Hot Lava

Dear all,

We worked on our volcano for three days layering and adding crumpled newspaper, careful to leave the crater open. We smoothed two days' worth of clay over the paper to give it an earthy feeling. We read two myths of Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes, and her  oppositional sister who ruled over the sea. We looked at pictures of Hawaiian Monk Seals and read Margaret Wise Brown's The Little Island. We also read Zoom and noticed a volcano on an island. Lilly shared a book she made at home about volcanoes and showed us her experiment. 

In the yard we have been observing snails, larvae, worms, and birds. We talked about how to observe animals to learn more about them. A group of children sat for a while watching two snails and making observations. The children discovered a dead baby bird in the yard. There was much speculation about how the bird got there, if it had fallen in the shell that was beside it, or out of the shell. Some children thought another bird may have robbed it and dropped it there. We observed a nearby bird chirping and the children wondered if that was its mama or daddy? After quiet time a few children buried the bird. Speaking of quiet time- five and six sleepers early in the week. Seven on Friday. 

We finally got to add potion to the volcano. There were squeals of delight aplenty. We added vinegar, baking soda, dish soap, food coloring, and paint. We predicted which side of the volcano the lava would roll down.  We added small dinosaurs so we could see how the lava might have extinguished them. Our dinosaurs survived our eruption. 

We also did a soda and Mentos volcanic-like explosion in the yard. Everyone sat a safe distance away while we watched the soda spew up into the air. It was an exciting mess. 

The children made cards for Mother's Day filled with love and some with letters. 

We have been occasionally having small meditations, for several weeks. Many children already knew how to sit with legs crossed and hands on knees. We have sat quietly for one minute using a chimed timer mediation app. The last two times we did it several children asked if we could try two minutes. The two minutes was a bit more challenging. We talked about using quiet bodies during meditation, quiet time, and calming our bodies when we're upset. One person said when he's at home and gets angry, maybe he'll go in his room and meditate to calm down. 

Next week we will plant seeds and watch them grow. And of course we'll make more lava!

May the force be with you,

Therese

Meteor, Dino Dig, and Gloop

Dear parents,

Monday morning we began creating a meteor to hang in our solar system. The children helped squish paper and tape it down to form a ball. They said meteors were made of rock. We added foil and orange tape which they said was for the fire. They wanted to hang it near our planet Earth. The children explained, recalling from a book, that one theory was that a meteor hit the Earth, contributing to the extinction of the dinosaurs.

We went outside to play and brought eight large dinosaurs to use in our dinosaur hunt. We buried them in the sandbox and let the "paleontologists" dig to find them. Then they got to hide them for the next group. It was a successful dig.

We used the small dinosaurs to make fossils. The children found pictures of fossils in our books. They pounded the red clay as flat as pancakes and then pressed the small dinosaurs in to leave imprints like the ones we examined in books. We left them to dry and went out to play cat, puppy, lobster, hamster, various other animals, and family members.

Wednesday in circle we greeted each other by counting and clapping the syllables in all of our names, then we did the same for some long dinosaur names.

We had music with Alex on Wednesday and Thursday this week. While half the class made music, children in the classroom wrote more collaborative stories. We made a list of the characters for children to choose to act out.

Thursday in our small groups, while one group had music with Alex, we revisited our story from the prior day, reading the title, then comparing with a book to note what else we needed. We added the authors' names, then after that we noticed that our books have words AND pictures, so there are authors and illustrators too. We re-read our story, pausing to imagine and visualize characters and events. Then we went to the tables to draw that character or scene. We played outside and had a picnic lunch outside.

On Friday we read the recipe and matched it with the ingredients and materials on the table, then took turns measuring, pouring, and mixing Gloop. We voted on which color to use. Then we played with the gloop during the morning and again in small groups during free play. Gloop was had by all.

Thanks to Kay for the write-up while I was at the conference. Highlights at the conference were social and emotional learning, the power of positive thinking (mentioned more than once), mindfulness, and promoting self-worth.

Have a sunny weekend,
Therese