Dear Parents,
We started our week looking for shapes in homes. We examined several
pictures of different homes in our books. The children found squares,
triangles, cones, rectangles, and arches. We looked at shapes of
construction paper and thought about how we could use shapes to create
our own homes. Everyone chose a color for their house, roof, windows,
and a door. We added glue to stick it all together. And a little love.
Caroline came and read Jack’s Garden and The Orange Splot on Sofia’s
birthday. We thought about how we had planted our garden using some of
the same tools pictured in the book.
Everyone got a paper doll for each member of their family. We
decorated them using crayons and markers. After everybody glued their
families into their homes, we read Shapes. We saw the same shapes in
the book that we had used in our homes. We read This Is The House That
Jack Built and looked at the houses that we built. The book was the
same rhyme and reason as Jack’s Garden.
We started working on our holiday gifts this week. There was paint,
coconut shells, and glitter involved. We also made something else, to
be announced later. The children talked about who they wanted to give
their gifts to— parents’ names were indeed mentioned. One person said
if you’re naughty you might not get a gift. There were many nods of
agreement.
Have a lovely weekend,
Therese
Building Old First Church
Dear Parents,
This week we built with small blocks on the carpet and on the table in
the classroom. Later, in the big room, we built using our large wood
blocks and small cardboard blocks. During circle, we took turns adding
one block at a time to experiment with balance. The children
discovered after a couple of tries that the large blocks on the bottom
were more stable. We then took turns placing many cardboard boxes in a
similar fashion to create a building like Old First Church.
Pastor Meeter took us on a tour of the church. We saw the sanctuary,
his office, and the organ. We looked for and found many patterns in
the church. We saw a picture of Old First Church in his office and
thought about how it was like the one we had built. We showed Pastor
Meeter our building when we got back to the classroom.
We painted our church in four small groups. The children said the
church is gray so we mixed black and white and covered the church from
the ground up to the steeple. We decided to add an organ, so while
half the class did yoga with Lori, the rest of us glued together
assorted sizes and colors of popsicle sticks to represent the organ
pipes. The class guessed how many pipes there were on the organ: fifty
to one hundred. So we glued many popsicle sticks.
The children also thought we should add a door and windows to our
church. They decided where the door should go, what shape windows, and
where. We decided to add three arched windows on the top floor where
Pastor Meeter’s office is. Afterward, everyone took turns opening and
looking in the windows to see if Pastor Meeter was in his office! Some
children said they saw him, while others said no.
Outside and also in the big room, we continue to work on gross motor
skills galore, swinging, climbing, running, jumping, and tricycling.
When building in the big room with large blocks, the children built
another Old First Church. Many worked cooperatively using hard and
soft blocks to create patterns while deciding what to build and how to
build it.
We used more coconut oil this week to see and feel how it changed when
we rubbed it in our palms. We rubbed it into our skin. The children
wanted to know whether they could taste it-- some licked their fingers
after dissolving the coconut oil. One person didn’t want any but
changed his mind and then wanted more. Anything coconut is a hit!
During circle, we asked everyone, “Who lives in your house?” After
writing it all down, we reviewed it. We will use this chart to
continue next week talking and reading about different kinds of
families.
Have a great weekend with your family,
Therese