AFC PINE PM

  This afternoon while playing with Dogwood, F sat down and began building with magnetic blocks. He sat for a few minutes before finally revealing his creation.  "A rocket!" he exclaimed. He sat the rocket down on the ground and counted down... "3, 2, 1.. BLAST OFF!" He shot the rocket straight into the air and began flying it around the room.  When asked, "where is it going?" He put his finger to his chin to think. He then said, "the moon!"  But, there was one problem, there wasn't a space designated for the moon. He searched around to look for the perfect place for a moon. He noticed the markers near by and asked if I could draw it. I complied and drew a big moon onto the board.  "The moon has craters!" M from Dogwood yelled.  "Astronauts go to the moon! They walked on it." L chimed in.  F started again. He counted down and at "blast off" launched his rocket into the air and attempted to land it on the moon. Al

We are so happy to have rain suits that were gifted by PTO! Seriously, these are so great for the kids to continue to play outside, even on the rainiest or mudiest of days. Today, they all got to test them out while running in the forest.  "We are going to space!" "We look like astronauts!" "Yeah! The forest is space!: Today was so fun getting to test out the new gear. The kids really liked being able to wear something different and throw on some rain boots. Besides the sweat rolling down their heads from playing so hard, they stayed dry!  Oh, and in terms of the pine cone experiment... just another failed pinterest activity 😞

  This afternoon the PM class continued their interest in the weather as well as going on a little hunt for pine cones! Before heading out on a walk, we talked about what kind of weather they experienced walking into school today.  "It was kinda rainy!" "It is cold! I have a coat." "Yeah, it's rainy and cloudy." As a class, we looked at the predictions the kids made yesterday It turns out 3 friends were partly right! It was a bit rainy and quite cloudy. That being said, the kids then discussed what we might need to wear on our walk today since it was cold and rainy.  "We need our coats!" "We can wear hats!" "And gloves!" With a few borrowed items of clothing, the kids were bundled up and ready to go find some pine cones for an experiment we will be conducting tomorrow regarding opening and closing (stay tuned!).  The kids successfully found so many pine cones! Luckily for us, they were found by a tree on school grounds, bu

  There was quite a buzz about the weather today. The kids were so interested in the nonstop rain that has been occurring this afternoon that we took an opportunity to talk about predictions and some other weather we may experience.  Before diving into a deeper discussion about the rain, we first took a poll of the temperature. The question was:  "Was it hot or cold on your way to school today?" All of the kids agreed that it was cold walking into school today.  "I had to wear a coat!" "Yeah, I didn't wear a coat and I was cold." "I'm cold now!" "It's cold outside and it's so rainy." After talking about our current weather, the kids were then asked: "What do you think it will be tomorrow?" While some friends think it might be sunny, others were not convinced.  "It's going to be cold and rainy!" "Yeah, so cold." "It's chilly!"  Lastly, the kids took some time to draw what th

  What a beautiful to end our week this week! J & F sure did enjoy playing with one another on the hill back on the playscape. F & J created a strong friendship last year and now that they are in the same class it's stronger than ever! F grabbed a brightly colored playground ball and began to roll it down the hill. Unfortunately he didn't have a partner to catch the ball at the bottom so he had to chase after it. After a few rounds of doing this by himself, J realized he needed a partner.  F gave the ball one big push and next thing you know, J was at the bottom to catch it! The boys played this game for about half of the time we were outside. It was so sweet to watch them play together and work out there different roles. This class has been working so hard to build friendships with one another and have really shown a deep care for one another. So good!  Have a safe and enjoyable weekend! 

The forest model L made yesterday inspired some friends to recreate their own representations of things through water colors. This afternoon L, J, and O worked really hard to recreate some of their favorite things. The brushes they used, however, are specific for water colors! In the picture below you can see the small reservoir filled with water. When squeezed gently, water comes out of the bottom by the brush! They are awesome for fine motor and give the kids some control on how much water they are using. Needless to say, the three kids really liked being able to use them creating their pictures.   "It's a rainbow! It has red, orange, green, blue, and black!"  "It's a ghost!" L exclaimed as she spread purple, black, and red across the paper.  "OoOoo scary!"  "I'm making a dragon. This is the fire! Rawwwrrrr!!"  O picked up her paper to show me and noticed something.  "Hey, it's on here too!" She noticed that the paint

It's not every day that the kids start representing different places we go to around the neighborhood so when L said he was making the forest out of floam we were all intrigued!  L started sticking the small wood pieces into the floam. He was carefully placing each piece and naming each part.  "This is the log I climb on and over here is the other tree by it. We need all the people too!" L worked quickly as he put each wooden piece into place. He scanned the floam forest floor and decided there wasn't enough.  "I think we need the people."  He picked up a wood chunk and declared it to be J.  "This is J! And here's me and oh you too Ms. Jill!" But after a few blocks in, L realized he couldn't tell the difference between each person.  "I don't remember who that is. I think that was J."  Hmm... what to do? How were we going to tell the difference between all of the people AND the wood pieces? "I think I need to do something 

  I cannot tell you how impressed I am with all of the Pine kids today. They have displayed so much patience, kindness, and flexibility this afternoon!  After meeting, everyone put their coats on in anticipation to go on a walk around the neighborhood to draw some of the really cool Halloween inflatables around the neighborhood. As soon we get situated... the rain started coming down. Unfortunately we were not prepared enough to stay out and walk, but the kids came up with an awesome solution to keep the rain out of their eyes while walking back to school!  With clipboard and marker in hand, J decided to put it over his head to keep the rain away! Immediately the other kids joined in and held their clipboards over their head. Genius!    Change in plans can often be quite shocking for anyone, but definitely for some of our Pine class kids. Although we try and prepare them for what is happening, we can't always plan for things like a change in weather. All five of them were champs an

As we come to a close on our week, we have also come to a close on our work with our self portraits. For the last couple of weeks the kids have been practicing and identifying their bodies and faces with playdoh and loose materials. Today they had the chance to use a marker and paper to create their self portraits.  Each of them were quite excited to get to draw what they look like!  J concentrated very hard as he would look into the mirror and transfer his reflection onto the paper.  "Look, I made my eyes and my mouth. I need some arms and legs too. Oh my hair!" He giggled after drawing two lines atop his head. "I'm not a bumble bee!" He then added a few more and beamed as he drew each line.  I love that when he drew only two lines he had to explain that they were NOT his feelers like a bug has, but rather his hair! It was such a small funny moment that made the two of us laugh for a couple of minutes.  Self portraits are one of my favorite year long projects w

  It has been so nice to soak up some of the last few warm days we may see this year. They have really made for some wonderful forest days- no bugs, no cold, no mud. It's simply perfect! Because we have been able to visit the forest every week since the beginning of school, the kids usually end up doing similar things week to week. They find their favorite log to climb on, or their favorite path to run down, and lately a lot of them have been engaging in the same games.  In this short video below, L & O are playing a fun game of tag! Between tag and hide and go seek it's so hard to keep up with all of them these days! They are extremely fast and can dodge in and out of the bushes. They zig zag around almost memorizing every stick, rock, and curve of the forest. They are amazing!  It really is a joy to watch each child come into their own and become good friends. They have been working so hard to take care of each other and really focus on being kind & supportive. 

  Our days are filled with so many different projects, tasks, and play that sometimes we forget to celebrate ourselves. We took the last 30 minutes of our day today to celebrate who we are as a class and the good friends they are all becoming towards one another. Like any other way to celebrate, we took the opportunity to have a dance party!  I don't have the rights to any of the songs we actually danced to so the music in the video is different, BUT if you are looking to continue the celebration at home here are the list of songs we grooved to: "Can't Stop the Feeling"- Justin Timberlake  "Celebration"- Kool and the Gang "Happy"- Pharrell  I hope you all are able to take a little time out of your day to celebrate the good things that are happening in  your lives! It's so easy to get caught up in the little things that we often forget to take a step back, breathe, and dance it out. 

  Happy Monday! Not only did we spend a majority of our time outside, but we also had another friend start! We are so happy F is back and ready to learn.  Before heading outside, the kids had a few choices in the classroom. One of those options was the self portrait table. J walked on over and sat down. He noticed all the different color playdoh laying out.  "Hey! It's brown!"  He began rolling it around and then flattened it out with the palm of his hand. He carefully pick out different pieces to make his eyes and mouth.  "This looks like me! It's brown like me!" He is right, the playdoh is brown like him! J giggled and smiled as he realized he was making a face that was the same color as his own.  "It's brown like me! It's me!" He would exclaim as he continued to add more features of his face.  "I need a smile. I can't make it. Will you help?" J kept looking at the brown dough and then at his skin. He would run his fingers a