Tuesday

After Tallulah lead us through morning meeting today, we were joined in true Community School fashion by Katie's class. Katie had an important meeting to attend concerning school and her sub plans fell through. No worries - Katie's class came right in and we read Flip and Flop by Dawn Apperley. This is a very cute book about two penguins, Flip and Flop. Flip is five. Flop is two. Whatever Flip does, Flop does too. 

     We then had a little math workshop. Katie's class worked together as a group and ours worked together as a group, respectively working on their math projects. Our class began a spatial relationship unit by tossing objects into a bucket. Whenever they'd miss the bucket, they had to describe where their object landed. For example, Henry said that his landed "between the bucket and the wall". What exactly are spatial relationships and concepts? Spatial concepts define the relationship between us and objects, as well as the relationships of objects to each other. As our language begins to develop, early spatial concepts such as in front of, behind, top, bottom, over, under, last, between, farthest, backward, in, on, etc., help us understand directions more precisely, ask detailed questions, and express our ideas to others. For preschoolers and young students, an awareness or understanding of spatial concepts and relationships usually predicts later success in math, reading, and following directions.
      At home, you can extend this concept with your child. It is easy to include concepts while interacting with your child by talking in great detail and description. For example, you could say, "Take off your coat and boots. Hang your blue coat in the closet on the little hook above the doorknob. Put your red boots on the rubber mat by the door. Now lie down and rest beside your dad before we have dinner." In just a few seconds, your child must listen to over ten concepts, make sense of them, and then follow through with the directions. Think of all of the verbal directions I give each student every day at school! 

     Later this morning, the children had drama and Spanish. They worked on their spring performance in drama class and have been working on recognizing animals in Spanish. Speaking of their spring performance in drama, dates are posted in Quick Notes!

Also, PLEASE go to the Strawberry Festival Blog and sign up for your Baking Day shift! Baking Day is a lot of fun. You'll get to meet lots of parents, jam out to funky music, and help bake 12,000 shortcakes!