Dear Studio Red,
This week we continued to break natural objects apart to learn about them. Can you find more seeds at home?
Love, Lauri and Emily
OUR WEEK IN PARTS
INDOOR EXPLORE
more children play with milkweed in small groups…
How do milkweed seeds move?
after finding a book about worms in the library, a group of children began to explore our worm habitat…
What do see as we dig for worms?
we continued to investigate wire in a new way…
What can wire become?
How do we make wire transform?
BOOKS
This week we read Seeds Move over a few days. The conversation was rich. Children thought this must be a chapter book because we spent so much time with it! There was great joy each time they recognized a seed or could name how how it moved.
We spent time looking at books all about seeds. Looking at books together, we read the pictures, seeking information. We reference details and make new discoveries. We begin to notice the letters on the page. We pose questions to each other to extend our learning. We discover how books bring joy and draw us closer to one another!
OUTDOOR EXPLORE
"Do you still want to play with me outside?"
We have noticed children asking each other about outside play before we go out. “Will you play with me?” “Do you want to make the ice cream shop?” Negotiating outdoor play is hard work.
REFLECTION MEETING
This week Lauri returned and asked, “What happened when I was gone?” Charlie Schubert began a conversation about the butterfly we released.
We released the last one. Charlie Schubert
We can get more caterpillars. Louis
Monarch caterpillars only come in the summer. When the leaves change color and fall it’s fall. Thomas
The leaves are turning red, yellow, gray. Case
And gold. Miles
Yeah, and gold. Case
I know which ones die. Some stay green. I know what they are called, pine needle trees. My mom told me. Travers
Some people call them evergreens because they are forever green. Lauri
Pine needle trees last for every single winter. Pine needle trees never die. Thomas
They do when they’re on fire. Case
Or when they get cut off. Luca
If you cut a root off. Charlie Schubert
If you cut all the roots. They help keep the tree up. Louis
They help give water to the tree. Charlie Nicholson
They suck water up a tree. Louis
Trees actually die in the winter time. All trees. Travers
I used to think winter was just Christmas. Louis
We now know winter is so much more.
What more do we know about the seasons?
another conversation…
We teachers have been trying to solve a problem. We notice our studio becoming very loud throughout our play inside. We try various tools to help children become aware of their volume and modulate their voices. We give kind reminders. We lower our own voices. We give children visuals of a turning volume knob. We begin some days of play in pairs. We encourage children to approach others to speak. And yet, the problem persists.
And so we brought it to the children.
We have noticed how the classroom can get very loud. Sometimes we are silent, during rest our volume is at zero. Sometimes we are talking like this at a three. But sometimes, when we get excited or upset, or are simply trying to be heard, we reach a ten.
How can we work together to keep our volume at a three?
We be quieter. CASE
Stop. THOMAS
We do not say anything. THOMAS
We quiet our voice down. CASE
A regular voice, like this, “Hi.” [A regular voice, like this high.] THOMAS
How do we do that? EMILY
You just start using one. Someone reminds you. CASE
You have to say can you please be quiet.” LOUIS
Because it stays inside and the voice message…It doesn’t go outside with the door closed. JACKSON
It can break your eardrums. LUCA
Then you can’t hear anything. IAN
Our ears can be hurt and when it is loud our bodies can feel different. You can feel in yellow, a little uncomfortable, like moving around. EMILY
Does it feel like a heart attack? CASE
Say, “Stop please.” MILES
CAROLINE whispers “Please be quiet.”
Oh, you can give a kind reminder, and you can also try lowering your voice like Caroline just did. EMILY
GREETINGS & GAMES
This week we introduced a new game called “Which one doesn’t belong?” Playing over several days we return to past thinking and build new ways of seeing together. It is a game with so many possibilities! This game provokes us to think through multiple perspectives and give reasons to support our conclusions. Through this game, we also begin to see one another in new ways.
The mug doesn’t belong because it has a handle. Katie
The mug doesn’t belong because it’s not food. Louis
The bagel doesn’t belong because it is a square. Jackson
