This week we had a number of prospective students join our class for the morning to learn about Acera’s Lower Elementary program. The class was warm and welcoming, interested in taking our visitors under their wings for snack and recess. The way in which they warmly greet guests in the classroom has been impressive. One student said, “I remember when I came to visit last year I was nervous too. It’s ok.”

Thematic Study

Staring mid-year, it was hard to get a sense from the children about aspects of “Tiny Houses” that they were passionate about. Did they love building and constructing? YES! Did they know a lot about different houses around the world? Absolutely! Were they aware of aspects of what makes a house a home? Most certainly. With a theme so vast with multiple ways to focus, combined with encompassing science, technology, culture, art and math… where to turn next?

The interest in scale has come up often over the last several weeks. Who is the tallest in the class, how big is the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk, and how can our teacher be so old and so short? Comments such as, “Next year I will be taller than you, Ms. Jen.” come-up often. With this in mind and in collaboration conversations with Ms. Estee, we wondered, “What if the children made Mini-Me’s to establish scale for their structures?”

We began by measuring each child in the class, and marking their height on the classroom wall. Then, with many materials assembled, each student made a figurine 1/12 of their size. They used wire for the frame for flexibility, a large wooden bead for the head, and variously shaped and sized wooden beads for the rest of the shape. After the figurine was completed, the children were charged with adding details such as hair, face, clothes. “But my Mini-Me doesn’t stand!” a child noticed… a design flaw that was fixed by attaching flat wooden ovals to the legs with a glue gun.

In woodworking with Mr. Josh, we started to work on our Mini-Me treehouse structures by sanding the bases. The basic knowledge of learning the right grade of sandpaper, and muscle memory of sanding, as well as the smell of sawdust are experiences the children will have each week at Acera. They also used the egg beater drills to make holes for screws in the bases on which they will connect 3-4 branches. Thanks to all the families that went branch collecting after the Nor’easters that we have been experiencing!

With Ms. Estee in architecture, the children in Lower Elementary used the medium of pipe cleaners to form structures for their Mini-Me’s. By using the figure of themselves in the activity, they are able to imagine themselves in the structure. Ultimately, the structures that are made in the weeks and months to come will become a basis for their storytelling and writing. Accessing each child’s imagination and excitement and putting it on the page will help with fluency!

Because there is a big emphasis on building and construction with specialists, during Thematic Choice on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons we have begun to focus on other homes. Your body is the home for your skeletal system, circulatory system, musculature system… and making the connections to other vertebrates such as our classroom turtle! If your child comes home with a spiked interest in these topics, please know where they are coming from!

Warmly,

Ms. Jen