Long Time Gone

With just two days back from vacation, this group got right back into the swing of things. Everyone was clearly so happy to be together again - many of our planned activities were thrown out the window to make time for all the wonderful self directed play that bubbled right up. That said, we used much of our focused group time these past two days to remember rules and routines. 

Big thanks to Bridget and Kristine who spent much of our remote week making new materials for the classroom and organizing the shed and materials in Wildwood Forest. We're ready to go!

If any of you carpenter parents have extra scrap wood we can use for kindling drop it on by - it helps keep our collection of wet cordwood burning!

Please note, that though we just got back from what felt like a very long break (!) we have a few days with no school coming up. 

-Monday January 18 is Martin Luther King Day, no school

-Monday and Tuesday January 25 and 26 are teacher in-service days, no school

Here are a few pictures from the last two days. Enjoy!

The game "Doctor Kitty" was resurrected on Monday. This group took turns being the kitty doctor and kitty patients. Lots of amazing cooperative play and conversation!

Did you know you can watercolor directly on the snow?! So fun!

Just before leaving for the long break we filled up these milk cartons with water. When we came back on Monday they were perfect ice blocks!

Building with ice cubes

This crew worked hard to get the ice out of the pot. 

It struck me that you haven't seen pictures of the inside of the classroom yet this year, because we're in there for such a short amount of time! During "rest time" children can sleep, work on individual projects, look at books, or play by themselves. This kiddo is washing and hanging up miniature laundry on a laundry line, a fun fine-motor activities. 

Playing with animals is very popular.

Building with magnetiles

A small re-enactment of The Three Little Pigs

A push pin going into cardboard is a great fine-motor task. 

Erasing chalk with a tiny sponge is a fun way to practice letter formation.

Back outside - We found a fun log to traverse on our morning expedition.

Creative movement

Our tunnel from before vacation survived! We put a tarp on it before leaving for vacation, and though the kids noticed that it got much smaller ("it shrunk!") the tunnel is still there!

And amazing, children can still squeeze through it. A leopard hat was the first to come through so now we call it "The Leopard Squeeze".