Dear Families,
What a chilly week! We ventured out a tiny bit, and played in the gym one day with hoops and balls and yoga mats, but mostly stayed cozy and busy inside. As you know, a beloved tradition in our class is reading stories in the library after lunch. Two favorites from the past week were Crictor, about a heroic boa constrictor and The Strawberry Snatcher, a beautifully illustrated, wordless tale about a mysterious blue skinned being who chases after a precious pint of strawberries until he finds something better: a bush filled with wild blackberries.
We realized that stealing is a theme in many of our stories. “The fox stole the farmer’s chickens,” someone said, mentioning a tale we have not revisited in a while. “The snake baked a hoe-cake and the lizard took it!” Finding these kinds of connections is an important skill. The children are thrilled when they make a connection or see a similarity both in literature and in life: “I have yogurt, too!” “We’re both wearing sparkly sneakers.” I like blueberries.” “I like blueberries, too!” “Sama, sama, mama llama!”
Thinking about The Snake Baked a Hoe-Cake inspired us to act out the story. The children remembered doing this and wanted to try again. Each child took many turns playing each of the characters. We talked about parts of a play: audience, actor, chorus, costumes, props. “Again, again!” “I want to be the froggie.” “I’m the snake and this is my kitchen.”
I notice that as we revisit ideas and themes over and over, the children’s thinking and ideas become more detailed and complex. Our first explorations of enactment were simple. Now we have costumes, areas for different characters to hide and wait and ideas about motivation, “The lizard takes it because he’s hungry.” “No, he just wants it and he sees it and he wants it.” We will begin using the children’s own stories as scripts, so they can add playwright to their growing list of accomplishments!
The children spent time sharing their snowman stories with one another and singing the alphabet song while looking at the letters we’ve made. “We still need ‘G.’ I want to make ‘G.'” I try and work one on one with each child as they go through the very difficult problem of imagining what the letter looks like, attempting to draw it in chalk and then translating this plan into a letter built from bits of sandpaper snipped with scissors. Often the other children observe and cheer each other on, giving suggestions for what to do. They are so proud of this alphabet and feel very connected to all these letters that they have made by hand.
Next week, I look forward to exploring ice and the way water can transform with the children. If you have a small and interesting shaped container, please bring it in. We will be freezing water into different shapes and exploring the melting process.
All the best!
Sarah
Other scenes from our week: