Today was a little topsy-turvy, as we had a field trip in the morning and exploration time in the afternoon. The play was great, and we loved using our building time to think it over after we got back. Sokrates had predicted it would be a play about the Chipmunks, since their song was playing when we went in, but it was actually about toys trying to remind their maker about the spirit of Christmas. Jerome and Yianni built the magic potion that brought the toys to life. Anja wanted the toymaker and Santa to believe they were both great toymakers, so she helped her team build one of them out of blocks. Gia, Rebecca, and Tove worked together and made the fashion doll with their blocks, Timo built the teddy bear, and Paolo and Sokrates made the nutcracker. As they built it, I heard a lot of discussion about the narrative of the play, comparisons between the staged play and their reconstructions, and resinging the songs from the performance. They did a great job internalizing the performance and using it in a new way!
In our read-aloud, we saw that Miggory was taken to the castle when the knights sent to collect the bowls and pots that were now illegal (which Anja explained was because of the Queen being killed by soup). Unfortunately, even though Miggory got to meet the Princess again, she wasn’t very good at her job and was sent to the dungeon to take Gregory the jailer his lunch. Yianni helped us remember everyone that is in the dungeon right now, so we’re pretty sure they are all going to come together soon!
Our artistic exploration today was dyeing the play-doh we made yesterday. Niki noticed that this play-doh was harder than the old recipe but found out it loosened up when she kneaded it. Teddy helped his classmate by telling her what colors she needed to make purple. Tove noticed that the red she put in made the play-doh pink when it mixed instead of a vibrant red. Yianni took that knowledge and decided not to mix it too much, that way it stayed swirled instead of blended. They are being much more thoughtful and precise in their measurements and their kneading.
As I told you it would, our shape search has gotten much more complicated. Instead of super neat shapes, and only one kind, now they need to look at more complex pictures, pick their own shape, and then identify what kind of shape they selected. I originally said the shapes had to have straight sides, but they pointed out that wouldn’t allow them to trace circles in the picture. I said that my big concern was that something like the shape of the waves wasn’t really a shape they could identify and I didn’t want them to trace shapes like that. Quite a discussion followed, and it got pretty interesting. They eventually decided that they didn’t know the name of the wave-shape (or even if it had a name), but they DID see how they could cut it into shapes they did know. They pointed out that the waves were actually a rectangle with half-circles and ovals (or crescents, as Niki said) on top. We eventually decided that the shapes didn’t have to have a straight side, but they did need to know the name for the shape they traced (like the triangles Bisola traced in the sails), so something like the wave wouldn’t work. Honestly, this was an incredible discussion. I had expected them to be intimidated by the shift and so looked to simplify it for them, but they took to it with passion and wisdom. They even convinced me to change my expectations, since they had good reasons and were able to justify it with evidence. This was incredible and I can’t wait to see what they do going forward!
With the cold weather definitely here, I would appreciate a little clarification from all of you regarding what you want as far as cold weather gear. Unless you tell me otherwise, I will send your child home in a jacket and a hat, but not snowpants or boots. I’ll also keep boots and snowpants here unless you tell me otherwise. If you would like anything sent home or worn every night (snowpants, boots, etc), just let me know and I’ll dress and pack them accordingly. If there is a day you want something different (you’re walking home, going straight to the sledding hill, etc), let me know, no problem at all. Thanks for providing that information, it will hopefully make both our lives easier.
