Dear Parents,
Happy New Year!
We began our week thinking about machines we know. We looked around the classroom, and in our mind’s eye, to see machines in our homes and neighborhood. We made a list: vacuum, excavator, incubator, fan, oven, record player, clock, refrigerator, toaster, car, cd player, coin machine, bicycle, washer, dryer, and blender.
On Tuesday, children who wanted to, tried to pick up a teacher. After many attempts, we used a simple machine to pick up a teacher--a lever. The children took turns standing on the end of a long large piece of wood to pick up teachers and each other. Someone shouted, “It’s like a see-saw!” Indeed it was!
Our first gymnastics class with Larissa and Ebony was swell. The children told us they pretended there was a pizza clock.
On Thursday we introduced another simple machine--inclined plane. In the big room everyone took turns rolling cars down the inclined plane which some said was like a ramp. We asked the children if the cars were faster, or slower, if rolled frontward? backward? sideways? with one car, or two attached together? three? Someone wondered about upside down too. We played in groups of three. There was lots of excited yelling and running back and forth.
We looked at our jungle gym to see what part of it was also an inclined plane. Two children pointed to the slide!
Farmer Eric and Farmer Katherine came to drop our eggs off (gently). We turned them three times each day and made sure there was water in the trough. Farmer Eric said his rule was to not “push and shove” when looking at the eggs. We put reminder signs next to the incubator: Do Not Touch and Do Not Lean on the table. And: Shhhhhhhh, Baby Chicks Sleeping.
We made a list of Baby Chicks Rule in preparation for our baby chicks, who will begin hatching on Monday.
This week we read Machines At Work, Barnyard Banter, Rooster’s Off to See The World, From Egg To Chick, Farm Animals, Where You Came From, Boomer’s Big Day, The Little Engine That Could, Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening, and more.
On Friday we used our inclined plane again. Everyone took turns rolling balls down. Someone had the idea to roll the balls up the inclined plane. We used a different set of cars to roll down too. Again, the inclined plane produced lots of laughter and running back and forth.
We welcomed our new friend to our class, and have been singing the Good Morning Song to help her learn our names.
It was a good solid first week of 2026.
Have a new weekend,
Therese