UPDATED WITH POST ELECTION PHOTOS AND RESULTS……

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November 8: Election Day

As is our practice, teachers will not advocate for a particular candidate. We will discuss the facts of the election process, allowing children to voice opinions and questions in our traditional “what we know” style. These ideas will be recorded on paper and shared with families so you can continue the conversation at home. Here is a sampling from 2012 (click here for full post):

In our classroom, we will vote on several things throughout the day, experiencing voting privately, counting ballots and determining the outcome of issues such as: 

•which book will be read for Story Time 

•elevator or stairs

•glass cups or paper cups for snack

•Show and Tell before snack or after snack. 

Results will be posted as they are determined. 

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UPDATED:

f week was fantastic, fabulous, fun and fast. here’s some work time action to show it:

https://youtu.be/zp1tAk8zGfE

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some random images that speak for themselves:

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show and tell continues to be fluid; sometimes children getting their own items from the basket, sometimes me setting up a stage for a show and tell performance. it is truly guided by what seems like the best way to get full engagement in the moment.

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when our pumpkin patch moved to the tub table to make room for our “crawl low under smoke” corner, the big pumpkins still found their way back to the purple rug.

https://youtu.be/vErnzADvmQQ

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a “low drama” approach to fire safety was the theme of the week and oh, the joy!

https://youtu.be/XCYNVcZtqXk

we had a dalmation fire dog join us one day:

the F tray had blue stones for water, a couple firefighter figures and beads/pipe cleaners to thread.

another impromptu activity: cutting red felt and yellow duct tape to make fire for the classroom.

we used our paper from E week for a variety of “fire” projects:

all week we added to the “what we know about” fire chart.

one of my favorite opportunities is to talk about the hot things that can be found at home, including cigarettes and lighters. and full disclosure: i will not tell children that those are bad or wrong. and it happened again, the look of relief on a young child’s face when i said, people who smoke are not bad.

yeah, they said, because my mom isn’t bad.

and the little guy who barely talks yet saying, yeah my dad good. my dad good. my dad ‘moke. my dad good.

it’s our job to let them know their truth. ❤️

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e week was exciting and energizing and full of enthusiasm!

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i even found our yoga guys practicing in the crayons.

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here’s a peek of incredible team work pushing and pulling the cart:

https://youtu.be/WrjlTLVb6qs

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we got some funny responses to the elephants at the play dough table since one question offered was, can you make elephant poop?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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we used our ears a lot for listening games, one class making their ears SUPER:

https://youtu.be/WYUj2mVrSRc

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we ran on our own red tape track and then had our crayons “run around” a masking tape capital E! see our track in action here:

https://youtu.be/Cywwn6BPXJk

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one form of exercise is walking, so we walked (and slipped and slid and fell) on the big paper covered in paint and made the color of the month. we also discovered that holding hands helped keep us from falling.

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outside time was full of exercise, including rock play.

here’s the movie of of rock play in action:

https://youtu.be/Ve4o2Bcdws8

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our dog friends continue to join in on the every day moments: ginger on the playground, fozzie watching kids put their pictures on the big letter E (our form of attendance for the week).

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and talk about exercise: running up the stairs and down the slides over and over!

https://youtu.be/DSPKLeWrjNU

by thursday afternoon, they seemed to sense the full moon coming on sunday!

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d week was also the first week of october, and the premier of our classroom pumpkin patch.

here the wednesday morning class works on the plans for it:

https://youtu.be/TwBORhD7XaA

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we had d objects to rhyme with other objects…you can see it in action in this movie:

https://youtu.be/rm9XKqGZ9Os

by the end of the week, it was easy to match up the rhymes!

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we pretended to be dentists using old markers in water as food, painted paper plate donuts and added tape sprinkles, helped the people dive in the water table.

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it was dark under our loft, a great place for hiding.

https://youtu.be/CA2Y95BDQog

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our D tray had black sand and tiny dogs

so tiny you can’t see them in someone’s hand:

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we grieved the loss of ellie dog and welcomed ginger into the classroom for the first time all in the same week.

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day by day we move through the names taking turns being helper of the day (bell ringer, line leader, yellow chair sitter, light worker, etc). we’re still waiting for everyone to get their first turn!

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it is with a sad heart i share that ellie, dog of current teacher, ms cathy, and current preschooler, charlie, died. many children over the last few years have been helped by ellie’s sweet temperament. we will miss you, ellie.

our wednesday classes said goodbye to ellie dog by decorating a card for ms. cathy and charlie.

in describing ellie’s death to the morning class (ms. cathy was not there), i said something like:

“…the vet doctor said because she was old her body wasn’t working anymore. and then she was in the backyard and wasn’t bleeding or hurt. and then she looked like she was sleeping, but really her body had stopped working and she wasn’t breathing and she had died…”