Monday-Funday

You may have noticed a new addition to our space as you walk in the Birch room.  Our beautiful Kindness Stick is now hanging in a place of prominence.  We have been watching our friends for those pure, sincere moments of kindness.  Those moments when our hearts just burst at the things we see.

Friday in the forest we had one such moment, and today we celebrated it with a new jewel on our kindness stick.

CW, you were with a friend in the forest when he fell down - hard!  He started to cry and you immediately wanted to comfort him.

Our friends often will comfort a friend with a hug, or another similar gesture.  Though they are surely sincere in their offering, sometimes these gestures aren't really what someone needs or wants.  

You recognized something about this friend.  He loves music and songs.  And so you began singing to him, and he stopped crying.

You were so kind and thoughtful!

We talked about how getting to pick out a gem makes you feel.

"Happy"

Absolutely!  Some other emotions we talked about are "proud", and "excited"

Your teachers are so proud of you for showing kindness to your friend!

 After our morning meeting we knew we had to get our friends outside.  The excitement that is bursting out of all of the children was just too much to be contained within the walls of the classroom.  Every single friend was talking about costumes, candy, trunk or treat, candy,  trick-or-treating, candy...did we mention the candy?  Though we cannot confirm it, we feel there may have been a fair amount of it consumed this weekend and, dare we say, for breakfast?!

So, outside we went for a "spooky walk" around our neighborhood.  With all of the walking we do, our friends knew exactly where the "spooky" houses were found.  I wonder if we could make a map that would tell us where they are?

"There is the cat that moves his head.  He's going to look at us when we walk by!"

"The house with the spinning eyeball is coming!" CF

Our walk was one of those times that we just got to enjoy being together.  We couldn't help but smile at the conversations and antics that went on around us.

AS you told us you were baking all of the pumpkins we passed into pies.  I think that is a GREAT idea!

RM, and MT you were so "scared" of all of the spooky decorations you "hid"!

You made your teacher laugh throughout the entire walk when you began casting spells on her!

Poor Ms N was turned into all sorts of creatures!  She even had a spell that filled her belly with chicken nuggets!

"I went to the pumpkin patch and I rode on a train!" DM

"Look at that ghost!" ESE

What would a spooky walk in St. Louis be without a little joke telling?

MS, you always make your teachers smile!

After such a fun morning outside, we got to go to the collaboratory for some more gross motor fun!

These friends were building their house.

These friends set up a fun obstacle course.

The wind tunnel was a BIG hit that caused much laughter.

Magnetic wooden builders have endless possibilities.

"I made a letter...and another letter!" AD

"Look at this thing I made!" ESE   "Ms Lisa, look what I made!" CW

"This is the harvester getting the carrots." HW

It was a "Monday, Funday!"

And, because we know the fun of Halloween will carry over, tomorrow will be PJ day!

forest joy

 So much fun was had in the forest today.  Children were truly immersed in nature and in their play with one another.  Everywhere I looked I could see groups of friends together.  And everywhere I listened, I heard stories, laughter, and joy.

Come along and visit the forest with us today.  I bet you will find joy here as well.

ESE, and HW you came up to me an roared a mighty roar!  You told me you were "friendly little green dinosaurs" and invited me to join you on your adventure.  How could I turn down an invitation like that?!

We climbed up SO many trees, we stomped up and down each and every path, we stopped and "roared" with friends, and we had an amazing time together!  We even discovered some surprises along the way.  "I didn't know sticks could be a LETTER!!!!!"   "Hey!  This leaf looks like a 'circle-heart" ESE                      

You were indeed a friendly dinosaur, ESE, because you took care to make sure I was safe as we walked along!  You frequently called out for me to "watch out" for a low branch, or "be careful" if there was an obstacle ahead.  You even waited and gallantly held the branches aside for me to pass through.  You are the BEST dinosaur I've ever met!

No matter what the play contains, we always notice the beauty and wonder of nature around us.  The leaves are creating an amazing show of color and we couldn't help but be drawn to them today.  While many are gone from the tree tops and are scattered beneath our feet, there are still SO many still hanging on tight.  This gives us the feeling of being completely surrounded by their beauty.

"Hey Ms L, look at this cool leaf I found!" JA

I wonder which one of these trees it came from?

"Not this one!" JA

"Look at this cool thing I found!" JI

Your face says it all!  Nature is overflowing with cool things!

With the recent rain our logs have given us a new and different discovery.  It is soft and velvety, and almost translucent.  It is an amazing wonder.

"It looks like a brain!  I think it's a brain from a giant bug." ESE

"Ms L Look at this GIANT leaf!  It's so big!" DM

It is so big it almost covers your entire head!

One of the neatest discoveries in the forest are these "air potatoes".  As we tell the children when we find anything growing, these aren't "people potatoes, they are animal potatoes".  Their resemblance to the potatoes we eat is incredible, and makes them a perfect natural loose part for creating forest stories!

LB, you are some friends were so excited to pick these.  You wanted to bring them back to the classroom to use as a nature material

 

When you brought the to show me, your friend MT came over.  She had just discovered something fun and different on the forest floor.  Your discovery, and her discovery were made for one another!

"Nature soup!"

You both began collecting bits of this and that to add to your recipe and then you would come back and show me.

AP, you noticed the excitement and came and got my hand climbing up on the log next to me.  As your friends continued to make their soup I began singing one of our "sticks" songs...but I changed the words just a tiny bit.

"stir, stir,stir the soup.  Stir, stir, stir the soup.  Stir, stir, stir the soup.  Stir the soup my darlin."

Your whole face lit up and you eagerly requested "my turn!"

Stir the soup my darlin'!

ET, you went on a great adventure today with Ms N ALL throughout the forest!

These friends were hanging out in the tree.

Tell me the story that is happening here? I asked

"I'm a monkey!" MT

"I'm a monkey!" RM

"I'm a kitten." CF

"Can you be the alligator?!" MT

I knew exactly what you wanted!  Five Little Monkeys is one of your favorite songs to act out in the forest.

Five little monkeys swingin' in the tree.  Teasing Mr. Alligator "Can't catch me!"  Along came Mr Alligator hungry as can be. And he SNATCHED that monkey right out of that tree!

Before even the first verse was sung, suddenly the tree was overflowing with monkeys waiting to be "snatched" out of the tree!

These little monkeys filled my heart with joy.

And judging by the looks on their faces, I would venture to guess they found joy as well!

Caper Day

 Thursdays are quickly becoming a favorite part of our week.  We love getting to explore other spaces and invitations in our neighboring rooms.

Today we capered with Sycamore and invited them to share in our routine of Think About it Thursday.

With all of our talk about maps, we were eager to see what our friends would say to this question.

We had such fun listening to our friends share what they know.  Some friends replied quickly with a number and a street and they were exactly right.  Some friends replied quickly with a street name, but couldn't quite remember the number.

JA, you made me laugh with your response.  "My street is ___ (removed for confidentiality), but sometimes I say 'Lemons'!"  You are so silly!  It would be funny to live on Lemons Street!

Other friends replied quickly with a number and a street and...well..they were completely and totally made up!  One friend told us her address is "8108 Clayton Rd. "  We knew this wasn't accurate, but we thought we would check out where this address is.  Maybe it is a special place to her, or maybe an address of a family.  Nope!  It's the Galleria Mall!  That would be a fun place to live for sure!

HW, you gave me an immediate response of the route to get to "Nana's beach house."  If I had a beach house, I sure would memorize the route to get there!

We can tell our map work is clicking with our friends, and they are thinking about it because we heard several friends tell us how to get to their homes, rather than where their home is located.  We discovered the word "address" is tricky. 

 When we rephrased and asked "What is the name of the street where your home is?  and "What is the number of your home?" Some friends turned their "yes" into a "no".

These think about it Thursday questions are often paired with our video responses.  Out of respect of confidentiality, we are not sharing the complete videos from those friends who gave us a quick "yes" paired with their true home address. 

Our favorite responses were those who gave us a completely unexpected reply.  

JB, you answered right away with your address, but then you surprised me when you drew your home too!

DM you noticed that our question was on a map and you began to look for your home on the map.  You were trying to FIND your address on our map!

   

These replies have given us a perfect way to develop our map work.  As we have begun using new expressions like "address" and "intersection" , and directional words like "right"and "left" as we walk through our community our friends have begun talking about where their homes are.

We wonder where our homes are on our maps?  Are they close like Ms L's house?  Are they a bit farther away like Ms N's house?

Is my house in Webster Groves, Rock Hill, Shrewsbury, or St Louis?

How do we get there from school?

We can't wait to explore our homes on our maps next week!

Our caper work allowed us to share our work on maps, feelings, and color mixing with our friends in Sycamore.

Check out the link below for a glimpse at the work in the Sycamore room.  You may need to scroll to today's blog if the link opens up to a different day.

sycamore blog