Tie Dye Wednesday

Hello! I hope you are all having a great Wednesday. The Birch room has been very active today! We began our morning by creating a variety of musical instruments and experimenting with sound. The students used different loose parts and containers to create different pitches. They discovered that the larger the stones they used, the deeper the pitch. Other friends worked on a still art piece of the birdhouse. A group of students adventured out to the hillside where they found a giant box! They used this box to move toys around the hillside and used it as a fort. Back in the classroom, some students experimented with coffee filters and paint-dotters. They found out that if they put water on the painted coffee filters, the paint spreads and creates a tie dye design! The students ate delicious chicken nuggets for lunch...yum! Happy Wednesday!

 

 

Listen to the birds

Hello and welcome to the blog! I hope you have gotten a chance to go outside and enjoy the spring weather. The Birch room has sure enjoyed the sunshine today!

We began our morning by building with loose parts and creating letters and designs on the light table. Other friends were asked the question, "How can you write a song to the birds?" Some students wrote their songs using letters while others drew pictures of their songs. A few students performed their songs and were excited to sing them to the birds! A little later on, we went on a neighborhood walk to observe birds. The students heard a lot of birds chirping and communicating with one another and some students decided to communicate back to the birds! We watched several birds collect leaves and worms. Some students said that the birds were bringing the leaves back to their nests. A lot of students started to search for bird nests in the trees and they found several!

 

 

We returned to school and played on the hillside. Some friends played in the mud kitchen while other students dug for worm for the birds! Stay tuned for more bird adventures!

 

We missed you, forest!

Hello and welcome back from the weekend! I hope you had a great few days with your child. We have been busy today with loose parts! The students began their morning by making choices in the classroom. They used loose parts to experiment with sound. Some students took small containers and filled them with a variety of loose parts. They noticed that different materials created different sounds and pitches.

We walked to the forest with Maple friends! We were SO excited to see the forest because it has been so long since we have visited! Since it was pretty muddy, we played up at the top of the forest. A lot of friends played on the fallen tree while others observed the beautiful yellow flowers. Some students found flowers that had fallen and took them as treasures. We came back to school and built with blocks, played some games, and designed with loose parts and light table materials. Hopefully we will go outside and enjoy the weather this afternoon!

 

 
 

Friday Fun

Happy Friday! Today has been full of play and movement! We began the morning with singing a few songs and making choices in the classroom. Some friends experimented with nuts, bolts and some blocks. Others designed with a variety of stones at the light table while some students weaved with materials. A group of kids were observing the birdhouse and decided that it needed a little bit of decoration. They used the weaving materials to add their own personal touches to the birdhouse.

 

We adventured down to the gym for some movement time. We rode bikes and built with materials. Once we returned to the classroom, we built and designed with blocks and made books! The students are becoming very good at writing letters and drawings on every page. They make sure they have a title page and read their books to their classmates! They enjoyed their yummy cheese pizza for lunch. Have a great weekend!

Signs of Spring

Wow, what a perfect day it has been for some outdoor time! The students came into the classroom, full of energy and ready to play! Some students painted with paint dotters this morning, while others "cooked" in the sensory table with sand and measuring materials. Other friends created letters out of nails in pegboards. A group of kids played a matching game with letter dice and letter cards. A few students became interested in spelling some words and how you spell a word. We talked about the letter sounds and how there are five important letters in the alphabet, called vowels. We wrote out the alphabet as a group and then started to explore different words to find the vowels! Each word we studied, we counted how many vowels and consonants were in each word. The kids loved the challenge! This motivated them to write out their own words, like "pig, cat, mom, dog" etc. What a great way to experiment with letters!

 

 

Later on, we went outside on the hillside with Maple friends. We played with balls and tubes. The students started to connect all of the tubes together to try and get all of the balls down the hill through the tubes. Other friends were finding signs in nature that spring is on it's way! Several friends found flowers blooming and others found a bunch of rollie pollies under a log and a lot of worms! They had fun digging in the dirt and started to collect worms to leave them out in the grass so the birds can find them easier! Other friends ran and played and enjoyed the weather. Bring on the warm weather, spring!

Let's play some ball!

Hello all! What a busy day it has been! The students began the morning by building and designing with loose parts. The students were challenged to create shapes out of loose parts while others designed with acrylic paint and light table shapes. A group of students went to the collaboratory and built a "gingerbread house/castle." Inside this building, they had bunk beds, a table, water pipes and a bathroom! The students were practicing putting each other to bed and brushing their teeth in the sink.

 

 

We later went outside to play on the hillside. The students played with some toys and enjoyed the sunshine! We found baseball bats and putting clubs and practiced hitting balls with these materials. The kids had a great time playing their games and I am sure they will sleep well today!

Can you speak bird?

Hello and happy Tuesday! What a beautiful day it has been! We have been busy enjoying the beautiful weather and sunshine. We began our morning by experimenting with loose parts. Some friends built block houses using blocks and nuts and bolts. Other students cooked in the sensory table with sand and measuring materials. Some friends created designs and practice letter recognition with stamps.

                    

As the morning continued, we found an old birdhouse in the cabinet in our classroom. The students quickly became interested in this discovery and wanted to investigate what was inside this creation. Since we had a hard time looking through the dark opening of the house, the kids were determined to find some type of lighting to help them see what was waiting for them inside! The students were working together to hold the birdhouse up against some lamps in our room and quickly discovered that they needed to use something else to help them see inside. They found a flashlight and were fascinated to see what was inside the house! They found straw from an older bird nest and some "secret writing" on the inside of the house. The students were telling each other that the birds wrote this message and how they speak "bird language" to communicate to one another. One student said that one bird wrote the message so another bird can later find the message. Another student shared that the message was from a mom bird and she wrote the message to her baby. A lot of other students became interested in this discovery. Some students shared how they speak "bird language" and showed off their talents. The class decided to take a walk to watch and listen to birds. We walked down to the bird sculpture park where we watched several robin birds pick their food from the ground and fly off to their nests. What will become of the birdhouse? Will we put our bird language skills to the test? Stay tuned to find out!