On Monday, Carla and Arya shared photos from Thanksgiving break. If you haven't sent one in yet, please email us a family photo to add to our family tree.

SPLAT, goes the clay!

We experienced clay in a way we haven't experienced before on Tuesday. I invited the children to take pieces of clay from our large clay block and throw them all about! This may seem a little scary to some adults, but it was such an uninhibited experience where the children explored their strengths, the properties of clay, learned about management of their body movements, and cause and effect. It's safe to say that the children (and myself) felt liberated from this experience. Additionally, it was a great way to get some toddler emotions out in a safe and fun way! We learned about that the softer clay pieces made more of a 'splat' sound when they landed on the ground. The softer pieces also stuck to the floor and wall like a suction far more easily than the pieces that were a bit harder. This became a game for the friends. How far can I throw the clay? How fast can I throw the clay? How can I make it stick to the wall? How do I create the 'splat' sound? How does clay feel with my feet and toes?

Beans, beans, everywhere there are beans!

We change the sensory bins often, however we brought the beans from last week back out this week as there was such a targeted interest in the medium. At one point during a busy center time, all of the 3's friends were found completely engaged in the beans table. They took their time filling baking trays, containers and bottles with beans. They ran the palms of their hands and fingers through the sea of beans. They were fascinated by the stream of beans that run through and through. For a while there were no words, only the sound of beans and learning.

Pine cone collage

The friends squeezed a paint and glue mixture over pine cones that Luke from the 2's class brought in as well as leaves and sticks collected from Noah, Gabriel, and from last week when we went to the park.

Science Activity: Oil and Water droplet painting

We explored oil and watercolor painting today.

We learned that:

Oil and water don’t mix because water likes itself more than oil. Oil is non-polar, which means it’s “afraid of water” so it doesn’t like to mix and water molecules are more attracted to other water molecules than oil molecules because they are polar. So, oil only likes non-polar molecules and water only like polar molecules.