Growing, growing, grown

Hi all,

Monday we charted our seeds' growth. Everyone got a close up look at their sprouts, or not sprouts. We discovered that our lentil seeds had not grown and were quite mushy. Someone suggested that the friends with lots of sprouts share with the children who had none. Yay! The kidney beans and popcorn were growing fantastically. 

Tuesday we repotted our seedlings. Everyone got to scoop dirt, place rooted seedlings in cups, and add water. We placed them in the window for more sun. The children decided that when our seed experiment is complete they want to take their plants home instead of planting them in our yard. 

We started growing our food rainbow. During snack and lunch we noticed what different colors of fruits and vegetables we're eating. We are writing them on the food rainbow each day. We have purple eggplant, purple carrots, and purple plum. During snack we tried some leafy green vegetables. Some friends were surprised that they liked the way it tasted and wanted more! Some didn’t think it would be very good at all. Another friend said they only eat salad if mom’s there. We added arugula and dandelion to our rainbow. 

We began music with Alex. While half of us were in the classroom we heard the sounds of a drum. The children told us they used our maracas too.

We read The Giving Tree (again), and talked about all the parts the tree gave to the boy. Two people questioned if the tree could still be happy after giving everything away. We looked around our room for things made from trees and discovered bunches. Then we looked in our mind's eye around the big room and found more. Trees Are Nice. Another book on our shelf. 

We peeled apples using The Amazing Apple Peeler! It cores, peels, and slices all at once. Only $19.95! The children identified several simple machines on it, many wedges, a screw, and a lever. We boiled the apples into applesauce. Yum! Two children said they didn't want any but one of them changed their mind when we were serving it. 

Melissa joined us for circle on Friday. She works for the Environmental Protection Agency and explained what that means. She brought two fish sponge friends that went swimming in a river. During their swim the water became polluted with mud, cow poop, gasoline runoff, trash, and fertilizer. Friends were able to add cups of the pretend pollution to the water and watch as it got cloudier and dirtier, making it harder for our fish friends to swim. Melissa passed around rubber bands, we wrapped them around our hands to feel how it’s hard to move. She told us this happens to fish and birds when they swim into plastic and their fins get caught. It makes it harder for them to swim to clean water.  She explained a little about acid rain, she said it won’t hurt our skin but it feels bad on the skin of animals. We talked about ways we can keep the water clean: pick up our trash, recycle, and clean up our dogs' poop! 

We have added blank books to our drawing and writing area. Everyone has their own book to use after snack, lunch, or at dropoff. The children are adding each day and will bring them home at the end of the year. 

In the big room, we are playing with blocks, food, babies, wheels and the jungle gym. However, during quiet time we regularly have seven to eight sleepers.

See y'all in the morning,

Therese and Anna

Plants and Dirt

Dear parents,

We began our week reading Soil. We read A Tree Is Nice and All About Seeds. We have also been reading The Giving Tree.

We got our seeds out of the window for a close-up examination to see if any changes had occurred. Many seeds had sprouted. Some children squealed with delight at the sight of roots and stems. Each person got to fill in a square on our chart indicating growth.

After reading Buds we each got a flower bud that had fallen from our tree. The children investigated their buds, pulling off petals and finding little green parts inside. We saved the parts for further observation.

We read chapter two of Soil. We decided to fill four jars with dirt from the yard to compare them, as the book suggested. The childrenchose to fill the jars with dirt from the sandbox, by the brown
square, beside the bush, and by the swings. We compared the four kinds of dirt. Children noticed: "they’re cold", "them look like little boulders", "the dirt is wet", "the sand is heavier than the dirt", and "the dirt is more thicker". The complete list is hanging in the classroom.

The next day we added water to our jars of dirt and looked again. What do you see? Answers were: "the first one is the fastest soaking up water", number four is darker", "I see chunks of dirt in this one", and "I see some bubbles". Many more answers are also hanging in the classroom.

We reviewed our book Soil and children recalled names for different layers of soil. They also remembered what soil is made of: dead and decaying plants and animals, and rocks. This sparked a conversation about death and people being buried in the ground. Someone told us their grandparent had died and was buried in a coffin in the ground. Another friend said a pet had died and was buried too. Someone added that we are also animals. We remembered our pumpkin we left in the garden in October and how it had decayed.

We read about another experiment in the book, and while outside in the sprinkling rain, we collected rocks. When the rocks had dried the next day, we scratched them together over white pieces of paper to see if anything came off. We observed bits of rock and dust on the paper. The
book told us this is another way dirt is made.

This week we were supposed to do tree rubbings, but we never got to that, because of the 1965 book Soil, now on the Old First Best Seller List! We followed the class's lead and left (part of) the schedule behind in a cloud of dust. Literally.

Last Friday Frankie, Anna’s brother-in-law-to-be, came in and played the saxophone for us. The class was pretty much thrilled. We had quite a few dancers. Frankie explained about the different types of saxes, showed us how the reed is used, let children push buttons, and told us why Charlie Parker is called Bird. He played several songs and explained that he made mistakes but in jazz you can just improvise and blend them in. A couple of times when children were taking turns
talking about instruments they have at home, one person kept raising her hand and asking for more music. More sax!

Next week more growth.

Have an amazing weekend,
Therese