Discussion, Rainy Days, and Gardening

Happy Monday!

I want to start off by saying that your children are such wonderful human beings.  We are really sharing lots of ideas, hearing different perspectives, and problem solving!

Some things we have been wondering about includes the rotation of the Earth and how it affects our days and nights.  We created a diagram of our ideas about the placement of Earth in relation to the sun and moon, along with a list of questions we have about these ideas.

Our main question was whether or not the the sun went around the Earth.  This created a lot discussion!  Here are some comments that friends made:

Aaminah:  When it's dark, it turns into a moon.
Hannah: When the sun goes down, the moon comes up.
Maximus:  The Earth turns, and when the Earth turns, slowly, the sun is still shining, slowly, the sun is shining on the Earth.
Aaminah:  If we had no sun and we can't see, and then, when the moon, when it's morning, the moon goes down and then the sun goes up.
Avery:  Once it's midnight [in San Diego], in China. it's their afternoon.
Isa:  You know at the top of the world, the very top, the people, they always have the dark place, but sometimes, it's light and it stays light when it's night time.
Maximus:  And you don't even know that the Earth is spinning.
Davin:  The Earth is spinning so slow.... Why does the Earth spin?
Aaminah:  Only the Earth is spinning, not us.
Maximus:  The Earth is moving, but you just don't know.
Aaminah  And when the trees are shaking, that means it like, the leaves, the wind is blowing.  The Earth is not spinning it, the wind is.

We watched a video after our discussion about the Earth's rotation.  This helped answer some of our questions, like how long it took for the Earth to rotate!  Check it out here!

We also had a Rainy Day on Friday, which felt a little different.  We spent Recess inside, working on puzzles, reading books, and playing "Doggie Doggie, Where's Your Bone?" Our Open Choice Time felt different as well.  We did partner activities, like Staring Game and Mirror.  This brought up lots of discussion about what it is like to work with a friend, how it is important to listen to each others ideas,  what works, and what makes it feel hard. 

 

  

We also have been talking a lot about our Gardening Crew.  We generated a list of tools we might need to help us do our job.  We have been bringing in lots of great donations from families and have been practicing using these tools and have talked about how to take care of them.  One tool that we got to practice with were the gardening gloves.  We had a friend model how to put each glove onto the right hand, how to take them off and roll them up, and how to ask a friend for help.

 

Hope you had a lovely Monday!

Love, Gaby