Mud Kitchen Monday

This morning we took some time outside to explore the Mud Kitchen on the hillside.  The kids were pretending to be working in a bakery making lots of cupcakes, pancakes and muffins. Yummy!!  They had to work together to get the table set up and decided who was going to play what role.  There was so much language being used! When I ordered some blueberry muffins I was told: "We don't have any batter yet. It's going to take ages." :-)  Eventually I did get my blueberry muffins

"I'm adding spices."

"Here's your salad girls."

These boys are trying to catch a grasshopper to add to their mixture. 

Finally my blueberry muffins :-) 

We also began a new sign-in today with the kids.  During our morning choices the kids came over to a table with scrabble letters.  They had to find their name card and then find the letters in their name.  The kids were so proud of themselves as they completed their names. 

Birthday celebrations and baby frogs

Can you believe we have almost finished the first week of school? Time flies when you're having fun! The Birch students played and experimented with a lot of materials this morning! We had some students building car washes and castles with the blocks. A few students drew with chalk while others created cookies, worms, and faces with play-doh. The magnets have been a very popular choice! Several students made machines and rockets and other creative objects!

"I made a rocket ship!"

"Look at the machine I made!"

The class continued their morning by introducing our birthday celebrations activity! Each child has one canvas and the class works together on their classmate's canvas when it is their birthday! So far, we have had two friends have birthdays and one of our friend's birthday is tomorrow! The students worked very hard on drawing their pictures and completing the canvases with watercolors and paint dotters. Make sure to take a look at the birthday canvases which will be displayed in our classroom very shortly!

 

The Birch class ended their morning by playing outside. While playing on the hillside, some students built with loose parts while others walked the slackline. As our playtime continued outside, some students found two small "baby" frogs under a log! The kids worked very hard to gently catch them in their hands and we put them in a flower pot so we were able to show the rest of our friends. They were SO excited and the students decided to release them to "other forest" (the other side of the fence by the snail). We watched our baby friends hop away and find a few home in the other forest. Will they return to their log? Will we see them again? We sure hope so! Have a great, relaxing weekend!

Neighborhood Walk

We took our first walk around the neighborhood.  Before our walk we took guess on what we might see.  Some of the guesses were birds, a rabbit, flowers, workers, dog, a snake and a bear.  I am happy to report we did not see a snake or a bear. :-)   But we did see all the other items/ people. 

" I see workers!" "That's an excavator!" 

"What are they doing?"  "He has a BIG hammer?"

"I see an M and an L" 

"This looks like a splash pad"

 

We LOVE our neighborhood!!!!!! 

Second day fun!

Good afternoon! We have been very busy on our second day of school! We began the morning by experimenting with new materials at the light table and sensory table.

At the light table, the students were busy making "milk shakes" for their teachers and creating a variety of "juices"...yum!

Other students built mountains with the new kinetic sand. The students discovered how to make the sides of the mountain smooth by using the side of the magnet sticks. They did a great job at sharing the new materials and built big mountains!

After our morning activities, we read some new We Stories books! The book talked about the differences in people's skin color, as well as having marks on your skin, such as birthmarks and freckles. The class discussed the differences in the skin color they saw in the illustrations, as well as the differences in each other's skin color. 

We talked about some new areas in our classroom and ways to take care of our classroom spaces and materials. Ms. Susie and I have already begun to notice the students respecting the spaces in our room and taking care of the materials. Way to go, Birch friends! 

To end our morning, the class went to play and explore the hillside! They were so excited to see the snail! Two students noticed different lights reflecting off of the snail. Some students observed the beautiful artwork. Children created buildings and machines with new mini wood tree stumps. I have a good feeling the students will sleep well today! 

Happy First Day!

We had a wonderful first day! We enjoyed getting to know each other, seeing old friends, and enjoying our room and outdoors.  We had minimal tears and lots of laughter.