Oh what a beautiful day!

 Check out all the wonderful ways we capered outside and in Birch today. We had the chance to play and learn with new friends from Spruce today!

To see more photos of our day, take a look at Spruce and Sycamore's Blogs. 

https://afcsycamore.blogspot.com/ 

https://afcspruce.blogspot.com/

Have a wonderful weekend! 

How does Birch play math?

 Just as we said yesterday, play is the highest form of research. How can we play while we learn about numbers, patterns, size, time, and counting?

Watch us!

Today, Ms. Riley asked the question, "how many friends?" Students worked to find numbers, count to that numbers, and match how many by finding animals. 

LZ worked to line up all the animals that live in the woods. 

How many animals did she find?

There were not quite enough animals for GC. I watched as she used strong, kind words to ask her friends to share their animals and then they all worked hard to build the animals a home. 

How many pieces did they need to fit all the animals?

SS used his strong math brain. It was a lot of hard work. He counted by ones and by twos, estimated how many and counted to check his work, AND he was able to match numbers to their animal groups. 

JI you used your math brain to create geometric shapes!  You found a hexagon and then tried all the ways you could discover to create more.  You found four different ways to make the same shape!  Your math brain is strong!

We began experimenting with combining shapes and creating pictures! Our pictures grew and grew and became something beautiful to look at.  HW, your work inspired your friends to create pictures of their own.

"I made a crab and added a little fish!" JI

"I made YOU Ms Lisa!" PS

You started with a hexagon head, added triangle eyes, then a trapezoid mouth.  You rotated that trapezoid and turned it into my body.  Arms and legs were diamonds!  Your math brain is strong!

SZ and EZ you were showing us what you know about numbers through playdough.  

I heard "more"

"not enough"

"bigger"

and 

"same"

Your math vocabulary is growing strong!

Math..it's all around us!

Global School Play Day

 Today was Global School Play Day! 

https://www.globalschoolplayday.com/

Play is the root of our children's learning. 

Play is in all we do. 

Children are better able to grasp concepts, ask questions, work through tough or tricky challenges, and process big feelings through play. 

You may think, that's just playing. To us we see children learning their letters, noticing the world around them, acting out something that is confusing. We see students building, working on fine and gross motor skills, challenging their social skills ad building friendships. 

Albert Einstein said it best, "Play is the highest form of research."

Are trees....

 Your teachers have noticed that our Birch friends LOVE to build.  We have heard amazing conversations surrounding our big questions as our hands are busy creating.  Questions are asked and answered.  Stories are told.  Big ideas are tossed back and forth.  We even have lively debate at times!

Today we changed up a few building materials, added a new question from our beautiful tree book, and listened.

LB you were excited to explore the new materials.  You observed, connected, and created. I wonder what you were thinking about as you created.

SG you were so excited to create your forest in the dark.  You added tree after tree after tree and added beautiful lights to help the trees see in the dark.

Are trees afraid of the dark?

"Yes!"  RR

What makes a tree afraid?

"They are afraid of noises.  I put this light for the tree to not be afraid." RR

As you continued to talk and build you added another tree and "campfire wood" to make it not dark.

I can tell you are thinking about how you feel in the dark, and what makes you feel safe and not afraid

EH, you listened to your friend and you began to build a story of your own.

"He is afraid of the owl sound." EH

EH, as you continued to build and talk you added more details to your story.  Owl noises became fireworks!

I can see that you are making connections to your life.  Fireworks happen when it is dark, and they can be scary!

"Maybe a friend tree would be good." HW

You love your friends so much.  If you were afraid, I imagine a friend would be a big comfort to you!

What would make a tree afraid in the dark?

"Bats!" HW

HW, you are making connections to things you have heard and seen before too.

Are trees afraid of the dark?  What do YOU think?

Special Day tomorrow!!!

Wednesday is Global School Play Day! This is an initiative started to spread awareness of the importance of play and all the benefits it provides children (and adults too)! As a preschool, we obviously know how important this is so we’re excited to participate!

 

To celebrate, your child may bring something from home to share with friends at school for this special day!! The rule is nothing electronic or requiring batteries…. We will be sharing our toys after lunch during outside play, so think sandbox fun!. It may be helpful to remind them that this is just for one special day and after that we keep our toys at home. Books are still always good to share. J

We’re going to encourage children to be responsible for their own toy so please keep that in mind…. Games with lots of pieces may not be such a great idea. Also, label everything that you can and we’ll do our best to help them keep track!

 

Here’s a link if you’d like to read more about it… https://www.globalschoolplayday.com/

And a TED talk about play… https://youtu.be/Bg-GEzM7iTk?list=PLc695sWmPGpybRuxvaPgvwd2s8eGqAWYj