Hello families!

We had a busy start to the week. We read multiple books about Thanksgiving and about different family structures. One book that we have been enjoying is The Family Book, by Todd Parr, which illustrates families of different colors, sizes, abilities, etc. —highly recommended! The friends shared what they are thankful for.

Carla- I am thankful for my cats, Sunny and Jaxi.

Gabriel- I’m thankful for when I grow big I can cook pasta with my daddy.

Sebastian- I’m thankful for tigers and dolphins.

Arya- I’m thankful for my dad and my mommy, too and my doddy.

Noah- I’m thankful for going to see the penguins at the zoo.

Avery- I’m thankful for going to my dad's house, playing with my friends, and for the Halloween song.

Animal Families

(Disclaimer: We had a difficulty with one of the cameras and many of the pictures that I took earlier in the week were not saved-- so sorry!)

For a provocation Monday and Tuesday, I brought all of our miniature animal toys to the tables with small props like feathers, corks, wood chips, rocks, and felt. We have many of the same animal groups of different sizes (bears, penguins, pigs). The children immediately referred to the animal groups as families and either independently or in pairs the children created shelters for their animal families.

Avery and Gabriel worked on an enclosed bear house using square and rectangle unit blocks.

Gabriel: We’re making a house for the bears. They are hiding inside.

Avery: Me don’t see the bears because they’re hiding. They’re sleeping, you have to be quiet!

Noah was interested in transferring his penguin family from one location to the next. He wrapped the penguins in a square piece of blue felt (like a burrito) and swayed the penguins back and forth above his head.

Noah: This is the only way to bring the penguins home. They need help to fly.

Arya and Sebastian focused on using long unit blocks for a house for the cow family.

Arya: The house has to be very big because the cows need a very big space.

Sebastian: Yea, and the cows can play with the mommy cow and the daddy cow.

Park Day!

We went to Horatio Park on Tuesday! It was such a beautiful day with mid-50 degree weather, sunshine and good times all around! The friends picked up leaves for a family tree we plan on making after Thanksgiving break.

Spanish and Music class

We had two specialist classes today, first Spanish with Michelle and then Music with Evan.

Our Spanish teacher was feeling sick today, so Michelle, the principal of Espanate, filled in. Although it was the children's first time meeting Michelle, they responded so well to her instruction. Michelle talked about Thanksgiving traditions, getting together with family, and eating a big dinner (sometimes turkey). We learned a song about a turkey and sang a few other movement songs that we've been hearing in past sessions. We also played the parachute game, one of our favorites!

Thanksgiving: Día de Acción de Gracias

Family: familia

Dinner: cena

Turkey: pavo

We haven't seen Evan in a few weeks, so he dropped in today for a music session before Thanksgiving break. He will return on Monday for another make-up session. Today, we also sang a song about different kinds of food items people typically eat on Thanksgiving. Evan brought his ukulele for the children to take turns with. In pairs, they also played two different kinds of drums that we already have in our school, one long drum with a small head, and one shorter drum with a bigger head. The children compared and contrasted the sounds the drums made as they played.

In honor of Thanksgiving, we made corn bread muffins and butter together. During lunch time, the 2’s and 3’s class all ate together. The 2's class helped mix ingredients together to make corn muffins and we all worked on making a batch of butter. Butter is super easy to make, all you need is heavy cream. The children poured heavy cream into a jar and dropped in two marbles. We made sure it was closed tightly before shaking the jar up and down and back and forth.

"This is how we make butter, make butter, make butter. This is how we make butter.. shake, shake, shake."

The children enjoyed their meals and muffins as one big family! We learned the a new poem and recited it two times as we munched and crunched!

We love our bread,

We love our butter.

But most of all,

We love each other.