Monday was fabulous. We started out with some busy free-play outdoors. We came in and made a card for Malik’s birthday in the afternoon, and we had Yoga with Ms. Liz. We practiced using our yoga breath by using straws and feathers. Malik’s family provided delicious salty snacks to celebrate! We sang Happy Birthday together!

Tuesday started with rolly polly searches. We checked under rocks to see how many we could find. We talked about being gentle with the bugs, and taking care of them by always putting them back in the grass. We all gathered around the giant picnic table in order to make our grand Earth Day fruit salad! We talked about the importance of sharing and caring for each other, and the importance of all of us sharing, even if some friends didn’t happen to bring food that day. We mixed up all the fruit, and serve it in paper cups.  In the afternoon, we had Yoga with Ms. Vanessa. We pretended to be elephants, dogs, cows, and turtles. We practiced breathing along with the breathing ball, and all had a chance to hit the singing bowl.

Wednesday started out with books under the play scape. I didn’t get a chance to take pictures of show and tell, but it was great! So far, show and tell has been tremendously successful. We each sit down with our show and tell in our lap, and do our best to remain patient as friends stand up, one by one, and tell us about or demonstrate their toy/object. After circle time we had snack, and then went outside to do some water painting with flowers as our inspiration. In the afternoon, we had a chance to bring out our show and tell and share them. As we waited for Spanish time, we played Mr. Clown and showed off some “tricks.” We sang songs in Spanish and Daphne read us a story about opposites.

Thursday morning we all helped water the gardens. We came in, had circle time, and discussed sustainability. We related it to saving water for the fish and animals in the sea! Ashley showed us an illustration of  the different levels in the ocean, and the different animals that live there. We had Montessori work time, and every one got their focus on. Then, we sat around and reflected on pictures of us doing activities of the past. Daphne was not able to make it in the afternoon, so we played a fun game instead. We called in The Rainbow Game. We sang our Spanish color song, where we name all the colors of the rainbow, and then had every one find objects in the room that matched the different colors. We talked about which color had the most and the least objects collected!

Friday started with awesome face-paint! We became dragons, fairies, clowns, raccoons, cats, batmans, spidermans, among other things!  We used a mirror to see ourselves. We went in for snack, and when we came out we were ready to do another Earth Day activity. Later in the afternoon, we colored sea creatures and posted them around the sink to remember “Save the water for your fishy.” Really, just asking “Which one is yours?” keeps them motivated to save the water! Mike came and shared a cooking project with us. He brought fresh cilantro from our garden, rice, and lemon wedges to make cilantro lemon rice! Some of our guys really gobbled it up! Later on, we had chance to use glue sticks to make a collage of pictures, and then glitter to decorate it. Whoa! Some days are perfect for staying busy!

Monday morning was a blast. We did some free play, had circle time, and quickly moved on to some Montessori work time! We were introduced to the Lincoln Logs, which were a great hit (and continue to  be!). Then, we each had a chance to go on a “mini-field trip” to the fish up front! There are some new baby fish that we wanted to get acquainted with! In the afternoon, Arielle came for our circle time and showed us a fun trick with her singing bowl. Arielle put water in the bowl, made it sing, and the vibrations make the water dance! It’s a really cool trick. During circle time, picked up fuzzy balls with our toes! This helps us practice standing on one leg!

I wasn’t in on Tuesday, but Wednesday was great! You could feel the excitement of show and tell already! When it finally came, it was a treat for every one involved! Each person had their unique way of presenting their thing from home—from singing and dancing, to presenting pages, or demonstrating how the object is used. Spanish time was awesome, we read about animals! Then, we talked about “pescado” and went fishing!

On Thursday we had free-play outside, and then came in and got busy with a project! Ashley showed us pictures of beautiful blue-bonnets, our classroom (and state!) flower. We painted popped popcorn blue with paintbrushes at first, but then figured out that it’s a little more effective to stir them into the paint! In the afternoon, we read lots of books!

Friday was super busy and fun! We started out gardening—using new organic soil and some planters to do some gardening! We had three paint stations going at once—one was painting on paper using plants, another was mixing shaving cream with tempera paint to make an interesting texture and paint on a box, and another was helping the primary paint giant sun-flowers with paint-brushes. We had a mellow afternoon!

Monday was great! During circle time we talked about the months of the year, the name of this month’s month, talked about how each day has a number, and added those numbers to our calendar to update it! We also read some books, and in the tradition of our yoga classes, acted out parts of the book in order to understand it better and have more fun! We had a chance to help carry some materials as we headed outside to work on our first recycling project of the month, which was bringing attention and love to our recycling bin! Later in the afternoon, we hung out on the deck and drove cars. Then, Ms. Liz came to share her calm energy with us, and we had a great Yoga time!

Tuesday during circle time, our friend Fischer came to visit us! In line with our Reggio Emelia philosophy, Ashley and I have been taking notice of our class’s interest in playing with babies. We’ve been feeding them, washing them with cloth, putting them to sleep, carrying them gently, and of course, changing their diapers! And so it was extra special to have a baby friend come and visit us! We know Livio has a baby sister on the way, just one other important reason to talk about babies! We looked at old pictures of ourselves and reflected on our own history as a baby! In the afternoon, Ms. Vanessa did Yoga with us! We did fun poses where we stretched out both legs at the same time (it’s tricky!) and passed around the breathing ball! In the afternoon, we had a cleaning party to clean the recyclables to be used for one of our projects honoring our Earth!

Wednesday morning, we took “field trips” to the baby room to deepen our understanding and curiosity about babies! We read books to them, gave them gentle touches on the head, tickled their feet, held their bottles for them, and watched them get their diapers changed! After these trips, it was show and tell time! For show and tell, we each hold an object we brought from home. We’re encouraged to stand up and talk about our item, or just show us how it might be used! Then we had Montessori work time and headed outside. In the afternoon, Ms. Daphne came to share Spanish time with us, and we read a story about a “cocodrilo” that goes “snap!” We headed outside and Cherokee led an awesome outside song time!

Thursday morning we painted recycled materials using blue and green acrylic paint. Every one got to choose the item they wanted to paint! We went inside and had an optional circle time, then ate snack and headed out once more. We had a fire-drill, and used a rope to help us stick together! In the afternoon, Daphne brought bubbles and we had fun blowing and popping “burbujas.” We talked about “burbujas grandes y pequenas” and had a chance to use the bubble gun ourselves.

Friday started off with awesome dance party at drop off! We had story time with Ms. Cherokee, and had a chance to decorate some of our recycled materials with glitter. Ashley and I put the recycled Earth together, and it’s on display in the entrance! In the afternoon, Chef Mike helped us find leaves from the garden for our “lettuce wraps.” We picked the leaves and washed them carefully before using them with rice and carrots.  It was a great week!

"They [children] are autonomously capable of making meaning from their daily life experiences through mental acts involving planning, coordination of ideas, and abstraction.... The central act of adults, therefore, is to activate, especially indirectly, the meaning-making competencies of children as a basis of all learning. They must try to capture the right moments, and then find the right approaches, for bringing together, into a fruitful dialogue, their meanings and interpretations with those children" - Loris Malaguzzi

Monday was fabulous. We did some free-play, dress up, and taking care of babies as drop offs were happening. Once most of our guys were present, we had circle time. Ashley brought a beautiful poster describing how the moon changes. We love talking about the “crescent moon” in our room, and have noticed that some of our guys will point out the “crescent” shape sometimes.  We had an awesome Montessori time. As part of our focus on community, we encouraged primary friends to help their younger friends to the ramp!

Tuesday started out with lots of stamping. We also got busy with all kinds of dramatic play. We went outside and talked about how firefighters use teamwork to hose down fires! We played a game where we drew shapes on the wall and identified and kicked balls to them. Yoga with Ms. Vanessa was great!

Wednesday started out with awesome show-and-tell. We added a couple of items from the classroom and traded a couple of toys to make it extra fun! We went outside and made hand-prints for the Friday quilting project. (you can see this quilt on display on the door leading to the backyard in the welcome center!) During Spanish time, we looked at ourselves in the mirror and made vowel sounds. We wanted to see how the different sounds require different mouth shapes.  Once we were outside, we brought out the hermit crabs. The humid and warm weather is their favorite kind of weather! We let them crawl around the picnic table, and even turned them on their back side to watch them turn over.

Thursday, we had a great circle time. The morning was easy-going in the beautiful weather. We spent a lot of time taking turns sitting in the tree. This is a fun way to have those slow moments where you can just “be.” In Montessori education, silent moments like these are thought to cultivate inner-peace. In the afternoon, Daphne visited us and read a lovely book about animals to us. We are currently learning the vowels AEIOU in Spanish.  We also practiced “ a dentro” and “a fuera” or “inside” and “outside.” We made a circle with a jump rope and jumped in and out while using the fun vocabulario.

Friday we started out with awesome outdoor time. We danced our hearts out, helped water the garden, and later had lunch outside in the amazing Spring weather. We had a chance to use teamwork as we brought the lunchboxes inside. We used brand new playdough in the afternoon. Then, we did our fun cooking project with Chef Mike. We made “apple pies” using pita bread, thinly sliced apples with a thin layer of cinnamon, and a sprinkle of granola.

It was an awesome week!!!!!!

“Scientific observation then has established that education is not what the teacher gives; education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words but by experiences upon the environment.” 
― Maria Montessori, Education For A New World