Friday, October 30, 2020

Halloween Fest

 "This is the best day ever!" ES

We most certainly had a wonderful Halloween celebration. 



















Thursday, October 8, 2020

Autumn

Spiders! Spiders! EVERYWHERE!

An inquiry curriculum is based on asking questions and asking the children what do you see? What do you think? What makes you think that? As we observe, study, and learn, we then ask them, what do you think now? What makes you think so?

This week, we took our magnifying glasses, quieted our bodies so that we could take it all in, and we walked.  We have enjoyed several walks around the school, listening and looking high and low. As we explore, we are learning to think like scientists! 



When I say scientist, what do you think?

HC – “They find new stuff and they figure things out.”

E – “They look and they find lots of cool things.”

J – “They think of themselves.”

HM – “Hot Wheels and math!” 















STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) is a time when the children work on different activities designed for different direct (obvious) aims, but largely include indirect (less obvious) aims as well, like organization, small/gross motor skills, independence, concentration, coordination, etc., all relating to STEM in some way. These activities are prepared and distributed based on a child’s individual needs, as well as abilities and interests. 


"These make it go down." HC



 



Friday, October 2, 2020


Pin-poking. Pin-pushing. Pin-punching. No matter what you call it, it is an excellent work for boosting fine motor skills. Aside from the pincher grip benefits, it also naturally guides children in learning to focus for extended periods of time and experience a peaceful calm in their bodies. In the first few pictures, you can see the pincher grip, the focus, and one of our current art projects relating to the season autumn. We often play classical music (Vivaldi's Autumn), while other times the children prefer no music at all. 




                                          

Exploring sets of numbers between 1 - 100





Exploring Fibonacci patterns and numbers in nature. 


















 

The Science Lab

It's not at all a playground, it's a science lab!  The children helped pull shotweed, purple dead nettles, dandelions, and Californi...