Dear Families,
What a full week we had! This Fall has been the loveliest I’ve ever experienced. One day on the playground the wind blew softly and sent swirling clouds of golden leaves and pine needles through the air. Everyone ran over to try and catch a precious lucky leaf before it hit the ground. Then the children played in the golden grove, making food and building tiny houses for fairies in the roots of trees.
Beautiful leaves.
Aidan’s orange leaf.
Pine needle soup!
In the block area, I am seeing children building more complicated structures and using the blocks to create miniature worlds that support complex narratives and exciting dramas.
Enclosures and a road for the horses.
Sometimes the blocks become characters in well known stories. One story that we have been exploring and sharing is “The Three Billy Goats Gruff.” It is interesting to watch the children retell this story to one another and help each other to remember the sequence of events and the words of each player.
River under the bridge where the three billy goats cross to the green grass on the mountain.
On Tuesday, Lily’s mom and dad brought a cider press to school and we all got to take a turn rolling an apple down a long chute into the hopper, where it got crushed and smooshed into juice.
Carter helps us make apple cider with an apple roller coaster and an apple press.
Thank you, Carter and Tiffany!
On Tuesday we also got the exciting opportunity to travel together to Sonya’s cafe in Great Barrington. We got to see the back of the house and learn how to make beautiful chocolate mousse with whipped cream and tiny Halloween characters and sprinkles and shiny chocolate balls. So delicious! Yulia showed everyone how pastries are wrapped in pink boxes, tied with a bow and stickered.
Back door at the Lenox Patisserie in Great Barrington.
B3s at the Patisserie!
Making chocolate mousse in the kitchen with Jean Yves.
Looking out at the busy street.
Looking in at all the toys.
Yulia playing piano for us.
Thank you so much, Yulia and Jean Yves for showing us where you work and create such deliciously beautiful works of art!
Later in the week we began practicing making prints on paper with stamps and inkpads. We filled two huge sheets of paper with our work. “This is like the dots, but it makes a whole picture!”
Practicing making prints.
We were preparing for using the body of a Red Snapper to make a print, like the beautiful “gyo taku” prints of Japan. The children have spent much time observing the life of the fish tank, writing in books and noticing the way fish move their fins and tails, glide in and out of bubbles and wait near the surface when we sprinkle food in.
Scientists observing and recording data about the world of the fish tank.
Learning about the body of a fish.
The beautiful Red Snapper we used to make fish prints.
Looking closely. “I see sparkles and a yellow eye.”
Sonya is very brave and feels the tiny prickly teeth.
“It just tickles a little bit!”
Carefully painting the body.
Comparing this fish to the fish in a book.
Pressing the paper down. “It feels cold and hard. This is where the mouth is.”
The children were very proud of the lovely prints they each made. When they were dry, they glued them to paper and sprinkled gold and red shimmers onto the bodies, “That’s so it be shiny like a fish really is shiny.”
I enjoyed overhearing many children explaining this art making process to their visitors on grandparents’ day. It is wondeful to hear them being ‘the experts’ and sharing their knowledge.
I was also very proud of the children for their performance in a rather overwhelming situation!
Singing about fish for Grandparents’ Day.
Isabelle shows her grandmothers her fish pictures.
Poppy and Aidan.
Memere and Sonya.
Noelle and her grandmother look at books.
Thank you to all the grandparents who visited our class and made the day so filled with love and caring. It was wonderful to meet you all! Please send in pictures of yourselves and your grandchild, so we can add these images to our community board.
Wishing you all the best!
Sarah
Sarah,
You do such a wonderful job with your blog. It almost feels like I am a fly on the wall in your classroom, seeing everything and missing nothing. Thank you for the time an energy you put into this.
Geoff