Orange Week!

Orange Week marked continued and deepening exploration of Fall Gifts from the Earth.  At the Art Table, the children painted pumpkins and squash, and glued beautiful fall leaves.  We used the last of "our apples" to make a delicious Apple Crisp.  The highlight for most of the children was the opportunity to examine and study the contents of our Fall Gifts basket which included colored leaves, apples, pumpkins, butternut squash, Indian corn, gourds, pine cones, acorns and chestnuts.  

Looking Deeper:  Exploration and Learning through Play!

Young children love repetition!  They never seem to tire of hearing a favorite book read over and over again.  A child who has finally mastered drawing a face or printing his/her name will replicate that image at the art table day after day for weeks, sometimes months.  So you can imagine how delighted the children were to see our nifty apple peeler, corer, slicer machine re-appear this week to aid in the task of making Apple Crisp!  They not only enjoyed taking their turn, they watched in rapt attention as their classmates "cranked away"!  Repetition produces mastery, and additionally it gives young children a sense of security and the ability to predict outcomes!  They know what comes next, and this gives them an important and appropriate sense of power and control in their young lives.  Ultimately repetition has a very positive effect on their self esteem!

Over the past two weeks our Fall Field Trips expanded our classroom into the great outdoors.  This week we brought parts of the great outdoors into our classroom!  Our "Gifts from the Earth" basket appeared in our room on Wednesday morning, and the children were free to explore and investigate its contents independently or with a friend during play time through out the rest of the week.  Each day at Story Time we looked at the contents of the basket together and discussed its contents as a group.  We named each of the items, then compared and contrasted their properties.  We identified which items could be eaten and which could not, which items felt bumpy, which felt smooth and which was our favorite.  At first glance one might accurately conclude that the children have enjoyed "playing" with these beautiful Fall Gifts from the Earth.  Upon looking deeper one would further conclude that the children enjoyed engaging in "Scientific observations" that led to the "qualitative analysis" of the items within their Gifts from the Earth Basket!  In addition to being great fun, this activity engaged the children's observation and analytical skills, and exercised their critical thinking and language skills.

Have a fun and restful weekend!