Building Community
/Our first full week together was filled with playful learning and community building. This week during our outdoor exploration time we learned how to play many group games including freeze tag, Smaug’s Jewels, blob tag, and tunnel tag. Several students created art with chalk while others enjoyed sketching in their doodle notebooks. We noticed squirrels frolicking on campus and found a delicate moth that we got to hold. When we found the moth’s wings trembling we did some research to discover why. We learned that when moths’ wings are trembling they are often generating heat to prepare their wings for flight. Several students engaged in imaginative games involving puppies and dragons. These games often included complex plots and incorporated building structures with sticks.
During project exploration time students get to pursue their own projects. Many students chose to work on engineering structures this week. Our block area was a popular place as students collaborated to build towering fortresses and homes for animals. The Lego engineering center was also bustling. Students in the Lego center had the opportunity to engage in many problem solving opportunities as they grappled with big questions about ethics and fairness. There were major discussions between students about how to fairly divide gems and other coveted pieces. These social negotiations are important for your child’s development and help build conflict resolution skills that will carry them far in life. Other engineers discovered ramps and pathways that they used to design marble runs. These hands-on explorations provide students with experience in foundational physics concepts. In aftercare students used the Rigamajig set to create complex structures with nuts, bolts, and ropes.
Our student artists continued to work on their name art pieces during content time this week. Students have been thinking like artists and doing careful, detailed, and creative work. Several students added pictures and ideas to their doodle notebooks too. During project time there was a table of sunflowers for students to examine and practice their detailed, scientific sketches. Other artists explored color combinations and patterns as they worked on their otter mandalas.
During our math workshop this week we were exploring doubling patterns. Students learned how to use rekenreks, unifix cubes, and number lines as math tools. Students explored different doubling scenarios and practiced writing equations for those scenarios. We found many doubles, such as 4+4=8, 12+12=24, 192+192=384. After our math mini lesson and work time, we meet for a math congress. During math congress students share their ideas and thinking. Students are learning how to “prove” their answers. We were lucky to have some disagreements about mathematical answers so students had ample opportunities to show their work, challenge each others’ thinking, and make mistakes so that their brains could grow! During our math congress we discussed even/odd numbers, multiplication, decimals (we had to figure out where 3.15+3.15 would go on our number line!), equations, and how to use math tools .
Students continued to gain practice at using our classroom library this week. We started independent reading time where students are reading their own books independently. We started by asking students to read their books independently for five minutes without talking, getting up to get new books, or getting distracted. Each day next week we will add another minute to the length of time we are reading independently. Students are building up reading stamina to be able to focus on reading for increasing periods of time. At the end of each school day students get to partner read and discuss books with their peers, which is a favorite time of day! There are many other opportunities for literacy development throughout the day as students read the morning letter, engage in word study of each others’ names, learn new songs, and write for a variety of purposes.
