We were able to do small group work again today! Why small group you ask? Small group work brings out the best in everyone, the children interact with each other in more meaningful ways and sustain play longer when we are in a small group.
Some of the children went to the gym, while others collaborated in the Acorn room. We added eggs and playdough as an area, along with the perch, and bird nests, where they negotiated who would be the parent feeding the "baby birds" in the nests (boxes).
Today was the very first day we broke into small groups. One group helped sort the donations that PAT have been working on, one group went to the Collaboratory, and one group stayed in the classroom and learned a new word. Perch- sitting on a stick. So, the little birds left in Acorn Room, practiced perching, feeding each other worms, and generally helping each other out.
Sorting-
Today we explored nests once again. The children were in "nests" and the mommy bird fed them worms. We also drew nests with patels, formed nests with floam and explored nests and eggs at the light table. After we finished exploring nests, we made cupcake bird feeders with crisco and bird seed. We are hoping to make it to the forest this week and deliver our cupcakes to the forest for all the birds to enjoy.
Since we are having a Professional Development day on Friday, we decided to Caper on Monday!! Once it was over the Acorns all came back they asked if it was pizza day? It is so exciting that they are starting to make connections. We were finally able to celebrate the Birthdays that have happened recently....
Hopefully everyone is adjusted to the time change, it has been a huge adjustment to the little Acorns. With added accidents... we will continue to potty train. It may not seem like it, but they truly are making progress in the self-help, potty training situation.
We are continuing with our study of birds, nests. The older children helped us create nests and eggs!
"I am the acorn that becomes the oak."- John Winger
"I am the acorn that becomes the oak."- John Winger
Today our adventure lead us to find pinecones, so that we might make bird feeders and then deliver the feeders to the forest on Forest Day. As you may know, I often have high hopes and high expectations..... So, I am hoping that we will deliver the acorn created bird feeders to the forest next Thursday. Once we collected the pinecones, we met at the picnic tables at the front of AFC. We poured out our bags, we all grabbed pinecones, we rolled them on the table, and started throwing them into the grass. After we re-collected the pinecones we tried to count them to see if we had enough for everyone. It was a good theory.... trying to reflect on the morning with the children.... but it was only a theory, putting it to practice is another story. We will continue to "try" to reflect on our mornings to see if we might pull nuggets of information from the children, but it could be Spring before they are able to tell us about the morning.
We have started to focus on creating nests- using different shapes and materials.
Caper Friday- The Acorn Classroom continues to learn about birds and how they make nests. During capers we observed a bird nest and painted one. We looked at books about birds and nests at the light table and played with bird figures and nature. We watched birds making nests projected on the wall and created nests from wooden blocks on the carpet. We used tweezers to find worms in rye/seed in a sensory tub. We also used magna tiles to create nests. After lunch we went outside to enjoy the beautiful weather and play in the leaves. We also danced with our family sticks.
It was a wonderful day in the forest.
Once again we have failed to see a train. During our walk we noticed that some trees have leaves on them and some do not. A. said, "That tree has only branches." Then we played in the leaves that were on the ground and threw them up in the air. Before our walk, we explored the inside of a pumpkin, built towers, and practiced drawing and cutting with scissors.
