Composting at School

“Yucky!” This week we practiced the important, albeit sometimes smelly, business of composting. The Afternoon group and Sharon looked through our classroom compost bin to see what they would be feeding our bin of worms. Using shovels, the children scooped the orange peels, banana peels, and pretzel crumbs into the worm bin. We discussed that soon, this old food would be enjoyed by the worms and turned back into soil. The children seemed to enjoy this slightly stinky task, and observed the decaying process already ongoing on the worm bin.  Here are some photos of our compost process and the rest of our week together!

"Can I Knock It Down?"

This week our puppet friend Horsey visited to teach the Afternoon class an important question: Can I knock it down? During meeting, several children had a chance to practice asking this question before knocking over Horsey’s tower. Outside in the yard, it can be fun to knock over towers, but sometimes it can make the person who built it sad. With Horsey’s help, we’re learning to pause and ask our friends this special question so we can all keep having fun together. Here are some photos of our week together!

Rock Garden!

Spending a majority of our time outside, Nature School friends have gravitated towards exploring the rock garden. It’s a fun challenge to try and find your footing among the wobbly ground. The other challenge of the rock garden is learning how to handle the rocks themselves. Hard, heavy, and round, these rocks can provide tons of fun as long as we can handle them safely and with consideration. Teachers play alongside friends guiding them to be gentle with the rocks, keeping them low and slow. Friends also observe and practice the difference between throwing, dropping, and placing objects. Keeping these tips in mind, we’ve had loads of fun painting our rock garden as well as collecting and sorting rocks in egg cartons. See the photos below to check out the action!

Mindful Movement

On Monday, the Afternoon session had a visiting teacher, Simone, for our first yoga class together. We are excited to have this weekly time dedicated to practicing mindfulness, self-regulation, and bodily awareness through yoga. During this recurring weekly session, we divide the class into two small groups to allow for maximum movement on our big round rug during our yoga practice. This week, Simone led the group through a series of movements supported by the book Ploof!, about a little cloud in the sky who transforms into a variety of shapes. Here are some photos of the session and the rest of the school week!

Afternoons at Brooklyn Schoolhouse

We are learning so much about playing and exploring, both alone and together, during our Afternoon sessions at Brooklyn Schoolhouse. This week we spent lots of time outside. Friends experimented with pouring, scooping, and dumping in our water kitchen, and collected and examined rocks in our rock garden. There were lots of opportunities for big-body movement, such as pushing barrels alone or with a partner, and learning to climb up our big green blocks. The children have enjoyed climbing to the top of the blocks in a group and dancing, jumping, or clapping together. We have been singing songs such as “Dance Bears” and “Icky-Sticky-Bubblegum.” Here are photos of us from the busy week!

Welcome to the Brooklyn Schoolhouse Afternoon Blog

This is where teachers will place weekly updates pertaining to the Afternoon Class. Please check back soon for our first official post.

“Be kind whenever possible. It’s always possible.”

-Dalai Lama