The Fruit Doesn't Fall Far

Dear Parents,

This week we worked on our family tree again. We twisted and scrunched long pieces of brown paper to make branches. Everyone cut up a storm, making small, long leaves for our willow tree. We glued the leaves to the branches. 

We looked at pictures of what the fruit of a willow tree looks like, and then everyone got similar shapes to paint green. We mixed two colors to get our green. We all used our fine motor skills to snip the edges of the fruits. Finally we glued our family photos to the fruits, also known as catkins. 

During circle we read Me and My Tree. We looked at the picture of us under our summer tree, and compared it with the new picture of us under our fall tree. The class noticed that the leaves that had been green were almost entirely yellow. We hung them beside each other in our classroom. 

We read several books about fall leaves. We continue to compare the leaves in our yard and try to figure out which tree they fell from, and whether two leaves came from the same tree, or not.

We looked at all of our family photos and guessed which season each picture was taken in. The children noticed fall trees in many pictures, and summer shirts in others. We went around the circle and everyone told us who was in their photograph.

Yoga with Tasha was calm. Children were seen doing poses and lying quietly on their backs. 

On Friday we made butter for our upcoming family feast. We poured heavy cream into clear jars and shook them high and low. We played music to help with the shake, shake, shaking. One person asked to turn out the lights while we danced and another said we need a disco ball. 

Our feast will take place on Wednesday November 22nd at 11:00am. We will begin by singing Way Down Yonder By The Willow Tree while everyone hangs their fruit on our willow tree. Afterwards there will be eating and drinking and merrymaking. 

There is a magnificent willow tree in the community garden on 6th Avenue and 15th street, if anyone wants to take a walk to see it.

It was lovely speaking to everyone about your offspring!

Have a willowy weekend,

Therese

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