Morning Meeting:

Amy started the kids off with a counting game. She got a ball and they had to play hot potato with it and count as they went. The group counted all the way up to 20 that way. Then they sang bingo, and the '5 little monkeys' song that they like so much. Elijah did a quick magic box of plush toys he brought to show the class. Amy has been asking the children to be perfectly quiet before she continues to the next part of the meeting- and then she almost whispers to the children what they'll be doing. They are learning to listen to her and each other. She had them act out different animals which were exciting, starting with snakes. Afterwards she read the book which Pearson asked her to re-read yesterday. Before she started reading however, she had them recall what they remembered about the book, and so re-tell the story. She asked them may questions about the book.

Snack Time:

We had fruity cheerios for snack- the kids loved it and asked for several helpings.

Outside Play:

We had some visitors- two families that came to meet us all. An older boy, Henry, had some great conversation with Pearson and Elijah. He and Pearson ended up playing a star wars game that took off. Ethan played with the wheel barrow quite a bit, and Kieran and Maya played on the swings a lot. There was a lot of running around and playing with sticks. Many of the younger children just observed the older boys as they played so hard.

Project Work:

Today the children found a strip of canvas the length of their trays. They each had two colors of paint to use. They were provided with complementary colors (opposite colors) which form gray when mixed together. We didn't have conversation about this as it hasn't been successful in the past, so they were provided with the opportunity to discover this for themselves. Lindsey had them start with one color on one end, and start with the other color on the opposite end of the canvas strip. They had never painted on canvas before, and Pearson recognized that its superior to paper (it doesn't soak up the paint, so its easier to move the color around). Pearson and Elijah's composition to their paintings were exactly the same- they followed the directions very literally and their past experience in the studio (having to cover the entire sheet of paper with paint in order to represent ocean water) was obvious. The younger students each had their own idea of how to approach the activity. In the end Elijah and Pearson made the observation that all of the individual color combinations each made gray when mixed together. These paintings will be displayed for viewing in the school.

Rest Time/ Focused Work:

Amy read a long book about dinosaur to Kieran and Elijah, then started on a different book when that one was done. Then she presented a wicker chain which they stretched out on the floor, and a bag of beads. She had them put one bead in each circle, then count the beads. When they had done that, put two beads in each circle and introduced the idea of counting by twos. This also translated into an addition exercise for Elijah. It was then time for the Daily Journals. Elijah ended up drawing his stuffed monster- he studied it closely in order to represent it correctly. When all was said and done Amy got back out the tinker toys at Pearson's request.

Free Play:

The tinker toys have been a main feature of our free play this week. Lily, Kieran, Elijah, Pearson, and Maya all came and tinkered with Lindsey when she sat down there to play. Addison and Ethan spent most of their morning sitting at the little table in the play kitchen with Miss Amy and playdoh. Addison made a whole pot of food by cutting snakes of playdoh into little chunks, which she counted one at a time. At one point Addison, Kieran, and Lily all sat down to put together an alphabet puzzle. It was challenging for all three of them, so they discussed where they thought each piece belonged- which was just wonderful.