Today at Morning Meeting we introduced our new attendance chart. Starting Monday the children will begin "signing in" when they arrive at school. Harry's job was the bell ringer today. Nico was the attendance helper by counting how many people were in school. Lili's job was letting us know what day it is and helping us sing the Days of the Week. Jacob was the song leader and chose to Twinkle, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Brandon was the book helper by picking what book we would read . So we read The Faces of the Moon.
Then we went out for a walk around the neighborhood. When we returned, we had Yoga with Lakshmi. During lunch, we read Happy Birthday, Moon. Next, we sang Happy Birthday to Debbie and each child gave her a flower.
The children began the morning painting flowers with Q-Tips and marching to We Are the Dinosaurs. Hudson played the triangle for clean-up time. Rebecca joined us for Morning Meeting and we sang Come On and Sing With Me. Then the Sunflowers joined us for the dentist visit. We learned about how important it is to brush our teeth. The children took turns brushing "Clompers" the dog's teeth with the giant toothbrush.
At Free Play, we played together with the blocks. Scarlett made a bed out of blocks. Hudson shared with us that a triangle has three sides. Max and Brandon played in the sandbox. Then we went to Horatio Park. We ran and climbed and had so much fun. We read Happy Birthday, Moon during lunch. What a fun day!
When it was time to clean up, Jacob sounded the triangle. This initiated our conversation at Morning Meeting about jobs in the classroom. These are the ideas we have come up with the children so far: bell ringer, clean up inspector, 2 table wipers, attendance helper, book helper, sweeper, Days of the Week leader, and song leader.
Next, we investigated dried shaving cream, glue, and watercolor together with our hands. Jamie liked the way it felt so much, he wiped it on his nose and chin. Nico, Jamie, and Harry worked on their own individual shaving cream, glue, and watercolor mixtures using brushes to swirl. We are eager to see what they look like when they dry.
During Free Play, Jacob Harry, Brandon, and Jamie worked together to build train tracks. Nico and Scarlett put on wings and flew around the room pretending to be butterflies. Lili took care of her baby. While she was playing we heard her say, " We are going to the jungle to see the animals, We better hurry!" Then we had French with Deborah.
Before lunch, Brandon, Lili, and Jacob worked on their self-portraits. Then we had a very special delivery from Scarlett's family Happy Birthday, Moon by Frank Asch. The children loved the story and we are looking forward to reading it again. Thank you Scarlett!
All smiles, Max ran the classroom very eager to tell us about the BIG excavator he saw on the way to school. Scarlett and Brandon filled Jenny in on what she missed yesterday when she was not in school. At Morning Meeting, Hudson
turned to Scarlett and said,“I love you, Scarlett.”Then Scarlett gave Hudson a
very BIG hug. We played instruments and sang Come On and Sing With Me and Old MacDonald Had a Band and a Farm. As we began to sing Who's At Buckle My Shoe Today? Scarlett brought to our attention that their are not any teachers faces on the chart. So we handed her the camera, she and Brandon took a picture of us, and in the mornings now the teachers will "sign-in" too.
Then we stretched our bodies and wiggled our toes as we sang Wake Up Toes. Next, we sang Ring Around the Rosie and pretended to be "cows in the meadow huddled all together" just like in the song. The children worked more on our seahorse by adding fins and a eye. Then they swirled shaving cream, glue, and watercolor with paint brushes. For Free Play, we stretched and rolled flubber and dug in the sandbox. Before lunch, we read Mr. Seahorse by Eric Carle.
Harry was so excited to share the new copy of Papa, Please Get the Moon For Me by Eric Carle he bought at the bookstore. When he arrived at school, Harry showed us his favorite page.
At Morning Meeting, we looked at the mason jar with the broken gourd Hudson stepped on yesterday.
As the children took turns looking at the jar with magnifying glasses, the contents of the jar became magical as it became "a baby blue elephant".
After Yoga we created an observation station for the children to look, draw, and write stories about what they see in the jar.
We also read Harry's book and cut out a large round circle. The children felt the paper with their hands and their bodies. Then we mixed oatmeal and paint together and rubbed them on the circle to make a "BIG" moon.
Lili: "The moon feels sticky. It's feels hard and bumpy."
Nico: "It's hard on your fingers."
We concluded our morning looking at the mason jar drawings and singing Aikendrum using pictures of real food: bananas, spaghetti, broccoli, pizza, and apples.
Scarlett began her morning working with the pattern blocks. "Look! There's all the colors," she said as she worked with the wooden pattern blocks. Then we played with instruments to Octopus' Garden by The Beatles.
When the song finished something unexpected happened! Hudson stepped on a dried gourd we used as a shaker. It was an accident meant to happen. We ran over to investigate, see what was inside, and placed the remains in a mason jar to examine.
"Look what's inside the dried gourd Hudson stepped on!"
"Seeds. It's so yucky" said The Sweet Peas class.
Next we had dance with Elizabeth.
At Morning Meeting, we revisited our seahorse which has been a work in progress since last week. The children looked closely at the cover of Mr Seahorse by Eric Carle. I asked the children if they think anything is missing. "Fins!" exclaimed Brandon. So we worked more on our seahorse for Project Work. The children added more colored tissue paper using glue and a brush. Then they made spots using pegs dipped in tempera paint.
During Free Play, Brandon and Scarlett became scientists as they investigated the dried gourd. They studied it using a magnifying glass and drew pictures of what they saw. Brandon drew "Mommy" and Scarlett drew a "friendly ghost." Before lunch, we sang Bumpin' Up and Down and Open Shut Them. Then we read The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle and sang nursery rhymes. What a great day!
Hudson helped Scarlett by getting her a tissue and helping her blow her nose.
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