Because of the mild weather and at the request of the children, we spent extra time outside on the playground this morning after our walk. Despite an ominous looking cloud in the distance, it stayed dry and fairly sunny! The children divided themselves into several groups to play. One group created and acted out a campfire scenario. They built a campfire using hula hoops, wheels, and straw. To add to this, Elliana, Lane, and Aliyah gathered up broken foam pieces that had come off of a pool noodle to use as marshmallows for roasting! This play scenario grew in complexity with the children adding new elements to act out a story about a night spent outside camping.

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The highlight of our Friday morning today was an exciting walk to campus to play at “The Beach” (a.k.a. the volleyball courts between Stubbs Hall and the student union.) Our full-day students have visited the beach several times with Miss Woods in the afternoon, so we were excited to share this special place with our morning program friends!

On our walk to campus, the children commented on the trees and flowers along the path. We saw lots of yellow daffodils! The children recalled their color experiment with Mrs. Smith from a few weeks ago where they placed daffodils in dyed water and watched as the daffodils changed color. We also noticed that there are several trees that are beginning to bloom with flowers.

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Our study of mail continued today as we collaborated on a plan to construct a mailbox for Mrs. Jackson. In small groups, the children looked through the photos of mailboxes that we had collected over the past few days. First, I asked the children to describe the various features that they noticed on each mailbox. It was interesting to see what stood out to them as they viewed the pictures. The level of detail in their observations was fascinating to me! Many of them pointed out that some mailboxes had locks for a key to open, while others noted whether or not the mailboxes had a “lid” on top. I had expected them to notice broader features like color or size, but instead, they honed in on these more fine details!

From this observation, we made a list of features that we would need to consider when creating a mailbox for Mrs. Jackson. Some of those deemed most important by the children included that:

• the box needs to say “MAIL” on it
• the box needs to have a lid at the top and the bottom
• the box needs to have a flag
• the box needs to have shapes on it

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We were so excited to have all of our friends back at school today! It has been awhile since we have all been in the classroom together, so our room was buzzing with excitement today!

Today, the children spent time with Mrs. Jackson working on enrichment activities in small groups. In today’s activity, they were offered a basket of shape manipulatives. Together, they examined the shapes and described their findings- how were they alike? how were they different? The groups also talked about features of the shapes- lines, edges, curves, etc. After spending some time handling and exploring their shapes, the children then were given paper and writing utensils to try either independently drawing shapes of their own or tracing the shapes in their basket.

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After a delayed opening, we started our day out on the playground today exploring the snow that was left from last evening’s event. Because of the mild temperatures, we were able to spend a substantial amount of time outside enjoying what may our last batch of winter for the season!

Many of the children noticed the dripping water coming down from the roof of our building, as well as the roof of the gazebo and block shed. They were very interested in collecting the water, so we devised a plan to use our large buckets to see how much water we could “catch.” We noticed that the water was dripping at different rates from various heights, so I encouraged the children predict which bucket would be the fastest to fill. We plan to venture out after rest time and check on the progress of our collection!

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Going home today is a form regarding our brand new key fob system that we will soon be implementing. Each family will be issued two key fobs that will open the front and back door during business hours. It is our hope that this will allow parents unrestricted access to their children during the day while maintaining safety as a priority. Please fill out the form and return it to me.

Today’s snow was a source of excitement for the children! A very light snow started while we were out on the playground. To help the children see the flakes, we gave them black paper to “catch” the snow. Even though the snow was still fairly light, we were able to catch a few large flakes for the children to observe.

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Before recapping today’s events, I wanted to remind everyone about the Opening Reception for Youth Art Month 2018 at the LCVA this weekend. The reception will be held this Sunday, March 11 from 2-4pm at the gallery. All of our students created pieces that will be on display. The exhibit will be open from March 11-April 8. I encourage you to check it out!

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We continued our investigation of mail by brainstorming a “mailing list” of whom we would like to send mail to. The children each had an opportunity to share some ideas of who they might be interested in sending mail to. This list was compiled over two days. Most of the suggestions were their classmates, as well as friends from the Magnolia Room. A few friends suggested other teachers while two mentioned family members.

Our mailing list. A copy is located in the Writing Area for the children to refer to.

I think that this list gives some insight into the scope of the children’s thinking at this point regarding mail, considering how early we are into our study. Most of the children suggested friends they already had direct experience with in communicating via writing in the classroom. I am very curious to see if this will change as we learn more about the size and scope of mail in our community! Might it be exciting to learn that mail can be used as tool to connect us to not just our friends in class, but people all over the world?  Continue reading →

Our class recently started an investigation of mail and letters. The children have been spending a lot of time in the Writing Area during Projects & Play. While working there, they have been writing on various materials including sticky notes, index cards, and scrap paper. They have been delivering these writings to their classmates by placing them in each other’s cubbies. This week, we also added envelopes of various sizes to the Writing Area for their exploration.

Using our letter links to address envelopes for mailing

We will be documenting our project on mail on the panel on the back wall of our classroom. I welcome you to come in and see our panel so that you can follow along as our project progresses! I have also posted a “Project Forecast” outside of our door outlining some of the potential directions we may go as the children explore this topic. As always, we will be encouraging the children to pursue the investigation and help direct our study.

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