Super-Mega Curriculum Update...

Howdy all! Wowza! We have so many balls in the air right now, as we juggle several different curriculum threads that are emerging. In the interest of getting them all out there before we lose track of them, I give you…bullets;

• Thursday, everyone pretended that the book area was a bus. Eventuallly, that morphed into an airplane, made out of chairs in the middle of the classroom. Friday, we teachers arranged the chairs on top of the loft, and added headphones, computer keyboards, and books to see if the Frogs would carry this airplane play further. They did, adding a ticket counter at the bottom of the steps. Today, we set the loft up in the same way. The Frogs started in with their “airplane” game, until one child announced “I’m on a spaceship!” Well, given a choice between a plane ride and a trip on a spaceship, which would you choose? The Frogs blasted off. We added some homemade jet packs and space helmets from a few years ago to the mix, then borrowed a few books from the Chameleon Room that featured astronauts and space craft. They were very well received. Can’t wait to see where this goes!


• In the interest of bringing this air travel thread into other areas of the classroom, we teachers started using unclaimed artwork to make paper airplanes on Friday. This weekend, Chameleon teacher Scott found a great how –to-fold-fancy-paper-airplanes book at the recycling center. Serendipity? We think so!


• We are still pursuing our exploration of clay. Last week, we experimented with mixing self-hardening clay and water. Then we decided to add a layer of the thick, muddy terracotta slip we made to our mural. There was a moment in the process where we thought, “Perhaps we’ve made a biiiiig mistake…” As usual, it all worked out for the best. The current version of the mural is hanging in it’s space near the school entrance, so be sure to take a look. We also have a very image heavy blog post elaborating on the process coming your way today or tomorrow.


• We have added a few ceramic pieces to our kitchen area, in order to give the children a chance to experience what happens to clay when it has been fired, glazed, and fired again. We look forward to working with Nort and Scott in the art studio again, to make some of our own clay pieces that we will glaze and fire.


• It actually feels like spring outside! This means it’s time to pull our maple taps from the tree, as the sap becomes bitter as soon as the tree begins to grow buds. We produced about a pint and a half of syrup from the 15 plus gallons of sap that we collected. After observing the process of converting sap to syrup on the small scale in the classroom, the Frogs were able to visit a local sugar shack to see how maple syrup is produced on a large scale. Thanks to all of the parents who helped to make our field trip happen!


• With the new season, comes a number of perennial class projects; soon we will be planting seeds, reviving our worm box, and setting some fertile chicken eggs in our incubator to see what happens!


• Michelle will be traveling to Pennsylvania on the 12th to participate in the 2011 Terri Lynne Lokoff National Child Care Teacher Awards ceremony. This award comes with a $500.00 classroom grant, which will be put towards implementing an expanded science curriculum in the Frog room. We can’t wait!


• Phew! That’s all I can think of for now. Stay tuned to see where this goes!