Capers Day

Happy pajama day and capers day! What an exciting day we are having at school! We began the morning by showing off our cozy pajamas. The students built with magnets at the light table and created objects out of floam. Other friends built animal houses out of blocks. The students love our sensory table! The beans are a huge hit!

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

Maple: http://afcmaple.blogspot.com/

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

During capers, the students were asked "How can you build a bridge over the river?" We used the blue mat as our "river" and the students took on the challenge!

Other friends experimented with the pumpkin "guts" and seeds! They were super slimy and made different shapes and designs with the seeds.

A group of students created objects out of colorful clay. There were a lot of clay worms and spiders!

We ended the morning by playing outside for a few minutes on the hillside. Have a wonderful weekend and stay warm!

Clay

We explored clay today for the first time. The kids were very excited as they started working with it.

"Its really hard."

"Why is it not squishy?"

"I'm making little worms"

"I can make little balls"

The kids worked with the clay in different ways.  Some rolled it on the paper, others rolled and squished it in their hands, some picked and pulled with their fingers.

The students noticed that if they pulled the clay on the paper "It can draw!"

"These are my pancakes!"

As new friends joined the table many were noticing that the clay was hard. 

"Its not playdough"

One friend who had been working with her clay for a while said:  "If you squish it, its not hard.  You have to keep moving it."

As the clay "warmed up" students were able to manipulate the clay easier and create more detail pieces.

The kids began making balls and ball families.  They were comparing the sizes of their balls.  "This is the daddy, he's the biggest.  Here is the baby. It's teeny-tiny" 

"A dice.  This is five." 

Tomorrow and next week we will add tools and different materials to work with the clay. 

Busy day!

Ms. Susie and I noticed how there was so much happening today that we wanted to share the excitement! Here is a summary of today:

The students began their morning by taking on a building challenge. They were asked "How can you build a bridge from the green carpet to the gray carpet?" They sure loved this challenge and went above and beyond! They used our bridge book as a reference and inspiration to their creation. They decided to start building on the green carpet.

As they were adding to their bridge, the students were having trouble keeping their bridge together and upright. They figured out that the green carpet was too bumpy for the blocks to stay up. One students solved their problem by suggesting to build on the "smooth part" (the tile). The students made a bridge that had curvy support systems where people can walk on top of the bridge.

Student: “This is called 'broken bridge' because it keeps breaking.”

Teacher: “It doesn’t look broken now. How is it now staying up?”

Student: “Because we built it on the smooth part (white tile) now.”

“These are so people know the rules and know where to walk and drive.”

They eventually connected the two carpets together and even connected the bridge to the light table carpet as well!

Other friends made lollipops out of floam and read stories in the reading center.

We raked and jumped in leaves with our Willow friends. The class ended the morning by performing a science experiment with Ms. Susie while others built in the collaboratory and created a birthday canvas celebration.

Remember to check the google album for more photos!