Fairy Tale Theatre

This week, our outdoor classroom space was transformed into a fresh air theater! Groups of kids are working together to use the landmarks and resources of our outdoor classroom as the setting for a fairy tale play. You will see the clever use of tables, picnic benches, walls, trees and other features as stand ins for the bridge that the three goats need to cross or the use of small leaf piles as bowls of porridge cooling off in the three bears' house.

We are a bit of a shoestring operation, so kids have had to learn how to use facial expressions, gestures, and self-narration strategies to communicate what their character is doing or feeling in the story. For example, to clue the audience in on what the first little pig is doing, he or she might say, "I need to find something to build a house with. [looks around] There's a man selling straw over there. I can use that!" [walks over and pantomimes picking up a batch of straw]

It takes a lot of planning and practice to get these performances showtime ready! But soon, each group will perform their plays for their 1-2 peers. Check out the pictures below from rehearsal this week.

Nursery Rhyme Study!

 This week saw the start of our highly anticipated Nursery Rhyme Study! Over the course of this study, students will read, illustrate and memorize various traditional nursery rhymes. They will learn the history behind the origins of many of the rhymes which are quite surprising (and sometimes grim) - did you know Humpty Dumpty was the name of a cannon in the Siege of Colchester during the English Civil War? More big reveals to come.

But another big part of this study are the stations of learning that students visit to try their hands at many different learning experiences. There are six stations that small groups of children rotate to over the course of the study. In this first rotation, students are engaged in a variety of learning tasks which you will see pictured below. Each group is named after characters of a nursery rhyme - ask your child which group they belong to. The Little Pigs? Black Sheep? 3 Blind Mice? Jacks and Jills? Eency Weency Spiders? Or Kids in the Shoe?

Included in this first round of stations, there are math problems to be solved, word work games to play, dances to choreograph and perform, rhymes cut into strips that need to be mixed-up and then fixed-up, London Bridges to be constructed (and then broken down), and jumprope rhymes to learn and jump to! This week, kids visited two stations with two more to come next week and then the final two the week after that.  But the learning is not over there - each station will then be refreshed with a NEW learning experience for a second round through!

After each station, all the groups gather in a large circle to do a share for the other groups. It is a great celebration of their efforts and helps them get ideas and be inspired by their peers. It also promotes their growth as speakers and listeners. Each time they share with the whole group makes their voice stronger for the next time until, ultimately, they are ready to invite you all in for a showcase and speak loud and proud to a bigger audience. 

Enjoy the pictures below from our first station! Ask your child what station they are looking forward to visiting in the weeks ahead. 

Harry Potter Day!

This week we celebrated Fall Festival Harry Potter style! Our students were introduced to a magical curriculum which included a Transfiguration class in which we turned an ordinary ball into a magical snitch, a Care of Magical Creatures class where we created our very own owls for carrying messages, a lesson in Charms where we created our own wands and then learned various spells and corresponding wand movements, and finally a Potions lesson where we used a number of "magical" ingredients and a special incantation using our new wands to turn ordinary stones into fabulous crystals. Some students even managed to make a Sorcerer's Stone! 

We also got to watch the little "first years" in their parade of costumes and attended a "History of Magic" Cultural Arts presentation on the origins of Hip Hop. In the wise words of wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore, "Music [is] a magic beyond all we do here." 

At the conclusion of our day, all kids also received a packet of Harry Potter games and a "Sorting Hat" (origami fortune teller) as well as a gift bag with a few fun surprises.  Enjoy the pictures below of our Magic Moments!