FALL HIKE

The children got a lot of exercise today as we we visited the sports fields, the spider web playground, and the boulders where we played lava monster and collected a lot of pine cones and leaves.  The class also had a nice surprise when we saw Eli who was picking some supplies up from school. Here is a video of our adventure.

When we returned we looked at the items we collected.

REN: When the leaves get brown that means they're almost going to die, when they turn super duper brown."

GRACE:I found a leaf that was turning red.

BROOKLYN: I found a pinecone.

FARRAH: I think the bird has the same colors as the feathers that they found.  

LIVIO: I found a stick that was pokey.

CHARLOTTE: I saw an acorn but it was green, and one time I found one that was red and pinkish.

We read How do you know it's Fall? by Allan Fowler.  It was a short book so we ended up reading two books giving the children a chance to relax and take a break from their hike before ending the day outside.

The second book was Families by Ann Morris.  Looking at different families from around the world.  We focused on whether the families were small or large, and the different activities that the families were doing and how they were the same or different from our own. 

QUESTIONS

How many baseball/softball fields did we find?

Can you remember something that one of the families was doing together?

What items from nature did we bring back to the classroom?

September 29th 2020

Yesterday afternoon inspired by the book The perfect square by Michael Hall some of the class cut up squares of paper and used them to create pictures.  I left the materials out this morning so friends that didn't get the chance to make one, or don't attend in the afternoon could try using the hole punchers and fancy scissors which we introduced for the first time.  

There has been a lot of interest in play-doh the last couple of days.  I put the geometric shape cutters away and replaced them with our leaf, pumpkin and acorn shaped cookie cutters.    

Games were another popular choice today.  Zingo! and Chomp amongst them, as well as many other work choices.  There are times I look at the photo's and surprise myself with how much we achieve  in one morning.

We surprised Mr. Billadeau by singing Happy Birthday to him.  I placed a question mark where his age should be.

The book we read today was  Family by Isabell Monk.  I love this book as it helps us move our conversations about ourselves and our families seamlessly to families and communities coming together, to cook, eat and enjoy each others company.  

 At this time of year we start to talk about cooking together as a Community.  Normally we would have already had our first field trip to the Farmer's market.  Instead, we have arranged the second best thing.  On Friday for storyteller time Mr. Andrews will share a video of  himself at the Farmer's market choosing lots of different vegetables.  On the following Monday  we will have those vegetables in our classroom and discuss what we can cook with the food.  Our first cooking project is usually always soup, and I have already told the class we will make Stone soup.  This will be the first of many cooking projects over the year.

After P.E. we weighed  our pumpkin.  Mr. Goeddeke the Kindergarten teacher let us use his scales.  Friends tried to lift it, noticing how hard it was and the sound it made when you hit it.   

WOW! a whopping 15 pounds.

When we got outside sa few students started creating stone soup in the sand area.  Farrah kept telling us it was missing something, and it tasted terrible.  Everyone started to think of different vegetables, and herbs to add to the pot.  Finding leaves, acorns and sand to represent the vegetables.  Farrah suddenly realized what we had forgot. "The onion and garlic."  You always need onion and garlic in your soup. 

 I just love the imaginative abilities of 4 and 5 year olds. 

 QUESTIONS

How many seeds do you think are in the pumpkin?

In the book Family what surprise food did Hope share with her family?

Mr. Billadeau told us his age, can you remember?

LEAF HUNT

What a beautiful Fall day.  The perfect day to collect leaves.  Looking for different sizes, shapes and colors.      

We found a new area to explore.  The hike up the hill was challenging for some of our students but it didn't deter them from trying and reaching the top.  We use the three points of contact rule for those friends (including teachers) that don't feel safe just walking up the hill. 

When coming down the otherside we showed the children how to do the crab walk while others walked down or found other ways of getting down without assistance.

 

At the bottom were lots of rotting logs to explore and climb as well as lots of leaves to add to our ever growing collection.

Everyone really enjoyed their adventure in the woods, testing their gross motor skills, problem solving and making decisions about how to safely climb up and down the hills and which leaves they wanted to collect.   I am so appreciative of having these spaces on campus to share with the children.  They benefit so much from their interactions in the wooded areas.  I am adding a link if anyone is interested in reading more about the benefits of outdoor play 

We headed back to the classroom for snack and work choices.   Ending our morning by reading Pink is for boys by Robb Pearlman which linked to a conversation we had about their favorite color.   They each picked a color of crayon they liked.  We noticed the connections that friends in our class had over their favorite color.

QUESTIONS

What was your favorite part about the woods?

How many different colors did you notice on the leaves?

What color crayon did  one of your friends choose?