Trains, Planes, and Outer Space

Dear Parents,

We had two more family shares this week. They went splendidly!

We got our train set out and the class has been going to town on it. Friends were excited to see familiar trains from our subway system. Some wondered aloud how to build the bridges. All knew how to drive the trains. 

During tumbling sometimes we see the children balancing on a beam. 

After reading Mae Among the Stars, we painted our Jackson Pollock-inspired outer space mural. We used lots of black paint and rollers, then white and silver paint to sprinkle on the stars. Two children said, “We’re making the galaxy!” 

We made a list of things that fly: airplanes, helicopters, birds, butterflies, dragonflies, ducks, bumblebees, and more. We read Air Force One. The children wanted to read it again, and again. We later added spaceships to our list. 

The next day we used part of the mural to make a black hole. One of the children said, “It’s where stars are born.” Everyone took turns poking holes in the paper so the starlight would shine through. We hung it up and “ooooooed” and “ahhhhhhhed” when the light shined through. 

We started cutting our big boxes to get ready for our spaceship building. But first we need to make all the planets! 

Have a spacey weekend,

Therese

Baby Chicks Rule and Simple Machines

Dear Parents,

On Monday we used two pulleys to pull scarves back and forth in the big room. Children worked in groups of three using fine motor skills to clip scarves to a rope with clothespins. We pulled the strings to lead the scarves across the room to friends. 

We read Toolbox, Farm Animals, Machines, How To Hatch, Some Babies Are Wild, The Big Book of Real Building and Wrecking Machines, I Am A Little Cat, and Out of the Egg.

We used our sense of touch to  guess what was in the feely box. One person guessed a shovel. It was another tool. We sang Johnny Has One Hammer and used our hands, feet, and head, as hammers. 

We played with our two toolboxes in the big room. There was some hammering and sawing on the stage, suddenly everything needed mending.

By Tuesday, eleven baby chicks had hatched! The last one hatched when we weren’t looking. We waited impatiently for them to dry and turn fluffy before moving them to the brood box. Most friends wanted turns to pet them. We reviewed our baby chick rules and sat down criss-cross applesauce to take turns holding them. 

While half the class was tumbling with Larissa and Ebony, the rest of us spent time with the baby chicks. Some children were gentle enough that the baby chicks fell asleep on them. A few children preferred looking at the baby chicks, rather than holding them - although after warming up, they too wanted to pet them. 

On Friday, while some children played with our pretend tools, everyone had a chance to use a real hammer and nail. We talked about the nail being a wedge and the hammer being a lever to pull the nail out. We pointed out the differences between the real tools and our toy tools. Someone told us about their dad using a real hammer at home. 

While all of this was happening, Ricardo, who works for the church, came into the big room with his real hammer to add some shims to our windows so they wouldn't blow open. It was perfect timing with us using our tools, and Ricardo using his to fix a real problem! Several children beamed while watching him work.

We reviewed our pictures of six simple machines on the wall and have been on the lookout for them around our classroom. We counted wheels and axles on our tricycles, toy cars, and in books on buses and trucks. 

Have a simple weekend,

Therese