We had a full and wonderful week! Reading groups really took off with the children buddy reading, discussing characters, and delving into the settings of the books. On Monday Mr. Josh worked with the class on a model-sailboat project. Thursday we celebrated Aria’s birthday and her parents came in to sit with her as she read two books to the class. On Friday Estee, our Architecture teacher, introduced the concept of scale to the children through an activity where they created a bed for a mouse.

Monday, November 13th

My Math group began exploring 2-dimensional patterns this week. We worked with manipulatives, colors, letters, sound, and other discrete units to build and challenge each other with patterns of increasing complexity.

Tuesday, November 14th

In Theme Time on Tuesday we paused in our shoebox room construction and reflected on our progress. The children wrote about their space, commented about what they would like to add, and thought about how they would know that their creation was done. We also had time to make some of the additions that they had written about.

Wednesday, November 15th

Mr. Anthony presented the children with two projects on Wednesday. He presented playing card designs and then provided materials and guidance so that they could make their own cards. Their designs featured Emojis, unicorns, Minecraft figures, and even Jokers! We also had an opportunity to play with the idea of colorblocking using watercolor paint, permanent markers, rulers, french curves, and other tools.

Thursday, November 16th

Thursday morning Aria’s parents came to the classroom to celebrate her birthday. Aria read two books to the class and we all sang Happy Birthday. We completed most of the additions to our shoebox rooms that had been reflected on earlier in the week. The children cooperated wonderfully during cleanup, bringing a length of bubblewrap from table to table to collect unused materials at the end of our build time.

Friday, November 17th

How big would a bed for a mouse be? The same size as for a person? No! Estee introduced the concept of scale by showing the children chairs sized for small children and adults. We discussed that a mouse is roughly the size of a person’s clenched hand and that a bed for them would likely be no larger than a sandwich. The children worked with brightly-colored cardstock and were challenged to use two different construction methods (gluing, taping, stapling, folding, etc.) to make the bed. They then used fabric scraps to make a fluffy mattress and pillows for the bed.