Apple soup, leaf and sand stew, and mud pies have been featured dishes in the mud kitchen as the chefs experiment with local ingredients. Children took turns donning helmets and riding the two-wheel bikes with training wheels. We have been insect hunting, playing toss, hopping on balls, and excavating in the sand box.
Monday students explored color mixing for art. We read Mouse Paint, White Rabbit’s Color Book, and Mix It Up and discussed what happens when we mix red and yellow, yellow and blue, blue and red, and all three. We then did our own experimenting with finger paints. Children selected two or three colors to mix and used their hands and fingers to push the paint around and create new colors.
This week we continued to learn the routine and expectations of the classroom. We watched a demonstration of how to roll out a mat, take out work, set it up, clean it up, put it away, walk around the mat, and roll it up then put it away. We learned how to get a teacher’s attention by placing a hand on her shoulder or grasping her hand and waiting until she is able to listen. We also reviewed how to wash hands properly, first turning on the water and being sure to wet them, squirt one pump of soap, scrubbing all over for a count of 20 and making lots of bubbles, then rinsing, drying, and turning off the water. We read about Group Time Expectations, which included raising hands to share a question or thought, respecting others by keeping our bodies to ourselves, and sitting up on our spots unless we are reading a story or doing a movement activity.
We read several stories about families and ourselves, including Whoever You Are, We Are All Alike, We are All Different, Why Am I Me? And All Kinds of Families. We played “The Cold Wind Blows for . . . “ and when something that is true about us was said, we went to the middle of the rug, such as “anyone who has a sister” or “anyone who is 3.”
The caterpillars have been snug in their chrysalises while they transform from green goo into beautiful monarch butterflies. We have been reading and learning about metamorphosis, how a caterpillar hatches from an egg on a leaf, then eats until it is too big for its’ skin so it splits out of it, eventually finding a leaf or stem to attach to, hanging upside down in a J and wiggling until it splits out of its’ skin for a final time to become a chrysalis. It hangs for about two weeks before emerging as a butterfly. We read Gotta Go! Gotta Go!, Are You a Butterfly?, and Waiting for Wings. As we patiently waited and checked in on them, we observed one chrysalis turning black, and the first butterfly emerged Friday while we were outside before lunch.
Friday students continued their study of living and nonliving. We created a chart and recorded What we KNOW about Living Things, What we WANT to know about living things, and what we LEARNED about living things. The children shared that they know living things breath, eat, drink water, grow, and change. They wondered if all living things walk, talk, or swim. They discussed what they know about different living things and decided that no, not all living things walk, talk, or swim. Many of the children then chose to have their bodies traced then colored their lifesize selves in, adding hair, facial features, and clothing.