Best Day Ever!

What better way to enjoy a day at Ambrose then sitting by a warm fire and listening to stories be read by Ms. Marty.  This morning the children were invited to join Ms. Marty for storytime.  The mood was set just right with a log burning fireplace picture on the computer, dim lights and Ms. Marty dresses in her pjs, sitting in a rocking chair.

While the children enjoyed the stories, the staff was treated to the best fluffiest pancakes with real maple syrup ever.  Ambrose is such a wonderful place to be a kid and work.  Today has been great and the children have enjoyed it thoroughly.  

We have had a great first part of the school year and look forward to next year to continue where we have left.  We wish you a Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year.  

Fun in the Forest

         

Monday Morning Fun!

Monday mornings brings about a fun time in the classroom.  As the children start their day, they can chose from many fun and exciting activities that start to stimulate the mind.  Giving them a large piece of paper and bingo dot paints leads to creating something beautiful.

What looks like DC having his finger stuck in a plastic tube is him playing in the water table.  His has been pouring and scooping water into many different type of cups. 

Loose parts gets their creative juices flowing.  The possibilities are endless. 

It is always great to join in with a group and play a board game.  Shape bingo is so much fun.  The children take turns leading the game and it's great to hear someone shout out "BINGO"

Easel Paintings

Bristol Bravo's came to visit Ambrose!

The Bristol Bravo Choir came to sing at Ambrose this morning.  So to get read for the concert, we had to take our shoes off and walk down to the gym.  We had special seating on the new soft gym flooring. And how great is it to walk through the school with no shoes on.

Bristol Bravo's sounded great.  They sang some of the kids favorite songs. And some of the teachers recognized some of the Bravo's who attended Ambrose some years ago.

We had a great time!

Neighborhood Walk

Today, we took a walk around the neighborhood. We are working to understand how our homes are connected to one another along with other places in the community.  When we asked the children to tell us about a neighborhood, CS said, "It's a place where people live close to you." 

We have been offering questions to the children as provocations including:

"Where do you go that's special around your house?"

"What makes Webster Groves special?"

"What do you like about Webster Groves?"

So as we walked, we talked about the buildings we were seeing. 

"That's the school where my brother goes."- PW

"That's the washing machine store."- -CI

"My house is that way."- LB (pointing to the right)

"I've eaten there, that's bread company."- CI

"I love that place. The cinnamon sticks I love are so yummy."- LB
"It's nice and they have good pizza."- CS

"I've been here with a classroom before. They have ice cream."- CI
"It's not ice cream guys, it's yogurt."- PW


As we continued on our walk towards Rockhill, we turned onto Oak Street.

                                               

                                                            And we found Malcolm's house.

We continued to walk north on Rockhill. CS said, "We are getting really close to my house." 

"We're here, that's my house."- CS

We will be talking further about the places in and out of our community. 

Sewing

The children are sewing!  They are learning how to thread a needle and use the needle to weave the string in and out of material.  If you listen, you can hear the children say "go up, then down."  That keeps them on track.  Can't wait to see where this leads us.

How do we build houses??

 As we observe and listen to the children, they continue to make connections to their place in the world beginning with themselves and making sense of everything around them. They have had an interest in maps and places for the past few months and are beginning to create their homes using different materials in the classroom. A small group went to the kitchen atelier last week to make playdough. We introduced straws to help in building homes with the playdough. 

Some children are creating more 3-D homes that are standing. 

And using shapes including triangles and squares.

                                                

While others are building horizontally

Some begin horizontal and then go vertical

We will be introducing a new material to build with on Wednesday. 

Celebrations in the Birch Room

Birch loves celebrations!  They take time and make beautiful (homemade personal) cards.

Along with giving the beautiful cards, the children made some special flowers .  At each celebration the children get to pick their very own special flower to cap of their celebration.

What a wonderful way to honor each other.  Way to go Birch!

Small Capers

Thursday means Small Capers. Take a look at some things that took place. In Magnolia, there is a camping scene being projected on the screen. Children were fishing, cooking food at the fire, and sleeping in sleeping bags. 

We had a lot of sensory opportunities available including playdough, sand, and floam. 

Children were connecting the magnet pieces together in Spruce. 

And building with blocks in Maple.

There was an obstacle course in the hallway as children transitioned between rooms.

                                    
     
                        In Birch, we were engineering building houses with playdough and straws. We
                          will share more next week as we introduce a new building material.