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Another happy Thursday full of all kinds of different activities with Magnolia and Dogwood.  M & S were especially happy to see book making in the Magnolia room! With markers and paper in hand they went to town on being illustrators and authors.  W found some peaceful time playing with slime the kids from Dogwood made. She enjoyed rolling it around on the board, creating patterns with gems, and watching it drip between her fingers.  F had a good time painting without being able to touch the brush! It was challenging and exciting to watch the paint get on the paper the conventional way.  There were a lot of exciting choices and opportunities today for the kids. Have a great weekend! 

This afternoon S, L, & F worked through their frustrations while setting up the dominoes to knock down. In the video below you can see how the kids were quite determined to have the blocks set up just right in order to knock them all down.  You can see how S looks quite frustrated when all of her blocks fall over after trying to move just one. Her brow wrinkles, but she doesn't let it bother her. She simply picks them back up and begins again.  Tasks like this can be so frustrating, especially when you've been working for awhile to get it done. The kids show a lot of determination to complete a lot of what they want to accomplish, but are often very frustrated or angry when it doesn't go as planned. S demonstrated her ability to work through her frustration and have a satisfying ending. 

Happy Monday! Today we started something new before dismissing to go home. Instead of reading a book or shaking our sillies out, we are going to start celebrating our successes for the day! We start off by dancing to Kool & The Gang's "Celebration" and then move into talking about something to celebrate that happened at school. Because it was the first day, it was a little difficult to think of something to celebrate. I imagine by Thursday the ideas will be flowing! Enjoy the dance party from today's first celebration! 

Another Thursday in the books! Today the Pine kids had yet another opportunity to explore Magnolia and Dogwood and the various invitations they prepared. It's enjoyable to watch the kids choose between so many different activities and interact with with their peers from the other rooms. They show their ability to thrive outside of the Pine class and dive a little deeper into both new and familiar activities.  S spent some time making bracelets with beads and pipe cleaners. Making bracelets and necklaces was a huge hit with the kids a few days ago so S was very happy to see another classroom with beads!  J enjoyed building mini cities and homes for LEGO people in Magnolia. She shared toys, laughs, and her playful imagination with some other friends.  W enjoyed her time playing in the collaboratory where she is mastering her balancing, jumping, and turn taking! She navigated the obstacle course with ease and played hard with the others.  F...

Today our conversation regarding our skin color continued, but evolved a little bit. Instead of just talking about our own skin, the kids started talking about their families.  "Well, I have brown skin and so does my mom and my brother. My dad has white skin!"  "My mom and I are white, and my dad and sister are really tan!" "My family all has brown skin like me. My mom is a little different brown though. My baby sisters look like me!" We got out the skin tone colored crayons and the kids carefully chose the colors they needed to represent their families.  "I need the tan ones because I am kind of tan and so is my mom. My dad and sister are darker than us so I need to use like a darker brown. I need the black too because they have dark hair. I have brown hair and my mom has like brownish hair but it's also kind of yellow." S worked on her family portrait as well. She, too, noted that she needed different colored cra...

This afternoon the kids were happy to be back after a long weekend. Today, they were presented with different shades of brown paint on one of the tables. Without any explanation, the kids immediately began testing out different colors. As they sat with paintbrushes in hand and scrap paper, they each talked about the different shades they were hoping to use.  "I want the brown one!" "They are all brown." "Oh, well I think I want this one. It's kind of green too." "There's one that kind of looks red, I want that one." "I need the one that is brown because I want to make a picture of my family. I am going to make my mom, and my baby sisters!" Everyone seemed to enjoy using the different shades of brown. A lot of the kids made non-specific pictures and just tested out all of the colors. Others found ways around only being presented with brown shades and were able to compromise their specific drawings...

The lemon survived another day in the Pine room. After peeling it yesterday, the kids wanted to really tear into it and find ALL of the seeds. After a minor mishap of some juice getting into M's eye, we quickly found a solution! Safety glasses! It was pretty cute to see all of the kids wearing small safety glasses as they worked.  "This lemon has SO many seeds. I just don't know why it has so many." "The seeds are in here!" "It's kind of hard to get them out. There are so many and it will probably take a long time to get them all out. I think there's like 1 billion!" M continued to find seeds, one after another.  "I can't believe there are still seeds! I have to squeeze the lemon to get the all the juice and the seeds out! I think there are one thousand seeds in here!" Finally, the kids were convinced there were absolutely no more seeds in the lemon they peeled open yesterday. As t...

The kids have been very intrigued by these lemons we have in our room. Not only do they continue to describe what it is like, they are using all of their senses to explore it.  Yesterday we had the opportunity to taste the lemon, but today they decided they wanted to try and open it up without a knife.  "It's going to be so hard!" "I think we need a knife to open it." "I can't do it with just my hands." It was very difficult to try and pierce the skin of the lemon. It didn't seem to budge no matter what the kids tried. Some tried hitting against the table, no luck. Others tried biting into it, no luck either.  "How are we going to open it?"  After scoring the skin of the lemon with a knife, the kids now had access to open it up. They would wedge their fingers in the open space created by the cut and begin to tear the peel off of the fruit itself.   "This is still so hard! It's like really hard and...

This afternoon the kids walked into the room and noticed something yellow sitting on the table. "I think it's a lemon!" "I don't know what it is." "It's a yellow ball!" "It smells like a lemon." "I want to taste it." The kids were obviously intrigued, so we did a little exploration this afternoon. We chatted a little bit at meeting to decide what it could be, how it smelled, and what it might taste like. In the video below you can watch some of our conversation as well as reactions to eating the lemon! 

This afternoon the Pine kids were noticing how food coloring drifted through the water. Some kids saw how it moved quickly and spreading almost immediately, while others saw how it stayed in a clump and twirled slowly around.  "I think it does it because it is blue and the water is hot!" "Maybe the cold water makes it go slow." "I think the green will go the fastest!" "It is twirling around so much!" "Look, it's making a rainbow!" There were so many different predictions being made about the food coloring in the water, it was hard to keep up! 

Another Thursday means another day full of capering with Magnolia and Dogwood! There were so many different choices to make in each of the different classrooms. Some of the kids settled into sensory based activities while others found similar calming activities like painting or watching the twinkling lights in Magnolia. Such a good day to stay inside and stay warm with friends. 

This afternoon when the kids walked into the classroom they noticed something different, there were large mirrors up against the wall.  "Why are there mirrors in here?" "I can see me in the mirror!" "Look, I am writing here and in the mirror." "It's so funny. My face is being so funny!" The kids found the mirrors to be quite exciting as they were able to play at the table and see themselves as they worked. It wasn't until B approached the mirror that the kids noticed a basket of markers sitting next to the mirror.  B picked one up and began doodling; watching himself in the mirror the whole time.  His eyes followed each stroke he made. He used the marker to make big flowing lines across the whole mirror. Occasionally he would glace at his own reflection and begin to giggle.  The mirrors have been a great addition to our room. The kids will walk by and admire themselves working at the table. Some kids would w...