It feels like the kids are getting the hang of being at school, interacting with new people and the flow of the day. We just finished our first month's songs and poems and the kids were all in unison and loud on our last day with them. It is neat to see them get into them. I will send the words home, just in case you want to enjoy these together.
The kids were also interested and excited that we are now in October. The changing of a month can be an exciting transformation. What new discussion topics will this month bring? Thank you to all you families for bringing in books and unique objects for the children to study and investigate. It is the most authentic when the kids bring things they are truely excited about. And it's fun for us to watch them share their ideas and excitement with thier friends!
We also continued our discussion of characters for stories. What makes a good character? How do you "flesh out" a character so we feel we know who they are? The friends are using the flannel board to test their storytelling skills. We are thinking about character as well as the fact that stories have a beginning, middle and end. You might ask your child this weekend if they had a favorite story from this week. Their character thoughts are even entering their work at the construction table. Check out these additions to the castles:
For our investigations on the internet, we looked into a two things this week.
Our discussions about narwhals last week came from the Baby Baluga book's illustrations. Then, Logan brought some images off the internet for us to extend our discussion. The friends had been wanting to see the difference between a narwhal and a swordfish, and Logan's images helped. Then, Cecelia brought us a video called Arctic Tale for us to watch. We watched a few minutes in the middle where there were narwals swimming and putting thier horns in the air. The children were facinated and boggled by the idea that the narwal uses it's horn to tell the weather! They are still trying to figure this out, and many think the horn has to somehow attach to the brain so that the narwal knows the weather. Very in depth! Since we only watched a little of this video, it might be a fun one to rent as a family.
Here are some images that have come out of looking closer at narwhals:
On Thursday we looked at some images I selected to deepen and inspire our uses of paper. I was wearing earrings (http://www.etsy.com/transaction/32795150) and when the children asked about them, they were interested to find out that they were made out of paper. So our discussions about how the artists could have made these were very full of excitement! I am wondering if after looking at them again, and closer, the chidlren might want to try to create their own versions.
We looked at some images from the first website, and then we looked at the second website a bit:
http://www.petercallesen.com/index/A4PAPERCUT_000.htm
http://tokyobling.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/a-paper-craft-castle-on-the-ocean/
I have such a fun time listening to your children's ideas. Thank you. I hope you enjoy your weekend.
Love, Jennifer
So exciting to see the kids learning many wonderful things. I was thrilled to hear Ocean come home and talk about her journal :) Also got a kick out of her singing the Beatles (grandma did too!) Welcome to October!
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