FROM UNDER OUR BIG TREE: Week 15 (5 to 7 Class)

“Welcome those big sticky, complicated problems. In them are the most powerful opportunities. ”
~ Ralph Marston

Our first week back has been filled with LOVE (word of the week), and of course, disconnections. We used our arms to spell it (think Y-M-C-A as L-O-V-E), and talked about ways to show love:

– helping others
– giving hugs
– making a heart with your arms
-making people feel good
– giving gifts
– giving kisses
– listening
-helping somebody out
– check ins
– being yourself
-loving people how they are
– not judging (what IS judging?)
– not saying bad words, but using kind words
-being loved by a parent

Field Day
Those interested in gardening decided to pull out the strawberries as they were turning brown and had a lot of holes from bugs. We removed the straw, amended the soil, counted bugs, and planted already established plants. We are hopeful that these plants will do much better than our seeds.

We are moving to a new park location tomorrow. It is really big and has some great opportunities to observe birds, climb hills and swing, swing, swing!

Please share the following schedule and protocols with your sprout(s):

9:00 Drop off at basketball court

9:10 Meeting in the basketball court

9:20 Move to “home base” (playground area)

9:30 PLAY!

12:00 Lunch bell to remind everyone to check in with their body to pause: eat and reapply sunblock

1:30 Clean up and move to meeting area

1:45 Closing meeting

There may be questions about Rights & Responsibilities and these suggestions may help with discussion:

Shoes: we would like them on whenever a student leaves the playground area.

Community-Mindedness: We are in a shared space (a public park).  Have care for the park and the people and animals who use it.

Personal Care: Keep personal belongings under your care at home base.  Clean up.  Listen to your body’s cues about bathroom, thirst and hunger.

Safety: There is some concern about playing in run-off water because of the contaminants that may be in the water.  Until we can test it for ourselves, we do not recommend playing in the water and will inform sprouts about the how’s and why’s.  Here is some information that may help you discuss: Surface runoff is the water flow that occurs when the soil is infiltrated to full capacity and excess water from rain, meltwater, or other sources flows over the land. This is a major component of the water cycle, and the primary agent in water erosion. Runoff that occur on surfaces before reaching a channel is also called a nonpoint source. If a nonpoint source contains man-made contaminants, the runoff is called nonpoint source pollution. A land area which produces runoff that drains to a common point is called a drainage basin. When runoff flows along the ground, it can pick up soil contaminants including, but not limited to petroleum, pesticides, or fertilizers that become discharge or nonpoint source pollution.  Read more…

Meeting Discussions
There has been ongoing side conversations about “Ouches”. Sometimes saying ouch creates an ouch, other times ouch is said when someone is sharing an experience and another wishes they were part of it. We used kimochi dolls to discuss feelings and realized that the word ouch does not give us a lot of information, but specific feelings like “jealous” helps us understand each other better. I introduced “I messages” and we practiced saying “I feel _____ when….” with the kimochi dolls. Next week we will explore more feeling words and the idea of “not making assumptions.”

Math
This week we began investigating ways to make 8 through the book “The Sleepover”. Students used math racks or found their own materials to explore how 4+4=3+5=2+6…..They worked as partners, individuals, and shared with the group. On Thursday we began our own books about sleepovers, we continued these and played a related game on Friday. We will celebrate the midpoint of our unit with pajama day on Tuesday! (I feel this curriculum was written just for TKG! The Sprouts seemed to have enjoyed reading, creating books, problem solving, and playing games.)

Language topics
Students reviewed their current work in their writing folders, as well as started books specifically related to our math unit. Next Thursday we will begin reading Chapter 1 in Charlotte’s Web.

Emerging Interests/Ongoing projects (do any of these inspire you to bring a project or idea to school?)

Social Emotional
When calm disconnections come up we have been offering mini meetings with peers and an adult so students may voice their feelings, work out problems, or reconnect in a private space with adult support. This has allowed for the rest of the group to keep the flow and minimized outside influences on conversations. So far sprouts have taken this opportunity, and I look forward to encouraging problem solving in the moment as it arises. (I may ask PTs to spontaneously support students when these situations arise. If you are unsure of how to support or what to say in these moments, please mention it in our morning PT check in.)

We’re trying a new park tomorrow!

CONNECTION LINKS
Michelle Goldbach-Johnson, Founding Teacher/5 to 7 Classroom
Yvette Fenton/Co-Teacher, 5 to 7 Classroom
Saundi Williams, 5 to 7 Room Parent
Lena Garcia, School Builder/7 to 9 Classroom
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