"So Happy Together!"

After Hudson's Mommy left, Hudson said "I am so happy to be at Buckle My Shoe today!" Then Brandon and Hudson worked together with play dough each making their own instrument:

Brandon: "I try to make a guitar. I make strings."

Hudson: "I'm making a heart drums set."

At Morning Meeting, The Sweet Peas class sang Happy Birthday to Jenny, If You Are Happy and You know It, and Old McDonald Had a Band with Hudson on guitar (strum, strum), Brandon on cymbals (TSK!, TSK!) and Max on saxophone (doo, doo, doo). We read What's Love by Shelley Rotner and Deborah Carlin. We revisited the comments the children shared with us about what makes them happy.Then we talked about how Thanksgiving is a holiday where we have a BIG feast with our families and friends say "Thank you" and "I love you" to the special people we love.

We celebrated Jenny's birthday with a delicious fruit salad. Then it was straight to the chef's station to make our delicious berry fruit cobbler for the BMS Thanksgiving feast tomorrow. During Free Play, we played in the sandbox and drove to the park in the school bus. We sang The Wheels On the Bus the whole way there . and made sure to take lots of pictures. Before lunch we played instruments along to Happy Together by The Turtles. What a terrific day! Thanks for making Jenny's birthday so special! 

Cold and Cornbread

Morning Meeting we greeted each other and sang A Turkey Is A Special Bird. Nico shared her train with the class. The children passed it around the circle. Here is what they said:

Jacob: "Nico's train. It has three wheels."

Lili: "Nico's train is special."

We talked about Thanksgiving and asked the children what they know about the holiday:

Nico: " I love sweet potatoes!"

Lili: "I like apples."

Scarlett: "Hm...spinach."

Brandon: "Fish."
We also dicussed how Thanksgiving is a special holiday that we say a very special "Thank You" to all of the people we love and love us by coming together to celebrate with a special feast. We also talked about how we are having a big feast together with the Sunflowers and Daisies classes in school. Then we made delicious cornbread for the school feast on Wednesday!

After we made cornbread, the children experimented with oil, water, and watercolor ice cubes. The children investigated it with their hands. "It's cold", said Jamie. "It's cool!" said Nico. During Free Play, Scarlett, Lili,and Nico pretended to be teachers by reading to the class and singing Who' At Buckle My Shoe Today? Brandon and Jamie read books. Jacob played in the sandbox and Harry made "dinner" in the kitchen. During lunch Lili, picked out Where The Wild Things Are? by Maurice Sendak for us to read. At Goodbye Circle, we sang 5 Little Pumpkins, A Turkey Is A Special Bird, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Sambalae.

"Because It Wants To Go On A Bear Hunt. It Wants To Go Back."

Our morning began with Lili and Harry making "cookies" together with play dough. Brandon ran into the classroom excited to share with us his subway experience: "The train went really fast. It has wheels!" Lili and Jamie worked on their "thankful leaf" for our "friendship tree". As the children were busy working, Jenny went around and asked: "What makes you happy?" Here is what the children said:

Harry: "Some dinner makes me happy. I like hamburgers without tomatoes."

Lili: " Mama makes me happy."

Brandon: "I play with Annie and Grandma."

Jamie: "I play with Mama."

Nico: "My mommy."

During Morning Meeting we read Going On A Bear Hunt by Helen Roxenbury and Michael Rosen. As Jenny read the children read with her, "We have got to go through it." Nico commented," There are a lot of trees in the forest." Then she made her fingers walk of the train table. "Look Jenny! I am walking through the forest!" Then we got to the page with the bear. 

Jenny: "How does the bear look?"

Nico: "Enormous."

Brandon: "It's a big beer."

Harry: "Good."

Lili: "Good."

Jamie: "Enormous."

When we got to the last page of the book Nico said, " The bear is so sad."

Jenny: "Why is the bear sad?"

Lili: "Because it wants to go on a bear hunt. It wants to go back."

During Yoga, Lakshmi read My Daddy Is a Pretzel by Baron Baptiste. The children made all sorts of movements and poses as they turned their bodies into triangles, trees, dog, cat, cow, airplane, and pretzels. For Free Play, the children explored played at the train table and worked on their November Self Portraits. Ava and Sasha from the Sunflowers' class came to visit and Ava read Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak to the Sweet Peas class. 

Field Trip to Guitar Center

Today we walked to Guitar Center on 14th Street between 5th and 6th Avenue. The children were intrigued by the all the instruments from the moment they entered the store. A salesman handed us red guitar picks and the children found a guitar to strum. On the way to the drum room, Harry found a djembe drum. He and Erica played the drums while Harry sang "I've Been Working on the Railroad". Next, Raeph the store drum clerk handed us each a drum and some shakers. We played and sang "I've Been Working On the Railroad" and "Happy Birthday To Erica (Harry's mommy) because today is her birthday! We toured the drum area tapping and playing all kinds drum sets. We even went to the cymbal room and heard how different cymbals make different sounds. Then it was off to see bass guitars. When Scarlett found a bass she said "Look! That's a bass!" 

When we arrived back at school the children unwound in the sandbox and listened to Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie. We had such a wonderful field trip. Thank you Hudson for sharing your Guitar Center experience with us. We had so much fun and we will go back again!

"The Shadow Is Dancing. We Got To Catch Him!"

What an intriging day we had! Our morning began with French with Deborah. We sang Les Petites Poisson and she read The Three Little Bears in French. During snack, we revisited our individual "Leaf Man" collages by looking at the work we have done so far. We came to the conclusion that we want to keep working by gluing on more materials and using a brush with paint mixed with glue.  

Then the children played in the sandbox. Suddenly something happened. The children noticed light in the sandbox! Everyone got very excited. Here is what they said:

Nico: "The shadow is dancing. We got to catch him!"

Scarlett: "Leave him alone. He's okay."

Nico: "He's not okay! We got to catch him. It's a shadow. Come on! Stand in the sun. We got to catch the shadow in our mirror. I'm making light."

Brandon: points to the floor sees balls of light on the floor and says "Look guys! It 's a rainbow!"

Jamie and Lili continued to investigate by building with both wooden and translucent colored blocks. Nico and Scarlett decided to go on a bear hunt. "Hey guys! We are going on a bear hunt! We are going to pack all of our things and go on a bear hunt!"  Brandon joined them camera in hand. I noticed him taking lots of pictures throughout their adneture.

During lunch, we read Shadows and Reflections by Tana Hoban. The children looked at the images on the pages. Then we reflected on our morning and the children shared what they loved about the day:

Nico: "I love Nadia and Jenny. Shadows."

Lili: "I love Jenny. I love to eat. I like to play."

Jamie: "I play."

Scarlett; "I love French."

Harry: "I love to eat. I play with trains."

Brandon: "Trains."

""Like this! It's a harp!"

At Morning Meeting, we talked about our field trip to Guitar Center. Hudson shared with us some instruments with might see: "a horn, a drum set, violin, bass, guitar, and harp." He drew us a picture to show us what a harp looks like and showed it the class. "Like this! It's a harp!" Hudson said with pride. Jenny showed everyone another image of a harp, too  We sang Old McDonald Had a Band with our instruments. Next we marched to We Are the Dinosaurs by The Laurie Berkner Band. 

During snack, the children spontaneously began to sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star together! It was so sweet to hear them break into song! Next, we read Little Gorilla by Ruth Bornstein. The children investigated light and shadows through dance and play. We painted leaves with watercolor and corn syrup for our "friendship/ thankful" tree. At Goodbye Circle, we sang Sambalae and read Little Gorilla by Ruth Bornstein once more. We are looking forward to our trip to Guitar Center on Thursday!