At the beginning of this week in 3B we continued our focus on feelings and what they mean to us. As the children continue to explore and name their feelings through discussion and art, they more and more come to understand themselves and the other individuals around them. Recognizing what it feels like when one’s own feelings are hurt helps the children to understand what it must feel like when they accidentally hurt someone else’s feelings. More and more often we are witnessing the children in the 3B classroom show empathy when a friend is hurt, and (often with adult guidance) try to figure out ways to help others feel better when they are upset. We will be continuing our exploration of feelings as year continues, though, now we will be spending time on other projects too. Social-emotional development will be a major focus in 3B the entire year. As time moves forward, however, much of our focus on SED will take place during the course of our days and be interwoven into all the projects and activities we are engaged during our time together.
Reusing, repurposing, and creating our own materials is coming into focus in 3B! In our classroom we are engaging in projects that use materials that might otherwise simply thrown away or purchased without any thought given to where these things go or originate from. We live in a consumer society where we can get nearly anything at any time and simply dispose of it when we are finished using it. In an attempt to instill more environmental consciousness into 3B, we are making use of materials that would otherwise be disposed of and, likely, find their way to the landfill.
The first project that we have started is taking care of the worms in the compost bin. This project will take place throughout the entire school year, and will lead us into future, related projects such as spring planting. By engaging in composting, the children are able to experience some of the workings of nature closeup. By taking certain organic food scraps and blending them up for the worms, and by supplying the worms with strips of newspaper, we will see soil accumulate in the worm bin little by little. How does this happen? Where do the food scraps go? What happens to the newspaper? What can we feed the worms, and what must we avoid feeding them? There are so many questions to ask, the best of which will come from the children as we continue to explore the worms and composting in more and more detail throughout the schoolyear.
The second project we are working on right now is a large art project that will be using repurposed and homemade materials as much as possible. This week, Debbie brought in a sheet from home that she is no longer using. What can we do with sheet other than use it for sleeping or resting? In the gym, the children enthusiastically took to the idea of using it to make a house. They also thought it could be used for superhero capes and costumes. The next day, that same sheet became a canvas that we painted with paints that we made the day before as a class. We wanted to use these instead of paints that were purchased from a store or online to show the class that we can sometimes make what we want or need, instead of always buying it. This large project is giving the 3B students hands-on experience using and making things in ways that are unique and original. We are hoping that the more we participate in activities that promote repurposing and reusing materials in creative ways, that the children will soon be commonly coming up with their own ideas like these. We are very excited to see where these projects can lead!
