Happy December, Families! Wow, I can’t believe it is December already!
Time sure flies when you are having fun at school! As you can see in the pictures below, we’ve been busy and engaged in lots of interesting adventures.
In November, we made our very own tie-dye shirts with Mrs. Joy. They came out so beautifully. Each child chose which type of pattern they wanted the dye to follow and we banded them so that they would follow that pattern. Next, we chose where to put the yellow or the blue dye. Finally, Mrs. Joy washed the shirts a few times, dried them and then I presented them to the children. They are lovely – their individual patterns seem to match their individual creator! Some were polka dots, some spirals and other stripes – but all are amazing creations! We can’t wait to wear them to our Field Trip to ECHO on Thursday 12/14!
We also painted, colored, and assembled the funny turkeys you see above. Then, we wrote a list of things were are thankful for and added it to the tummy of the turkey. The children dictated their ideas and I wrote them on a sticky note for them to copy. Mostly, I did this out of not having lots of time to devote to this project, but, it also helped me to see how the children are growing in their ability to recognize and to copy words and letters from a different source. They are working hard and learning so much every day!
We have had our first snowy Forest classroom times – wow – as if it couldn’t get more engaging out there?! Snow makes for a really fun addition to our adventures and creations. As you can see from the photos we had a lot of snowballs, snow people and leaf/snow/stick combination pieces. Gotta love smiling faces that are paired with the rosy cheeks of moving and creating outside in the fresh air. We also had a few visitors to our Forest Classroom just before Thanksgiving. Peter (my husband) brought his folks (who came from FL – brrr!) up to the classroom for a visit. They delighted in seeing the classroom that we have built and the learning that was happening over rocks, under tall trees, and around the lemonade stand. We also made some popcorn that day and the kids were so excited to have a snack from our fire pit to share. Speaking of the fire pit – thanks so much for all of the wood deliveries! It is such a good way to keep us warm when we are outside as the winter sets in.
This past Friday, we flipped our schedule because we were anxiously and excitedly awaiting the visit from famous author, and illustrator, Jim Arnosky. So, we had a morning in the Forest rather than an afternoon. Before we went outside, we talked about how Mr. Arnosky spends a lot of time sketching and drawing the natural world to get ideas for his books. We learned that a scientist named John James Audubon drew and wrote outdoors a lot to share his ideas, too. After the rain subsided, we were able to grab clipboards, paper and pencils and do just what Mr. Arnosky and Mr. Audubon did to learn and to grow in the natural world. When we met with Mr. Arnosky for the question and answer session, Braydon and Sylvan shared their drawings with him! It was so fun and interesting to learn about how Mr. Arnosky works. He even sang some really funny songs – the one about the bear was hilarious! Here is the link to his website if you are interested: http://www.jimarnosky.com
Many thanks to Project READ for sponsoring this event in the memory of Mrs. Pat Young. She was a beloved and long time Kindergarten teacher at Robinson. This annual event is such a sweet and fitting tribute to her memory.
Below you will see a few pictures of Kindergartners presenting their ideas in our communities at school. I just wanted to share them as an example of how we started out sort of shy, timid and wide-eyed in September and how we have become confident, focused and brave members of our school community. Lennox and Braydon shared and led our whole school in a greeting at MARS on Wednesday and Ava shared her “fish bag” spotlight pictures with our whole class. So exciting – makes me so proud!
Our class earned another 500 “wormlings” for: Respecting YourselF, Respecting the SchooL, Respecting EverybodY at Robinson School. So, we had a cupcake and Wild Kratt viewing party. Yum! We also had a school-wide celebration a few weeks ago where we got to do a long trail run/hike and had a whole school recess. It was awesome!
Finally, Globe Trot Scott has come to visit us in Robinson Kindergarten! He comes every year to teach us about holiday celebrations from around the world. In order to go on these trips, we had to make our very own passports! Almost every day, he packs up a box full of information from a different country and drops it on our doorstep or in the office with Ms. Evelyn. It includes information about a new country around the world and teaches us about how children there celebrate winter holidays. Many thanks to all that have contributed through the sign up genius to fill the box with goodies each day!
So far, we have learned that in France, children leave their shoes out and Pere Noel brings treats. Children help their families to make a Buche de Noel – gorgeous log cakes with meringue mushrooms. We even made our own shoes and hung them by our cubbies. The next day, we found a treat inside – that sneaky Scott! In Italy, we learned this old witch (who starts out grumpy and ends up nice) does a similar thing for children in Italy. We drew pictures of her – La Befana. And, we wrote notes on small papers to hide in napkins for our parents to tell them how much we love them. Just like children in Italy do around the holiday season. Be on the lookout for yours and act surprised! On Monday, we will visit and learn about a new country – Germany.
Our hope with this project is to help children learn about continents, countries and children around our world. So far, they are really excited and engaged with our work with Globe Trot Scott – I know this will continue! He’s a pretty exciting dude!
Last but not least, I hope you all had a chance to read through the Report Cards that were sent home Friday. It was such a pleasure for me to look at and to share with you all of the progress the children have made in a relatively short period of time! Please don’t hesitate to be in touch if you have questions about the report. I am happy to go over it with you as it is the first time some of you are seeing this format. And, even if it is familiar, I’m sure the math/literacy inserts are new! I think they are very helpful and detailed. Enjoy!
Hope you all had a super weekend. I had a great time with my family – always busy but always fun!
One more thing, we will be having a Fire Safety demonstration with Starksboro Fire Department on Friday morning.
