K-1

The K/1's are inspired to wonder, question, and do......

I often think about how much I love my work with the K/1's, how much I am inspired by this give and take of teaching and learning. These last few weeks, especially, are a mixture of emotional excitement, reflection and inspiration for all of us - children and adults.

The K/1's continue to be inspired in so many ways. A recent visitor, Quinn's grandma, inspired the children to learn as well as recollect and reconnect to the work they did on their farm unit back in the fall. Quinn's grandma showed the children pictures of her farm. She grows strawberries, field corn, pumpkins, and gourds. There are so many different varieties of pumpkins - goosebumps, cheese pumpkins, swan gourds, bushel gourds, etc. There are chickens also - Rhode Island Red chickens, Barred Rocks, and more? Quinn's grandma also read one of Quinn's favorite books: How the Chick Tricked the Fox. Different varieties of sunflowers also grow on the farm. The children also were given sunflower seeds to take home. Thank you for visiting!!!

There is more: Weaving and Bridge Making

Inspired by the work of African weavers, the K/1's have been creating their own weaving. They even got together during math class several times to weave as a community. The children, myself, Michele, and Zoe found this quite enjoable and inspiring.

What are we learning when we are weaving? Working towards a goal, focus, persistance even through frustration, design, sequence - there are several steps to follow to be successful. Mentoring within the community happens naturally. This is what the children say about weaving: under and over (sequencing), thinking about getting it done (working toward a goal), I just love it, I learned how to double weave, how to get into and out of a pickle, patterns, you have to make sure you don't end up in a knot, I get to make little handbags out of my weaving, it's fun, it's very serious, sometimes it's not very easy, it's challenging, weaving is math because of patterns and symmetry, and it's language arts too.

There is still more: Bridge Making

During STEM week the K/1's spent an afternoon in their classroom building bridges strong enough to hold half a cup of sand. They were given only straws and were shown how to fit the straws together. The children added other materials such as tape (lots of it) as they worked. They worked in teams. They had to communicate with each other, collaborate, work through frustration, persist, and share their spontaneous joy and excitiment. See below for more on the process.....

Weaving

Bridge making....

First the K/1's went out to watch the middle school
build bridges to place over one of the school's creeks.

Next the K/1's joined the school community to walk over the
newly built bridges.

The K/1's are drawing blueprints for the construction
of their own bridges!

Everyone is contributing ideas to the drawing.

Our blueprints are done!

Here we go! We decided each of us will build
a part of the bridge.

It really helps to work together!

Everyone is so focused!

It's intense - we really want to reach our goal but we
are also having fun!

It's fun but I can't wait to see the bridge.

Everyone is so engaged!

Will it hold the half cup of sand?

JOY!

There is such joy in learning while doing!

Until next time,

Liliana

Earth Day, Africa......

Here are some highlights:

The week began with an Earth Day celebration. Buddies wrote letters to congressmen urging them to protect Monarch's habitats. The K/1's contributed planting seeds in the newly created Monarch Butterfly Waystation. In Language Arts we read books about the earth and discussed best ways to be "good" to our planet.

A big thank you to Jordan and Gareth for their fun presentation on African animals, South Africa, and the Masai people. Gareth's sense of humor was quite a hit with the K/1's. Gareth is from South Africa, and Jordan (Katarina's aunt) lived with the Masai Tribe for a week.

In First Grade Math the children studied the patterns and colors of Kente African cloth. They created detailed patterns on strips of paper.

On a couple of beautiful sunny days we enjoyed a few hikes. We stopped at "Tire Island" a couple of times.

Gareth and Jordan prepared a game for the children. They played animal sounds and the children had to guess the African animals. It was truly a lot fun!