It's lovely to see those times when the children come together, creating their own stories, work and discoveries in the moment. Let's listen in...
After T and V make chains of our "Barrel of Monkeys" monkeys, they use the barrel pieces as phones, holding them to their ears and mouth.
T- What are you doing?
V- Oh, I'm just going to the store to get some chocolate. Do you want to come with me?
In the housekeeping, seated at the table~
B- Would you like to have tea party with me?
V- Pour me some tea please.
B- That's my tea. This is your tea.
V- Pour some tea. (slurp slurp, loud sipping) Sugar. Milk. Okay.
B- Pour some tea. And stir my tea. (lots of slurping sounds)
V-Thanks for the tea.
Packing the sewing grid projects into backpacks~
T- I really liked that sewing I did because it's so fun. Sewing is fun.
At the playdough table, V's playdough 'cake' has every popsicle stick stuck in for candles~
V- The candles are for everybody's birthday. Happy birthday to everyone...Happy birthday to everyone. Everyone can blow out the candles!
B, outside: It's a ghost! Watch out for the ghost!
Shapes seemed to be on some of our minds this week. At our Tuesday Morning Gathering, I placed stones around the cup which holds the stones as well as our little wastebasket to find the shape of those objects--once we removed the cup and basket, the circles of stones was very visible. Our crowns, now finished? Also circles. Then we sang "Ring Around the Rosy" and "Make New Friends...But Keep the Old". Later, we were wiping clean a basket of freshly gathered horse chestnuts, and there was some discussion as to the shape of the wiping clothes. (Square). The children had fun folding the chestnuts into the cloths just so, and explained their different techniques. "I fold it this way, and this way..."
We also saw squares in the sewing grids I offered on Wednesday. We used pipecleaners to attach beads and buttons to the grids. The children commented several times that this activity was "tricky".
Another fine motor challenge was our snacktime that day; we had half-slices of toast, with butter to be spread upon it, and a little dish of almonds with a spoon for serving. T decided that he wanted to cut his toast in half and did so, with a little help. There were a lot of "please pass" requests as the almonds went round the table.
We've done a lot of counting this week too. First on Tuesday, we counted how many discs went on each of the shape spindles the children had chosen to work with. (These were later played with and I heard counting then, too.) We took turns touch-counting fish in Lois Ehlert's book "Fish Eyes", going from one to ten. As usual, we incorporate counting into the different jobs the children have: gathering smocks for "how many children are here?"; setting out placemats,bowls/knives/spoons for "How many people are eating snack/lunch?" or asking the children to look and see if we have enough stools at the table for meals, etc.
On Wednesday, we used our Outdoors Time to take a neighborhood walk, by turns running, picking dandelions, and collecting leaves and 'pricklies' (pods from the Sweet Gum Trees) and met our neighbor's very sweet corgie, Lizzie Buttercup, who always wears a smile and adores kids. We visited a garden filled with five gorgeous, fat orange pumpkins, and one hidden besides, which we couldn't decide was green or black. T suggested that we take the leaves back and "put them in water to see if they'll float". We did do this on Thursday, and the leaves were used for all sorts of things-- it was especially fun for V and B to 'wash' the basketball stand with wet leaves; T liked just loading his with water and flinging it around, splashing everything. He eventually took his splattering water work over to a spiderweb in the raspberry bushes, and stood on a round to reach it.
We also had our easel out on Wednesday, and watching the children's different modes of painting is always interesting to me. V, as usual, was right there the second I opened the easel up, as she loves to paint. She worked quietly, loading the color onto the brushes (and enjoyed the sponge brushes I offered this time) and filling every space on the paper. T was a narrator, he told a story as his brush moved over the paper, and there was a lot of action going on. B thoughtfully painted a big circle on one side of her page, and a smaller circle to the left of it.
One of the funny things you might have heard from school recently is that we "practice arguing". I've been using this at times when we need a little levity, and a bit of distraction from the start of what could develop into an actual argument. When I begin to hear the "yes it is"/"no it's not" exchange, and if it's appropriate to what's happening, I might suggest "Oh, should we practice arguing? Here, you can say 'Yes it is', and then you are going to say 'No, it isn't' and we'll do this a few times. Ready?" After a few giggly exchanges, I then have the children switch their answers, and they really get into it. Make no mistake, this isn't teaching them to argue, but giving them a safe way to explore having differences, as well as diffusing a little tension that can sometimes develop over a day of playing side by side and the negotiations and sharing that go with it. ( I also do this with my son, by the way, and it can help smooth over a tense moment, as long as we keep it light.)
On Thursday, it seemed that all the imaginative play during the week exploded into something very enjoyable. We started out gathered at the dollhouse, where once again there was some discussion as to how the pieces of furniture 'should' be used. The vanity sink was deemed a "water fountain". B had her dollies going potty, laying on beds and walking through the doors, carefully closing them afterward. V wandered over to the horse chestnuts. "They're doing a water fountain" she said, dropping them. She then brought one of them over to the vanity sink and placed it in. "This is the water." V and T then noticed the cone puzzle and began 'feeding' each other ice cream (the top piece of the cone) while B looked on. "You can have chocolate, vanilla or vanilla." V offered. "I want gummi bears." T replied. The dolly basket was then emptied out to be the 'gummi bear basket', and the play continued with lots of horse chestnuts being distrubuted via tongs onto trays and containers and baskets. T squeezed the tongs together, laid them flat, then balanced a nut on the depressed end. Then he let go to spring up the nut several times. B kept busy with the dollies, and then worked with the big pegs, filling up every hole.
Our shakers were a fun project too. The children helped to tape the ends of the tubes, used a scoop and funnel to pour in the rice, pulled hard on the cloth ends to help tie the knots and liked choosing the strips of autumn-themed fabric to wrap the tubes in. I also received several requests for activities next week, so we'll be revisiting the spiderweb play and marble painting will be coming back soon. Have a great weekend and we'll see you all on Tuesday!
