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!
