Natural Learning School Weblog

Daily Report: Mar. 3-6

2009-03-06T20:51:00Z

Morning Meeting:

3/3: Among other songs, they sang ‘ring around the rosy’ many times this morning. They tried singing it as quietly as possible, and than shouted “we all fall down!” They had conversation about how we feel when we’re sick versus healthy, and what doctors do for us. The children shared their own experiences about this. They did more graphing (this graph was started Monday) of their favorite thing to do in the snow- and used math terms such as least, most, and equal. They read a book called “If I Built a Car,” then they talked about what they would have if they could build a car that had anything in it.

3/4: Miss Judith had Kinder Music this morning. They made bells out of terra cotta pots (plant pots) by using a small stick as a stopper, and threading a string through the bottom hole. They make a lovely tone when rung with a mallet. They also listened to the Carnival of Animals- the children now recognize the animal which each segment represents.

3/5: They took turns talking about whatever was on their mind. Our students are becoming so polite in conversation, parents! Amy read a book to the kids, and sang many songs with them, which they love.

3/6: We skipped meeting today because of a field trip to the park!

Snack Time:

3/3: Cheerios and goldfish

3/4: Popcorn

3/5: Popcorn and cinnamon cookies.

3/6: Pretzels and watered down lemonade

Outside Play:

3/3: They got to play in the snow- and throw snowballs. According to the graph this is the most popular favorite activity to do in the snow.

3/4: Misky took them outside today- they played in the snow a bit throwing snow balls. They swung on the swing set, and played in the storage shed.

3/5: Pearson found a dead worm on the steps which he cleaned up for us. Miles gave Willow a good lesson on how to get up to the jungle gym by climbing the rope.

3/6: After focus time Amy took the big group (5 kids today!) out back and played baseball with them using a soft ball and bat that she brought for them.

Project Work:

3/3: I showed them photos of Andy Goldsworthy sculptures made of ice. They were given pieces of icicles and a bowl of snow. Ethan mostly just played with the ice, and Ruth mostly observed others, but many of them worked very hard to use the snow as glue and join pieces of ice together. Pearson worked longer and harder than the others, and ended up using a bowl full of snow as a base for a sculpture which we put in the freezer.

3/4: We did the snow sculptures again today. They were given some different shaped ice cubes with an option for the icicles- Ethan and Lily really enjoyed sucking on the ice cubes. Elijah ended up making two different sculptures which are now in the freezer.

3/5: Today we did paintings of dried daffodils. First the children were asked to look carefully at their flower, and then do a pencil drawing of it. When they were finished with the drawing they had access to wet watercolor and gouache (a mix of both) paints. Some children did multiple flower paintings, and some abstracted their flower. Harper, for example, used artistic license in the color, where others were inspired by the color of the flower more than the shape. Miles did a highly detailed flower, which he expanded into a flower field with a tree growing up behind.

3/6: We walked to the park on this beautiful day. Besides the normal play, there was a father there who had screamer balloons. His son, Vincent, was very nice and let our students each have some balloons. They all popped by the time we got back to the school but they had a great time with them in the mean time.

Focus Work:

3/3: They sculpted all of the letters of their name out of playdoh. Ruth joined us for focus time today. Then Amy read them books, some about snow.

3/4: First we sat down and Elijah read a book to us- his reading skills are amazing! Then I read a couple books to he and Kieran- one of which was about big machines. When we did daily journals I asked them to design a machine, and create a purpose for it. They both ended up drawing spaceships. At the end of that is when we sat down with the tinker toys.

3/5: They went outside to the picnic table to do their focus work. They colored a piece of paper, and then cut geometric shapes out of it in order to create their own puzzles.

3/6: Amy had the kids do some dot-to-dots and daily journals before heading outside for baseball.

Free Play:

3/3: This morning the girls enjoyed playing in the store. Willow started a painting which Gillian and Ruth helped her to finish after focus time. Pearson played with toy dinosaurs.

3/4: This morning there was a lot of playdoh activity. Kieran, Lily, and Maya worked together to get the playdoh out of its container that it was stuck in. We played a lot with the tinker toys today- at Kieran’s request. We decided to make a helicopter- which took the rest of the afternoon. When it was finished it had been modified into a 4-propeller machine which was a lot of fun to spin. Kieran and Elijah also painted a picture together on the easel after focus time- a Star Wars monster.

3/5: This morning Ethan made some collections- one out of markers, and another was a cart full of random objects. Paxton got out the trains, and I started showing him how to put together the train tracks. Gillian and Addison joined in and made the tracks stretch all across the room. Miles spent time in the studio making art while the other children were off with Miss Amy. The girls put together a ‘zingo’ game by themselves, and when it went south they came into the studio. Willow and Gillian did a painting together on the easel, while Harper made a butterfly out of paper and a pine cone. Pearson and Miles had extensive conversation and problem solving over trying to figure out how to create slaughter machines for our toy farm animals out of tinker toys. We ended up having second-studio with so many crafts going one- too much to mention!

3/6: We played with tinker toys a bit, and this morning we had the trains out. In the afternoon Kieran and Willow painted a picture together on the easel while Pearson drew a picture of Ironman. This morning he also worked on his Heroes book quite a bit. We had a drum circle this morning when the kids got out the drums and found that they could keep a beat together. Ethan, of course, made a collection of items in the shopping cart.

Daily Report: Feb. 23- 26

2009-03-03T18:50:00Z

*note: I was not present at the school on Friday which is why there is not a write up for that day.*

Morning Meeting:

2/23: Amy read a book to the class, and that was about it.

2/24: They did ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes,’ and read a dinosaur story book about good table manners. They talked about that, and reviewed images from our field trip yesterday, and also the photos from this morning’s free play and talked about them.

2/25: Miss Judith had kinder music. They did some sound experiments and sang songs together.

2/26: They counted 26 days on the calendar. Then sang songs and did some rhymes- some involving moving their body along with the rhyme.

Snack Time:

2/23: We had apple slices and cheerios.

2/24: Goldfish!

2/25: Pretzels and organic raisins

2/26: Cinnamon Chex cereal

Outside Play:

2/23: We played on the slide and swings at Peabody park. Hedwig and Addison were going nuts together! Violet and Ethan relaxed in the recliner swings almost the entire time.

2/24: They played on the swings, and got to blow bubbles!

2/25: Misky took them outside this morning. They played on the swings, in the sandbox, and on the zipline.

2/26: They went for a walk outside down the block, and then afterward went outside. This morning

Project Work:

2/23: We went on a field trip in our wagons to the Haizlip studio today where Pearson and Addison’s mom, Sheriece, works. We saw a model they had built of a children’s museum in another city. The children looked closely at the tiny rooms and toys. Then we hopped over to the park for some outside play.

2/24: The children had their first encounter with terra cotta clay. I asked the children ‘how many ways can we change the clay’? Pearson ended up with a sculpture he kept- which he called ‘the big giant frog’. Ruth made a little worm, Addison made ice cream, Gillian made a snow man, Ethan made tons of tiny chunks, and Willow was inspired by an image of a clay angel, and made her own version.

2/25: We did terra cotta clay again today with the group of kids that is almost entirely different than yesterday. Elijah was very inspired by Pearson’s sculpture from yesterday, and wanted to make his own sculpture even bigger- and so worked very hard on it. Sam who poked many holes kept saying “spooky eyes!”

2/26: This was our last day for clay exploration. Addison made a family of snakes and tons of eggs. Pearson made a spiked turtle. Gillian made a snow man. Ethan cut many tiny pieces.

Focus Work:

2/23: Miss Amy showed the children how to make patterns out of colorful squares of paper. Then the children had to choose colors and glue the squares in a pattern on a piece of paper. Pearson and Ruth had Amy read some books to them.

2/24: Miss Amy read them some books, and then they sat down and did journals. After that they did more pattern work. We hung these on the wall right inside the front door.

2/25: We read a bunch of books, then did our daily journals. Then we let Sam, Elijah, and Kieran glue some patterns on construction paper to join our collection of them on the wall. Afterward we read some more until it was time for free play.

2/26: Amy showed Pearson, Willow, and Gillian how to make rainbow fish out of coffee filters by drawing on them with markers, and using tin foil and google eyes.

Free Play:

2/23: After focus work we all decided that we should decorate the inside of the closet hideaway. Hedwig and Violet made books and pictures, Pearson made ‘activities’- which were sheets of paper with single letters. He’d say ‘time for activities,’ and then he’d ask ‘what starts with house’? Then they’d have to guess the letter ‘H’ out of the letters on the wall. Violet painted a picture on the easel which Maya joined to help with after a bit. We played Zingo together, and Hedwig and Pearson played some pretend play with some duck bills we made. Then Violet and Maya sat together to do some beading on wire.

2/24: It was Willow and Ethan versus Gillian and Addison today, these two pairs were glued together this morning. Pearson and Willow painted a picture together. The girls did some pastel drawings, and Pearson finished his clay sculpture in the afternoon.

2/25: Maya got out the playdoh as usual. Elijah found the leggos that we set out as a follow up to our architect field trip. Ethan rearranged items in the school, as usual. In the end of the day Maya and Elijah were first all over the playdoh, then all over our new store we set up for them. Elijah priced all of the items in the store for us. He and Kieran also spent a while in the closet hideaway rearranging books and giving ‘gifts’ for their ‘birthdays’.

2/26: There was constant focused activity this morning. Our new friend Paxton first played joyfully with the trains, and after a bit of exploring, read a truck picture book for 20 min. straight! Addison, Gillian, and Pearson spent a lot of time in the store taking turns being the clerk. Willow and Ethan mostly stuck together making towers out of stackable toys and the like.

Daily Report: Feb. 9-13

2009-02-13T20:44:00Z

Morning Meeting:

2/9: Outside it was so beautiful we went out right away and stayed outside until we had to come in for studio.

2/10: Amy led the class in old Mac Donald where the kids got to have turns shouting out which animal Old MacDonald had on his farm, and so they explored what sounds all different farm animals make- which is not always obvious.

2/11: Miss Judith had Kinder Music in place of morning meeting today. They sang the rain song and made rain sounds with instruments in honor of our extra wet week. They listened to music and pretended to be elephants. They came to the table for some sound experiments, and sang the dinosaur song.

2/12: They sang some fun songs and then lots of fun exercises which really wore everyone out!

2/13: Amy did some wonderful exercises with the kids this morning. Pearson started the downward dog challenge- they tried to see if they could hold it until the count of 20! They jumped and did toe touches and other exercises as well.

Snack Time:

2/9: We had picnic snack today of bananas and tangerines- yummy!

2/10: Pretzels

2/11: Elijah’s Grandmother donated cinnamon letter-shaped cookies for our snack. We tried to spell words out of the cookies.

2/12: Today we had organic popcorn. The kids always go nuts when we serve this!

2/13: While we were eating our oranges for snack, our young neighbor Molly came over to speak Spanish with the children!

Outside Play:

2/9: Everyone played on the new steps, playing house. They also did some problem solving. The three girls- Hedwig, Addison, and Lily figured out how to use the rake to push the zip line handles up to the platform where another girl was waiting to catch it. Elijah figured out that it can’t be done alone after some effort, and got a friend to help him in the end.

2/10: We tried to go outside but it didn’t last long as it was raining lightly. When the rain picked up we came in.

2/11: This morning they spent a lot of time in the playhouse playing house- they were a big family and had a whole drama going on. In the afternoon I took the focus workers- Elijah, Kieran, and Sam on a walk down the block and back. They had fun rolling down the hill

2/12: Today the kids were intrigued by Carson when he played dead- they all tried poking him to see what he would do. Then they tried it out themselves at which point Carson became concerned by their ‘death’.

2/13: Dalila broke these big dead plants off that were in the back yard- they have big sticks with brushes on the end so they look like brooms. The kids had a blast running around with them and swinging at the air. They did some swinging and sandbox, and Elijah and Pearson stuck together most of the time in their fantasy world.

Project Work:

2/9: In order to emphasize the lesson on green circle we did some friendship artwork today. Several students encountered chalk pastels for the first time and enjoyed the messiness greatly.

2/10: We did a similar thing today as yesterday except we did a collaborative artwork on a big round piece of paper that fit over the entire studio table. We explored the chalk pastels a bit further. The children were encouraged to let their pictures join together.

2/11: Today we strung beads on wire. This is a wonderful activity for fine motor skills and the children settled and focused for quite a while. Ethan did two in a row and wanted to start a third but it was lunch time! (each string is quite a bit of work!)

2/12: We did the beaded wire again today as our group of kids was almost completely different. Willow was challenged but focused hard and ended up finishing two long strings by the end of it. Gillian made three and obviously really enjoyed this activity. Carson made a ‘headband’ which turned into an earring for the teacher- which inspired Addison and others to do the same.

2/13: It’s a secret!

Focus Work:

2/9: It was so beautiful that after some quick work Amy took everyone outside to blow bubbles and play with a toy parachute (which Pearson really likes).

2/10: Amy read several books to the children, and explored a color book with them which was the inspiration for their journals today. They put together a big floor puzzle- which isn’t easy. Willow and Gillian did a joint painting together and afterwards played together for a long time.

2/11: Today I had the children for focus time- we tried making patterns out of unifix cubes. Kieran was able to figure out the two color patterns, and work with Sam to make the pattern grow. Elijah made his own patterns out of them. After we did our journals we went outside for a walk.

2/12: Pearson had been asking about volcanoes- so after Amy looked at a volcano magazine with the focus workers they took a model volcano in a tray outside with some baking soda and vinegar. The children hypothesized about the experiment before adding the chemicals. Gillian stood way back because she was expecting an explosion! Afterward everyone went out back to play.

2/13: I did focus work with the kids today- I let them each pick out a book to read and we sat together for a while reading them. After that we did our journals and then went outside to play.

Free Play:

2/9: We stayed outside most of the day, but at the end of focus time Pearson, Violet, and Hedwig played in the blocks together. We also had fun measuring everyone against the wall. Pearson had fun measuring different things in the school.

2/10: Besides the sensory table and playdoh, we turned on the light projector for a while and the kids had fun playing with the colorful translucent shapes in the quiet room. In the afternoon Pearson did a painting while Willow and Gillian played with some toys

2/11: In the morning Lily and Ethan painted a picture together on the easel. Later Kieran and Elijah worked together to make a structure out of the cardboard bricks. When it was time to clean it up they made up a game and worked together to put them all away.

2/12: The beads and wire were left out in the morning, and Gillian and Addison tried it out together. Most of our free time was spent outside today.

2/13: In the morning almost every student put on a costume. Pearson was a lion and the girls were three princess sisters. Maya, as usual, got out the playdoh which attracted Lily and Kieran. They were into looking at books today as well.

Daily Report: Feb. 2 - 6

2009-02-06T19:24:00Z

Notice: Due to the sheer amount of work that goes into maintaining the blog we are forced to reduce the quantity of posts. Blog posts will be on every Friday. We are going to try to make all of the new photos available to you over the internet as well, instead of just a select few. The difference in the blog will be in the amount of information that will be provided- instead of a full description of the day, we are going to write about highlights from each part of the day, whereas mundane information and daily routine will be less emphasized. I hope all of the parents will still feel satisfied about being included in their child's life as school! Thanks for checking in, we greatly appreciate your interest!

-Lindsey

Morning Meeting:

2/2: The kids are trying out our new talking sticks in order to learn polite conversation skills, and they're doing wonderfully.

2/3: We used the talking stick again today and they're still doing great and starting to learn when to stop talking when someone says "its my turn". Amy started a conversation will the children about color and what one can do with color. Everyone got up and danced to the chicken song today, and we also sang several songs (fuzzy caterpillar, twinkle twinkle, etc.) Amy also cued up some images of drawings the children made that morning, and showed them how each child has chosen a different color scheme for their drawing. These are hanging on the wall behind the easel in the studio.

2/4: Amy wasn't with us today, so we let the children have free play the full hour before snack time, instead of having meeting.

2/5: Amy introduced green circle today to the children. So as not to add too much information here, their conversations will be transcribed and posted on the wall inside the school for all to see- I highly recommend reading it- the children had some beautiful comments. We talked about all of the people in our personal world and how they come into our world. We talked about what makes us feel happy and inside the circle, and what makes us feel bad or outside the circle. We then talked about what we can do for our friends when they feel outside the circle in order to help them feel happy again. At the end everyone told stories about nice/loving things that they had witnessed- each time a story was told Amy poured some water into a heart shaped bowl. When there were enough stories- the love water overflowed. She taught them the green circle song, and let each one touch the love water and put it on their heart to symbolize sharing love with one another.

2/6: Amy went through green circle again today as we had a very different group of kids- and the ones who witnessed it before only got to know the green circle a little bit better. There were more lovely comments- we can't wait to share this wonderful tool with our parents.

Snack Time:

2/2: Bananas and pop corn! We were proud to see how many students wanted seconds and even thirds on the banana. They filled their bellies up today!

2/3: Orange slices and animal crackers.

2/4: Pretzels

2/5: Fruity cheerios (with vitamins!)

2/5: Cheesey crackers

Outside Play:

2/2: Pearson, Hedwig, Addison, Violet, and Ethan all had a blast on the glider swings. Sam and others enjoyed the sandbox and Ethan and Kieran really enjoyed the jungle gym and playhouse.

2/3: It didn't last long- most had very cold hands and came inside quickly.

2/4: Another very cold day

2/5: Mostly swing, sandbox, and playhouse today.

2/6: Today our outside play lasted almost all day long. We skipped studio time and stayed outside until lunch time, and then quickly did the same thing for focus time- we had to enjoy this beautiful day! The new stairs are built next door (they're very nice- very safe) and so the children played up there. They also got out badmitten rackets and played bass ball with the wiffle balls- Pearson and Carson really enjoyed this. The older boys played a lot together- piling leaves in the wheel barrow and other such activities.

Project Work:

2/2: Everyone mixed paint colors- we made the three secondary colors by experimentation. The younger kids that had a hard time following the directions went to the light table and painted while the others mixed paint which interested them much more.

2/3: The children were provided with cupcake trays and a bowl full of colorful translucent objects which they sorted by color into the cupcake wells. Afterward (two step studio today) they chose one color at a time, and matched the objects with the same color of window frame on the tiny window board (its hanging up in the window in the school now) and glued them in a design inside that window. Our youngest students were especially patient for this project.

2/4: We had a totally different group of kids today, so we just repeated the project from yesterday. Sam did more than anyone else and even helped top clean up the studio after he finished the last window that was empty. Kieran and Maya were most challenged by sorting the colors so this was a really good activity for them.

2/5: After the green circle morning meeting, we wanted to complement it with our studio time. I taped a large piece of paper, the size of the light table, to the light table. The children were asked to depict that which is inside their circle- their world. Many drew pictures that reminded them of good times they had with their parents.

2/6: We skipped it today in honor of the beautiful weather.

Focus Work:

2/2: They practiced addition, and rhyming. They read rhymes in a book and had to guess at the last word of the phrase using context clues. They also spread shaving cream over the table and practiced drawing shapes.

2/3: Today they did the rhyming practice again the same as yesterday. They did journals of course and then the two- Gillian and Pearson- played very nicely together for the remainder of the time.

2/4: I ran focus time today- after reading some books to the kids (peter rabbit, and others), we made a discovery. Dalila had tried to save a baby flying squirrel but it did not survive (the cold got to him). She saved the squirrel before burying him so that the children could examine him. Elijah and Hedwig were very taken with the tiny creature and drew him in their journal. After that they created a little city for the squirrel in case he woke up. Elijah placed some holly berries in the city so he would have something to eat. When it was all over Dalila took them on a walk to where they found the squirrel so maybe they could spot his nest, with little luck. Everyone had some free play after that.

2/5: Pearson and Gillian were our focus workers again today. Pearson's addition/subtraction challenges are becoming greater as Amy has discovered his aptitude for it. After that they sat down and Amy helped them to create a book about color after reading a book about how rainbows are made. This book will be available to read after its finished.

2/6: It was entirely outside today- again, it was just so beautiful! Amy got to stay with them outside because Carson, her son, came to school with her today.

Free Play:

2/2: Hedwig got the idea to paint the windows, so we used colored light filter plastic to cover three windows. Now we have one purple, one yellow, and one green. Pearson especially enjoyed the tinker toys today. Violet and Ethan explored the studio shelves together and had a good time making discoveries there. Ethan, Kieran, Addison, and Lily found their way under the sensory table with all of the baskets from the pretend play area. They made a little house down there.

2/3: All of our students have been drawn to our new game shelf and have been using it quite a bit every day. Addison and Gillian were especially excited about the games today and got many of them out to try when they weren't in the studio. At one point almost all of our students were in the studio drawing together in the morning. It was wonderful to see them bonding over artwork.

2/4: Most of the students crawled under the lunch table today to hang out. It was short lived but very cute. Ethan and Kieran were very concerned with the tinker toys today, and Kieran wanted Ethan (and others) very baddly to help him build a robot or airplane. I sat down with everyone to help them build whatever was their goal which was quite challenging. This lasted a long time.

2/5: Ethan sat for a long time this morning cutting a cardboard flap with some scissors (which is not easy to do!). Gillian and Addison used some movable letters to fill solidly the display board with the letters in three rows. This took some hard work! Again, in the afternoon Gillian and Pearson played very nicely together in the last leg of the day.

2/6: Dalila helped most of the children to put together a big puzzle this morning. Carson was a big help in doing this- and all of our older boys showed some of their puzzle skills. We got the projector working again so there was some excitement over that this morning.

Daily Report: Jan. 26, 09

2009-01-26T21:15:00Z

Morning Meeting:

Today we sang the alphabet in a new way. It is healthy for the brain children to cross the midline of their bodies with their limbs while exercising. Amy got the kids to do this by going through the alphabet and calling the next letter while touching alternating legs. She read 'The Knight and the Dragon' to the kids, which had many pages without any text at all. On these pages the children got to tell the story themselves, and so there was a lot of conversation about dragons. They all sang the Fishies counting songs afterward. To end, while the young children were washing their hands the older students sat and listened to a story on tape.

Snack Time:

We had goldfish and butter crackers- the kids were crazy about the crackers and asked for seconds and thirds. We washed it all down with apple cider- yum.

Outside Play:

It was very cold today so we went outside for only a few moments before we came back inside for studio time.

Project Work:

We tried some printmaking today. Monotypes are prints that never look the same, so that's what we did. Each child had a piece of plexiglas, and we all had to share squirt bottles with paint. They chose a few colors and let the paint drip onto their plexiglas. They were provided with different objects that they used to smear around in their paint in order to achieve different textures. When they had it just how they liked it, they laid a piece of paper down on top, and then peeled it up to reveal their custom image. There was a flurry of activity as each child pulled multiple prints. Everyone really enjoyed this and we had some intense studio time for about a half and hour. Everyone finished up at the same time, then washed up for lunch. We are going to hang some of these in the windows around the school, they're too pretty not to display.

Rest Time/ Focused Work:

Amy started off focus time by taking a handful of river rocks and having individual children count the stones. She then took them behind her back and split them into two handfulls. She revealed one of the collections of stone and had them count the stones again. They had to figure out how many rocks were missing, and in this way had some wonderful addition and subtraction practice. Pearson, Sam, and Elijah all participated. When that was over it was time to do written work. They all did a dot to dot of a dragon (the theme for the day) and colored it in. Then they did their journals which were also monsters. Sam drew a picture of his dad on his journal. While Elijah and Pearson were finishing up Amy helped Sam put together an alphabet puzzle.

Free Play:

In the morning after Lily got her Lion King CD in, Pearson listened to the 'Little Gingerbread Man' and followed along in a book. Elijah drew in the middle of the floor, instructing Lily who looked on. Addison played with her stick doll she made last year, and Ethan, our explorer, explored. Several kids also laid on the floor in the morning drawing pictures together on their bellies. Elijah and Lily stayed together in this way for a long time, talking to each other about their drawings. Later Elijah made a big sculpture out of blocks that started out being an oversized smiley face on the ground, but it became something more while Pearson played with plastic tinker toys. This was at the end of the day, and afterward Elijah did a big painting while Pearson listened to a story in the listening station as everyone was waking up.

Daily Report: Jan. 23, 09

2009-01-26T16:39:00Z

Morning Meeting:

Amy started off with the Thumbkin name song. We turned on the lion king music which all of our students love so much and danced to that for a while. Amy read 'Aliens Invade' the book written and illustrated by Elijah and Willow. Several of the children made up alternate endings for the story as it ends kind of abruptly. She also took the children on a short tour over to the sensory table with the corn, and the recycling. They discussed how to properly use the sensory table, and what to do with the recycling bins. Afterward everyone came back into the meeting room and read the 'Mouse, Strawberry, and Big Hungry Bear' book which had been requested for re-reading by Pearson and Addison. Then Amy held up the children's names which were on big cards, to release the children for hand washing and snack one at a time (the kids had to recognize whose name was on each card).

Snack Time:

We had fruit snacks (with vitamins in them) and oyster crackers for our snack today.

Outside Play:

The wagon was the main feature of this morning's outside play. It started off with Miss Amy pulling Addison on the wagon. After Amy pulled a few other children her turn was over and the children started pulling each other. They all peacefully took turns and encountered some problem solving. Elijah was a wonderful guide for the problem solving- when the wagon hit a board or a pile of leaves he figured out that the child inside the wagon needed to get out in order to get the wagon unstuck. Sam preferred to swing, and others played in the sandbox a bit as well. In the afternoon

Project Work:

We had a studio set up but the children were playing so nicely outside, and they hadn't had an opportunity for it in about a week, so we let them stay outside a full hour until lunch time.

Rest Time/ Focused Work:

Elijah started building a mouse city for his oragami mouse out of wooden blocks. Willow wanted to join and so she became Elijah's bit helper in constructing the city. The two of them had a great time roll playing with the city after it was built. These was a very sweet thing to observe and they were both practicing valuable social skills at this time. Sam got some one on one time with Miss Amy- he read to her out of a book, and then they played a fishing game together. Amy held the magnetic fish and had them struggle to get away as Sam tried to catch them with a fishing pole. Then they all sat down on the alphabet carpet to read 'Miss Mary Mac'. When the book was done they came to the table and started a letter hunt in magazines. Their goal was to cut out letters that corresponded to a chosen word (Elijah searched for letters in the word 'alien') and then glue them on a sheet of paper. This was a big challenge for Willow and Sam, and great practice for Elijah. Willow managed to spell her name, and then write her name beneath as well as draw a picture of herself. Well all was over it was time to go outside once again.

Free Play:

There was a lot happening this morning- as usual! Addison flipped through the Big Hungry Bear book and retold the story from what she remembered. Several of the children, including Pearson and Willow, spent a long time playing in the corn. Willow and Elijah found the projector with the translucent shapes in the dark quiet room today, but the fun was spoiled halfway through when our bulb burnt out- oh well.

Daily Report: Jan. 21, 09

2009-01-22T15:30:00Z

Morning Meeting:

We didn't have morning meeting, but Lindsey read two good long books to a group of children this morning at the end of free play. Elijah picked them out- one about monsters, and one about witches. In the witch book it was easy to see on Hedwig's face that she was thinking very hard about the dynamic of the witches- who prefer to be mean to each other rather than nice.

Snack Time:

Lily passed out the napkins and fed the fish for us today. We had goldfish for snack.

Outside Play:

Too cold this morning.

Project Work:

We offered some open invitations to the children. Lindsey provided some air dry clay which several of the children took turns playing with, including Hedwig and mostly Kieran. Elijah made a sculpture later out of all of it (see focus work). Dalila provided the children with two sensory table tubs filled with corn! The children were instantly drawn to it, and a good sized crowd stayed there pouring corn for quite a while. Ethan and Kieran had some great conversation together about the corn. All of the students today enjoyed their time in this area.

* by the way, parents- studio time is only going to be split up among the children given that the activity is too complex to have more than four children in at the same time. if the activity is simple or if the children can man themselves, then they all get to come in- as is often the case.

Rest Time/ Focused Work:

They started off with Kieran and Hedwig making robots out of tinker toys. Elijah brought an alien book to school and made an impressive clay sculpture of the alien on the cover of the book. He wanted to make an alien club and started gathering chairs in a big oval over the alphabet rug. Everyone sat down in the oval and Lindsey described how to elect officers and call a meeting to order. Elijah called the meeting to order, and we decided that he was the President, Lindsey was the Vice President, Hedwig was the secretary, and Keiran was the treasurer. Lindsey read a long book about 'real' alien encounters as the first order of business- this was a long book. Then he showed everyone his sculpture which he claimed was a dead body of an alien. Afterwards we did daily journals- Elijah made an alien drawing and wrote 'a-l-e-n-' beneath, and taped in on a chair for a sign for the club. Kieran and Hedwig both did drawings of Miss Lindsey. After a short amount of free play we sat back down and Kieran's request and read 'Dora Explorer goes to the Dentist'. They all enjoyed the book a lot and we talked extensively about keeping your teeth clean and trips to the dentist. We have a jar of half rotten teeth that was donated to the school which we brought out and examined. We read the book a second time at Kieran's request- and everyone was as interested in it the second time as the first.

As the secretary, Hedwig concentrates on her note taking during the alien-monster club meeting.

Free Play:

Hedwig claimed a stuffed Mickey Mouse out of the closet- she dressed it in little girl baby clothes, and kept it in a baby bed with a blanket. She carried it around all morning. Elijah had a stuffed rabbit and made a bed for his own toy. Ethan noticed the projector in the atelier, and asked about it. Lindsey moved it into the quiet room to show him what it did. We brought out colorful translucent shapes to display on the projector screen. First it was just a couple of kids playing with it, but soon everyone was in there having a great time. They discovered how to move the projected image up and down and they took turns shaking it dramatically while the others danced in the image against the wall, and jumping up to try to touch it when the image was high up. They were all very excited by this and they spent a long time interacting in this way. Maya was a busy girl drawing and making playdoh sculptures all day. Kieran and Elijah made a wonderful block sculpture that stretched all the way across the floor, which they used as a car race track. Some of the younger students such as Lily and Kieran also enjoyed putting together puzzles in the writing area. This morning Elijah built a large fort in the quiet room out of nap time beds. He invited Maya and Lily into the quiet room and they stayed in there playing for a long time, looking at books together.

Daily Report: Jan. 15, 09

2009-01-15T21:13:00Z

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.

Daily Report: Jan. 14, 09

2009-01-15T16:29:38Z

Morning Meeting:

Amy started them off with a call and response song, and then the Itsy Bitsy Spider- she taught them a second verse. She had them put all of the calendar days from day #1 up on the calendar. Then she asked them what they knew about recycling- and wrote down their responses on a chart she made. The headings on the chart were 'what we know', 'what we want to learn', and 'what we learned'. Afterward she read a story to the class about recycling, that was actually made by a class of 5 yr. Old children! When the book was done, they re-did their chart from yesterday- placing images and pieces of recyclable materials on a [new] chart. Then she did a listening game with them- she clapped in a simple pattern, and the children were to imitate the pattern.

Snack Time:

We had cheerios and goldfish today.

Outside Play:

The kids stayed inside and had some free play in the morning, but in the afternoon we made it outside. Later they did a lot of pretend play involving monsters. There were good monsters and bad ones- Hedwig and Addison were the good monsters, but then Addison turned bad. Hedwig decided to send the bad monsters lots of love, and so invented a machine to suck up their 'bad'. The monsters also had some super powers. They also climbed on the gym, and played in the sandbox quite a bit.

Project Work:

It was a laid back day today, and as the project was in the theme of recycling, we saved it for focus time and let the children play a bit longer than usual until lunch- they were playing so nicely after all.

Rest Time/ Focused Work:

We set the studio trays on the alphabet rug upside down. The place mats were on top of the trays (so they laid flat on the bottom instead of inside the tray). Pearson, Addison, Elijah, and Hedwig were our subjects for this activity. Since we used our magazine cutouts for the recycle chart, we needed a new way to make labels for our recycling bins. Each student chose a basket which had one of the different kinds of recyclable materials. Elijah chose plastic, Addison chose glass, Hedwig chose metal, and Pearson got paper. They made displays of the materials on their mats, which were beautiful. We took pictures of each display which we will print out and attach to the bins. Miss Amy had them do their daily journals afterward, which they got to put in their focus folders themselves. Then they finally got to go have some outside time.

Free Play:

This morning all of our four children- Elijah, Hedwig, Ethan, and Lily, spent almost the entire free play time in the dark quiet room. They were pretending to be werewolves. They played nicely in there, as I said, all morning! Later after snack time they got into some toys. Elijah made an experiment with rice and water, which Hedwig was involved in. Lily and Ethan spent a lot of time at the semi-circle table playing with shells and talking about their Mommies. Lily painted a picture this morning, as well. She got her hands in the paint on her paper and rubbed them all around- you could tell that it felt very nice to her, while also making a neat pattern on her painting. When Pearson and Addison showed up, the energy level of the school went up. Hedwig and Addison played very nicely together in the kitchen and with games. At lunch Hedwig and Addison agreed, sitting next to each other, that they are 'best best friends'.

Daily Report: Jan. 13, 09

2009-01-13T21:19:00Z

Morning Meeting:

Amy read a book to the children which they loved, called 'Into the Castle'. It was about a good monster, so the kids talked about their feelings about the book (for example, how would they feel if they were in a castle all by themselves). Amy then made up a welcome song where each child got to pop up like popcorn when their name was called. After that they read half of a book about recycling. When that was done Amy put on a silly CD that gives directions to act out different animals. The children were given scarves to dance with and use as props. There is a part of the song that tells them to freeze, and they have to listen for the next animal to be called. They really loved this and responded well.

Snack Time:

We had pretzels today, which the children always enjoy. They have a great time making letters, numbers, and shapes by eating the pretzels just a little at a time.

Outside Play:

We tried to go outside but it didn't last long. In about five min. all the kids came inside saying “my hands are cold!” At the end of the day Dalila took Elijah, Willow, Pearson, and Kieran out on the front lawn to play some noisey play. Lila decided to open the pumpkins on our porch for the kids to explore. She cut them open and they scooped out the seeds and guts. The children pretended that the pumpkin was a monster- who was dead.

Project Work:

Since we were introduced to recycling this morning we came into the studio to create labels for our new recycling bins. We searched through magazines to find images of paper, plastic, glass, and metal objects. This was a good activity for evaluating how much each child could recognize the different between the three materials.

Rest Time/ Focused Work:

Amy started out reading a book to Kieran, Willow, and Elijah, called 'The Outside Inn'. Elijah read the title, and they started in. It was a book about insects which Amy picked out in honor of Elijah's interests. Eli told us all about the story of when he ate crickets at the CMOM on insect day. Then Amy pulled out a chart on large paper which she made. Each column on the chart had one of the recyclable materials labeled at the top. Amy went through each of the images that were cut out during studio and let the students identify which kind of material is in the picture, and so tape it in the appropriate column. They also practiced math and writing skills on the dry erase board. Elijah did some impressive addition and spelling at this time. Amy was helping Kieran to draw his own letters when Pearson joined the group. When all was said and done they sat down to read some more books. They asked for the tinker toys afterward, and so that's how we ended focus time- making motorcycles and robots.

Free Play:

This morning Elijah and Willow built a huge room out of the cardboard blocks as Lily sat in the middle the entire time. Maya played with a huge amount of playdoh, which was funny to see. Pearson wanted to play a dinosaur reading/number recognition game (its kind of like a puzzle) so he and Lindsey went to the quiet room to play. Half way through Willow joined us- this was wonderful practice at sequences for her.

Daily Report: Jan. 12, 09

2009-01-13T19:36:00Z

Morning Meeting:

They counted with drum beats. When we said their name during the morning song they got to come up and hit the drum a specific number of times. Amy read a book about talking quietly and had conversation about it, and also playing the drum quietly. They also read 'Go Away Big Green Monster,” which they loved (recommended to parents) so we read it twice. We discussed this book, as well. Then they took turns talking about a design idea for a monster which they imagined. Then they did a bit of yoga where the kids pretended their fingers were insects dancing on their bodies. They sang '5 little ducks' which is always fun. Afterward they went on a short tour to the new puzzle shelf and the writing area. Amy initiated a conversation about playing and cleaning up puzzles and games, as well as putting caps back on markers after use. This was all a new experience for our new friend, Violet. Hedwig joined us today, as well.

Snack Time:

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

Outside Play:

The older children (and Addison) pretended the jungle gym was a ship and they swam with the. Maya played in the sand the whole time, emptying cups of sand. There was a lot of swinging among the other children. Later during nap time Lindsey took the older children on a walk down the block. Sam discovered the water meter holes, so we lifted the lid with a stick. The children peered inside the hole and speculated about it. Every house had a water meter, and Sam noticed every one- having Lindsey lift the lid each time to look inside. The kids had a blast sliding down the dry grass yards (where there were hills) on their bottoms, and also rolling down and jumping off of steps and stones. One particularly steep hill made an especially fun slide.

Project Work:

Miss Judith actually held Kinder Music for us today as she will be out of town on Thursday. They sang the welcome songs, and then the one where they dance their little fingers all around. She gave them each a bell afterward, and sang a song which at intervals goes “listen, listen” where the children pause, then ring their bells in unison. They did a lovely job at that. Judith also had them try some sound experiments by putting stones and different objects inside a small drum and rolling the objects around. The kids speculated as to what they thought it sounded like. They also got to take turns trying out the two rain sticks at one point. At one point she had made a wheel with spokes made from scarfs (if you can imagine) which each child took hold of a different spoke. They spun around swishing their scarf along to music. Sam got to sit with his Dad during the end of Music as his parents came today to be our Lunch Buddies! (thanks you two!)

Rest Time/ Focused Work:

Sam's parents got some knock knock jokes started during lunch (as our lunch buddies), so the focus workers read two of Elijah's joke books. Many were rhyming riddles- Hedwig was very good at figuring out what the answer to the riddle. Elijah and Sam read some of the pages of books, as well. They did their daily journals and a number worksheet where they had to find the numbers in chronological sequence and trace a line. Elijah made it all the way to 50! Afterward Amy took the children outside to play.

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. Addison made a whole pot of food by cutting snakes of playdoh into little chunks, which she counted one at a time. It was very sweet this morning when Hedwig approached Addison first thing and asked "do you want to play with me?" When Addison said yes they played together all morning. Lindsey spent some time with Violet, helping her to pick out the symbol for her cubby. Pearson also spent some time this morning playing drums- he lined them all up and went crazy with the mallets.

Daily Report: Jan. 9, 08

2009-01-12T19:29:00Z

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.

Daily Report: Jan. 8, 09

2009-01-09T16:19:00Z

Morning Meeting:

Amy ran the meeting this morning. She taught them how to sing 'where is thumkin' using the children's names. Then they sang twinkle twinkle together, then '5 little monkeys sitting in a tree' (which the kids just love). Afterward Amy played a game with them- she wrote different numbers on the board- they had to recognize the number and do that many jumping jacks (Amy is so clever!). Then she told the story of Elijah and Hedwig taking care of a toy bear yesterday, and connected it to a story which it reminded her of, and so she read 'The mouse, the bright red strawberry, and the big hungry bear,' to the class. Pearson liked the book and asked to read it again. They had some short conversation, then Amy sent the kids out to put on their coats according to which colors they were wearing (first was pink, and all the girls left).

Snack Time:

Amy took the snack with her outside again for a picnic on the picnic table. They had tollhouse crackers.

Outside Play:

They had their picnic, then played hard. Willow and Lily bonded swinging on the glider. Elijah helped Pearson to get started on the zipline, which was nice. Ethan went head first down the slide. They all swung and ran around. Later when we went outside Elijah started a game of monsters, and Pearson started a game with a gun that shoots love- and so the Monster and Love Gun were cancelling each other out. When Vincent joined us Willow followed him around giving him hugs. Sam swung on the swings most of the time.

Project Work:

Miss Judith had music class for us today. She brought out bells, gave them to the children, and played a listening game. Then she taught them a song ' dance your little fingers up high,... down low,... to the side,... all around,' and they wiggled their little fingers all around, and then pretended to go to sleep. Then it was time for some music- she played a classical piece that was a bit eerie entitled 'the aquarium.' Some kids laid down to rest and others made their hands into fish and swam them around. They had a session with the rain sticks (the big one got cut into two), Judith had a song to go along with the rain stick, and the kids danced as they made a rain sound. Then it was time to sing the goodbye songs and for Maya and Judith to go.

Rest Time/ Focused Work:

Amy did some focus work with the kids- Willow got to stay up today. They did their journals front and back, and practiced writing their names.They also played bingo- Elijah was very helpful, and assisted Willow the whole time, and read off the tokens. Then Amy got out some foam shapes that can form any letter of the alphabet, and a book that goes along with it. Sam read the pages, then Willow 'read' it too (it was a repetitive book). Elijah made each letter first, then handed the foam pieces to the other children to try.

Free Play:

There was lots of busy activity this morning. Lily and Willow painted some pictures in the studio. Ethan played often with Lily, Willow, and Addison in the kitchen and on the magnet/car stand. We had out the tinker toys which attracted Pearson and Elijah. Elijah had given Sam a Christmas present of two Godzilla toys, so all three of them spent a while playing with them.

End of the Day:

We had a lot of outside play today, and stayed outside as long as possible, until right before our parents came for pick up.

Daily Report: Jan. 7, 09

2009-01-07T21:11:00Z

Morning Meeting:

We sang songs together including 'if you're happy and you know it'. There was a discussion about the sun that came out to visit us today, and also about Hedwig's presence in the school today. It was a quick meeting today.

Snack Time:

Today Dalila made a small picnic of oyster crackers outside to enjoy the sunshine. Some had some ritz crackers later, as well.

Outside Play:

The kids stayed outside for a long time today as its the first opportunity we've had. David spent some time with the children- he played hid and seek with Elijah and the other children as well. Hedwig was a little mommy and pushed Ethan on the swing, and swung with all of the younger children. They also played house in the playhouse, making play food. Ethan and Hedwig also enjoyed raking leaves and carting them around in the wheel barrow. Ethan was crazy about the slides, as well, and went down many times.

Project Work:

We used the water soluble packing peanuts to create some small sculptures. Some of our students hadn't encountered them before, so they got a new experience. Ethan and Maya stayed longer than anyone else- they seemed fascinated by the materials. They enjoyed cutting the peanuts and soaking them utterly in their water. Elijah created many different creatures in a short amount of time. He displayed them on a tile to dry. Lily had some success with them, as did Hedwig. Lindsey made a dog as an example of the possibilities, and so all were inspired by it and tried to make their own puppies. Lily held the dog example close and pet it. Lindsey gave her the sculpture since she enjoyed it so much.

Rest Time/ Focused Work:

Amy sat down with Hedwig and Elijah to practice some writing. They did their journals front and back, and also did some dot-to-dots which they colored in. Afterward Amy let Hedwig look through our book of symbols to pick one out for her cubbie and work folder. Then they sat down and Amy read the 'hungry caterpillar' to them. They got some free play afterward as 'Wiggy' and Elijah play wonderfully together. Elijah got dressed up as a 'pretty pretty princess,' they had a baby together which they made clothes for.

Free Play:

Maya went straight for the playdoh, and asked to play with some every chance she got for the rest of the day- she loves that stuff! Ethan painted this morning in the studio- he loves to cover a whole sheet of paper with red paint. Hedwig and Elijah went nuts over the toys snakes that we had and played with them for hours, probably. They both dressed up in costumes during the course of the day- Elijah got dressed up in a princess dress and kept saying "I'm a pretty pretty princess!" Together the two took good care of a teddy bear. They fed it, made it a bed, made clothes for it, and cleaned it with baby wipes. We also got out the tinker toys today, which all of the chilren found interest in at some point.

End of the Day:

Amy started our Afternoon Meeting today. She started off by reading a quick book to the children, then we hooked the camera up to the tv and reviewed all of the images that were taken today. It was such a gentle day today, parents!

Daily Report: Jan. 6, 09

2009-01-07T14:54:00Z

Morning Meeting:

After we sang the morning songs we discussed the weather outside. Everyone got up to look out the window and touch the glass. Then Dalila passed around the sandpaper letter 'H' and let everyone feel it as she discussed the sound it makes and words with 'h' in them. She also wrote the words on the board as they were mentioned. Then everyone got up and hopped around to 'little bunny foo foo.' Afterward Miss Amy read a book to the class about Elmer, the polka dotted elephant.

Snack Time:

We had peanutbutter crackers for snack today.

Outside Play:

We let the kids have some free play again today due to the rain.

Project Work:

We became inspired by the beautiful book which Amy read this morning, so we came into the studio with that in mind. We used colorful squares of tissue and card stock with lively patterns. The children cut up the small squares in shapes they liked and then created a collage on some circles of stiff paper. Later we'll let whoever is interested turn their collages into masks (in the story the regular elephants painted themselves up and went on parade) so they can be colorful like the elephants. Willow, Ethan, and Lily were very engaged and were the last ones out of the studio.

Rest Time/ Focused Work:

Amy got a bit of water and some sponges and let the Willow, Kieran, and Elijah draw shapes and letters on the black board. When the board was covered in water they sat down at the table to do their daily journals. Afterwards they got out some letter and number stamps and practiced spelling/letter recognition. Amy read a quick book to them, then they sat down on the rug to play zingo (by this time Pearson had joined us).

Free Play:

In the morning the kids started 'jamming' - Ethan, Willow, Elijah, and Pearson were all playing music together. Kieran built towers out of stackable toys, and we had lots of dress up today. Many children changed costumes in the course of the day several times. A few children also spent a lot of time in the writing station first thing- Lily, Addison, and Ethan all made matching collages by gluing little scraps of paper to a larger one. Pearson and Elijah made a fort in the reading room and read together at one point. Addison played in the kitchen and made more chicken nuggets. We also had some studio time during our free play- Addison, Lily, Willow, and Ethan spent time in the studio painting. Though each of them have very different styles its clear to see each of their paintings are derived from a love and fascination with the paint itself. In the afternoon Kieran spent a lot of time playing with the little broom, and playing with cars. Elijah and Willow constructed a block structure together while Kieran made see-saws, afterwards Kieran and Willow painted a picture together, which seemed to teach Willow a new way to handle the paint.

End of the Day:

Vincent joined us near the end of the day so the kids spent some time getting to know him and playing with him.

*Note: Sorry about the inconsistancy of the blogs, parents. We're getting it back on track.

Daily Report: Jan. 5, 09

2009-01-07T14:45:00Z

Morning Meeting:

We introduced our new members of the school- Ethan and Miss Amy. Then we showed our new friends how to sing our morning songs. Elijah started a fascinating conversation about microorganisms, we discussed what a microscope is and how it works- we brought out a big lens and let the kids examine it. Afterward we noticed that were were many people so we decided to count all of the feet in the room- we counted 22 feet! Then we all got up and danced and sang “Mama Mia,” and jumped 22 times, once for each of our feet. Then we practiced counting in Spanish. Afterward Miss Amy read a book to the class.

Snack Time:

We had goldfish and apple cider for snack today. Yum!

Outside Play:

We had some studio and free play time today because it started raining right at outside time. Ethan and Lily played with Miss Amy in the gross motor area with the toys on our new display shelf.

Project Work:

We had several studio options for the kids today. We just wanted to start the semester off nice and easy so we set up some air dry clay, light table leggos and puzzles, and watercolor painting. Pearson played with the leggos for nearly an hour without stop. Harper made a painting of two cats, then sculpted a butterfly and a cat (after she had already made a cat this morning). Addison worked hard on a painting, then worked hard on a sculpture making little worms and homes for them. Elijah floated around to all of the different stations- in the end he made a large family of caterpillars out of clay. Miles painted a three headed monster.

Rest Time/ Focused Work:

Miss Amy started out by reading a very long big-kid book to our large group of focus workers. They listened closely and leaned in as she read on and on. The book was about some kids who created their own movie, so Amy had the children come up with a movie idea on their daily journals. Then she took them to the carpet and helped them to put together a sea creature puzzle while Elijah and Pearson worked with some new marble toys. When Dalila joined us and Amy had to go she took over puzzle duties. During this time Miles stayed at the lunch table and drew monsters for quite some time.

Free Play:

There was some very pleasant free play this morning. Miss Amy sat with the girls most of the morning as they played in the play kitchen and on the table cutting paper and playing with playdoh. Addison made a bunch of chicken nuggets out of dough, and then pretended to eat them with a fork. Sam and Ethan were busy cutting away in the writing station. Elijah and Pearson played super heros, and Harper sculpted a cat out of air dry clay. Harper also constructed a Native American headband with a feather without any help at all- quite impressive.

Daily Report: Dec. 8,

2008-12-11T16:13:00Z

Morning Meeting:

After we sang the morning song we opened the window and talked about the rain. The kids leaned over the windowsill and listened to the sound of it. Pearson thought we should leave the window open all day so we could hear the rain. Then we sat and read a Babbar yoga book. Then we all decided to get on our rain gear and go play in the rain. Dalila took the kids down the block where they splashed in puddles until their boots were filled with water!

Snack Time:

We had popcorn today for snack- which was Addison's idea. It was the perfect snack for coming in to out of the rain.

Outside Play:

We played in the rain for quite a while- they had a blast and it improved some kids' moods- sometimes we just need to be outside no matter what the weather is like!

Project Work:

The kids, after getting on some dry clothes, went into the reading room where we read books until lunch time.

Rest Time/ Focused Work:

Kieran and Elijah built train tracks together until it was time to do focus work. When Pearson came out of the quiet room it was time for focus work. Pearson got work geared towards hearing sounds within words, and math concepts. Elijah's work was targeting spelling and fine motor control, and Keiran, too, had work for fine motor control. Afterwards Elijah and Pearson each got an empty basket. We went on a hunt around the school that had both short and long 'A' sounds

Free Play:

In the morning we put together some puzzles. Pearson and Elijah played with some motorcycle toys. Dalila read Christmas stories to everyone out of a big wonderful book. Addison went around finding things to look at through the kaleidescope. Lilly 'made tea' for everyone and handed out cups.

Daily Report: Dec. 4, 08

2008-12-04T21:43:00Z

Morning Meeting:

We only had three children this morning who were playing beautifully and productively together, so we just let morning meeting pass us by, and went straight to snack. About that time we had a visitor arrive- Penny and her daughter Hedwig who stayed to play with us for a while.

Snack Time:

We had goldfish and animal crackers with water today. Hedwig didn't join us at the table but she provided some nice long distance conversation for the kids. Elijah enjoyed pointing out to her the different fish in our tank.

Outside Play:

We went outside at the end of the day. We spent most of the time swinging gently on the little swing set. It was good to get outside after we've been shut in so much.

Project Work:

Miss Judith held music class today. First everyone sat down on the rug and sang our welcome songs. Then she initiated some sound experiments- she had the kids pat on the floor first very softly, then loud like thunder. They went back and forth following her lead. They were very responsive and followed her perfectly. Then we came into the studio to decorate our rain stick using the same method we used to make our lamp shade. Each child got a piece of paper to cover with tissue squares, painting them down with watery glue. They worked hard on those until it was time to say goodbye. Hedwig stayed with us and helped Maya with her studio work. We sang goodbye to her during our goodbye song, and afterwards she gave us all some wonderful hugs and kisses.

Rest Time/ Focused Work:

Elijah went straight to work in the writing station. He used every piece of neon green paper that we had out, and drew a monster on each piece, front and back. He attempted to write 'Daily Monster' on them, spelling “daily” d-a-l-e (pretty clever). When he was finished with the sheets he asked some more, and covered ten or so more papers with monster drawings. Afterwards we looked at some Montessori literacy tools which Carol loaned us with Pearson. We talked about what 'e' does to vowels when its at the end of words- its very tricky to learn. Elijah picked it up though after a couple of words. Then he began work on constructing a dinosaur house out of our new big blocks. He designed the building with many secret rooms and compartments that hid various dinosaur toys.

Free Play:

We had some wonderful free play today. Willow, Pearson, and Elijah were by themselves at school for a long time, so they had a great time building “pyramids” together out of the big blocks. They worked on their buildings for a very long time until they became distracted by some new boats that we have in our water table. They played sponge bob square pants together in the water table until it was time for snack. Later when Hedwig was here they stood in line waiting to talk on their play phone to call princesses, monsters, and spiderman. Willow painted a picture on her own time, as well.

Daily Report: Dec. 1, 08

2008-12-04T18:51:00Z

Morning Meeting:

Lindsey ran our meeting this morning. We skipped the songs and went straight to talking about the break. Mostly the boys talked about video games, but they also mentioned being with their family. Elijah mentioned visiting his Grandmother in Chicago. Then we read a story which Lindsey brought back from her Mom's house- one of her favorite stories from childhood, “The Magical Drawings of Moony B. Finch.” In the story, Moony, who loves to draw, makes pictures which come to life when someone touches them. The kids enjoyed the story and had many questions, and admitted they wish they could make drawings like that. Then we had the magic box, which surprisingly contained a sealed jar with a specimen of a baby shark in formaldehyde. The boys of course love it, and wanted to set it on the table to look at both during snack and during lunch (ew!) .

Snack Time:

First we fed our fish, then we sat down. We had animal crackers for snack today.

Outside Play:

We skipped outside play- too cold! Instead we introduced the Planet Earth documentary on Deep Oceans- we watched it through most of project time. If you haven't seen these documentaries- hurry to find one- they're amazing.

Project Work:

After watching most of the Planet Earth Ocean Deep, we came into the studio just to sit and talk about our ocean project. We had group discussion about the types of creatures that we want to have in our ocean (painting from our previous class). In the end the children decided they want to be able to have a puppet show with their creatures. They want a boat with a scooba diver, sharks, crabs, etc. They also had the idea to glue sand onto the bottom of the ocean painting to be the ocean floor so that we can have crabs and clams living down there.

Rest Time/ Focused Work:

Lindsey spent time with Elijah putting together cardboard boxes while Elijah talked about Godzilla and made sculpture with the boxes. He got baskets of shells to put on top of the sculpture. He also observed the kaleidescope invitation which was set up in the studio. He put many objects on the display tray to see how they looked through the kaleidescope. Afterwards he drew a picture of a Horseshoe Crab, and tried to write it out. Lindsey gave him a blank book to fill, so he sat down in the studio and started drawing things around him, starting with the bottled shark, and labeling the names of each creature or item. Then we went into the play room to build a structure out of our new cardboard blocks. We added wood blocks, insects, and shells to the mix and ended up with an elaborate castle for insects including a guest room, jewelry store, nursery, bug museum, car, restaurant, mailbox, and graveyard. Elijah's imagination ran away with itself, creating a purpose for each insect and block. We continued playing until the parents arrived.

Free Play:

Everyone visited the Kaleidescope invitation at different times. We also had some princess dress up this morning from the girls. Elijah showed off his new favorite thing, which was a display box with a range of insects encased in plastic cubes. Elijah told the other students all about the different species of insects in his box.

Daily Report: Dec. 2, 08

2008-12-04T16:29:00Z

Morning Meeting:

Dalila started off with the morning songs which ended in group kisses. There is so much love in our school! Then we had some conversation about the food chain as it involves fish. Then Dalila qued up a quick yoga video for children and together they learned about breathing deeply, then they had fun songs that went along with different undersea oriented yoga poses. This kids responded very well to it- they always enjoy acting out sea creatures.

Snack Time:

We had pretzels and water today, the older boys spent a good amount of energy forming them into letter shapes.

Outside Play:

Outside first we went to the swings, then we went to the sandbox, then the jungle gym. Pearson made a cake and strawberry ice cream in the sandbox for Dalila. Maya got a plate of sand and sat down at the table for a 'meal'.

Project Work:

First we came into the studio just looking at books with photos of ocean water and ocean floor. We observed that though ocean sand is typically white, when its underneath the water it becomes the color of the water- blue. We noticed that the sand that was closest in the photo looked lighter, and as the ground bent away it became darker with more water in front of it. First we drew pictures and decided as a group how we wanted the ocean floor to be shaped. When we came to agreement, Elijah and Pearson each drew part of the ocean floor. We made a stripe of glue a few inches from the bottom of our painting, using paint brushes, along the line the boys drew. We mixed black and blue sand together to make the darkest sand, and put that on the first stripe. After shaking off the excess sand we put a second stripe of glue got a medium blue color of sand. And the last filled the very bottom of the painting, and got a mixture of white and blue sand for the lightest color. Now we have a place on our painting to let crabs and clams rest in place.

Rest Time/ Focused Work:

Kieran and Elijah played together with the blocks where bug city used to be (Maya had fun knocking it over). The boys did do a tiny bit of focus work but they became absorbed in making ocean creatures. We used transperencies and color copies from books to trace the shapes of creatures that the boys wanted to put in our ocean. Pearson did a wonderful job drawing and painting a sword fish. Elijah made a highly detailed drawing of a sea snail as well as some other creatures.

Free Play:

In the morning we had an hour of free play while the children focused in a group for a long duration on just two different activities. First they all gathered around Elijah's bug city from yesterday and started building it bigger. Many children made a contribution to the city. Afterwards they filtered into the studio and made paintings and big drawings. Lily and Kieran looked at the focus work folders and family photos. Addison also inspected the kaleidescope.