Getting into the swing of things

We finished up our 2nd week at the co-op and are getting back into the groove. We're learning all about insects in preparation for our field trip to the Austin Science and Nature Center and I really enjoyed gathering materials and setting up the science room for this focus.




 I did some reading screenings and we've started our reading groups and math fun. I introduced one of the Math Pentathlon games, Calla, to the children and will introduce a new game next week. These are so much fun!



Math with the Kinder kiddos.

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Sidenote: I brought in the magna tiles I had at home from our small light table  and added them to the set we already had at school. I noticed the children did more building on a bigger scale (obviously, right?). I'd like to get 1-2 more sets in the schoolhouse if possible!

Part of our homework this year will be bringing in monthly family projects so families can work collaboratively with the children and this will help with the supplementation needed at home since we are part-time. We started off with a History of our Life Timeline which the children did such a terrific job of presenting. It was really wonderful to see all the photos and different experiences each child has had.





I enjoyed popping my head into the atelier and seeing the different provocations Ms. Clair offered for the children, from self portraits, to big mural painting, to mixing paint colors for a variety of tertiary and other colors. I want to encourage parents to not be initimidated by working with paints. One doesn't have to be an artist by profession. Bust out the paints and simply enjoy the process with the children!









We brought some fresh compost from our compost pile at home and Ms. Clair shoveled most of it in so hopefully we can get some things planted this week for our fall and winter garden.

Welcome 2012-2013!

Hello Friends!

We're back! It's a new year and we're in full swing.

Our friends were so happy to be reunited after summer break, and we welcomed 2 new friends this year. Everybody has grown and changed over the summer! Our schoolhouse also had some changes. We now have a lovely dedicated Science and Math room, and our back room got nice face lift. Ms. Andrea was giddy with excitement over the new items that were added over the summer and a bundle of fantastic books she was able to collect to add to our library.

Can you guess what we'll be studying first in science? This will go in hand with our first field trip to the Austin Science and Nature Center at the end of September.

Monarch metamorphosis

One of the beautiful things about emergent curriculum is having flexibility in planning based on the children interests as well as the parents and teachers. One of our parents has a passion for moths and butterflies. Driving in to the schoolhouse during her week of assisting, we found her and some of the children out in the field investigating. We discovered that the fields surrounding the school were filled with milkweed, and on the milkweed the kids found beautiful monarch caterpillars. This unplanned discovery led to discussions, exploration and observation about the life cycle of caterpillars.

One of the monarch caterpillars.

Here are some different stages of the chrysalis.


Time lapse video of the butterfly emerging from the chrysalis, happening in the early hours of the morning before we arrived. Look at the top right corner to see!

Metamorphosis complete!



Exploration with clay and the life cycle of a butterfly

A few videos about butterflies.

Exploring with Clair

Clair asked if I could drive the kids out onto the property so she could explore with them and talk about the creatures and plant life that is found all around our school. We went to the creek first and found that the water had gone down significantly since our last visit even though we have had rain.
We stopped on the way back to the school to look at different fields of wildflowers and we found many little bugs, caterpillars, butterflies, cocoons and cows.

The fields were full of wildflowers and green lush grasses. Lots of flowers we could and some we couldn't identify. Lots of these little bugs This was a tiny chrysalis that was empty that one of the kids found. Clair found these two little caterpillars, but it was Violet who correctly identified them as Queen caterpillars. They are easily mistaken for Monarch caterpillars. Caterpillar that was building his cocoon. Need to identify this guy. Someone found this little inch worm and wanted me to capture it. Damon came running up to me and told me that he thought this area looked like the planet Endor and that they had a base camp at the truck! LOL. Some cool rocks with weird stuff growing on them. Andrea and Sophia There were so many baby calves and we stopped to observe them, or rather some big cows stood in front of the truck and wouldn't let us pass...