting again. Have a great holiday weekend!
