Toddlers Exploring Cause and Effect

The toddler classroom introduced a few new works on their shelves this week. While fun and beautiful, these works allow these young learners to master eye-hand coordination and explore cause and effect. The ability to have repetition in an activity that engages multiple senses is essential to building a mental framework for understanding the world around them.

Children are asking questions and  make conclusions while they work, such as:

" If I use the hammer to hit the ball, the ball will fall."

"Will it fall every time I hit the ball?"

" What if I use my hand instead of the hammer?"

"What happens if I use a different ball?"

These are the important questions of young learners, and young scientists.

Adults in the classroom observe the child's work closely without interfering. The adults waits for "teachable moments" to guide the child an the path of discovery, perhaps by asking a question, noticing a detail, or modeling another way to complete a task.

 Working with friends, independent yet social.

 Baking pumpkin bread for snack. Yum.....

Happy Halloween!!!

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Making Tibetan Prayer Flags

The primary classroom has been studying the continent of Asia and recently learned about Tibet. They have been making Tibetan prayer flags to hang around the classroom and in their homes. Traditionally, prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom. A prayer flag is a colorful panel or rectangular cloth often strung along mountain ridges and peaks high in the Himalayas to bless the surrounding countryside. Blue symbolizes sky and space, white symbolizes air, red symbolizes fire, green symbolizes water, and yellow symbolizes earth.

Capturing the Colors of Autumn

Making Corn Husk Dolls

Medina, Tullio's mom, visited afterschool friends and taught them how to make corn husk dolls.

Lots of fun!! Thank you Medina.

 

Little Hands At Work

A child focused on his or her work is a miracle to watch.

The sense of peace, the intrinsic motivation to learn, the joy from a job well done, the process of an individual creating are all incredible moments we see each day in our classrooms...

Building teen numbers with the teen boards and beads.

Sorting living and non-living pictures and objects.

Taking a moment to remember to breathe.

Counting to 9,999!

Some of our daily chores include folding laundry.

Giggling with friends.

Fresh squeezed apple juice....yum.

Counting to ten, identifying odd and even numbers.

Everyone's busy working.

Moving to the beat of a drum.

Exploring water work using a pump.

Fun on the indoor slide and climber.

Sorting and matching.

Hello, is anyone there?

Buckles and buttons.

Taking a little ride.

Happy Peace Day!

Here is the first part of our art installation, Pinwheels for Peace, in front of the Uylsses Philomathic Library in Trumansburg. We will be installing the second part of our installation in front of our school tomorrow morning.

Preparing Our Pinwheels For Peace

In the primary classroom the children are making pinwheel to celebrate the International Day of Peace on Tuesday September 21, 2010.

We are also making a "giant" pinwheel for display in front of the Trumansburg Library.

We use a pinwheel at circle sometimes (and in our breathing room loft) to practice our breathing. After one friend uses it at circle she then share peace and the pinwheel with another friend.

Toddlers Hard At Work