A Tree Grows

Dear Parents,

We began growing our family tree this week. We brainstormed trees we know. The class list consisted of maple, oak, apple, orange, weeping willow, and redwood trees. 

We used our scissors to cut shapes. Several friends asked to make sure they were holding the scissors properly; they were. We cut up paper into tiny bits. Cutting with scissors, playing with play dough, and coloring with small pieces of crayon are all hand strengthening tasks. We need strong hands for fine motor skills, like snapping and buttoning, and for writing and drawing too. Later in the week, we cut up green paper to make leaves for our tree. 

On Wednesday we voted on which tree to make into our family tree. Everyone came to the table to make a mark for which tree they wanted. We used our math skills to count up the votes. Weeping willow won. 

On Friday we made the strongest part of the tree, the trunk. We painted it, using black, brown, and white mixed together on brown mural paper. 

We read Trees, A Tree Is Nice, Apple Trees and the Seasons, and Have You Seen Trees?

We placed our jack-o-lantern and our uncut pumpkin in the yard on Friday. We asked the class, "What will happen to our pumpkins? "The children had many predictions: It will break, it will mold, and it will rot like the pumpkin last year. Another person said it will "slap". When we asked what that means, he said sometimes he speaks French. Another friend said it’s going to turn into a big tarantula. Time will tell.

This month as we create our family tree, we can begin family shares. A family share is when a parent comes to visit during circle to share something that interests your family. It can be as simple as reading your favorite book from home, or sharing about a family custom or holiday. You could bring in your pet and tell us about them, or a baby sibling. Sharing photos from a family trip, or letting a grandparent, or other relative come in is fine too. Playing an instrument or singing is also great! Let us know what you’d like to do and when. Tuesdays or Thursdays at 9:45 am are good, but we can be flexible. 

Please oh please bring us your 4x6 family photos! If you haven’t already. We will be using them this week.

Have a photogenic weekend,

Therese

Pie Eye and Pumpkin Eyes

Dear Parents,

We began our week carving our pumpkin. Everyone helped choose what kind of eyes and teeth we wanted. We ended up carving his face upside down, due to a rotten spot on his forehead. When we were finished, someone kept saying: “Turn him over!” We put a candle in him and roasted his seeds. 

We carved one pumpkin and saved a smaller one for an experiment. We will place the small non-carved pumpkin in our yard, and watch what happens as time passes.

We all looked into mirrors to see what color eyes we have. We identified different parts of our eyes: eyebrows, eyelids, eyelashes, eyeballs, irises, and pupils. Everyone got a picture of eyes to color in with their eye color. We laid them out to count them, to see how many of each color we have in our class. Ten people have the same color eyes! We glued them into the shape of a pie.

On Halloween we made a list of how we’re alike and how we’re different. The class said we’re alike in these ways: we all have two feet, skin, brains, hearts, and we all have mamas. One person disagreed and said, “Everyone does not have a mama.” He said grownups don’t have mamas, but the class said yes they do. How we’re different: we have on different costumes, we smell different, we look different,  we have different voices, and the color of our bodies is different, some light and some dark. 

On Wednesday while some posed with Tasha in yoga, the rest of us worked on self portraits. We looked into the mirror to find shapes on our faces. Children said that our faces are round, oval, and rectangular. We saw circles in our eyes, and half circles in our mouths. Everyone used black markers on white paper to draw themselves. Some added eyelashes and teeth. One person had teardrops in her eyes but a smile on her mouth. 

We drew an A on a piece of paper and noticed the triangle shape. The class said a triangle has three sides. We also counted three points. We listed words that start with the letter A: Andrew, Alli, apple, ant, anteater, alphabet, and angry. We will add letters, yes, twenty-five more!

On Friday we read Be Nice to Otters, A Book About Manners. We made a list of observations of friends playing nicely together. We listed friends playing, sharing, taking turns, smiling, and listening to one another. We read the list aloud to the class. 

We compared leaves in our yard. We noticed differences and similarities between leaves of the same tree. We sorted three trees' leaves we found in our yard. The children noticed that leaves from the same tree had different shapes, sizes, and colors. Some leaves had zigzag edges and others were smooth. After observing the differences in leaves, and the differences in apples, we reviewed our list of how we are different and alike too. 

Have a sunny weekend,

Therese