Nature's playground

We had a lot to do today!  We started with shovels in the dirt, both digging and pounding on the many molehills in the field.  During circle time today we learned the Apple Poem.  The Apple Poem has American Sign Language that goes along with it.  Ask your child the sign for apple!

:

Way up high in an apple tree.
Two red apples smiled at me.
I shook that tree as hard as I could.
Down came the apples! Mmmmmm they were good!

Here is a link that shows how to make the sign of the apple!

http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/a/apple.htm

After our circle time we had a fun tour of the farm led by Farmer Linda.

We got to feed Daisy the cow and go into the chicken coop and count the eggs! (there were 5 today)  We heard the donkey hee hawing and began learning the Donkey Song from Teacher Ann.

Then it was time for snack and a bit of a hike.  Teachers Jen and Ann went in different directions with their color groups .  We hike with the kids separately  from time to time in order to help them create bonds and friendships easier.  Teacher Jen is always with the blue group and Teacher Ann leads the yellow group.  The children are changed from group to group every few weeks.

Children in the stream.

Today in the yellow group 2 children were very engaged with playing, holding and observing a worm that Isaac had found.  It was still wiggling when we left it behind so I guess they were gentle enough!  3 boys climbed on a downed tree for a long time and played with hitting it with sticks.  

The children are taught very specific rules about how to play with sticks so that no one gets hurt.  They cannot hike with sticks but can use sticks as long as they are away from other children.  In this case, the 3 boys had short sticks and they were pretending to chop down the tree.  It was a good activity to bond them in imaginary play.

In the blue group they played for a long time in the stream.  Then they hiked to the "elephant tree" and found new ways to climb on it.  There was a lot of imaginary play going on with them as well!

 At the end of the day we fit in apple prints.  We are happy to use paint while the weather permits-aka is sunny! 

What a great day!  Please use this blog to engage your child in conversations about what he or she did today.  This will help reinforce their learning.