Kindness

This morning a friend spilt some beans on the floor.  It was a complete accident.  He started to get upset seeing that he had a big mess to clean.  One friend noticed how upset he was and rushed over to help.  She was not asked to by anyone.  She got out the dust pan for her friend.  She then noticed that he was having trouble using the dustpan.  "Here go like this." as she demonstrated how to sweep the beans into the pan. Once her friend was successful in sweeping she got a dustpan and broom for herself to help. 

"Do things for people not because of who they are or what they do in return, but because of who you are" - Harold S. Kushner

Don't forget to check out our other pictures from today on the Google Photos folder. 

Bridges and forest day

Reminders: Additional pictures that were taken  will be in the google photo album. Also, pajama day is this Thursday, October 31st!

Hello! We hope you all had a good weekend. The Birch room began the day by singing Happy Birthday to Ms. Susie! They were very excited for this special day. The students made choices in the classroom, which consisted of designing with loose parts, coloring and designing at the art table, making creations with shapes at the light table, and playing a dice game with buttons. The game turned into making a giant swirl out of the buttons and turning it into a clock!

"These are my flowers."

"Look, Ms. Abby! It's a clock!"

Other students helped Ms. Susie change the materials in the sensory table. They were very excited to add a variety of beans to the table! They also made a new sensory bottle which consists of rice and "mystery objects" that students have to find in the bottle.

Before the forest, students started to build a tunnel for a train. While adding to the tunnel, the students used blocks to go through the center of the structure as a support system for the "roof of the tunnel."

Other friends observed this challenge and excitement and wanted to join. They began talking about how they will fit the train track all the way through to reach the other side. They worked together on guiding the track inside the dark tunnel and communicated on where the track needed to be moved in order to make it to the other side.

"It's stuck, we need to move it. Keep pushing it."

"Move the block that is inside."

"I'm going to push it through."

"Move the blocks off of the top so we can see inside."

After a lot of work, the tunnel collapsed and the students started to rebuild a bridge, this time the train track laying across the top of the blocks.

We continued our morning by adventuring over to the forest with Willow and Maple. Here, students climbed trees and hid in their "secret lair." Other friends played adventure games and collected sticks. A few friends swung from a small (and sturdy) branch.

"This is our secret lair."

Enjoy the rest of your day!

Collaboratory Bridge Challenge

Today a small group went to the Collaboratory for a building bridge challenge.  The challenge was

How can you build a bridge so you can go over and under it?

The kids got right to work pulling blocks off the shelves. They knew they needed blocks on and off the ground.  As they built I kept reminding them of the challenge question making them think if their block placements were going to work. 

As one group worked together M decided to build a bridge on his own.  It was a simple bridge, but it worked.  Each kid tried it out. 

As the other bridge was being worked on they kept trying to see if they could crawl under and go over. 

When the kids were trying out the bridge it reminded them of the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff.  They continued to roleplay this story on each bridge they built. 

They decided to build one more bridge that we could leave up in the Collaboratory for our other friends to see and use. 

Capers!

Happy Thursday and Caper's day! Today, the Magnolia class joined us during capering! The students had a lot of fun playing with new friends and exploring Magnolia's language, which is paint. Please look at the other classroom blogs to see what your child discovered in other classrooms!

Spruce: http://afcspruce.blogspot.com/

Maple: http://afcmaple.blogspot.com/

Magnolia: http://afcmagnoliaam.blogspot.com/

Before capers, students designed at the light table and built with magnets. Other friends played a dice and block game. They took turns rolling the dice and collecting the correct number of blocks. After collecting the blocks, they began to build their own creations!

Capers...
In the Birch room, students experimented with baking soda and vinegar to watch chemical reactions.

Other friends made books! Take a look at some of their detail within their writing:

Other students built at the light table and created objects out of floam! Students were asked "How can you build a bridge that trains can go under?" A lot of students from several classes worked together on creating bridges. There were bridges that had curves and turns and they used several materials to create their bridges. 

We ended our morning by playing outside. Have a great afternoon!