November Beginnings

Our Fancy 'New' Classroom

Two weeks ago I spent a weekend creating centers in the classroom. Centers, especially those promoting creativity, provide important experience for early elementary students. As the school was originally set up for upper elementary students, there were only three main areas:  my desk and the 'Agent Table', the Agents' desks, and what we dubbed the 'Meeting Carpet'. None of these were particularly creative. I hadn't intended to update the classroom yet, but Little Treasures Child Care is letting us use their table in place of the desks (which early elementary students don't typically use), and that triggered a bout of inspiration. Well, that and a somewhat precarious trip to Goodwill.

 

 

People looked at me like I was crazy.

It took a lot of rearranging, reorganizing, and scratched plans, but over a two day period the classroom underwent a transformation from boring to funtastic.

Ta-da!

There are now several areas in the classroom the students can visit and play in, and the overall feel of the room is more relaxed and playful. Aside from the Agents' Table and the See Miss P. Center (the table and blue chairs to the left of the photo above), we now have:

The new and improved Mr. E Center, where the Agents can talk to and observe our class pet.

The Magnets Center, where the Agents can practice their letter sequencing and spelling words.

The Sensory Center, which is still in progress; eventually there will be rice and sand and things of other textures for the Agents to explore.

The Pocket Chart Center, which helps students with their phonemic/phonological awareness and word recognition.

The Calendar Center, where the Agents practice their calendar knowledge and basic math skills such as sequencing numbers,  telling time, and recording the temperature in both Fahrenheit and Celsius.

 

And the pièce de résistance, the Dramatic Play Center, where students can hone their social skills and imaginations.

I'm particularly pleased with how the Dramatic Play Center is developing, because it really gives the classroom that creative feeling. Among all the renovations, this is what took the longest; there were a lot of components to put together, and it still isn't complete. Just this week we added costumes, which the Agents modeled upon discovery.

 

 

The classroom is really coming together, and the Agents and I are super pleased with the changes so far. It's definitely helped our workboxes move smoother, as the centers give the Agents extra incentive to finish their work sans goofing off, and it's brought more life into the day. I'll keep you updated as the room continues to evolve and grow. Come back Sunday (with fingers crossed) to read about the week and what we've been up to!

 

God bless,

Mia

October's End: Weeks 8 & 9

 

You guys, look how beautiful November is. I can't even stand it.

So! It's been a couple weeks since I posted, which is 100% my bad. I wrote a lot of this last week, but getting it online didn't happen like I wanted it to - largely because I spent so much energy rearranging the classroom I shorted myself out for a week. It was totally worth it, though, and on Tuesday you'll be able to see the exciting changes that have taken place since my last post.

"But Mia," you say with a healthy and completely understandable dose of skepticism, "You always say we'll be able to read things in a couple days and then you almost never come through. How do we know you won't just leave us hanging again?"

Because I've already written the post and have it waiting as a draft, that's how. Three cheers for being prepared!

Now, to business. We have had a crazy busy couple of weeks. There were presentations and parties and field trips and projects and packages and because of that, this post is going to be mega long; get ready for some quality entertainment.

Week 8: October 21 - October 25

 

On Tuesday we finished our globes. I am so pleased with how these turned out, there are not even words. The best part about these things is the addition of the little boats, which was a last minute (as in, within thirty seconds of the original final touches) decision agreed upon by me and the Agents as a necessity. The Agents love how they turned out too, and had fun singing our Columbus songs while making them. This was two weeks well spent.

Look how gorgeous those tiny ships are.

Just look at them.

 

On Wednesday the Agents and I took our first trip to the Dyer Library in Saco with the Little Treasures Preschool, and we are now making this excursion a permanent part of our schedule. This library is fantastic in that it is only a short walk away. It's always great being able to spend time with the preschoolers, because the Agents both have siblings and friends in the younger class.

 

 

 

On Thursday we had our first ever out-of-Saco fieldtrip to Pumpkin Land in Mechanic Falls. It was a beautiful-if-somewhat-chilly day, and we did so many things. Both Agents were drawn to a couple particular activities multiple times, and would probably have been content to do said activities forever if we would've let them.

Agent M's Pumpkin Land Activity of Choice: The Horse-Shaped Tire Swing

Agent V's Pumpkin Land Activity of Choice: The Ball Toss

Accompanying us on our field trip was Agent M.'s younger sister, Honorary-and-Future-Agent A.

 

 

Their mother also came along, and I'd like to say a huge thank you to Mrs. D for being our second sponsor and helping chaperone the Agents! What they lack in number they more than make up for in sheer energy and daring, as evidenced by their numerous balancing acts and trips down the Giant Slide of Doom.

 

 

On Friday, we delivered food collection bags for the Saco Faith Chapel. The church is collecting canned and non-perishable food items to distribute during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, and the school was asked to help by leaving bags on porches for people to fill. The Agents had a lot of fun with this, because they felt like they were on a super secret mission while sneaking up to the porches and determining the optimal placement of a bag for maximum viewing convenience.

We also made smoothies during our delayed-from-two-weeks-ago Friday cooking session, as per Agent V's request.

 

The smoothies turned out alright, although they were probably the messiest and least photogenic thing we've made thus far. Every time I went to take a picture of the Agents drinking the smoothies, I had to pause the photoshoot to have a mini-lesson on how exactly one goes about drinking from a cup.

Something the Agents found highly entertaining.



Week 9: October 28 - November 1

Last week started off pretty normal. Monday and Tuesday were uneventful days, only busy in that we tried to get as much done as possible in preparation for the monsoon of fantastic things forecasted to begin on Wednesday and continue through the rest of the week - which it did, beginning in the form of a fire truck.
 

Awesome, or really awesome? You decide.

 

A fireman from the Saco Fire Department came and talked to the Agents and the kids from Little Treasures Child Care about fire safety, with a focus on where to go and where not to go in the event of a fire.




 He then took the kids out to see the truck, and I don't know who was more excited about this:  the kids exploring the truck, or the people taking pictures of the kids exploring the truck.













On Thursday the monsoon of fantastic things continued with a Harvest Party, which both the Agents and the kids from LTCC participated in. Most of the party was put together by Athena and the awesome teachers from LTCC, so I want to say a huge thank you for making all the fun happen!

There were two parts to our party: The Lunch and Movie, and The Costume Scavenger Hunt. Lunch was potluck picnic style, provided by the kids and their families and eaten in the FMLCS classroom. During lunch, we watched the movie It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

 

 

 

 

 

After the kids finished eating, the preschoolers left to take a nap and the Agents had their quiet time, we had a Costumed Scavenger Hunt put together by the preschool teachers Lindsey and Amanda. Bags of treats were hidden in various places around the schools, and the kids had to follow clues read aloud to find them while simultaneously looking adorable in their costumes.

 

 

Expert multi-taskers, these guys.



 

Friday was a hodgepodge of fantastic things. We opened a couple packages my grandmother sent to me (see my previous post to read about how my awesome family sends me awesome things), which included manipulatives and books and dolls and - the Agents' personal favorite - animal masks.

 

 

We began a unit on animals in Week 8, and have been learning the differences between vertebrates and invertebrates. This week our project was building different models of vertebrae out of pasta and gummy lifesavers, taking out different parts and seeing how that might affect an animal's movement and begging to eat the gummy lifesavers we just extracted from the models and whining when forced to put them back into place.

 

 

 

 

 

We finished out the day and our crazy fantastic week with bowls of spaghetti, as requested by Agent M.

 

 

 

 

 And that was how we ended out October! Come back on Tuesday - no really, come back on Tuesday - to read about our fancy new classroom and how it has improved our learning experience, and next Sunday (with any luck) to read about the cool things we got up to this week.

 

Thanks for reading and God bless,

Mia

 

 

(...and Spider Hippo)