Today we started the day looking at pictures from yesterday's walk. Matthew thought it was a good idea to make a map of the cones. His friend Wills helped him by cutting out a triangle, and later on at Center Time, many children joined in this intriguing activity.
Perhaps I should put in a quick note about our daily schedule: We start out the morning in what we call Free Choice Time. That means that the children can choose from any of the centers or activities in the room. We may have set up something special at some centers to invite the children's exploration (the Italians in Reggio Emilia call these
invitaciones) or provoke the children's thoughts and experimentation (provocations). Around 9:15 we clean up for Morning Meeting. At this point in the year, we use this time to gather and greet each other, share a Moment of Silence, sing songs and talk about our day.
Next we have Choice Time. This might be "Inside-Outside Day," with choices inside the classroom and on the playground, or it may just be choices and activities inside the classroom. For instance, today's choices included working on the Cone Project and making playdough. In nice weather, we will go outside, play on the playground, and explore the campus, all before lunch. We fit a lot into our mornings! Although we don't write much about it in the blog (because we blog during Rest Time), the afternoons are also filled with learning. Lunch is a time for conversations about our day, topics from the children's lives, and of course, knock-knock jokes. Before Rest Time, we read stories together. During rest, some children sleep, while other rest quietly. After rest, we do art, puzzles and math games at the table until it is time for snack, more books and outside time!
Now, back to the cones. After working on making cones inside, the children were excited to see if the cones were still there, and if there were any more. We went back to the giant logs and to the mysterious woods, where we were distracted for a while by playing bear chase amongst the bushes. We soon remembered to look for the cones.
But they were NOT THERE!
We soon found another mystery. There were yellow dashed lines painted on the grass, very near where the cones had been! We followed the lines, but did not discover any more cones. We will have to investigate this mystery some more!
We also found a beetle and found a safer place for him to go!
I love that you do this blog and update it daily. It really provides wonderful insight into the program that helps us continue the conversations and activities at home. Thank you!
ReplyDelete