Jan 8- 12

This was an interesting week as the children chose to spend every day outside. It seems as though they know that the rain is coming so our time outside is limited.

The time spent outside not only changed where the children played, but with whom the children played. We noticed that the social interactions were focused more on interests than on familiar company. The children went outside their comfort zones in terms of friendship. In doing so, many had to renegotiate boundaries and problem-solve.

EC and KO had social issues as a new child, SK, joined their usual threesome. As four children pretended to have a party, feelings were hurt. The new friend intervened, asking EC why she wasn't playing any more. "K hurt my feelings," said EC. SK went back and forth between the two girls, trying to solve the sadness. Finally, EC seemed to forget why she was mad, and joined the three girls. Ms. Iris was proud of the girls as they chose to solve the problem themselves, instead of running to the teacher to help them.

BH, BM and GA formed a new group as they made the handheld game "DX" out of the waffle blocks. As the boys discussed the DX that they each made, they changed the structure of the object to be "better" than the others. BH, the new member of the group, watched and listened, as he learned the social dynamics of the two "old friends."
GA: "BH made this for me. I'm going to turn it off. He's playing Pokemon."
BH: "I'm going to charge mine."
BM: "Mine can do whatever it wants."
GA: "Mine can't go backwards."
The children spoke for a couple of minutes about what theirs can and can't do. BH watched quietly as the two boys talked.
GA: "I got 3 shooters and 1 jet. I can go against each other."
GA asks BM, "Do you want to go against each other?"
BM: "No."
GA: "Yours is going, 'bebebe', I don't want you to go 'bebebe'."
BM walked away so he could make the noise and play.
GA: "How come you walked away?" He walked to BM.
The three boys went back to the box to change their DX. They then went to ride the wagon and play their DX. BH came back to me and described his DX. It had a part "to plug-in to charge, a plug-in to play on the TV or the computer." The boy knows his game!

Here, CL and LY had to decide who would cross the monkey bars and who had to drop off. The first try was a near collision, but both boys dropped down. The boys had to decide who would go first, but they still went from opposite ends.

The children love to take risks on the bars. MF, BH, CL and LY decided who will go up, over, around, and down. The boys were giving the teachers heart attacks as the children safely negotiated their way on this playground structure.

Ms. Jordan celebrated her birthday on Wednesday. Knowing that Ms. Jordan likes creative, handmade things, we asked the children to take a picture of something they thought Ms. Jordan would like. The pictures ranged from an airplane to bugs to books. We made a color and a black and white copy of each picture. The children colored one item with one color on the black and white photo, then chose which photo they wanted to give as a card and which they wanted to put into our class collage. As Ms. Jordan guessed what each photo was, the children told her who had taken the photo. Ms. Jordan exclaimed, "You really know me!" as the photos taken were definitely things that Ms. Jordan liked.

We ended the week by sharing a huge avocado that TK brought in. Since we made guacamole the last time we were given avocados, Ms. Iris thought the children would enjoy making sandwich "wraps." The children followed written directions on creating their healthy snack.

The children enjoyed making their snack so much that we thought it would be a great idea to ask the children what they would like next time. We'd like to have a snack that the children can "make." Here is their list: cookies, donuts, Cheerio's and milk with toast, ice cream, cupcakes, popsicles, marshmallows, fruits (we had to suggest this one!), and Ms. Iris's favorite, roasted shoes with smelly toes! If you would like to donate or come in and help us prepare, or have any great ideas for a snack, please let us know. We'd love to have the help and company!

FYI: These groups met this week: Party Planners, Dinosaur Group, and Avocado Group. Ms. Jordan introduced paper as a new material. Look for information about their meetings online or in the classroom/atelier.

We will be going on a field trip to the Bishop Museum on January 24.

Posted on January 16, 2007 3:03 PM | Permalink