Morning Meeting:

They started out with reading 'Into the Castle' (requested by Pearson). Then, touching their head, shoulders, knees, and toes- instead of singing the song, they went through all the way through the alphabet, saying a different letter as they touched each body part. This was challenging for some! Amy read a book about recycling which had pictures of a recycling center and showed the process that the materials go through. We had a bit of conversation about that and garbage. They also sang the Tutie Tie song at one point. The class is doing very well with politely taking turns talking during conversation.

Snack Time:

We had oranges and multigrain crackers for snack today- yum! Some of our kids are orange-eating machines.

Outside Play:

Too cold! We got inside free play instead.

Project Work:

We are going to have to start rotating which kids come into the studio on which days when we have near 8 children. This Thursday we had Addison, Elijah, Pearson, and Willow. Next time the others will get the chance. We used the hot glue gun to create a big “Plastic” sign for our recycling bin, made out of plastic recyclable materials. Pearson was pretty impressive using the hot glue gun all by himself. We have a wonderful sign now- check it out when you visit the school!

Rest Time/ Focused Work:

Amy started off focus time by getting out Lindsey's old hand-made game, Chickens and Whales. This game teaches kids to hear complex sounds (wh, ch, th, and sh)- its kind of like candyland otherwise (as far as how the rules work). The game included Willow, Sam, and Elijah. Amy read them some books after the game was finished. Pearson came out at that time, and so they all sat down for their daily journals. They read a couple more books afterward. Focus time was finished up with free play, as usual. The four of them pulled many games off of the shelves and explored them fully.

Free Play:

So much today its hard to remember it all! This morning Pearson and Elijah got on the futon and laid together under a blanket looking at books and listening to the follow along tape for nearly an hour! It was sooo sweet. Sam was wonderful helping Lindsey to put together some puzzles- he learned about different shapes such as trapezoid and rhombus, as well as some street signs in this way. The puzzles got started with Lily and Ethans interest in them. They migrated from the puzzles to the kitchen and did some hefty work in that area, along with Willow. Elijah's parents were our Lunch Budddies today, and Bill sat and read a book the the kids after lunch, which was lovely. Ethan and Willow both painted together on the light table this morning, as well, mixing colors and working up a beautiful mess! Addison asked Amy to read a book to her, which Sam joined.