Catch A Rainbow!

When Jacob entered the classroom today, Harry greeted him with a big "hello." Together, they shoveled the snow in the sensory table. Brandon was so excited to be back in school that he ran to his teachers to give them a big hug. After Morning Meeting and snack, we read Corduroy's Christmas by Don Freeman and began to decorate our holiday presents to give to our families. 

Jamie noticed the reflection from the CD as the sun began to shine through the window and showed it to Harry. He and Harry followed the light around the room trying to catch it and were amazed to find a rainbow once the CD stopped spinning.  "A rainbow! A rainbow!" Jamie and Lili said with excitement. "I see it! I see the rainbow!" said Harry. Then it was time for Music Evan who was just as excited by the rainbow as we were. 

At lunch, we asked the children, "What did you see today in the classroom?" 

Jamie: "A rainbow!"

Harry: "Yes but the rainbow went away."

Jenny: "How come?"

Harry: "Because the rainbow was hungry."

We revisited the question "What melts?" by reading Friday's Meaningful Moment. The children used a dropper to squeeze water into a Popsicle tray and we put into the freezer. Hm...we wonder what is going to happen next?

What Melts and Shadows and Reflections

Jamie entered the classroom and greeted his friends, "Good morning Jacob", "Good morning Harry", and "Good morning Lili". He joined Harry at the table to use eyedroppers and green watercolor paint to transform our 'Friendship Tree" into a Holiday Tree. While Lili was shoveling the snow in the sensory table she asked Jenny "Does this melt?" Then she picked up the snow in her hand and said "Look! I made a melt!" At Morning Meeting, Jenny shared this moment with the class and asked the children 'What is melt?" Lili said "It's snow!" and Harry said "snow", Jamie shrugged his shoulders. Next week we are going to do an experiment with water so that the children can discover what "melts".

Next we surprised Nadia with her Holiday present from The Sweet Peas Class. The children painted a flower pot for her when she was not in school last Friday and Jenny asked the children what they love about Nadia. Next, Jenny attached their words to each child's picture. Nadia was so thrilled and happy! Happy Holidays Nadia!

Then Jenny asked Harry to pick out a book to read before snack and he choose Shadows and Reflections by Tana Haban. This led us in to quite a discussion:

Jenny: "What do you see on the cover?'

Jamie: "Black and a hand."

Lili: "A body. It does not have any colors."

Jenny: "Why does it not have any colors?"

"Shadow!" Lili shouted with excitement.

Jamie: "Shadows."

We studied the images on the pages. The children noticed a page with a bear's reflection in water. "What's that?" Lili asked. Jenny explained what a reflection is and the children took turns looking at their own reflections in the mirror. The children commented on what they saw as they examined themselves in the mirror.

Jamie: "My tummy."

Lili: "I see my mouth. My teeth. I have two teeth. Eyelash. I'm a doctor."

Lili then brought over the picture of the Empire State Building from the book Olivia. Perhaps the discussion of shadows and reflections reminded her of a previous discussion we had about this particular page? 

Jenny: 'Lili, why did your show us this picture."

Lili: "Because it's a little dark. A little bit black and light."

After snack, we went on a dragon hunt. When we returned we sang Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer wearing red noses. Jacob and Jamie wanted to jump so we jumped around to some music. Then we had Yoga with Lakshmi. Katya, Lili's mom, helped us make wreaths for our Holiday Tree using green paint mixed with glue, pop popoms, and glitter on white plates. Then she read to the class. What an amazing morning!

"She's A Rainbow!"

During Free Play, Hudson and Max played with the snow in the sensory table by shoveling it into the dump trucks and dumping the snow. A song came on and Hudson said, "I want to dance!" So Hudson, Max, and Jenny danced and jumped to Holiday by Weezer. At Morning Meeting, we played instruments to Hey Jude and sang "Na na na Nadia" to Nadia as requested from the children. We put on our red noses and sang Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer, Old MacDonald Had A Band, and Jingle Bells.

We went on a dragon hunt and a subway train ride after snack. As the children were painting their model magic ornaments purple, Jenny noticed the sunlight the coming in through the window. She hung a CD from the branch which created a rainbow in the room. Hudson was the first to notice. He pointed and shouted "There's a rainbow! A rainbow everybody!" Jenny gave the children CD's to reflect the light with and the children danced to She's A Rainbow by The Rolling Stones. Max put puzzles over his eyes and said, "I have colors over my eyes". Then it was time for dance with Elizabeth.

During our reflective meeting, Jenny asked the children what they noticed in the classroom. Here is what they said:

Scarlett: "A rainbow!"

Hudson: "I really like that song. It made me feel happy. I think of Scarlett."

 

 

Santa Claus Came To BMS!

Dear Parents, 

Thank you ALL for coming today! We had a very fun and delightful morning!

A BIG Thank You to Jaya and Going On a Dragon Hunt

The children entered the classroom excited about the snowy day. Brandon and Max worked together with the new gears from Brandon. Then the children added water using droppers to Insta-Snow.

This morning we had a very special visitor! Jaya, Hudson's sister, joined us for Morning Meeting. She read Pete the Cat. We sang Old MacDonald Had A Band. Jaya shared with us the weather song she sings in her first grade. 

After Morning Meeting, the children decorated a picture frame for Grandpa Barys for the holidays. We listened to The Imagination Workshop and went on a subway train ride on the rug with chairs. Then we took out our flashlights and put on our dragon hunting boots to go on a dragon hunt! When we returned, we painted with pine tree branches and pine cones. Before lunch, we sang Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Winter Wonderland, Frosty the Snowman, and Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.

We concluded our morning by turning off the lights, lying on the pillows and watching the snow fall.

"It's Naked!"

This morning we were so excited to see the new toys and puzzles from Brandon! At one point this morning every child came over to play with one of the new puzzles.

During morning meeting, we sang good morning songs and talked about what everyone did over the weekend. Then, we mentioned the friendship tree and Harry said "It's naked." We talked about how we would like to decorate it and Nico suggested, "It's needs a diamond wreath."

After morning meeting, we had music with Evan and he played a song where the children had to look around the classroom for a missing brown dog.

While Jenny worked with Nico, Lili and Scarlett on self-portraits, the rest of the Sweet Peas painted individual pictures with pinecones and were excited to add sparkles.  When the Bear Hunt song came on, Nico and Scarlett went on a bear hunt in which they were also required to go to work and have lunch.

We were lucky to have Harry's mom, Erica, join us and read The Belly Button by Sandra Boyton and The Blue Truck by Alice Shertle. Thank you for coming in to read!