Preschool

A recent favorite and inspiration for harvesting seeds to plant in the Spring.

 

Dear Families,

It was another full week!  I have noticed the children’s artistic abilities taking a leap.  I see many representational drawings emerging and notice children really looking and noticing details, trying to communicate what they see with art and blocks and imaginative playing.  It is not surprising that this artistic work goes hand and hand with an increased awareness of letters and desire to ‘draw’ recognizable parts of the alphabet.

 

Scooping out slippery seeds.

 

Still life inspiration.

 

Painting what we see.

 

“I’m making a little pumpkin.”

 

A pumpkin patch with lots of details, like stalks and lines!

 

Another pumpkin patch with red felted apple pumpkins!

“There’s lots of people in there and they’re going to buy the pumpkins!”

Looking closely at letters.

 

An ‘E’ with lots of lines and other letters.

After putting the alphabet on the board we sang the alphabet song and the children wanted to take turns pointing to each letter as we sang its name.  I asked, “What do you know about the alphabet?”  Many children walked to the board to say, “This is my letter,” pointing to the letters in their names. Reese showed us that ‘R’ and ‘E’ and ‘S’ belong to him.  “‘S’ belongs to me too,” said Stella.  “Me, too!” said Suleman.  Beck went to the board and pointed to an ‘M.’  “That one belongs to Mom,” he said.  I was impressed by the children’s knowledge and the way they feel connected to letters that mean something special to them.

We opened a big cook book this week, where our lovely oak leaves had been resting. They were dry but still colorful.  We noticed all the variations of colors and textures and lots of tiny spots and veins on the body of the leaves. “Look, like a ghost,” said Suleman. We folded our leaves in wax paper and slowly pressed until the heat melted the pages together.

 

Oak leaves pressed in a cookbook.

 

“Wow! So big. Look at this!”

 

Melting wax paper on leaf.

 

Oak leaf against window.

We got to travel on the bus again! This time we visited The Norman Rockwell Museum, to see a show about superheroes and villains by the artist, Alex Ross.It was interesting to look at the artist’s work from early childhood and to listen to an alphabet superhero story.  Then we got to make our own superhero capes.  The children were a wonderful, polite and engaged audience.  We hope to go back  soon to look at some of Norman Rockwell’s art.

 

On the bus to the Rockwell Museum!

 

“Heroes and Villains”

 

Batman watching over the city.

 

Super Sadie!

It was wonderful to have the chance to meet with you, look at the childrens’ work and reflect on the learning  that has occurred this year. I look forward to all the amazing work and growth yet to come!

All the best,

Sarah

 

Dear Families,

 

It was a short, but very full week. On Thursday we celebrated Halloween. Everyone helped cut apples and press them through the juicer.  We watched the apples transform into frothy juice and red flecked mush. At our morning circle we sang Halloween rhymes and welcomed Batman, UPS man, Spider-man  Purple Glitter Kitty and Pink Tutu Elephant from the B3s and Bumble Bee, Lion, Thomas and Angry Bird from Pre-K. We paraded through the school and visited many classrooms and offices. Before our special snack, we read Pumpkin Moonshine, by Tasha Tudor and heard the story of a little girl whose pumpkin rolls away until it bumps into a barn.  She and her grandfather carve it into a “Pumpkin Moonshine” and then save the seeds so she can plant lots more pumpkins in the Spring.  The children thought this was a wonderful idea and really want to plant their own pumpkins in our  bit of the garden patch. Next week, we will cut open our last two pumpkins and save the seeds for springtime. We will leave the pumpkin husks in the compost pile and watch how they also transform as they break down and return to the soil.

 

Bat-man in the Berkshire Room.

 

Spider-man pressing apples into the hopper.

 

Purple Glitter Kitty watches the apples disappear and emerge as juice.

 

Elephant and Bumblebee watch the mush come out.

 

Our very cheerful UPS man.

When we went outside to play we found a pumpkin shaped note in a tree, next to a little sparkly lady with a green crown and a pumpkin shaped body.  It was the elusive pumpkin fairy who remembered us in spite of Hurricane Sandy! It was exciting to go for a walk and look for the little pumpkins she had hidden for us near the garden patch!

 

Mr. Moo-tel and the magical and mysterious note from the Pumpkin Fairy.

 

Pumpkins for all! Thank you, Pumpkin fairy!

On Friday we still had lots of apples left from our celebration, so we all took turns cutting and filled two big pots with apples.  They cooked for a long time while we played in the gym and we were amazed to see another transformation – bowls of warm, sweet, fragrant applesauce – one with cinnamon and one without.

Washed apples.

 

Working together to cut up apples.

 

Plain and cinnamon.

 

“I love warm applesauce with cinnamon!” “Me, too.” “Me, too!”

 Before lunch we went for a walk through the woods.  It was interesting to see how much more water was flowing through the streams in the woods and we spent lots of time helping our school by picking up little branches that had fallen across the pathway. Although we sometimes need to sit and rest on a log as we traverse the big loop, the children have become excellent hikers! Everyone has gained strength, confidence and the desire to persevere.  They notice the changes in the landscape from week to week – trees losing leaves, goldenrod mowed down, birds more visible in the branches. We are so lucky to have this incredible resource of natural beauty surrounding us!

Walking back to school on the leaf-strewn path.

Next week we will be learning about Norman Rockwell in preparation for our field trip to his museum on the 7th. We will also be putting finishing touches on our constructions and using them as inspiration for story telling. I look forward to meeting with you all on Thursday afternoon and evening.  The children have grown and accomplished so much since late August!

 

All the best,

Sarah