Upcoming Dates and Announcements:
- October 19th – 9:00 am – 3:00 pm, Fall Campus Refresh! Volunteer for a few hours by swinging by 8 Park Road with gardening gloves to help freshen our campus. Lunch and refreshments will be provided!
- October 22nd – Students are encouraged to wear pink to show support for Breast Cancer Awareness this Tuesday!
- October 31st – 9:15 am, Whole School Halloween Parade. Students should come to school dressed in costume and bring a change of casual clothes to change into afterward. Following the parade, the children will return to the classroom and enjoy a special treat and a few fun activities. This will just be for the students and teachers.
Hello JK Families,
We can always tell when Fall is upon us because the campus grounds are dotted with the best natural resources or loose parts. Fallen black walnuts and shiny buckeyes become a hot commodity among the teachers as we use them for a variety of activities, while the students just like to fill their pockets to the brim. With their fabulously cylindrical shape, these treasures naturally start rolling down hills. Our students, started to launch them down our outdoor steps. Some even used the flat railing to see if they could make it all the way from the top to the bottom. This introduction to cause and effect inspired us to take their interest even further this week. We asked ourselves, what might happen if we covered the steps in a solid surface for the students to try their experiment? Using large cardboard boxes, the stairs quickly became a lengthy ramp. Offering a variety of balls and natural loose parts, differing in size, weight, and material, the students took to the top of the hill and let them rip. It was like a tidal wave came over the space as the balls were released. The squeals of excitement as the materials charged to the bottom were infectious and we couldn’t get enough! Not only did the balls go down the ramp, but the containers took a ride too. There was even a moment where it seemed like we were on a gameshow as some of the students tried to catch the balls at the bottom or from the sides. You know what else happens when you make a large ramp…you get a big slide too! The students quickly learned that their bodies could use the set up as well and lots of scooting happened! As the cardboard pieces pulled apart, the students continued to send the balls and walnuts down the stairs, marveling at the rolling that turned into bouncing. While cause and effect was being tested, we saw collaboration, communication, trial and error, and problem-solving skills all bundled into one.
As the stairs were being utilized, a muddy pumpkin patch/stand was in full swing. The children covered tiny pumpkins with “mud” that smelled delicious (that is what you get when you make it with cocoa powder). When they were satisfied with the dirtiness, they then washed them clean and dried them off to be put on display. While the repetition of dirty to clean happened, we again saw strong communication between the small group of students. These are some of the conversations we overheard:
“Oh my goodness, it is so dirty!”
“We better get it clean, quick.”
“Okay, all dried. Let’s put it on the shelf.”
“This one needs to be dirtier!”
“Now you need a bath pumpkin.”
With clean pumpkins and our fall explorations still on the brain from last week, we took to exploring the insides of different kinds of gourds and pumpkins. With that came estimating how many seeds our large pumpkins might have. We read The Biggest Pumpkin Ever by Steven Kroll and How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? by Margaret McNamara to get us in the mood for some good guessing and boy are the kiddos excellent at it!
“The bigger the pumpkin the more seeds there are” -Lucas
“100” – Rory
“100” – Ollie
“100” – Stylee
“Infinity” -Wendell
“Bigger pumpkins when they get big they just plop off.” -Lucas
“I think 150 seeds.” -Dax
“I thinked 200 seeds! Or 900!”-Kipton
While some chose to use their fingers to retrieve the pumpkin guts, others dove in with spoons. Numbers were being thrown out left and right, even with the smaller gourds and squashes we also opened up. The students carefully picked out the smaller seeds with tweezers and closely investigated the insides with magnifying lenses. Here is what they had to say:
“Look on the other side (of the squash) it looks like a human leg.” -Dax
“This pumpkin is cold!” -Heidi
“Oh, I don’t want to do that. That’s disgusting!” -Kipton
Our explorations of ramps were also brought inside, using pool noodles, cardboard tubes, and a large piece of gutter. The kiddos were not only rolling balls down the “tracks”, but also launching them upwards like the classic Skee Ball game. Lengthy pool noodles were connected with tape, making for a double-sided track to create a race for two balls, while a cardboard tube was added to make it even longer. Just look at what they were discovering as they played:
“I’m going to go from up here! Oooo a tunnel pipe! Is it going to come out??” -Rory
“That’s way too many balls”- Ollie
“Let’s just try one ball. Let’s make a bigger loop.” -Forrest
“Let’s make a trap!” -Wendell
“Ramp it up!!” -Henry
“Henry look it can go up!” I’m going to try a bouncy one!” -Rory
“I’ve got a lot of construction!” -Wendell
“Got any tape? I want to make a long loop de loop.” -Forrest
This week we also did a review of all the letters and numbers we have talked about thus far. We practiced writing our letters in colored salt, while our numbers were written in shaving cream. The students are working so hard to remember which direction each lowercase letter and number goes, as well as starting each one at the top. Our Ff word web grew even more as the students figured out more words that start with the /f/ sound. Fish, foul, fever, first, Forrest, fair, and fluffy are just a few examples of the amazing words the students came up with.
What an amazingly rich week we had in JK! We are so inspired by the passions that are coming from these kiddos and cannot wait to explore them all! Next week is going to be just as epic. Stay tuned!
Enjoy your weekend!
Miss Claire and Miss Liz
Getting the Ball Rolling
Pumpkin Washing
Letter and Number Practicing
Seeds and Ramps
Classroom Fun
