Pumpkin Washing, Music, and Building

 

Happy Thursday! Today was a hot one but even so, we made it outside to play! We decided to wash the pumpkins we bought yesterday in some soapy water and the children loved it!

S: "We're washing our pumpkins!"

M: "This one has so many bubbles!"

Some friends played with our musical instruments and were making some beautiful music :) Some friends made a marching band and were walking all around the hillside spreading their music for all to hear!

Inside the favorite choices were playdough and building. Friends were able to use small bricks and sticks with scissors in their playdough and it was interesting seeing what they made! Lots of friends made birthday cakes and one even built a brick wall.

M: "I'm building a big brick wall!"

We asked our friends "What can you build with a friend?"

Some built a castle with magnatiles.

E: "We're building a big castle!"

C: "We ran out of squares so we're using triangles!"

Digging

Birch children have been so excited about digging. They have been digging so much in certain outdoor zones and in sensory bins. Since we were in the lower playscape today, we asked the question, "What do you find when you dig?" Before we went outside some answers were: fossils, bones, rocks, water, pipes, and bugs. The answer to the question after much investigation will astound you!

E - I'm digging for rocks. I have found a lot so far. 

Later, E - I found some rocks but now I'm covering them back up. I covered my shovel up!

F - I'm looking for dino fossils. Found this big guy down there. 

O and B - There's a scorpion under there! 

B - We are connecting the holes because the scorpions are so big this is the only way we can get it

T - Let's put the sand in the dump truck for now. 

O - That way it won't get back in

B - I found something! It's a rock. Must be a clue from the scorpion.  

S - I'm digging a den for aliens. They live in there. 

Miss Brooke - Are they here now? 

S - They are coming in 6 minutes

M - I've been finding candy corn!!! There's so much here! 

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A few random moments of joy to share: 

We went on a fun walk today. All the way to Rolling Rock Nursery! We picked out a pumpkin to take bag with us. 

Here they were voting on which pumpkins to take back with us! 

Instead of using the ramps for cars, children decided to use these as instruments! Soon a whole jam session broke out.

Building, Music, and Classroom Agreements

The Birch room was busy today playing outside and working our classroom agreements! Some friends loved climbing the wall while others played in the rock pit.

Some friends decided to explore our sound area of the playscape. They walked up and began pouring rocks into one of our sound explorations. Immediately a bright sound came out.

O: "There's so much song!"

E: "We're putting the rocks in here and it's making noise!"

Next they went to the big wooden xylophone to explore. They used their hands to hit the keys and were coming up with their own songs.

O: "This is a letter song!"

E: "I just did the ABCs on the piano!"

Other friends decided to build with the blue blocks. First they made a car. Then one friend accidentally knocked down a piece.

B: "Can we make a better car?"

O: "Yeah! Let's make a monster truck!"

So they gathered blocks and started to build their monster truck.

E: "This is the TV! And let's use this as the engine!"

O: "Let's build an airplane!"

They started figuring out what they needed for their airplane:

B: "We need wings! And an engine!"

E: "Look, we built an airplane!"

B: "Let's fly somewhere! Let's go on a trip!

O: "We should go to CoCo!"

Ms Lacey: "What is CoCo?"

O: "It's the beach!"

So off they went to the beach :)

While playing outside we also had small groups inside writing out and drawing our classroom agreements! We decided on some classroom agreements together:

Hands and feet to yourself

Listen to teachers and friends

Let teachers open doors at school

Find a space to calm down

Keep body safe

Stay where you are in line

Take care of our books

Play with toys safely

Clean up when it's time to clean up

Our friends drew and wrote some great representations based on our classroom agreements! We can't wait to hang them up.

Building, Building, and More Building!

The children have taken an interest in building together. Movie theaters, animal homes, towers, buildings, computers, race tracks and more. This morning, they were eager to build a track for their cars using the ramps. 

B - Oh yeah! 

M - B, watch out mine's coming in

B - This track is super good

J - Mine's coming too

O - Oh man!!!

T - Incoming! 

B - I like that it goes right in the bucket. 

O - Everything else is lava so our cars have to go right in

M - Otherwise they are on fire

T - No, no, no I have a plan

B - Let's make it a normal track

O - Oh no, it didn't make it

T - I know, use one of the blocks

B - Good idea T! 

R - I'm going to use this tube

The building continued when we went on our walk to the top of the forest. We asked the question, what animal homes can you build? 

R - Owl nest

    

M - Cricket House

M and A - Spider house

(A is pointing to it's bed)

Children are coming up with ideas, testing them out, and revising their plan. They are working together and collaborating to figure out the best plan.