Six Weeks Families! Thank you for your love, support and faith. We are transitioning into the next stage of our evolution. We’ve learned so much about our sprouts and our community and there are so many wonderful things still to come.
Ask your sprout about “knee to knee, eye to eye, heart to heart” and “neighbor sharing.” It was an inspiring moment. Counting collections are a part of our day and evolving, what comes after 100? is it 200? is it 102? is it 1001? Imagine this: beautiful elephants from counting collection joined us for one of our days…all day!
A TKG Story: That’s the fair thing to do!
This week during deep learning, some students were thinking about being fair. A group of students made a plan to play with mini elephants they found in the manipulative area of our classroom. As they pulled out the materials they needed, a conversation about fairness arose:
Student 1: Hey guys, we should all count how many elephants we have. That way we can all have the same number. That’s the fair thing to do!
Student 2: Yeah because were friends right? and we have to be fair with each other.
Student 1:Yeah, we’re fair friends (starts laughing).
Student 3: Fair friends, fair friends (sings and laughs.)
The students then began counting their own pile of elephants.
Student 2: I have 8.
Student 1: I have 8 too!
Student 3: Ummm well I have 9. What should I do?
Student 1: Well maybe we can put one of the elephants in the middle. Then we can all have 8.
Student 2: Yeah, and he can be the elephant king of all our elephants. And we can all use him.
Being fair, by counting and dividing, continued throughout their play. They divided blue foam blocks among themselves. They also divided the mini elephants later in the day, by giving each student and teacher 2 mini elephants, so that everyone in the classroom had mini “pet elephants”.
Park Day was marvelous. We did the Great Pumpkin Hunt at the Botanical Gardens. Some of us went this way, some of us went that way but all of us had the opportunity to be heard and we were encouraged to find “our own” pumpkin. We made maps, we strategized, we climbed into a storm drain and we sang songs:
Pumpkin-Nee Pumpkin
Pumpkin-Ne-eee Pumpkin
I just love a Pumpkin
For Halloween Night
We have opened a writing school: we have made credit cards including phone numbers, so we can pay for our lessons and have the store’s phone number. A Mail truck is part of this plan: we are writing letters – this helps us understand LETTER FORMAT (are you feeling like hand writing a letter to an old friend?).
We are still working with Illustration Study. Currently, we are exploring how how mixed feelings are shown.
We are adding to the Garden, Sewing, and Art Clubs…Technology Electronic Club has arrived. Imagine:
“it is electric…i got a phone, hello i’m calling the app store”
“i’m coloring in my apps for my ipad. i have a scanner so I can see it…you push this and a light and it will scan, i’m protected with gloves.”
“if you touch the power line you get electrocuted.”
“iphones use batteries and if you don’t want to use the battery you can use the plugger. If it didn’t have battery or plug it would go black.”
“technology is like video games, uses electricity, like you are using technology. You know?”
“Not so much, i know that without technology if you pushed the button, nothing would happen.”
“batteries make it do technology”
“if you didn’t have technology you wouldn’t be able to walk on sidewalks, trucks are technology the gas is the electricity. technology helps us walk and we couldn’t drink or eat. machines keep food cold. technology helps us eat sort of, it makes some food.”
“a walkie talkie is just like a phone.”
“my dad is really good at electronics and i started to make paper electronics, making all different kinds; 3 ds, ipod, iphone, macbook, macbook pro,
i know it’s electronic and wires to power it, if a wire isn’t connected the light saber will not turn on. i have my own computer so i know a lot about technology. it is connected with wires, when its connected it lights up”
“i know about paper star wars. it’s origami.”
“i know that technology is powerful. its powerful because it is electricity. electricity is really really powerful. electricity is power. you know how phones run all day so they are running hot.”
Our Book Sale has been postponed to November but we are talking about what we need to raise money for and we are thinking that lemonade and bookmarks will help us get there. Student were invited to create an “I wish” book about school this weekend (please do not make suggestions or alter students’ wishes) as well as gather needed items for book sale supplies. Parents are also welcome to make a wish book! Feel free to send Michelle your wishes (try not add your wish to your student’s list).
Ask your sprout about clean up jobs…this has been very interesting and engaging. It is engaging our sprouts in the process of clean up and develops executive function.
Thank you for making the time to come to our first Parent Meeting. We value your ideas and encourage you to keep sending them! Click here to download a printable version of the strategies we discussed in our meeting on Saturday morning.
Did you start a home-based counting collection?