Cold Rain and Snow

What a week! We were so happy to have some snow today after a week of rain and wet. Thanks for your patience with wet clothes coming home. Please, if possible, label your child's jacket, snow pants, and mittens. We've had some mix ups this week as we dry things on the heater or in the dryer!

This week back at school we focused on reintroducing some parts of our classroom, paying particular attention to our Creation Station, or art shelf. We've added new materials, and are encouraging a lot of open exploration and "process art". This means that kids are in charge of their creations, rather than grownups helping or telling them what to do. Some of the language that we use with kids as they embark on an art project includes "What is your plan?" "How will you make it happen?" and importantly "Tell me about what you made?" instead of "what did you make?" This phrasing can help start an interesting conversation, rather than just illicit a one word answer. Try this at home when you're talking to your children about their artistic creations. 

Here are some pictures from the week: 

It was ICY in the woods on Tuesday, but this crew got right to work sanding. 

We have a permanent spot for clay on our art show. Here's a fun creation!

Fun with the Creation Station materials. 

We had some fascinating conversations this week around ice, and how ice is made. Some kids said ice is made out of "salt, coloring, and water." Here they are, setting up an experiment.

We mixed and measured and left the experiment outside to see if it would turn into ice.

Cathi came to read "Duck on a Bike" on Wednesday.

We had an amazing donation of some new forest friends for Wildwood Forest. See if you can find them in the next few pictures...

"We're ice skating!"

A fun Friday follow up to our ice experiments: we took real ice blocks and added salt, water and coloring. The kids noticed right away that the salt made the ice melt! We'll follow up again next week to see if any thinking has changed about how ice is made. 

Friday snowy fun!