All Things Autumn

“Oh, I’m as happy as a big sunflower

  That nods and bends in the breezes

  And my heart is as light as the wind that blows

  The leaves from off the trees-es”

In a week where we have been celebrating all things autumn, this movement song seemed to sum up the fun we’ve been having at school. On Tuesday, we took a walk around the block, gathering leaves of all colors, admiring the tall cornstalks in a neighbor’s garden and marveling at the fat spiders and their enormous webs, hanging from trees and strewn through our backyard as well, where we returned to pick the golden raspberries and blueberries for our snack. Of course, we had to read Robert McCloskey’s classic, “Blueberries for Sal”, and this story of prompted B to ask repeatedly, “Where’s the mom?” Quite a legitimate concern for a child…

Wednesday, too, found us on a short walk, this time on a different block. The main attraction on this venture was a fallen apple that had been claimed by a colony of sugar ants. V pulled back the grass at the edge of the sidewalk to expose the swarming little workers, taking invisible bits of apple back to their home under the ground. V was impressed that the ants carried their food back and forth in their mouths. Returning to finish our day outdoors, B played with sidewalk chalk and V made sandcastles, inviting B to stomp them down.

Other autumn-related activities have been keeping us busy and happy: we’ve been singing about gray squirrels swishing their bushy tails, leaves and nuts waiting for the cooler days of autumn to fall down to us, and of Itsy-Bitsy Spiders. At Gathering, and at a few meals, we have enjoyed the light of a ‘corncob’ candle made of beeswax—V declared that “the candle smells like honey!” On Thursday, we had our snack picnic-style on a blanket in the kitchen, enjoying apples and popcorn and talked about warm and cozy things. What’s cozy? B says “a blanket”; V says that sheets and a soft teddy bear make her feel warm and snug. Indoors, we played with seed pod shakers from a tree, and outdoors, we used tweezers to pull sunflower seeds from a huge sunflower head.

Don’t you just love fall? Keep bringing those leaves, seedpods and other treasures…

Here are some other moments from our week, which was a girls-only week as T was out of town. We are looking forward to welcoming him back next Tuesday!

V and B played with our wooden animals and a couple of dollhouse dolls, which were a Big Sister and a Little Sister. (The dolls were assigned to me—“You be them” said V.) I asked them to make up stories about the Dog and the Beaver (V’s animals) and the Duck, Gray Bird, Squirrel and Cat (B’s) which we then acted out with our toys. Our stories centered on the animals hiding under baskets and the Sisters finding them.

Lots of art: large easel paintings, print painting on paper with corks and lids, and using watercolor pencils on soaked-watercolor paper umbrellas. We also had our usual playdough time, where V and I made “beetles” to feed the hungry bird in our cuckoo clock. Artistic and exploratory arrangements were made on trays as we played with pattern blocks during a storytime too.

Dollhouse play was a big hit. The children assembled the dollhouse with pegs, then put furniture in the various rooms. B and V had their dollies visiting the bathroom to go potty and wash their hands repeatedly. (The dollhouse toilet is one of the most continuously fascinating and attractive pieces of furniture, I’ve noticed.) At one point, B had all the dollies in the bathroom (6 of them!), showering, using the toilet and washing hands…she even added chairs into the bathroom to accommodate her crew of characters! Then several dollies played “Ring Around the Rosy” together.

V used blocks in random arrangements to create “a skating project for boys and girls”. Interestingly—and appropriately—she used only the curved and angled blocks for this project, leaving the rectangular and square blocks on the shelf.

Sometimes, the children’s questions unfold to great moments. Reading “First the Egg”, V wondered about the tadpole which becomes a frog. This led to our reading a book about frog development from “frogspawn” (egg clusters) to the mature frog. Then we brought out our frog “teacher puzzle” to examine frogs in a different way, labeling the parts of their bodies (fore and hind legs, etc.) and seeing how the smaller legs are in front while those large and powerful jumping legs are in back.

There’s been a continuing interest in lacing activities, so we had fun making up a story with our lacing tree, then stringing the leaves and animal ‘beads’ for the tree into a long strand.

Thursday we got very silly washing the paint from the big school table with bubbles, and then driving our cars through the suds to make tracks. Big fun!

The rice bin is still Ice Cream Central, and B offered us ‘chocolate ice cream’ while V made ‘pink ice cream’. We’ll be offering water play next week, so you might find wet clothes sent home in your child’s backpack!


I’m so looking forward to next week. Have a great weekend, and enjoy the gorgeous signs of autumn!

Trees!

Regretfully, back-to-school is the beginning of Virus Season, and we were closed for two days due to family illnesses. Please know that we are recovering and school will reconvene next Tuesday. Tuition accounts will be credited for those days we were closed.

We are so fortunate to live in Portland, where trees are everywhere. I had invited the children to bring a leaf to share from their neighborhood, and on Tuesday morning at Gathering, we had fun examining them. T brought a leaf from a bamboo plant in his backyard; B's was from "a walk", and I shared a brightly colored one from a sweet gum tree. We noticed the different colors and shapes, then had fun building a tree puzzle which featured the different parts of the tree--the roots, trunk, branches and foliage--as separate pieces of their own. We helped to take it apart and build it together; this is part of our new set of "Teacher Puzzles"*.

In keeping with our discussion, we moved over to the table to do some painting of paper leaves. Holding a small paintbrush can be work, and the children all worked differently. Some mixed colors; some painted just a bit while others used the entire space. I let the children work as they choose on these activities, for as long as they choose, and it shows in how different each child's work looks.

Popcorn was a big hit at snacktime! T hung out in the kitchen to hear the kernels popping in the pan.

Playdough time always seems to gather the children right away. Today, there were lots of different activities going on. B spent most of her time cutting the playdough with scissors, right from the huge piece I'd given her; she'd cut off little bits and put them in the cups of a palate and we'd count them from time to time. V and T were working mostly on forming balls of playdough, and T invented a flicking game in which little balls of dough were aimed at a hole in a container. "SCORE!"

Rice play was turned into 'making ice cream--cookie dough ice cream' by T. B and V played in the housekeeping for a while, V dressing up and B making food and taking care of babies. Later, T and V built towers with the boxy stacking blocks, loading up nuts and stones into them.

At storytime we read a Henry and Mudge book that T had brought to share and the children sat working on lacing activites as I read; we had beads and big buttons available. This was very satisfying for everyone, and I enjoyed the side chatter as the children offered things to each other. "You want the purple button? Here." was the gist of the little conversations back and forth.

Outdoors, we went on a spider hunt--Huge Spiders!-- to find the webs and remove them before descending on the raspberry and blueberry bushes. The children ate most everything they picked, and some quality time was spent in the sandbox as well. Lots of digging!

I wanted to add a note about your children's lunch boxes and messy faces. When they arrive home, you might wonder at the disarray. Along with other areas of self-help that we develop at school, I am allowing them repack their lunchboxes at the end of lunch without a lot of direction and only assisting if asked. Your children need to be able to practice these things without micromanagment on my end, and this is something that other preschools support as well. If you are feeling challenged by a messy lunchbox, please come talk to me about options for containers, etc. that will encourage your child to do more of this themselves. Messy faces are par for the course as well, and while I do ask the children to use their napkins, they might have other ideas or may not quite 'get' the smears of food on their face. The point of it all is that I am giving your children the chance to do things on their own, and sometimes what's important to us (clean faces) isn't significant to them. Rest assured, if there is a food that does cause rashes, such as cinnamon or tomato sauce, I will ask them to follow up on their cleanup!

I'm looking forward to next week-- I was disappointed to have to cut our time short, as I have some very fun lesson plans laid out that I'm excited about. Let's hope all of your families are healthy too, and I'll see you then!


*"Teacher Puzzles" are Montessori puzzles which teach the nomenclature and assemblage of a variety of living things. Because the puzzles have very small, snug pieces, we work with them as a supervised activity. This also augments the practice of labeling the parts and discussion of the function of the individual parts. These puzzles cover a range of plants, insects, mammals, and fish and birds. And, of course, a child!

Supporting Scissors Work

Every day at preschool, children are offered a variety of opportunities to hone their fine-motor skills. Using lacing cards, eyedroppers for dripping color, peeling small stickers off paper, constructing puzzles with small pieces--all of these activites help to increase their manual dexerity, which supports the development of their self-help skills, such as using zippers, buttons and snaps, and eventually tying their shoes. Add to this the creative expression of cutting paper into strips, zigzags, and other small pieces--when children cut up paper, they will often direct our attention to a small pile of scraps, instructing us to "look at what I made". It's easy to see why scissors work is a great way to help our children develop essential skills in a potentially creative way.

Here are some tips for making your child's scissors work time fun for them and comfortable for you:

Setting the Stage: Plan ahead to sit with your child while they work, and understand that a child who is very engaged in scissors work may sit for 20 minutes or more. Find an easy-to-clean place where dropped paper scraps won't be trouble to clean up, and know that as your child becomes more adept with the scissors, they will be able to focus more on keeping their work over the table. For now, however, their focus will be on manipulating the scissors and paper, which will take nearly all of their concentration, so leave the television off and keep distractions ot a minimum.

Considering Which Kind of Scissors to Use: Know, first of all, that even scissors labeled "safety scissors" can cut flesh. The only kinds that can't are suitable only for playdough; generally, the plastic-blade safety scissors can only cut construction paper, and not very efficiently; this product usually provides more ripping than cutting. That said, you do have two choices: providing coils of playdough for your child to practice cutting with the blunt scissors, or using safety scissors with appropriate materials.

Create Clear Guidelines and Expectations: Just as adults need to learn safety precautions for their tools,  children need much guidance in scissors safety. Every time you sit down with your child, be clear which materials are for cutting and which aren't. Children using scissors must be sitting down in a chair, so make sure all your materials are at the table before starting. Children should be taught the safe ways of holding scissors for work (with the correct fingers in the holes) and for carrying/passing scissors to others (holding blades and presenting handles to the other person). Note: if you must remove scissors from a child's hand, don't grab the blades to do this. You can be badly cut. Trust me on this--I know this from personal experience!

Not All Paper Is Created Equal for this Task: Young children often need their paper selections tailored to their level of skill. The size and thickness of the paper do matter; generally, children can cut things between tissue/crepe paper and cardstock, and the thicker the paper is, the larger the paper can be. Avoid thicker papers like cardboard and tagboard, which can 'trap' scissors; instead, offer full or half sheets of cardstock, standard-weight printer paper, and similar sizes of gift wrap or construction paper. Lighter-weight materials like tissue or crepe paper should be presented in smaller pieces or strips for cutting, as they have a tendency to tear. Tearing paper, in and of itself, is a fun activity, however, it isn't necessarily supportive of this particular skill. Scraps can be offered in a box or paper bag, and don't forget that much of your recycled junk mail  is suitable for this purpose. Children love cutting into catalogues and circulars, as well as ribbons on gifts and other packages. Fun!

Use their Work: Consider if some of their larger scraps can be used for little notes, and set these aside in a small basket. This not only teaches the importance of reusing materials before they hit the recycling bin, but also gives your child a sense of having been helpful by creating something useful and necessary. If we focus primarily on the process and less on the product, your child may feel pride in having "done the job" of creating scrap paper. They can be instructed later to get paper from this basket for lists and notes, which adds to the value of their work.

Inspire Your Child: Folding paper and cutting out 'snowflake' type patterns or doll chains for our children is fascinating to them. They may, of course, continue your work by cutting it apart, however, these sorts of activities intrigue children as they are curious about these sorts of things. Once they have some dexterity with scissors, show them how to press a fold into paper and cut on the fold. They'll be delighted with their work!

Playdough Activities: For some children, and some settings, offering safety scissors may not be your safest or best first choice. Nonetheless, all children need to have practice with this tool. Playdough allows us to present scissors practice in the safest way possible, with plastic scissors especially made for the purpose. I've regularly seen young children while away large chunks of time happily cutting up coils or strips of playdough into empty muffin tins, containers or palates and playing candy shop or bakery. If you are working with a group of children, be sure each has their own container/s for this activity. This is a great activity for children who may be prone to acting out physically when they are upset or frustrated, or in larger group settings where one-on-one supervision can be a challenge. Be sure to offer other play props, too, such as popsicle sticks or caps and corks  for making impressions, so that if the child becomes upset or frustrated with the scissors, they have other options immediately available and can take a break from the scissors work if need be.

Lastly: Understand Your Child's Perspective on Scissors and Cutting. I can't stress this enough. While we adults have lots of understanding about which materials are for cutting and which aren't, your child may think that everything can be for cutting. This is for two reasons: first, our children just don't have our experiences and cannot critically judge which items are suitable for cutting and which should be left alone; second, we ourselves model some of the cutting we don't want our children to do. If your child sees you using scissors on food in the kitchen--say, preparing chicken or snipping herbs-- they may likely want to try cutting their food with scissors. Many of our children have had the experience of an adult cutting their hair with scissors and might want to try this themselves. Likewise, if you have occasion to cut fabric or clothes while you sew or modify clothes, your child may think this is interesting too. The point of all this is to sit with your child as they work and to store the scissors out of reach when they aren't in use. When I was four or five, I cut my own hair as well as my sister's, and hid the hair in a crayon box so that the adults "wouldn't find out". While these incidents (and their resulting hairdo's--or hair-don'ts!) result in stories and photos for the family, know that this sort of cutting is rarely an act of defieance...at least, not until they are significantly older!

Welcome Back!

On Wednesday morning we opened our doors and welcomed your kiddos back to school. T and V have returned from their summer off and I am glad to welcome B into our group. We have had a busy two days, and I'd love to share some of what we are doing here at school to start off as well as some glimpses into their playtime.

Name recognition is important to the children, for their hooks, artwork and cubbies are all labeled with their names. For many young children, letters are perceived as mysterious symbols whose meanings must be learnt through relevance, and helping a child recognize the letters of their own name gives these 'symbols' meaning. We started at our first Gathering by looking at name cards, one for each person in the group. The next day, each child was presented with their name cards, and then the first letter in their names was held up to be recognized and matched to the one on the name card. Because the children enjoyed this game so much, next week I will be sending a "Name Game" home with your child for them to play with as they like.

Our first art project was a collaborative collage piece. The children worked together at the table with scissors and a variety of paper scraps, cutting them and placing them onto the sticky paper in the center of the table. We added some sequins for a little sparkle, then hung their creation up in the window near the housekeeping. It was lovely to sit down with all the children together and to see them working so intently on their cutting and placement of the collage items.

Later that first day, we moved on to our playdough time, which drew all the children once again to the big table. "Snoodle Boodle Bloodle" sang T as he began making a series of birthday cakes, using three popsicle sticks for candles, and then cutting the 'cake' into pieces for all of us. B and V followed suit, making cakes, and we sang the happy birthday song several times. When T and V's workspaces got a little too close to each other, T made a line with the popsicle sticks between them and dubbed them "gates". It's great to see such creative problem-solving and the play continued happily until lunch.

Mealtimes are such a wonderful time for our little community. Last year's game of "Raise your Hand if you Like..." returned. On Thursday, this conversation was heavily centered around pie. Everyone at school likes all kinds of pies, most especially cherry pie, from the enthusiastic responses this suggestion received.

Thursday's artwork and activities allowed the children to be together while working on their own independent projects. Cardstock, crayons and a variety of stickers were provided first, and this resulted in many decorated messages to be sent home. Some of the stickers were cut into very small pieces, and believe me, getting those tiny stickers off the paper backing was work! (Once again, fine motor skills are being exercised.) The children dictated their messages to their parents, and were happy to take them home. Your children are so proud of the thought and care they put into their work, so be sure to find a spot on the fridge or another place they can see their work at their eye level at home.

Later we had fun trying out some marble track painting. Each child places a sheet of paper into a box, then uses spoons to pull marbles out of cups of paint and drops them into the box. A lid is placed on top, the box is shaken by the child and Voila!- a bright, colorful picture emerges. The children noticed how the marbles began to pick up all the colors that were available. We'll hang up some of these for decorations in the preschool.

Outdoors, we looked for spiders, picked raspberries and had a grand time in the sandbox, creating "lakes" and putting wooden bridges over them to walk across. A few sandcastles were formed, then stomped down. On Thursday, we watched as our neighbor's Rhus tree was slowly cut apart. When one branch let out a loud 'crack!' before it's plummet to the ground, T was excited. "That's awesome!" V and B were less than enthused about the noise of the very-intermittent chainsaw, which was not awesome, but we tried to focus on playing and berry-picking, as well as poofing calendula petals from our lips, to flutter down on us all.

A few other moments from our week:

V and B played with the babies, and then T and V took turns making eggs and toast in the little kitchen. Our housekeeping space was rather busy!

B worked on lacing beads at the puzzle table; I had fun joining her and making a pattern red/yellow necklace.

V and T worked to load up the truck with nuts, then created a cover for it with a tri-fold burp cloth from the housekeeping. After a few attempts at pushing the truck and losing the cloth because it dragged on the ground, V figured out how to fold it along the seams and made a cover which worked.

B, V and T worked together-but-separately at the table on puzzles, everyone very busy.

T and V used a basket of magnetic shapes to create a skatepark, using the little magnet people on long rectangle pieces as their skaters.

At snacktime on Thursday, our toothpicks 'sang' about the foods they were wearing as hats, the apples and raisins.

V, B and T all working together on the carpet, engaged in various lacing activities with wooden beads and big, colorful buttons.

I am looking forward to seeing the leaves your children will be bringing next week, to our requested Popcorn Day on Tuesday, and all the fun we will be having as we continue to play and explore together. Have a great weekend!