Wow, the last two weeks have been full of activity. Last week, along with Preschool and Grade 1, we went on our first school trip. At Windy Hill Orchard, we hiked up a big hill, saw a cider press, and picked lots and lots of apples. We’ve made delicious applesauce and today we made a graph by tasting three different kinds of apples (red, yellow, green) and then describing how they tasted, sounded, smelled, and felt in our mouths. Each student then chose their favorite and graphed their answer (yellow was the class favorite). We will continue to do apple activities until all the apples are used up.
Yesterday I read a book called Apple Picking Time, which gently tells the story of a little girl whose family are migrant workers. All must pitch in during the apple harvest. This brought up a lot of questions and a great class discussion followed, which included lengthy talk on what people need to live, as opposed to what people want, what life was like for that little girl who couldn’t go to school because she had to help her family earn money, and what we as a class could do to help anybody who might be struggling to earn enough to cover their needs. When I described Open Table, and how every Thursday people prepare a free meal in Stockbridge, the children immediately agreed that we too could give them food. So yesterday we baked a dessert and sent it off with cards and pictures that the children made – “We hope you enjoy our cookies!” Have a happy Fall!” I am anticipating that we will bake for them every month.
Our second trip, this past Tuesday, was to Project Native’s Butterfly House in Housatonic. We went on a “Bug Safari,” observed the nest of a paper wasp, found a lot of wooly bears, danced and wriggled to songs about insects, and then spent some time in the Butterfly House itself, where we saw several different native caterpillars, observed three or four different kinds of chrysalis, and saw several butterflies. A big “thank you” to Samantha Halley for meeting us there as our chaperone. The weather was beautiful and we all had a great time!
Last week, on International Peace Day, the kindergartners did a wonderful job singing and then adding sign language to a song called “Peace Is the World Smiling.” Ask your child to sing and sign it for you!
In math, we’ve begun our Pattern Books. Using unifix cubes the children first create and then record AB patterns. As the unit progresses, they will also practice AAB, ABC, AABB, ABCD patterns. It can get pretty complicated and the class usually loves it.
Creating patterns
and recording them
as accurately as possible!