Inside the Classroom, and Outside the Classroom...

This week we did some early documentation with our class.  We got name-writing samples from each of them, they made a self-portrait, took their own selfies, the children started signing in as well as their parents, and we talked about their favorite things, which we are compiling into a class book (coming soon!).  Why would we do all these things?  Are they "assessments"?  Are they tests?  Are we comparing your children's abilities to everyone else's?

NO!  We want to have documentation so that at the end of the year, you can see exactly how far your child has progressed.  Imagine comparing your child's self-portrait from the beginning of the year to the one they will do at the end.  It will AMAZE you.  The only comparing we will do is your child's work over time.  That's all the comparing I hope you will do too. 

So what did we DO this week?  Lots of things....we went on a Bear Hunt together.  (Please note that if children choose not to participate, it's okay with us.  Some children need to watch and make sure things are okay to do for them--we're good with that)

 

 

We read about a million stories.  Which we love to do.

 

 

We built with translucent blocks on the light table--very hard to photograph.

 

We played in the water table.  I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH... If your child is having a hard time, fill up the sink, pull up a chair for  them to stand on and dump some plastic utensils into the sink.  Done.

 

 

Each week, our class has a gardening lesson.  This week we walked around the garden and identified the things that are growing there right now.  We saw watermelon, papaya, banana trees, a lime tree, eggplant, a big weird squash, and we tasted some Muscadine grapes right off the vine. 

 

 

We also ate some sunflower seeds that were still soft.  Did you know you could eat them like that?

 

The other part of our lesson was learning about the plant life cycle which we did by telling a story similar to Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by   It was called Sunshine, Sunshine, What Do You See?  and it had felt board pieces that we all got to add to the story board.

 

After that, we ate a watermelon from the garden and saved the seeds to plant next summer.  I'd say that was a great day in the garden!





 All in all, we had a great week.