Orange Week!

Orange Week marked continued and deeper exploration of Fall Gifts from the Earth!

At the Art Table, the children glued beautiful fall leaves and painted pumpkins and squash.

 We used the last of "our apples" to make a delicious Apple Crisp for snack. 

The children were most excited about exploring and investigating our new basket of Fall Gifts which included pumpkins, butternut squash, Indian corn, gourds, pine-cones, chestnuts and acorns.

  

Divertido con Espanol / Fun with Spanish

Rosalba assisted the children as they painted and glued "hojas" of various "colores"!

Vocabalo de Semana en Espanol / Words of the Week in Spanish

Anarajado / Orange

Calabaza / Pumpkin or Squash

Tierra / Earth

Viento / Wind

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 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, and the children were free to explore and investigate its contents independently or with a friend during play time throughout the week. 

At Story Time, we made observations of the basket's contents together as a group.  We named each of the items and observed their qualities, then we 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 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!

Have a fun and restful weekend!

Color Review Week!

Color Review Week served as an excellent vehicle to highlight the changing colors of the leaves, and to interchange English and Spanish color names. 

Spiral Art and Water Color Painting captivated the children as all the colors blended to create beautiful masterpieces.

We continued to work with "our apples" as we made and ate apple sauce for snack. 

Of course the highlight of the week was our amazing Field Trip to Ioka Valley Farm!

Divertido con Espanol / Fun with Spanish

In addition to her gentle and skillful Spanish presence, Rosalba assisted the children in another Fall Art Project as they glued colored leaves onto trees!

Vocabalo de Semana en Espanol / Words of the Week in Spanish

Colores / Colors

Otono / Fall

Regalos / Gifts

Hoja / Leaf

Looking Deeper: Exploration and Learning through Play

Upon first glance at the photos above, one sees the children sorting colored items, and  listening attentively while I read a book at Story Time.  However, there is so much more going on beneath the surface of these photos!  Of course all of the children "know" their colors, but for the last five weeks, the weekly color has been a bridge between home and school, it has been the vehicle through which the children have learned routines and engaged in activities, and it has been the focus of our Spanish activities.  The children are so excited about learning Spanish, so......when I put out the color sort games this week, they immediately began sorting and naming the colors in Spanish as well as English.

 Additionally, at story time as I read to the children, we translated all of the colors into Spanish as well!

"How does it work?"  

When I look at this next section of photos, I am struck by the total focus of each child; they are completely absorbed in their activity.  

Young children are captivated by "cause and effect" because they possess an innate curiosity, sense of wonder and deep desire to know and learn.  Upon looking deeper at the above photos one can readily see that children learn by doing, and there is great joy in the learning! 

We moved our classroom beyond its four walls once again this week, and clearly the faces of the children reveal that they are active learners totally absorbed in the wonders of their world! 

It is a joy for them to share that wonder and learning with you!

Thanks for joining us, and making our Field Trips possible!

Have a fun and restful weekend!