Working Hard and Having Fun!

Good morning!

Here is a recap of what the Hardworking Journalists have been up to in class!

After coming back from Spring Break, it can be hard to jump back in to full work mode, but sometimes, we have to do it.  In order to help make this transition back into our school's normal routine, I switched up the Open Choice Time options, so that friends can remind themselves how to work with tools, express their ideas with friends, collaborate with their peers, and feel accomplished with their work.  Friends got a chance to revisit some of the mediums that we have studied in the past to help with hone their fine motor skills using scissors, glue, and managing and sharing supplies, as well as practicing trial and error in their work, to repair their idea when it comes apart, or when finding the right color recipe.

Paper Testing

Yarn Testing

Construction

Pattern Blocks

Painting

This week, I introduced to the class a new area to try out: The Dramatic Play Area.

This area provides the students with the opportunity incorporate the reality of the world around them into their play, in a way that is interesting and exciting to them.

In other news, we interviewed two of our newer friends and we got to work on their name puzzles and ask them probing and follow up questions to help us get to know them better!

We even had a special birthday celebration for another one of our friends that turned six over Spring Break!  We got to sing her favorite poem, Happy New Year, play Doggy, Doggy, Where's Your Bone?, and eat ice cream with strawberries!

As the students continue to explore equations, we moved into Math Pairs, where friends worked together to create a subtraction equation using cuisenaire rods to help them check their work.  Come in to check out their journals to see what they came up with!

And of course, coming back from Spring Break, friends had some things to share about their adventures away from school.  We got to see some postcards and artifacts from one friends' trip to Long Island, New York!

And we learned some new moves and information about one friend's experience in a program that teaches about what the Marines and other military groups do!

Beth joined the friends for another adventure in Gardening.  Check in with your child as you look over these pictures so that you may hear all about it!

Also, ask them about the taste test they had of their Spring Harvest, and what happened to their tongues afterwards!

This week, we also had a special guest speaker named, Jim Cogen, a professional storyteller, come to our school to give an assembly about how to use your whole body to help tell a story.  He also spoke about how to use your voice in a special way to transform into your character, as well as facial expressions, and tone.  Before seeing him, we came up with some agreements about how to be in an assembly.

He provided a space for an interactive story, where all the friends got a chance to act out a piece of the story.

He also invited some friends from the audience to help act out a story using different facial expressions!

Thank you, Jim Cogen!

Here is some of his work, if you'd like learn more about him.

We ended our week with another opportunity to try out sewing.  Most friends remembered how to work the thread through the paper since our last practice try.  This time, we added the challenge of drawing a simple shape, and sewing the thread along the image so that it appears on your paper.  Come in to check out their work in progress!

Thank you for another wonderful week with these amazing students!

Love, Gaby