Spring's Arrival

"If you watch how nature deals with adversity, continually renewing itself, you can't help but learn." -Bernie Siegel, MD


Hello, families! Spring is here!

I am amazed by the growth of our students. I am observing more children-initiated extensions for the works and activities Ms. Castillo and I present to the children. It's very exciting to see when a child masters a work and carries on with a creative way to manipulate the activity into his/her own. The child takes the work to another level that creates ownership and promotes creativity. I also love seeing the multi-age class play a big role in each child's inspiration and determination to do what the other students are doing. As I shared last week, Room 101 had been making booklets FOR EVERYTHING! This activity has become so popular because one child saw another child do this work. The child then asked the other student for a presentation. They learned from each other by doing this. Now, children who were a little resistant of the Language Area are building words: labeling the environment, making books of animals, objects and other things in the room. It's pretty cool observing these moments everyday as it happens.

You will notice in the pictures I share that children are using inventive spelling. This is when a child practices spelling unfamiliar words by making guesses as to the correct spelling based on the child's phonetic knowledge. In my opinion, this developmental stage is so valuable. Please read this article on inventive spelling.

I'm also adding two videos on letter-sound correspondence games you can try at home. Enjoy!

Check this out!  Here's another one.

Daily work in Room 101.

Sophia R. measured the environment but taking objects to her rug. She used blocks as her non-standard measuring unit.

Audrey and Ibrahim worked on their Subtraction Booklet using manipulatives.

Charlie enjoying the new Letter I-Spy work.

Sebastian created a flower arrangement using the ten-frame to help him with the beads.

Roy and Stefan made sets using the Spindle Box.

Leslie measured the environment, too.

Natalie journaled her reading.

One of Ms. Castillo's creative Practical Life works: Sifting.

Winter and Maya building words using the Moveable Alphabet and Inventive Spelling.

Zoe searched for different nouns in our environment. She is making a noun list and labeling them in her journal.

Jena and her work: the Sound Box. She also made a booklet!

Roy made an animal booklet and used inventive spelling to sound out the words.

Amelia made lines with the Shaving Cream work.

Sophia R. matching time to the hour and half hour.

A re-presentation of the Parts of the Body work.

Do you think the children will be making booklets of this work this week?

An I-Spy work on Tally Marks during Kindergarten time.

Audrey shared her invention to the Kindergarteners.

Audrey at the Invention Convention.