Something Smells Good...

What's that on the air? The scent of winter baking, and all the seasonally-favored spices, was part of our Morning Gathering on Tuesday. Tubes of scent: vanilla, cinnamon, clove and pepper, were all passed around the group to be sniffed and examined. T recognized  the pepper, as he likes it on his popcorn during our picnics, and the children asked a few questions about the chunky cinnamon stick sitting in the tube with a little ground cinnamon as well. From there, we moved over to the school table to make clove and cinnamon stick sachets. B liked wrapping the rubber bands around the top; V worked hard to tie the knots with the rick-rack ribbon and T's mom was visiting for the morning, so she and T made his together. Soon everyone had a nice-smelling sachet to take home.

On Thursday morning, we gathered around a plate of shelled nuts, and each child was given 4 whole nuts: walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds and brazil nuts. Then we went around and tried to match the shelled nut on the plate to the whole ones; each child held up the nut they thought was the match, and after Gathering, we sat down and began the best part: cracking and eating nuts. V loved this activity so much from last session, I knew we'd have to do it again, and there was no less enthusiasm this time around. The lighter-colored walnuts, the almonds and the hazelnuts were most popular, and it was fun to watch and see if there was actually a nut in some of them; a few hazelnuts were 'duds' and so we began shaking the whole nuts first to discover if there was a nut inside before bothering to open them.

We played a lot of games too: our "Animal Mothers and their Babies" matching game was offered on the table,  and it was lovely to hear the children remembering how to ask for pieces from their friends to match up the pairs. At Wednesday Gathering, we played our New Name Game, where the children continued to select the letters of their name from a pool, match and orient them onto their name card. We did a little tricky thing by asking the children to raise their hands if the card/letter was not in their name, and encouraged each child to spell their name aloud. On Thursday, we played our "What's Missing Lotto"; the children remembered the names of some of the 'missing' parts that we learned from last week, "handle" being the most useful and easily remembered. Game playing reminds the children to take turns (and keep track of them) and during our What's Missing game, when a child couldn't find the picture on their own card, I asked if anyone else could see where the picture was, which gave the children a chance to help each other.

You might have noticed an envelope of cut-out snowflakes come home last week-- or not. B embraced the activity of cutting, and her snowflake ended up looking like a pile of tiny flakes indeed. T and V were interested in cutting out the colored origami and decorative papers I had offered for this activity and took their snowflakes home. T made a snowflake which he declared "looks like a windmill". Perhaps they are taped up to window, or are being sent off enclosed in holiday greeting cards. I never do know what sort of life the children's artwork has once it is taken home...

Speaking of art, we had our usual Wednesday easel time this week, and with a new twist: the children are now going in one-by-one to use the easel and work. While we have had the group hanging out and watching in the past, I've noticed that this can be distracting for the artist, and a bit crowded to boot.  Something to share, too: when we are talking with our children about their artwork, asking questions and telling your child what you see can be helpful in encouraging them to continue expressing themselves creatively. While our kids like to hear "oh, that's beautiful" and other kind things, when we focus more of our attention toward what's on the paper ("I really like blue, and I see you made five blue circles, all in this corner. Tell me about that...."), this lets them know both that their work is worth notice, and tells them what you personally found interesting. "I see you used some bright colors, right next to each other. So many bright colors makes me feel like...." Children are much like adult artists; they like discovering how you, their beloved parent, relates to their work. When we give our children this sort of feedback, they are more encouraged to take chances in their artwork and to express themselves more authentically.

Outside in our sandbox, T and V were digging trenches for water to flow through. We talked about how a part that circled around looked like an island, and recalled one part of the story "The Little Island", where a kitten asks the island, and later, a fish, how it is that the island is surrounded by water and is still connected to the land. Then, we dug our trench deeper, and filled it with water for a live demonstration of this very concept. Their eyes grew wide as the lone island in the water appeared. (These are the moments teachers live for!) Amazing what one can learn in a sandbox!

Our playdough story this week started with a yellow flat circle of playdough, which one child dubbed a "magic golden meadow". A popsicle stick was laid across and then, B added green balls to the playdough to become "tigers". V and T were busy creating replicas of the original work, figuring out how to hollow out small pieces of dough and stick them  upside down to look like 'big rocks'. V discovered that when the dough sticks to the bottom of the red-handled rolling pins, that you can make it go back and forth on the bottom like a pendulum. B gave me a playdough cake with a candle in it, for my birthday, and T told me "I'm working on a wormhole. Here's a worm to go in the wormhole. See, the worm have protection in here and then the worm can stay in there."  Even worms need shelter too.

On Thursday, we celebrated V's 4th birthday together. Her mother and little brother brought delicious fruit skewers and a book to share, and the children were very, very happy to have a birthday time at school! We sang a song about the Earth going round the sun; B was the sun V traveled around, and we honored each year with a verse of its own. Thanks for the yummy nibbles!

Some other moments:

Wild weather drove us indoors on Wednesday, so we gathered to read William Steig's "C-D-B" ,a book made up of phonetic little sayings that the children chimed in to help me read when they could. Fun!

V and B like two peas in a pod, sitting close together on the rug to look at the "Dinosaur Bones" book, and then wrapping up babies and carrying them around. V told me that "both the babies are girls", and their little girls were wrapped snug in scarves and blankets.

The rubber-band pegboard was out again. We talked about the different shapes they made: triangles, squares, parallelograms and trapezoids (these big words made them giggle), and T made an "H" out of rubber bands, which was 'an H for Hazel. See?"

V working methodically with the magnetic crane truck and  shape blocks, using the crane to neatly unload, and then reload, that set of blocks back into their 'trailer'.

T and B worked with the other set of magnetic blocks to make cars and skateboards; V joins in too.

Sandbox treasure hunts outside were a blast, along with playing "Find the Shoe" and shooting baskets with the balls.

I wish all of your families a peaceful and fun winter break. We'll see you in the new year!

Wind!

Just a reminder for parents: We'll be playing outside every day, even when it's rainy, so please don't forget to send your child in warm layers, warm hats and waterproof boots and shoes. The days can be very cold when we are out for our half-hour or so!


This week was a bit of a topsy-turvy one, with two children each spending a day at home due to the those nasty bugs that are going around. Be assured that we are doing plenty of hand-washing, encouraging kids to use tissues instead of sleeves, covering our coughs and then...washing hands again!

With all the blustery weather present, it only made sense to enjoy and explore it. On Tuesday morning, I asked the question "How do we know the wind is blowing?"

V: Because it's windy.
B: Because the wind is blowing the leaves.
V: Because it's almost wintertime. The wind doesn't blow in the summer because the sun is out.

With those conclusions, we decided to watch for a sunny winter day to see if the wind blows. At each gathering, the children loved trailing streamers back and forth as we sang about "My Lady Wind", who blows around the house, through all the cracks and crannies. Arthur Lobel's classic "Owl at Home" features a short story of how Owl invites Winter into his home as a guest, only to regret it when the wind and snow take over. We also spent time over our week constructing windsocks from card stock and crepe streamers to take home. The children had fun decorating them with crayons, peeling off the little star stickers, gluing on the streamers and helping to punch the holes for hanging. Just find a place at home to hang your child's windsock over a heat register or near a ceiling fan and let the fun begin.

Wednesday came along, and so did our Pajama Day! The children looked very sweet wearing their favorite jammies, sitting on comfy blankets, and we kept with the theme, having peppermint tea and toast for snack time and a nice wood fire going besides. Since this was so anticipated, and since some children couldn't be here, we will revisit this in January, after the novelty of the holidays has passed. We read a new story called "The Quilt" about a child's quilt that's made up of her old clothes, and how their patterns inspire her to dream of a fantastic landscape of gardens, forests and even a circus. We also played "What's Missing" lotto, where the children work to match cards with pictures of everyday objects on them to larger cards, which featured the same pictures with one part missing. Along with the work of matching the cards, the children were asked "what's missing", which gave us an opportunity to recall or newly learn the names of the different parts of these objects: the 'teeth' of a comb, the 'stem' of a cup, the 'spoke' of a wheel.... this game is a great vocabulary builder and encourages the children to think of how the parts of each object work to make the whole.

Dried rolled oats were introduced into our sensory bin, and the children became engaged immediately. On our first day, V shaped the pile of oats into a mountain slope up one side of the bin, working to pile them up as high as she could before they slid down. B loved filling up containers; we've some old lids of different shapes and sizes to use as scoops this week. Later in the week, the cardboard tubes in the bin were explored as "phones" by the children, one child holding their tube up to their ear, and another putting a separate tube to their mouth and holding the extended ends near each other. All of the kids explored the sounds blown through the tubes, which mimicked gargling or blowing raspberries. (Big laughs, there!) Then, T uses the tube in a different way: "Look, I have a telescope," he said, holding the tube up to his eye.

I love our time each week at the playdough table. This Thursday, B started us off with our usual "Happy Birthday" song, two popsicle sticks poking straight up in the dough, and singing everyone's names to celebrate. This week, I fashioned a "Lake in a Crater" and invited the children to add things to it. When B offered a couple of 'skateboards', a path was made at the crest of the crater. B then added some 'snakes' to the lake. T made some snakes, and V decided she wanted to make a crater lake too, and asked some questions about the process before trying it herself. The table became quiet as the children concentrated intently on their work. T then announced he'd made a "Big Circus Ball" and V was happy with her lake and showed it to us. "Is it to swim in?" asked T.

A few more peeks into our week:

Twice this week we headed out on walks around the neighborhood with 'treasure hunt lists'. (The 'treasures' are finding the listed items which the children chose themselves, seeing them and crossing them off.) Holly berries, pumpkins, snowman decorations, green leaves and cats were found; spiders, scarecrows and squirrels weren't seen as we walked round the block. This is a great activity, by the way, when you need a walk and your reluctant child doesn't want to go.  A lovely distraction.

We revisited a question V posed a while ago, about cotton and clothing, and read a book titled "From Field to Blue Jeans", which depicts every stage of this transformation. Hopefully I'll be finding other materials as well for us to explore this topic, because it is certainly an interesting one. At home, you can show your child the labels in the clothes they wear and talk about where the fabric comes from: cotton, flax, silkworms, bamboo or petroleum. It really is fascinating.

In the block area, B takes apart the cone puzzle, recreating last week's play. "Who wants ice cream?" she calls to us.

T working the dressing puzzles and beading with the ribbon and lacing grids.

During journals time, B stacks and counts crayons. Our block crayons are irresistible when it comes to playing with them. The kids almost have more fun organizing them than they do coloring.

Gathered round the bristle blocks, all the children building. V and T take turns making airplanes from the same blocks.  Children wander in and out of this and a side-by-side mailbox play, with wooden fruit dominoes for the 'mail'.

V makes a neat rectangle with small pegs on the pegboard. Then she and B work the shape spindles and pieces, some of them are used for the mailbox.

Lots of little moments of observation from our big window overlooking the back yard. The shoes area has been moved beneath the kitchen table so that all the children have room to stand near the window. We watched the usual birdy goings-on and saw some surprising drama-- a squirrel had been caught by the beefy neighbor cat. I ran out to chase it away before our rodent friend was any the worse for wear, and was grateful that we'd been present to save the little critter.


This upcoming week is our last for this calendar year. In keeping with our school philosophy, we'll be focusing on our seasonal curriculum instead of the upcoming Christmas holiday itself. Oh, and those paperwhites your children have taken home? Don't forget to give them water up to the tops of their roots. Now that they are blooming, they may be a bit pungent, so you can remove them to a sheltered spot on your porch for longer-lasting flowers. See you Tuesday!

Bird Business

Sometimes there is nothing more interesting or satisfying than watching the birds and squirrels busy in the backyard. Tuesday morning, I scattered a few handfuls of mixed seed on the ground as the children came in, and we have been watching the activity all week, taking little breaks in play to check the scene out the back window. Lots of sweet little juncos are present, a chickadee or two, and we still see that nutty upside-down squirrel having a grand time devouring the suet we hung out on Tuesday afternoon. My favorite part is hearing the children yell to me: "Hazel, there's a big blue bird (scrub jay) on the feeder!" or "Come and see the birds! They're eating the food!" These conversations are full of exclamations and enthusiasm, and I love sharing something I love so much with the children.

On Tuesday morning we came together to sing about our weekends; these songs always seem to reveal what's memorable to the children, because we know that they often have a hard time recalling and sharing what happened even a couple of hours ago. V sang about going to playgroup; T "built a plane with mommy" and B "read a fancy-dancer book". Then we worked together to take apart a bird puzzle, identifying the parts of the bird (head, bill/beak, body, wing, tail feathers and feet) and then reassembled it in its frame. The children noticed, too, that the puzzle bird had "no neck", but that other birds like ducks and flamingos do have long necks. We played a game, reading Ruth Heller's "How to Hide a Parakeet", taking turns to find camouflaged birds hidden in their native habitats--the children very obviously enjoyed this. We also have some resin birds for them to play with and examine, nestled snugly in a bowl of mixed birdseed on the sharing table, too.

In keeping with our theme, I had told the children we were making birds, and they chose two different colors of paper; one, I traced their hands on, and the other was a bird stencil. Once these were cut out, the children were given clean feathers and paint to make their birds beautiful.The children noticed how the feathers changed shape as they became saturated with paint, and I observed that some children began to use them in a different way, dragging them over the paper instead of brushing the paint on.On Thursday, the children put their birds and hand/wings together with fasteners and some real fun began! Our scarves became nests on the big rug, pattern blocks became bird food; V and B played having "tea" with their birdies, then told me they were "having a picnic and a sleepover". The tea turned into a full-blown affair, with the entire contents of the little kitchen arranged picnic-style on the scarves. T moved in and out of the play, and also experimented with using his bird like a paper airplane and flying it around the room. "I wish it had a remote control. Then it could really fly!"

We also did some triangle study on Wednesday, making triangles with our bodies at Gathering (three children holding hands is a triangle!), putting together our Big Barn puzzle to find and count the triangles hidden in the doors of the hayloft, and during our walk to see the big kiwi vine (complete with orbs of frostbitten kiwi still attached), we looked around for the triangles on houses. While we found many pointed rooftops, V also observed that the sword ferns were full of triangles. I also offered some cards which showed how we can use four of our small pattern block triangles to make one big one.

One of our big delights this week was playing with water and ice in the big bin. We started with warm water, and a tray of ice cubes, placed in a couple separate containers for the children to add in as they desired. Long handled slotted spoons were offered. T and V held the ice in the spoons over the water and told me they were "roasting marshmallows", while B decided that she was "fishing". Two questions and their responses:

Hazel: Is the ice as big as it was when you first put it in the water?
T: It's kind of getting smaller.
V: (reaching into her spoon) I don't feel any.
Hazel: What happened to the ice?
B: It's getting smaller now.
V: I think it all melted.
T: But this is warm water.
V: The ice needs to have cold water.

Isn't science fun?

 A few more moments from our week:

We had a great idea come up at Gathering on Tuesday: what if we wore our pajamas to school? The kids thought this was a grand idea, but were a little confused as to the 'when' of it. On Wednesday, they loved helping to make backpack tags for this event. So don't forget-- next Wednesday the 8th is Pajama Day!

T, B and V gathered together on the big rug. T has the cone puzzle in front of him assembles "ice cream cones" for his friends.

B sits, cutting strips of paper happily as we practice using our scissors.

Big tea parties this week with alphabet cookies, horse chestnuts, tongs, spatulas and trays upon trays of goodies.

V and T have another skate park creation, which B later joins. Cars are used as skateboards. T and V tell me all about it~
T: We had cars.
V: And then we had white things. (Block boards.)
T: And then you go through an arrow and jump up.
V: And then you  then you jump across the rug.
T: And then you know what we did? We goed in the dirt and got mud all over us.
V: And then we went through a wash-through (car wash) with water!

Lively dancing with felt snowflakes as we sing the "Snowflakes, Soft Snowflakes" song, and boisterous clapping as we sang "Eliza Jane", rolling a ball back and forth to each other while singing a verse with each child's name.

T brought a sweet 'treasure hunt' type book called "Pip in the Grand Hotel" that we all enjoyed. Thanks for sharing it with us!

We have some new daily jobs for our special helper board. Folding clean place mats, being a helper with coats for our time outdoors and picking out a book for storytime. Some are for skill building, and some just for fun.

Our playdough time was a delight, too. I flattened a piece down and counted out to twenty, while pressing a dowel end into the dough to make circles. "What could go here?" I wondered aloud. B took up the idea. "Here's two little snakes" she said, passing them to me. V began her own twenty circles and T contributed more snakes, B, another rock and it all ended up with endless birthday parties, once again!

Have a great weekend!