Plan B

Unfortunately, we had to reschedule our crust making as one of our experts had to stay home with a fever today, and drink A LOT of fluids.
So, you ask, what do you do when your plan A doesn't happen?  You do plan B.  Usually plan B would have something to do with the great outdoors.,,,, but as most of you know, the wind chill is NOT cooperating.

Like any teacher that has to stay indoors with thirteen, two to three year olds..... you plan sensory, stories, songs, and you dig out stuff they have never seen before! The children worked on peer interactions, language skills, negotiating/problem solving. The adults in the room worked on slowing down, listening, observing and NOT helicoptering when a problem arized,
We had a very successful day!

 Practicing writing our names...

Negotiating who the adult is.... I'm the grown up, No, I'm the grown up.

 interacting with peers that you don't usually play with....

 Problem solving who gets what.

These two were exploring a small very old transistor radio.  It has knobs and a log cord.  They were taking turns pulling it all over the carpet.THis interaction took place for more than 20 minutes!  This was also a duo that doesn't usually spend a ton of time with each other.

Our learning community continually surprises me with the different peer combinations. We have build quite the community of acorns.

"I am the little acorn that becomes the oak."-John Winger

letters to pie crust makers

Today, we talked about the parts of our pumpkin pie.  The pumpkin, the crust and whip cream!  I do not know how to make crust...... But their are crust experts in our building. We decided to write a note to the crust experts and deliver the notes. We asked the children what letter does pumpkin start with?  C and J said P! Then we asked what letter does pie start with? T said C and J said P.  We then asked what letter does crust start with....... crust is a hard one......  So we gave another hint.  Calvin starts with the same letter!  Then, C said C.  YAY!  our acorns are growing up so fast.


As I reflect on our morning.... I was wondering,  do the children really know what crust is and why our pumpkin pie needs a crust?  How many of our acorns help out in the kitchen at home?  Some of them last week were very helpful, and it seemed like they help in the kitchen at home.... but we are just guessing.  Others seemed like they have never been in a kitchen before.  Its interesting to have a group of acorns basically all about the same age but still have had very different experiences outside of school.  One thing is for certain, they have grown soooo much since August and we are so thankful to have them in our room.

C and T wrote out notes....

Yay the experts are going to help us make pie crust!

"I am the little acorn that becomes the oak."- John Winger

Pie Day Friday!

Today Ms. DeeDee took a small group to the kitchen to continue working on the pie. The next step was the filling. Someone from Central Office came to the kitchen to observe the pie-making!
The first step was the most exciting part-- using the immersion blender! The Acorns loved pushing the button to mix up the pumpkin.
Next, each child got to add spices! They used sugar, allspice, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, and vanilla.
Finally, eggs had to be cracked to mix with the pumpkin innards, so each child cracked eggs into a bowl and whisked. W kept repeating, "I like the eggies!" Everyone wanted to help crack the eggs, but once the egg goo actually touched their hands, they changed their minds. ;)
Next week, we will be making crust! Ms. Marty and Ms. Katie are going to come help us, so we will be writing letters to invite them. :) Have a wonderful weekend!

Forest Day!

It has been awhile since the weather has allowed us to go to the Forest, so we were very excited to go today. On the way, we stopped periodically to check out all of the wonderful winter decorations around the WG. We counted presents, looked at red bows, and just had a jolly old time.
When we got to the Forest, after we had our snack, we headed into the woods. The first thing most of the children want to do is find a stick, and that is definitely what we did today.
What is it about sticks that make them so interesting? They can be so many different things! "It's a fishing pole. I'm catching my fish!" B remarked about his stick. W used his as a drumstick, and played the "drums" on an old stump. I used hers to hunt bears! J picked up a huge stick and used it to knock crunchy leaves off of branches. It is so wonderful to get to run through the Forest and let our imaginations soar!

Pumpkin Update

Today we continued working with our pumpkin. The next step was to scrape the pulpy insides from the skin. A small group came to the table with wooden spoons. They worked to drag the spoons across the stringy flesh and separate it from the orange rind. Once they had accumulated a pile, they dumped the contents into bowls.
H has been very observant about the pumpkin "guts": "It's so slimy!" he remarked several times yesterday, as well as today. It sure is, H! :) Several friends aren't sure they even want to touch it at all.  "I" has been so interested in the pumpkin as well. She was triumphant after every scrape and scoop: "I did it!" she cried.
Everyone has been eagerly awaiting the end result. After we scraped the pumpkin, T kept asking, "where is the pie? Is it ready?!" We try to explain that this is a bit of a lengthy process with several steps. :) it is hard to be patient when you know you will be eating yummy pie eventually! The next step will be to make the crust. Stay tuned!

Who Am I?

We are still working on identity here in the Acorn room. Today, we created our faces using fruit and tortillas!
We had a few bowls of cream cheese that we mixed with various amounts of cocoa powder to try and create colors similar to skin tones. Everyone received a small tortilla, and then I went around to each child and asked which of the bowls most closely matched their skin. They took turns holding their hands over the bowls and comparing the colors. Once they chose the color they felt resembled their skin  tone, they used small spatulas to spread the cream cheese mixture onto their tortillas.
Next, I asked the children some questions to get started. "What do you have on your face?" I got a variety of answers: "Ummm.... banana?" I think we were a little distracted by the fruit on the table. :) So, we dug a little deeper. "What do you use to see? To smell? To eat?" That got us a little further in the discussion. Once we decided what our faces needed, each child picked from different fruits and placed them onto their tortilla to represent facial features. "Look! I have two blueberries. I have two eyes!" T exclaimed. "This orange is for my mouth." J explained. After we made our "faces," we got to experience the best part-- eating them!
This activity really helped us "zoom in" and enriched our learning as we are slowly gaining more knowledge and ideas about our identities.
Have a great Tuesday!