This post covers our activities for March 1st, our one day of school this week. Thanks so much for a wonderful set of Spring Parent/Teacher Conferences. Through your communication and sharing, I continue to learn so much about the children we love so well.
Our Morning Gathering on Tuesday was very musical: we started off with our usual "Weekend Song", where the children shared yet again what they found memorable about their time away from school, and then we each chose a song to sing: V loves "Row, Row Your Boat", and as we rowed our boats, we thought about what we "saw" around us. In the water, T spied an "alligator", B and V imagined a Princess and a Ballerina (respectively) were on the shore. T suggested the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and B loves her "ABC's", so we sang this as well.
I've been beginning to offer the children their choice of Special Helper jobs, (we rotate who gets to choose first, just to ensure that everyone gets a fair turn) and could see that each child really likes certain activities. T often chooses to set out mats and lunch bags for our noon meal; V, our art lover, chose art time to be her special helping time and so she spread out oilcloth and got out trays and smocks for everyone. B loves to choose a book for storytime and this is one of her favorite jobs; "Jennie's Hat" by Ezra Jack Keats is one of her current picks.
Last week we did some color mixing after reading "A Bird or Two", the story of Matisse and how he used color. While cleaning up last Wednesday, I'd noticed how dramatically their pictures had darkened as the color had dried. So during our art time, we looked at the original color of the paints we'd blended, and compared them to the dried pictures. I asked the children if they wanted to change their colors and lighten or darken them. While T and V adjusted their color to lighten it, B decided to add blue and white to her deep emerald green, creating a more turquoise color. Although all the colors were available for the children to use, each painted with 'their' own color. Though I did pass these along to parents during our conferences, I forgot to provide their narration, so here it is:
V's picture, a piece of yellow paper covered entirely in pale purple--"it's a princess castle".
T's picture of pale green on green paper--"It's a glass to drink wine. It's got a handle to hold."
B's big patch of turquoise on green paper, said "My work is pretty unusual". What an interesting observation!
We had a lot of puzzle play available, as well as the Lite Brite on the small table. The big carpet was a great place for dramatic play. "I'm being a squirrel!" said B, and she and V frolicked like squirrels, pretending to eat nuts and romping around, much the way squirrels will chase each other.
T worked puzzle after puzzle, and then got busy working to build with the magnetic blocks. Soon, B joined him, then she and V worked on the shape spindles, taking the pieces off the spindles methodically and then putting them back on. V brought "Growing a Rainbow" out and 'read' it to those around her. She and I also had fun looking at the newest seed catalog, poring over the colorful and unusual vegetables and their funny names. Long beans called "Red Noodle" and knobbly gourds were interesting, as well as an endless array of flowers. We'll be planting peas in the next week, once we've readied the ground and built our trellis.
Our day ended with a long trail walk around the neighborhood, and we marked our 'x's everywhere. The children especially love the "up and down place" near the school a block away or so. We looked for signs of spring on our walk-- the hellebores are the most obvious at present, as well as some emerging daffodil leaves, pale yellow as they were only recently uncovered from some groundcloth. I explained how the plants needed sunshine to turn green, and we decided to come back in a few days to see if they had darkened up a bit. Tiny pine cones were collected as well, and tucked into raincoat pockets, so you might find a few unexpected treasures.
Next week will find us exploring the story of "Stone Soup" and playing it as well, indoors and out. See you then!
