Despite it being a shorter week, we’ve had very full days at Brooklyn Schoolhouse. In the morning, we have continued our Freeze Dance parties, this time with some wonderful Autumnal themed songs like, Autumn in New York by Billie Holiday, as well as songs like Coyita by Gustavo and Roar by Katy Perry. It was so beautiful watching children move their bodies as if they were leaves drifting down from the trees with the wind.
At Morning Meeting, kids talked about Election Day and what it means to vote.
“You have to hand over your name to someone and then someone marks it down, and then after you get a sticker and you walk home.” said Rose
“Voting means you have a job.” said Charlie
“Voting means you have signs up and you have to pick someone.” said Emilia
After the discussion, the class helped vote for what song they wanted to sing, Autumn Leaves or Hi, My Name is Joe. Kids told Colette which song they wanted to sing and she would mark it on a piece of paper. After everyone voted, we all helped count which song had more votes. With a count of 9 to 6, Hi, My Name is Joe was the clear winner.
Throughout the week, we took turns looking at and talking about compost and worms. Together, we looked at a compost guide that shows which foods are yummy to worms and which foods might make worms feel sick.
“They’ll get sick if they eat too much (oranges), maybe they’ll throw up.”- said Jonas.
“It will get sick.” said Charlie
“I love strawberries!” said Lou.
We also helped feed the worms by ripping up pieces of paper to fit their tiny mouths and sorting through some of the food waste we make in our own classroom, like rice cakes and orange peels.
Colette taught us that sweat is something salty that comes from our hands, and salt is something that worms don’t like. So, instead of touching the worms with our fingers, kids observed the worms using sticks and magnifying glasses.
On Thursday, Justine, Eli and Athena’s mom, came in to read a story called The Rabbit Listened, by Cori Doerrfeld. The story is about a child who gets comforted by a bunny after their block tower gets knocked down. It is a great reminder how sometimes it is more important to simply be present than try to fix the problem.
Outside and inside, there were new materials to discover. Outside, we continued to hammer golf tees into pumpkins. It was so fun to see how we could balance toy bugs and animals on the surface of the pumpkins.
Inside, kids built castles and submarines using the new triangle and bridge shapes in the unit block center. Baby dolls got the addition of medical tools and books, which children have used to help the babies feel better from colds and boo-boos. We could even cook new recipes for the babies to try with materials from the play kitchen. It will be exciting to see where these materials take our play in the upcoming weeks.
