2/12/07 - 2/16/07

Three children decided to spend their discovery time in the loft. Ms. Iris noticed that the combination of children might lead to one of the children being left out, as BM was the only boy and he does't usually play with SK or EC. So we asked the children what they were planning to do in the loft, to which they replied, "Make a tent." The teacher had the three children draw a picture of what their tent would look like. Of course, three different pictures were created, so the problem became which tent to make.
BM: "How about we make one, then knock it down, then make two, then knock it down, then make three, then knock it down?"
SK: "Yah, first BM's, then knock it down, then EC's, then knock it down, then me, then knock it down, then takes turns."
The children tied and used clothes pins to fasten 44" squares of fabric to the loft rails. As you can see from the photographs, none of the tents has a roof! We asked the children, "What is a tent?" They all agreed that a tent is "something you can sit under," but they couldn't sit under the tents they made. At our reflection meeting, we told the class about our problem and asked the class if anyone knew how to make a tent and wanted to help our group. We will try to make a tent another day!

The children have been incorporating natural materials into their wire sculptures. Ms. Jordan is teaching them how to wrap the wire around the objects to make hanging creations. Be careful when you come to visit us; you might get hit in the head with a masterpiece!

TK brought in a mint plant with two caterpillars. The first day, the plant was full of leaves; the next morning, half the plant was gone! The caterpillars had enclosed themselves in the leaves! Come in and see if you can find the cocoons.

The children continue to do their observational drawings. This week, Ms. Jordan brought in lilies for the children. They used a watercolor oil pastel for the first time and had to experiment before "mastering" the medium.

The Restaurant group met to continue making food out of clay. The pieces will be fired soon so that the children can paint them.

Valentines day is always so sweet! The children wrote all their classmates' names and had to figure out which bag to put each valentine in. There was some confusion between K and K and between C and C, but the children figured it out with the help of their friends and teachers.

We also passed out valentines to the maintenace office, guard shack, KO's mom, EC's papa, President Rice, and the Elementary School office. The children enjoyed seeing the smiles on the faces of the people as they sang, "Happy Valentine's Day to You!"

At our reflection meeting, we talked about love.
CH: "Hugs and kisses."
JD: "If you just want to give a hug, you don't have to give kisses."
TKS: "You give a card to some."
Teacher: "Where doe's love come from?"
CH: "Your heart."
RB: "God."
BH: "From people that love each other."
Teacher: "How does love get from one person to another?"
TK: "You look at her, and she knows you love her."
BH: "When you get married, they love you always and always and ever and ever."
GA:"When you hug someone, the love goes in fast into the other person."
EKS: "When you kiss someone, then a heart comes out of your lips." (lipstick)
GA: "When you give somebody beautiful flowers, the flowers can give (love) to the other person."
What a loving group of children we have!

During snack time, the teachers offered the children pretzels. As the children bit the pretzels and they broke into pieces, they discovered new lines and shapes that resembled letters.

The week concluded with Jump Rope for Heart. The children went through an assortment of activities ranging from jumping on mini-trampolines, using hula hoops, jumping over cones, trying to jump rope, and jumping on colored spots. It was an hour of jumping, moving, and smiles for everyone. Check out the photos in our gallery.

Reminder: Tuesday, February 20, we will be having a Lion Dance for the school.

Posted on February 20, 2007 1:03 PM | Permalink