Fall is in full swing. The yellow leaves showered down on us as the wind pulled them from the trees and the children chased them around the yard. Chase was the name of the game for the week, in all variations and versions – freeze tag, word tag, tiger, zombie, vampire, and eagle attack tag, tag and sit, and straight up chase and tag. The balls have also been travelling the yard, and the new basketball hoop from the Phillips-Hanson family has been put to good use! Monday morning students accompanied Tammy to the library to enjoy some music from the North Country Chamber Players, featuring a cello, a viola, and two violins.  They were enthralled with the music and listened very attentively to the performance. (Sadly the battery in the camera died, so we have no pictures).

For Monday art the students read about Mary Cassatt, who is known for her paintings of families and family members.  Each of the children drew their own family portraits to display for Bring Your Family to School night next Thursday.
The art table was constantly busy.  The children used glitter pens to draw pictures on the Family Night invitations, created many paintings with the dot paints and water colors, created comics, and did lots of cutting, taping, gluing, and coloring.

We were excited to be joined by two new friends and one new teacher this week.  Everyone was enthusiastically welcomed and shown around the classroom.  They have quickly become part of the group, engaging in conversation and play.  Welcome new friends!

This week we began to discuss more in depth the people in our community and the various ways that they are helpful.  We examined the many items that we purchased at the farmer’s market on Saturday, including cards, carrots, dried apples, wool, maple syrup, and fresh apples.  We read the story Good People Everywhere about how people all over the world do kind and helpful things. On Wednesday afternoon many of the students helped to mix up a couple pans of apple crisp.  They particularly enjoyed chopping the pecans with the nut chopper and tasting the different apples.  Everyone was offered some for snack the following day. On Thursday we walked to the library where we met Assistant Fire Chief Stephen Jones.  He talked to us about what to do if there is a fire in our house, including staying low to the ground under the smoke, and setting up an escape and meeting plan with our families.  We watched him dress in all of his gear, including his oxygen tank and mask.  We heard how his voice changed with the mask on, and saw that although he sounds and looks different, his job is to help keep us safe.  After removing his gear, we joined him outside to check out the fire truck.  We got to see all of the compartments that hold the tools, the ladders, and the hose hook up.  Everyone who wanted to got to go up into the cab and check out the inside of the truck. For Friday science we read the story What is the World Made of? and we learned about liquids, solids, and gasses.  We did several experiments that demonstrated how liquids, solids, and gas all take up space (a tricky concept to understand).