News:
- You can feel spring in the air, even when we’re indoors. The energy is high, the excitement palpable. Kids enter the room confidently, with stories to tell, and typically know exactly what they want to do. Dramatic play around the loft and in the block area have been popular, with child-sized vehicles being constructed, loaded and driven in blocks, while all kinds of characters come to life above and below the loft.
- Sand art – many kids have spent a great deal of time grinding chalk into salt in a mortar, turning the salt into a variety of colors, then pouring it into a bottle to create beautiful “salt art”. Having filled all of our small bottles, we are now creating colorful salt to use with glue in the next week or two.
- Marble painting – today kids experimented with using a marble to paint, instead of a brush or fingers. It took some control to tip the tray in just the right way so that the marble would roll through the paint they had scooped onto their paper, instead of just rolling around the sides. Children who stuck with it for a while (of which there were many), and chose to add multiple colors, discovered layers of color revealed by the rolling marble. The project was all about the process, but the products are really interesting to look at, and so colorful!
- Homework – we gave the kids a homework assignment today. We have been reading a book about seeds, called The Reason for a Flower. It has led to many discussions about seeds, plants, flowers and roots. Children shared about fruits and vegetables that they eat which have seeds in them. For homework, we asked the kids to save seeds and bring them in for us to look at. Please remind your kids about this when you’re cooking or eating foods with seeds. You could put the seeds in a cup or a paper towel and send them to school any day next week. We’re hoping to collect a variety of seeds for comparison. In the meantime, the seeds, that we planted in school with Mr. Bob, are growing into plants!
- Signs of spring – we have had a wonderful week of wildlife viewing at SHP. For the past two weeks we have been hearing and seeing frogs in our newly formed pond up on the hill. Some of them are humongous! On Wednesday we spotted a male and a female duck in the pond, but they flew away when we approached loudly. Today we approached quietly and they stayed, so we stayed and observed them for a few minutes. Then at lunchtime, we spotted a goldfinch out the window in our garden! What a wonder it is to witness the unfolding of spring before our eyes.
- 300 piece puzzle – one child selected a 300 piece puzzle to work on last week, which seemed completely overwhelming at first. It took a long time to sort the pieces, and to figure out how to get started. Since then, however, a variety of children have spent time at the puzzle table, learning different ways to approach a puzzle and, slowly, slowly, having some success. What a thrill it is to see pieces coming together to form a picture, and to be present when a child celebrates the making of a match.
- Extended Day:
- We have been very busy adding details to our cut-outs, which has been an exciting project. Before drawing faces on the cut-outs, we spent some time studying our skin tones and mixing our special skin-toned crayons to find the best match. We then took a close look at our eyes before drawing them and adding other facial details. Another day we discussed our hair features (straight/curly, long/short, dark/light) then each child found the yarn that was the best match, cut as many strands as they felt they needed, then glued them on. Next week we will work on clothing and begin our graduation posters.
Songs:
- I Love the Mountains
- Make New Friends but Keep the Old (as a round)
- Row your Boat (as a round)
Books:
- Inch by Inch
- The Reason for a Flower