Current Chapter Book

After lunch is a quiet time in our classroom. The children get out their pillows and I read to them.

Of course, there needs to be a transition from running around on the playground to being calm and relaxed. An important part of this time of day is learning techniques to relax. Sometimes we listen to classical music, do deep breathing exercises or learn a couple yoga poses. At other times we close our eyes and take an imaginary trip in our mind. After we have settle down a little, it is time to listen to a chapter book.

Currently I am reading The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White. Even though reading a book aloud has plenty of merit in itself, it also provides us a stepping stone for discussions and further learning. For instance, we have learned new scientific vocabulary and facts: a cob is a male swan, cygnets are baby/young swans, a Trumpeter Swan's nest is 6 feet in diameter, an egg is 5 inches long, and it's wing spread is 8 feet. Knowing these facts about the swans lead us to get out rulers to see what these numbers really mean. This is just one example of how the literature expands our knowledge.

Eco Fair 2010

TheEco Fair is about Creativity and Community.

The energy and excitement in the hallway Friday morning was electric. Children and adults could not wait to see who/what would come through the door next. Boxes and bags were turned into robots, knights, and box of popcorn. A butterfly flew through the halls as a rabbit and fox crawled around the room. We even had an ancient greek and a firefighter visiting.

As the morning progressed, our class was mixed up with children from the other classroom and moved from one activity to another. A big thank you to Christine (Juna's mom) for showing the children how to make felted acorns at one of the Eco Stations.

As Erin Murphy, veteren Eco Fair participant exclaimed, "I can't wait to see everyone's costume. The Eco Fair is my favorite."

Experimenting with the principles of flight

Summers-Knoll is a Green School. We encourage recycling and re-using materials. I am constantly trying to find materials we can reuse for a project. When I was at the Scrap Box recently looking for material to use during the "Flight" unit, I was thrilled to find a pile of old lids. The lids would make great frisbees.

The children decorated the lids on Thursday, and Friday we took them to the park to see if we could make them fly.

First, we talked about gravity.

Will it fly if we just hold it and drop it?

No,it will just fall.

Then we discussed what to do to make them fly.

The children knew the lids needed to be thrown (or thrust) to make it glide. Next, frisbees filled the air. The children experimented with various ways to throw the frisbees and locations to throw them from.

Here is a very short video of the event.

Jack and the Bean Stalk

The Wild Swan Theater did a fabulous job retelling the traditional story, Jack and the Bean Stalk, and we were there to see it.

In one hour, the children in the audience ran through the full gamut of emotions as they sat on the edge of their seats hoping the Giant wouldn't discover Jack, cheered for Jack as he ran through the audience trying to get away from the Giant, roared with laughter at the Giant mixing up his lines saying: "Fee Fi Fo Fum, I smell my stinky feet", and signed with relief when Jack made it safely home to his mother.

As we were leaving the theater, we meet Jack and the Giant in the lobby. What a thrill to meet them in person.

The show brought a familiar story to life and let the children experience the magic of theater.

Conferences

At Summers-Knoll, we have parent/teacher conferences twice a year. Conferences provide a time for us to sit and talk briefly, and hopefully uninterruptedly, about how your child's school year is going. At the conference we can discuss how things have gone for your child since the start of the school year and aspirations you have for your child over the coming months.

The official day for conferences is Monday, November 1st, but in order to accommodate more parent's schedules, I will be providing conference times starting this week. In the past, many parents have told me that mornings are the best time for them to meet. Starting this Thursday, October 21 through Thursday, October 28, I have set aside 8:00-8:20am and 8:20-8:40am for conferences. If the designated times are not convenient, please contact me so we can set up an alternative time. For example, I am available Monday through Thursday from 2:50pm until 3:10.

You can email me with a couple times you are available or sign up on the sheet posted next to my classroom door.

I look forward to meeting with each of you.

I thought this cartoon fit in after our recent Renaissance Studies

Howell Trip

Today, the children drew pictures and talked about their experience at Howell Nature Center. By their enthusiasm, it was clear that they had enjoyed the experience. In reflecting, many things came up including eating spaghetti, walking in the woods, looking at leaves and roasting marshmallows. By far the thing that came up the most were the owls. I guess nothing can beat seeing a live animal up close.

Here are a few photos from the trip:

-lunch

-The Great Horned Owl

-Kit with owl eyes

-playing games

-Identifying trees

-Making puppets with things from nature

-

Building a castle

Building a castle from recycled materials, takes time, trial and error, and imagination.

When the recycled materials came in, the children sorted them into categories: boxes, containers, tubes and egg cartons. As they sorted they discussed which ones could b

e used to create a castle. There were lots of ideas and excitement.

In our first attempt at building, we tried taping small boxes together to form the castle base but the boxes kept falling over.

Penny rescued us by finding a big box in the basement. We all agreed this was a perfect castle form to build upon. So we painted the box with brown, black, and grey paint.

Next, we played

with the materials to see what might be used for the towers, spires, draw bridges and dungeons. We painted

some more parts and drew windows, doors, flags, and flowers on paper to attach to our base.

Finally, we assembled the pieces and presto, a castle.

(Some of our ideas did not come to fruition, such as our draw bridge so I'm not s

ure how the Lords and Ladies will cross the moat but in any event the castle is truly a sight to behold.)

The castle as well as many other works of art will be displayed today at the Renaissance Feast. Hope to see you there. If you are not able to come, I am sure there will be plenty of photos from the event for you to see.

Trip to the store

Today we had an excursion to Jo-Ann Fabric's to buy fabric. This was the first step in a pillow making project that will continue over the next week.

As with all expeditions into the community, the trip was a filled with learning experiences. Before we left we talked about proper store etiquette. The children said we shouldn't shout, I pointed out walking inside was important, too, and we should be polite like saying, "Can you help me, please?" and "Excuse me" and "thank you". Obviously, they were well schooled at home.

Before we went into the store, I asked the children to look for things that had to

do with math while we were shopping. They did an excellent job with this assignment; when we left they recalled there were numbers on signs, people measuring the fabric, and we had to pay for the items.

Another thing I think is important for any trip is that the children have a positive experience. In this respect the trip was a success. I wish the photos could accurately display the joy on the children's faces as they picked the fabric they wanted. The confidence they showed as they asked the clerk for 1/2 a yard of the material, and the enthusiasm that they had as they carried their purchase out of the store.

I hope the rest of the project will be as successful as the purchasing of the fabric.

Nature Walk

Faye Stoner has become a treasured part of the Summers-Knoll Curriculum. Three times a year, she takes us out in County Fair Park and exposes us to the wide variety of plants and animals right outside our door. I have yet to take a trip with Faye in which I have not learned something new.

Friday's trip centered around finding signs of autumn. She started by showing us a woolly bear caterpillar, which will turn into an Isabella tiger moth in the spring. As we walked down the paths we found milkweed plants with pods bursting with seed and milkweed bugs eating the leaves. We found nice red berries that shouldn't be eaten by people and tasted the tart berries of the sumac bushes.

Faye had us listen for crickets and grasshoppers. We could only hear the males because they are the only ones that chirp. Then we played a game in which we made a ball

jump like a

grasshopper.

At the very end of the walk we found a cozy spot amongst the trees to listen and watch nature in silence. Faye told us when we are quiet, animals will often come very close to us and we can learn about their habits. Although no birds or other animals came near this time, the children were so quiet we could see, feel, and hear the wind moving around us and the trees.

October Events

October's theme is Flight, and with so many events this month it is sure to fly by; mark you calendars so you don't miss anything.

Sunday, October 10 Curious Epicures: Renaissance Feast

4:00-7:00

Thursday, October 14 Trip to Howell Nature Center

All day

Friday, October 15 No School for Children (Staff Development day)

All day

Friday, October 22 Wild Swan Theater production of Jack and the Bean Stalk

10:00-11:00

Friday, October 29 School-wide Eco-Fair*

Some of these events you have already heard about and more details will be coming soon.

*The one event I wanted to give a heads up about, is the Eco-Fair. It has become a tradition at Summers-Knoll to have an Eco-Fair in lieu of the traditional Halloween celebration. Children (and staff) still wear costumes to school but they make their own costumes using recycled and reused materials. Materials for the costumes can be found around the house, in the recycle bin, or at re-sale shops such as Value World. The idea is to have a good time making something new out of something old. I hope you will have fun helping your child create a costume.

The Eco-Fair is a fabulous way to celebrate community, creativity, and taking care of the earth. During the day the children will show off their costumes as well as participate is a variety of projects using re-used and recycled materials.

Here is an example from last year: Quinn made herself into a tube of tooth paste.