AFC PINE AM

Last week our conversation ended talking about different kinds of weather and what it looked like in terms of colors and in hand drawn pictures. Today we continued a deeper exploration of rain specifically.  We started the day off by asking "is it hot or cold this morning?" The kids took a poll and chose whether they thought it was hot or cold.  Each child thought about their own experiences of walking into school this morning.  "I was kind of cold." "Yeah, I was hot and I wore a shirt like this." as V pointed to her sleeveless shirt. "When it's hot, you have to cool down. You sweat to cool down."  As our morning continued the kids described the weather outside.  "It's hot & it's really sunny!" Since it was so sunny outside, we wondered how we could make it rain inside.  "Look, it's dripping!" "It looks like it's raining! It's going really ...

After capers the kids brought up how nice it was playing outside.  "I wasn't hot at all!" "I was like really hot." "Yeah me too." "It was kind of windy." Some friends sat down and began drawing other kinds of weather they were familiar with. E started furiously drawing with the red marker.  "Look! It's a storm." "It looks like a tornado!" "Yeah, it is a tornado." "I can draw a tornado too! I am trying to draw something that sucks stuff in." "Yeah, it's really strong!" "I drew the ocean." "Wow, it's bringing the waves here." "It's a tornado in the ocean." "It's a hurricane! It's something in the water that looks like a tornado." "It's bigger in the ocean. It's the same size as a tornado." B worked meticulously on creating small wave coming off of the swirl. He...

E & F looked at the giant log in front of them. Both determined to get on top of the log, they each chose a spot to start climbing. F chose an especially difficult place to make his ascent. He studied the smooth surface and found the small ridges, only centimeters wide, and decided this was the place for him.  F reached up and felt the ridges on the top of the log.  A group of kids started forming around him wondering how he was going to get on top of the log.  "How is is going to do that?" "I think he can do it!" In the next few minutes 3 or 4 kids started cheering on F. They began clapping and cheering for F.  "He's doing it!" Many of the kids were watching as F bravely climbed the tree trunk.  "He's doing it! He's going to make it! After a couple of minutes F made it to the top! The kids cheered around him as he smiled. He did it! E decided he wanted to try on a different part of t...

E, V, & B were crowded around a large branch. They were working quickly and talking quietly to one another. Suddenly, they yelled, "We made our friends a cake!" "We picked all the stuff around here." "We needed flowers." "I picked the purple ones." "Yeah, and I picked the ones over there by the bees." "We need more flowers!" "Here, put this here." The three worked together to build a large mound of leaves, grass, and flowers. They carefully chose each flower.  "We need the small purple ones!" "Wait, it's not done yet. We need to bake the cake!" "Yeah, we need to take it to Paris to bake it." E joined in on the play and immediately started contributing leaves to the pile.  "Wait, we need green ones. The brown ones are fire!" E went back and found some large green leaves to add.  "We need to bake a new cak...

Today we welcomed a new friend in Pine! F got a chance to check out all different spaces and meet all new friends. We are so excited to have him in our class! F was really interested in making tunnels for his car. He would push it with force and watching the car zoom across the table and eventually falling off. He giggled as he played.  F also showed off his building skills at the light table. He would build tall towers with the transparent blocks, each one taller than the last.  While outside F really enjoyed being able to climb up the large rocks and slide down. He took many turns with friends from different classes. F also found comfort in swinging with E & V. He would yell, "go!" in order to be pushed a little higher and a little faster. E & V reminded him to "keep your feet up!" as they swung back and forth.  F ended his time outside by finding a puddle! He would stomp and march in the puddle. He giggled as the...

As we entered the collaboratory, many of the Pine kids ran over to the wind tunnels asking if we could use it. They started putting the multicolored scarves through the tunnel, watching them gracefully float back down to the floor.  "It's going out so high!" "Look, I caught it!"  E put several scarves through, watching each one hit the ground. He giggled as they floated high above their heads.  L studied the second wind tunnel. She found a small white scarf and placed it on the fan used to propel the material. L put the scarf in and giggled with excitement as it started slowly rising to the top, but suddenly it stopped. L then began to shake the tube.  L tried another scarf in hopes this one would come out the top. Still no luck.  E & C wandered over to see what was happening. L continued to put scarves in, but they all magically hung in the hair. All three of the kids stared as the scarf stayed still.  "...

C was hard at work while building his "hammer." He carefully put together the pieces by making sure he alternated the green and blue connectors.  "Look, I have a hammer!" C continued to work diligently. He raised his hammer high and hit the ground.  C continued to tap on the ground and other gears before it fell apart.  "It keeps falling apart!" C went back to the drawing board. He tried connecting several green and blue pieces to create his hammer again.  Once again the hammer fell apart.  "How can I hold it up? It just keeps breaking." C was defeated. He tried several different other ways to create the hammer, but was unsuccessful in his attempts. C continued to build the handle of the hammer taller and taller, but noticing the curve it at the same time.  "How can I hold it?" C didn't quite figure out how to fix the long handle, but never gave up. He tried a l...