Hello Arroyo Nature School families,
This warmer weather has been a nice change of pace! We have been pretty busy (as usual) exploring all of the plant growth around us. Some plants, like the wild mustard and radish have grown as tall as some of the children! Can you imagine how exciting that must feel to explore through such tall plants?
Sometimes we pretend like we are going through forests or jungles.
We've used our magnifiers to look at the aphids that are on the leaves. The children are becoming familiar with the patterns on leaves and how differently they are shaped.
The wild cucumber vines have been spreading all over the park. They have climbed onto shrubs and tree branches everywhere! The children love to feel how heavy the fruits are on the vine. Although these native plants might be everywhere, they are not invasive in Southern California.
The children wanted to walk into the dried riverbed areas. They practiced balancing on the logs and wobbly rocks. They really enjoyed challenging themselves and working on their coordination.
There has been so much pretend play happening wherever we go. The children have really immersed themselves in the natural spaces.
This is a coffee shop where you can grab a coffee or hot chocolate. They used a small branch as the counter and twigs as the coffee cups. The coffee is only $1 too!
There is so much joy when climbing and moving on low branches. Taking healthy risks and challenging themselves to move and climb is so important.
Sometimes we even play hide and seek within the trees.
The "Coyote House" is a favorite to visit every once in awhile. We were surprised by how different the area has become since the plants have overgrown. We had to make our own path through the thick, tall grass to get here:
Lots of repairs were done to the Coyote house. Some children wove longs blades of grass through the twigs and branches for support.
Others worked to carry heavier branches to pile on the walls of the house.
As you may already know, we have our new student who started recently. The children have been very welcoming and helpful to her during this new transition in her life. Coming into a new school with new people and routines is not easy!
Sometimes the children would notice when she was sad and they would ask questions:
"Why is she crying?"
"Is she missing her mom?"
Their concern brought up conversations about how we may miss our grown-ups too sometimes. We talked about how it makes us feel when we miss someone. Some of the children showed great empathy for her. They understood and related to the feelings she was feeling. A couple children brought tissues for her tears and others sat beside her. Sometimes a child would reassure her and say that the grown ups will always come back.
The teachers model and teach the children about the importance of empathy and compassion towards others every day.
We sing songs in different languages every day at school. Exposing children to a variety of languages is a beautiful way for them to learn about different cultures and ways people may speak. We were lucky to have a parent teach us some traditional children's songs in mandarin.
Our mud kitchen play has become more intricate and planned out. The children are pouring carefully, whipping water and dirt to form the perfect mud consistencies and digging deeper holes. They are finding other ways to use natural materials in their play as well. It is pretty amazing to see how they work.
Peacefully hearing a story outside in nature is pretty perfect. We love reading different stories to the children every day.
Thank you for checking out the newsletter this week! Stay cool and we will see you on Monday!
Opmerkingen