Quiet End to a Busy Week

The last two days have been very quiet at SON Shine, and I’ve got to say that I really enjoyed them. Of course, quiet does not mean that we haven’t been learning; I just mean the kids have been very intent in their play and I have been doing my best to let them lead the way.

(First of all, I apologize for the lack of pictures. My batteries died yesterday, and I didn’t have a chance to get to a store to buy new ones last night. Sorry about that.)

We spent yesterday taking a little detour from our Lake Mills study. The kids have been increasingly interested in the marble tubes we have, and I decided to capitalize on that interest and see how the children solve problems. I built a few towers and took pictures of them before the kids arrived on Wednesday. During interest areas, I had the kids look at the pictures and try to build the same towers I had. It was cool to see them work as a team (or at least try - that’s definitely a skill that is still being developed) to create the towers. It was a great opportunity for them to practice taking turns and using words to communicate their ideas too!

We had Cooking with Jodie yesterday, and we made grilled cheese sandwiches! I think my favorite part about these sessions is the time the kids have to talk to each other. They share the craziest, most detailed stories during these times!

Today, since the afternoon class didn’t meet, the morning class had a relaxing day. Instead of doing my planned teacher-directed activities, I let the kids have complete control over what they wanted to do during interest area time. Many of them decided they wanted to use the listening center to listen to our letter songs – the ones from our graduation program last year. (It’s so much fun listening to them talk while they listen to those songs. They’re constantly saying things like, “Hey! This is Keely’s letter!” and “I remember this one! It’s Tara’s letter!”) The others spent a great deal of time building with the Legos. There was the inevitable singing and dancing to Tooy-ta and The Penguin Dance, and we even had some fun with the parachute.

All in all, it was a great way to end the week!

Have a great weekend!