Look Close!

This week in our outdoor learning, we practiced looking closely on a small scale. Careful observation is a skill that can be taught and one that people can get better at through consistent practice. Kids broke into partners for several observational practices. In the first, one partner found a small square to frame with their hands which their partner was asked to zoom in on. The partner was tasked to look closely at just what they could see through the "view finder" and describe it with as much detail as they could. Then the partners switched roles. The first time we tried this exercise, many kids were looking on a more superficial level. On our next practice, we demonstrated how to look closely at something and encouraged them to keep looking instead of naming one thing they saw and moving on. This second round yielded much more expansive observations, which further ignited some curiosity about what they were seeing.

Later on in the week, we chose a spot to look closely at together, for example, the shrub line by Sargent Field. We stood far back from it and described what we could see. Then we moved closer in and stopped to talk about what we could now notice from our closer vantage point. Next, we stood right at the shrubs and looked intently at what we could observe from this close-up view. Finally, we took out magnifying lenses and used them to reveal other details that we could not see before. The kids noticed that as we moved closer, they were better able to observe the details of what they were looking at. This sparked conversations about wondering - what does what you see make you wonder? Some kids wondered why the shrub greenery was dark on one side and light on the other. Others wondered how the Asian Bittersweet had found its way between the shrubs. Still more kids wanted to know if rabbits lived in these shrubs since we had spotted some rabbit scat close by.

We released the kids into a more independent study of this when we walked to Morse's Pond.  Kids had time to explore an area of their choice with a partner.  Check out the pictures below!

Author Visit - Suzy Kline!

Suzy Kline, author of the Horrible Harry series, and second grade teacher for 30 years, came to visit the school. She talked to us about how authors keep a little notebook with them so that they can write down ideas for stories as they come - much like our own Tiny Topics notebooks we have in our writing folders. Suzy showed us many entries from her notebook and told us how they inspired some of her Horrible Harry stories. She also showed us a thick folder of rejection letters she received when she first tried to get a book published. There were a LOT. But she did not let that stop her - she kept on writing until finally one of her books was printed! This helps us all remember to hang in there when we have writer's block or when the writing we're doing doesn't feel like it's our best. It was great for all kids to be reminded that the writing process is the same no matter if you are a child or an adult!

Suzy also taught us how to read "theater" writing. She showed us that when you are reading character lines in a play, you often see directions for how to read the line or a gesture to include with your part written in parentheses. We practiced on cards that she held up for us as a group, and then some volunteers were brought up to read a short play aloud (including the teachers!).  We wrapped up with some questions from kids for Suzy to answer, and she gave each classroom a copy of her latest Horrible Harry book (which will be the last in the series) and a bookmark for each kid to take home.

Check out pictures below from her visit.

Dragon Party!

We had a fun dragon party to celebrate Halloween! Our day started with getting into costumes and watching the Kindergarten classes parade through the halls. Then it was onto the dragon fun! Kids enjoyed making oozy dragon slime, dragon "page chomper" bookmarks, serpent dragons, and fire breathing dragons. They also had a delicious feast of dragon themed snacks and even a dragon potion to mix and drink! For kids who were looking for a little down time between activities, there were plenty of dragon books and Halloween stories to read.

Our party was a great success thanks to all of you, our supportive parent team, who volunteered your time or donated materials to our fun projects for the party. Thanks so much!

Enjoy the pictures below from our fantastic dragon celebration!