This was a short week, but your children filled it with discovery, purpose and learning! Our morning center time was multifaceted. As always, children can choose what center they want. Choice builds independence and self-confidence and helps children plan and follow through on their activity. We brought in large branches for one of our center activities for children to decorate. They used the nature bins from our Grandparents/friends’ Day activity and transformed the branches with pinecones, flowers and nuts. Children also choose other items from our classroom. What beautiful, organic creations they made! What a beautiful way to “dress” our classroom!
We also had a shape-find activity that started indoors for centers and which we extended when we went outside. This was to find different shapes both inside and out. The most exciting find outside was a leaf in the shape of a triangle! The children made wonderful discoveries. Did you know there are many different shapes in nature? This activity became collaborative with a lot of discussion, comparisons and counting. A beautiful spider web with dazzling rain drops yielded fascinating observations about shapes. We were immersed in nature while developing important concepts.
Morning centers also include a station with paper for drawing and/or writing. This station has paper, pencils and crayons, and includes examples of how letters are shaped. Children work independently with structure and support (including the question starters we have talked about) from teachers.
Wednesday we placed a large cardboard tube on the table to see what the children might want to do with it. They decided to make a tree, and chose to use more of our nature finds in order to decorate it. They tied, glued, pasted, cut and colored. This activity provided sensory stimulation and small motor practice while enhancing your children’s aesthetic sensibilities and appreciation for the beauty of nature.
At circle Isabelle shared the acorns she had gathered and told us about them. Neha brought in nuts from India! What a treat it was to have CJ’s mom bring in pasta and clementines for lunch. Thank you!
We took a long walk with art supplies in tow. It rained lightly on and off. We talked about the rain, and some children wanted to know why they couldn’t see their shadows. We stopped at the picnic table by the benches, put down brown paper and took out paints. Some children painted. Some used leaves and printed with them. Some used pinecones to print designs. Symbolic, transformative thinking is an essential component to the Reggio approach. It opens up the mind for new possibilities and new ways of thinking about things. We understand that successful companies like Google even have a CIO (Chief Innovative Officer). We are preparing your children to be innovators of the future!
We seize teachable moments, like pausing to watch a big tractor down by the pond. We also read aloud several times a day to reinforce concepts, enhance vocabulary, model storytelling, calm and restore ourselves, and for enjoyment.
Another center we introduced this week is weaving. Over time we hope that all your children can try this. Weaving develops small motor strength and coordination. Weaving provides experience with directionality – right to left, top to bottom, over, under – and with following directions. Yarn is soft and provides a pleasant sensory experience. It is also flexible and forgiving!
We have begun a collaboration with Sasha, the art teacher. She will come to our classroom to do projects with the children. Working with an artist (atelierista) is a Reggio approach element that we fully embrace because, as Reggio practitioners explain, artists see the world in new ways and are masters of transformative thinking and composition. Sasha found a new way to build on the collage concept we had been working on. She introduced paint brushes, other kinds of brushes and other things to paint with such as feathers and shape sponges. This activity helped children to see how we can extend an idea.
Please continue to gather and send in nuts. You can add pinecones, too! And please be sure your children has clothing appropriate for the weather! As our classroom can also be chilly, it helps to have your child wear layers.
Ms. S and Ms. Kane
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