"In order for children to read, write, and spell, they must be developmentally ready. Some are ready at the age of four or five, some not for many more years. This readiness includes complex neurological pathways and kinesthetic awareness. Such readiness isn’t created by workbooks or computer programs.It’s the result of brain maturation as well as rich experiences found in bodily sensation and movement."
Climb, Swing, and Snuggle: Reading Readiness Involves the Whole Body, August 2011
-Mothering Magazine
Aug 29, 2011
Aug 26, 2011
Our Co-op Is In Full Swing!
Our Family Tree
We discussed the uniqueness of our different families. Some said their families were big, some small, some quiet, some noisy. :) Using the branches from our nature walk this week, the children created their own branch of their family tree. Lora was the parent assistant this week and she focused on Family with the children, read books, had conversations, and helped the children work collaboratively on the family tree.
While on our walk, we discovered a skeleton! We brought it back to the schoolhouse for further investigation.
Collective ideas of what type of skeleton this may be:
bird
dinosaur
mouse
rat
lizard
iguana
Violet: Maybe it's a bird because there are some feathers around it.
Alaira: Maybe it's an iguana. There are lots of iguanas in Costa Rica and they are good climbers. Or a lizard.
Corbin: It may be a bird because a lizard's skeleton is smaller.
Damon: Or maybe it's a dinosaur.
Corbin: It's definitely not a dinosaur because a dinosaur could eat this skeleton.
Alaira: Dinosaurs can have feathers too!
::
During our small groups, I've been working closely with the children, learning about their interests and observing their learning styles. We're focusing on handwriting so they develop good habits. Using dough has been fun for the children since they love to roll, squeeze, and pinch. All of this helps develop the small muscles in their hands. More on handwriting soon. Project read has been launched and is underway too.
-Indian Charm, by Alaira
Coiled up snake, by Liam
The children were introduced to spell tabs this week to build words. I think next to the dough, this was their next favorite activity.
Alaira made puppets for our puppet theater.
Clay, how we LOVE thee...
Some of these photos were snapped with my iphone.
A big thank you to Lora for all her work in the atelier as well. She dove right in and did some clay exploration with the children, which was a wonderful way to end our week together.
We discussed the uniqueness of our different families. Some said their families were big, some small, some quiet, some noisy. :) Using the branches from our nature walk this week, the children created their own branch of their family tree. Lora was the parent assistant this week and she focused on Family with the children, read books, had conversations, and helped the children work collaboratively on the family tree.
While on our walk, we discovered a skeleton! We brought it back to the schoolhouse for further investigation.
Collective ideas of what type of skeleton this may be:
bird
dinosaur
mouse
rat
lizard
iguana
Violet: Maybe it's a bird because there are some feathers around it.
Alaira: Maybe it's an iguana. There are lots of iguanas in Costa Rica and they are good climbers. Or a lizard.
Corbin: It may be a bird because a lizard's skeleton is smaller.
Damon: Or maybe it's a dinosaur.
Corbin: It's definitely not a dinosaur because a dinosaur could eat this skeleton.
Alaira: Dinosaurs can have feathers too!
::
During our small groups, I've been working closely with the children, learning about their interests and observing their learning styles. We're focusing on handwriting so they develop good habits. Using dough has been fun for the children since they love to roll, squeeze, and pinch. All of this helps develop the small muscles in their hands. More on handwriting soon. Project read has been launched and is underway too.
-Indian Charm, by Alaira
Coiled up snake, by Liam
The children were introduced to spell tabs this week to build words. I think next to the dough, this was their next favorite activity.
Alaira made puppets for our puppet theater.
Clay, how we LOVE thee...
Some of these photos were snapped with my iphone.
A big thank you to Lora for all her work in the atelier as well. She dove right in and did some clay exploration with the children, which was a wonderful way to end our week together.
Aug 19, 2011
Camp Week #2
We continued our camp this week and we're falling into a nice flow of the day. We still had a small group this week, and in addition to welcoming two new friends, we also scored a cool ship for our play yard, which the children love. Lots of exciting things happening. We continue to build community, explore our space, and create materials for our schoolhouse. The majority of the photos below are courtesy of Melanie, mama to Damon.
I'm excited about our handwriting program, and to prepare, we're rolling dough snakes to form capital letters.
The children are helping make our calendar because it's important to me that there's as much child generated materials vs. commercially made materials in our space because it brings ownership to the schoolhouse and a feeling of respect for the children and their work. Once it's all finished, I'll take a photo of it!
"Children should have an opportunity to play outside every day that weather permits. This play should never be sacrificed for more instructional time." - Signs of a Good Kindergarten Classroom, NAEYC
This big guy came by to say hello this week.
One friend celebrated his birthday this week! Happy Birthday Corbin!
PLAYSILKS
Melanie brought in materials to dye playsilks with Kool-Aid and vinegar.
Quote of the Day:
C: "Um, what is Kool-Aid??? Does Kool-Aid make you feel cooooool?"
I feel incredibly grateful to have this opportunity for our children to learn in this environment.
I'm excited about our handwriting program, and to prepare, we're rolling dough snakes to form capital letters.
The children are helping make our calendar because it's important to me that there's as much child generated materials vs. commercially made materials in our space because it brings ownership to the schoolhouse and a feeling of respect for the children and their work. Once it's all finished, I'll take a photo of it!
"Children should have an opportunity to play outside every day that weather permits. This play should never be sacrificed for more instructional time." - Signs of a Good Kindergarten Classroom, NAEYC
This big guy came by to say hello this week.
One friend celebrated his birthday this week! Happy Birthday Corbin!
PLAYSILKS
Melanie brought in materials to dye playsilks with Kool-Aid and vinegar.
Quote of the Day:
C: "Um, what is Kool-Aid??? Does Kool-Aid make you feel cooooool?"
I feel incredibly grateful to have this opportunity for our children to learn in this environment.
Aug 11, 2011
Our Humble, Yet Beautiful and Happy Beginnings!
This was our first week to start up at the schoolhouse. Even though the schoolhouse isn't completely set up and organized, we're doing a camplike session for the first couple weeks while our families trickle in and our space gets finessed up. Our first week, we had a handful of friends join us and we enjoyed breaking in the new sandbox, the swing, and our first natural playscape (balance beam) using repurposed materials.
*We have since learned,we must always wear shoes/rainboots outside. Sophia can attest to that. ;)
The Atelier is probably going to be one of my favorite rooms.
It's more than simply a space to do art. It's much deeper than that.
The Atelier is our school's studio, our laboratory space. Our space to experiment, explore, create, and the perfect place for extended projects.
What I'm doing with the children during the first several weeks is carefully introducing them to the rooms in our schoolhouse, with special attention to the materials in the Atelier. This will be beneficial so the children learn how to take care of the materials, so that in the long run, they'll be able to work independently. Since we're still dressing up our school (and trying to use minimal amounts of commercially made products) our goals the first couple weeks are to collectively make materials for our word wall, alphabet line and our calendar.
These will be used for our word wall in the classroom.
The beautiful photos below are courtesy of Melanie, Damon's mama.
The horses came by to say hello during dismissal on our first day.
Aren't they beautiful? It makes me so happy to look outside during the school day, and see the horses grazing by in the distance.
Oh! Almost forgot. On Wednesday, we saw these two little guys outside the playroom.
I love our schoolhouse.
*We have since learned,we must always wear shoes/rainboots outside. Sophia can attest to that. ;)
The Atelier is probably going to be one of my favorite rooms.
It's more than simply a space to do art. It's much deeper than that.
The Atelier is our school's studio, our laboratory space. Our space to experiment, explore, create, and the perfect place for extended projects.
What I'm doing with the children during the first several weeks is carefully introducing them to the rooms in our schoolhouse, with special attention to the materials in the Atelier. This will be beneficial so the children learn how to take care of the materials, so that in the long run, they'll be able to work independently. Since we're still dressing up our school (and trying to use minimal amounts of commercially made products) our goals the first couple weeks are to collectively make materials for our word wall, alphabet line and our calendar.
These will be used for our word wall in the classroom.
The beautiful photos below are courtesy of Melanie, Damon's mama.
The horses came by to say hello during dismissal on our first day.
Aren't they beautiful? It makes me so happy to look outside during the school day, and see the horses grazing by in the distance.
Oh! Almost forgot. On Wednesday, we saw these two little guys outside the playroom.
I love our schoolhouse.
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