Silkworms

Liam (age 5), above, our naturalist, asked for many days if the silkworms were big enough to hold yet. 

Finally, the children got to hold the worms. It was an exciting day.

April is silkworm month at Windsor. As you've heard from your pre-kindergartners, we have live silkworms in the classroom. The children have been very critically observing them. Many complex questions about the worms come up, some which we have to look up together.

The children will observe the full silkworm life cycle, as it unfolds before their eyes. We had about 50 eggs, about half of which hatched within the past couple weeks. The children take turns feeding the worms mulberry leaves twice a day, a task they take great pride and joy in.

Extending Dramatic Play: Pizza Shop

We notice that, due to the trip, the children are very engaged and excited about pizza shops. We set up a pizza shop for the children at school. The shop dramatic play is sustained, spanning days and days.

Article on sustained dramatic play increasing self-regulation:  
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/magazine/27tools-t.htm

Pizza Shop trip

 The children get a "behind-the-scenes" tour. Brrr, the enormous fridge is cold!

The staff performs "pizza tricks."

Then the children get to try the pizza tricks too! 

Now that the staff has gone through the step of making pizzas, the children make their own pizzas. And eat them too! Yum.

Hanna, Carter's big sister, comes to school

Back last summer, Hanna, Carter's elder sister, came to school to set-up and lead a fun putty science experiment. The children were absolutely thrilled. Carter was so proud! Hanna left before naptime, after reading the children many stories.

We weren't kidding when we said the children were thrilled.

Chinese New Year Celebration

School construction

 (click collage to enlarge)

Weeks two and three of construction will be less noisy and outdoor construction will continue. It will be safe and not disruptive for the children to be at school.

We will use these two weeks as a learning opportunity. Children will do a lot of careful observation and analysis. Teachers will also create lesson plans centered on construction and building.

Beautiful minds: Multilingualism

(Related to previous post)

Children are really internalizing what they are learning. Recently, the staff has been so excited observing little things indicating this:

-Children speaking to each other in Mandarin during free play (so exciting)
-Children spontaneously breaking into Spanish songs as a group
-A child counting (in Mandarin) the beads on a wooden abacus in the classroom
-A Windsor birthday tradition that has been created: singing the "Happy Birthday" song in English, Spanish, and Mandarin

Here is a video taken yesterday of small group time. The children were sitting together with Teacher A working on their art projects. One child started humming to himself in Spanish. Then the whole spontaneously started singing classic nursery rhymes in Spanish. It was magical, joyful, and, admittedly, absolutely adorable to watch and listen. The video wasn't taken during these spontaneous moments - the group agreed to do a re-do upon my request. :)