Trees We Know

Dear Parents,

We began our week brainstorming trees we know. We read Trees, A Tree Is Nice, and A Tree Can Be…The following day we voted on which tree to make for our family tree. It was almost a tie between a pine tree and a cherry tree but the pine tree won by one vote. Some children expressed disappointment when their tree didn’t win. We talked about not always getting what you want. One child shouted out, “Kamala Harris lost!”

Every day we are looking at our tree in the yard to see if the leaves are all yellow yet. The children said they are mostly green, with a tiny bit of yellow. We are waiting for all the yellow leaves to take our fall picture. 

We made a list of everyone who lives in our homes. Many children included their pets, and a couple of grandmothers. We read Homes and Bodies Are Cool!

Everyone took turns getting measured on our Mr. Bones height chart. The class wondered who was the tallest in our class. One friend said he was the smallest, but when we looked at the chart, we saw several people who were shorter. We reminded him that last year he was the smallest in our classroom, but now we had many new friends who were younger and smaller. 

We asked the class, “What do trees give us?” They answered: shade, a place to play, somewhere to climb, bookshelves, tables and chairs, the bench in our classroom, puzzles, paper, something to plant, and fruit. We read The Giving Tree and noticed some of the same things we had said were in that book as well. We have many things made of wood in our classroom. We looked in our mind's eye to see if there were things made of wood in the big room too. We closed our eyes and pictured the big room. The children said the floor, the blocks, and the ceiling are made of wood. 

Family pictures! Pretty please. We need your 4x6 family pictures this coming week for the fruits of our family tree. 

Have a photogenic weekend,

Therese

Hearts, Lungs and Skeletons

Dear Parents,

On Monday we had our first family share. Tony, Ravi Raj’s dad, came in to talk to us about hearts. We learned about blood going into and out of our hearts, the sound of our heartbeats, what to eat for a healthy heart, and that our hearts also have to do with our feelings. Someone said, “Love!” We all got to pass around a model of a heart. Afterwards, we read that our hearts are about the size of a fist. Everyone went home with a heart sheet and a heart art project. 

The next day we used our classroom stethoscope to listen to our own hearts. Some said they heard, “Boom boom- boom boom.” Two friends said they heard a growl, and two said they heard beeping. 

On Tuesday we played with bubbles and a red balloon. We took turns using straws to blow paint across paper. During circle, we talked about using our lungs for all of the above. We examined a small skeleton and saw the rib cage that protects our lungs. We felt our bodies to see if we could feel our own rib cages. We played with the red balloon during circle, and again in the big room. There were many squeals of delight. 

Our second yoga class with Tanya went splendidly. We saw everyone sitting quietly on yoga mats. While half the class was posing in yoga, the other half worked their hand muscles using scissors. Open, shut them, open, shut them, we repeated, practicing first with no paper, and then with paper of many colors. 

This week we got our Doctor Kit. Lots of friends have been getting and giving shots. 

Our Halloween Costumes were fun. We carved our pumpkin, and baked and ate the seeds. Most liked them but at least two people said they were yucky!

Have a spoooooky weekend,

Therese