AFC PINE AM

This morning the kids made an extra spooky treat today in the kitchen. V, B, and L headed to the kitchen to make a smoothie with some extra fruit and yogurt.   Each one took turns pouring in the different ingredients into the blender.  "Look at all of these peaches! We should use all of them." "We need to use all of them because we have a lot of friends in our class." Next, they each took turns cutting up the banana to add it to the blender.  "We have to cut them up in small pieces." "Yeah the blender will cut them all up. It spins really fast!" "We have to add yogurt next! I eat yogurt at home." After the smoothies were finished being made, they headed back to the classroom to share with their friends.  While sitting and enjoying the smoothies, one table erupted in laughter. "WE HAVE SMOOTHIE MUSTACHES!" The table started cracking up again. Between drinks they would p...

E walked over the picked up the fan. He's been so interested in watching how it pushes the different materials across the table so it was no surprise when he started pushing the button to make the pinwheel spin around and around.  E hit the button. Nothing happened.  Frustrated, E hit the button again. Nothing.  E continued to press the button and inspect the fan from all angles.  "It's not working. It needs a battery!" E tried one more time before realizing he could make the pinwheel move by blowing on it. He puckered his lips and started blowing the pinwheel watching spin and spin.  Several others tried to use the fan as well and didn't have any luck.  "I think it's broken." "Maybe it needs a battery." "I think it got wet in the rain." "Maybe we can fix it!" "How are we going to fix it?" How are we going to fix the fan? Do we even need to fix the fan if we can...

On our way back from the gym B noticed something about V's feet.  "Hey, I have bigger feet than V!" "Yeah my feet are smaller than yours." "I wonder who has the biggest feet?" "Ms. Jill! She has really big feet." When we got back to the room they decided we should find out who has the biggest feet.  How could we measure our feet? E sat and thought for a minute.  "Like we have to first count our feet and then we have to know what their temperature is." This was an interesting solution, but the other kids didn't seemed convinced. She thought again and moved to the center of the carpet across from B.  Without any prompting E put her feet up against B's. They both looked at their shoes and noticed that the toes of E's were just slightly taller than B's.  "I have bigger feet than B. I need to sit by you because you [Ms. Jill] have bigger feet too." C sat down and put his ...

B sat down at the table and looked at all of the different loose materials. He grabbed two of the tree cookies and propped them up. B began using his mouth to try and blow them over.  "It's not working. They are hard to move." He looked around and noticed a fan in the corner of the room.  "Hey, we can use this fan!" He pointed the small fan towards the tree cookies. Nothing happened.  "They still aren't moving. Maybe I should get it closer." B put the fan an inch or two away from the cookie. It swiveled.  "It moved! I made it move with the fan! Maybe it needs to stand up like this so it can roll." He pointed the fan directly at the curved edge of the tree cookie. It didn't roll.  "Maybe like I can keep pointing it here and it spins like this." E noticed how B was using the fan to blow different materials around and asked for a turn. He picked up the pinwheel and pointed the...

Today the Pine kids were asked the question "can you make it move?" They tried a little experiment. What could they make move just using their breath? B picked up a straw and started blowing through the narrow hole.  "It's not moving! It's too hard to move." B tried blowing harder. No luck.  B picked up a cork instead. He first set it up so that when he blew through the straw the cork rolled across the table. His face lit up. He placed the cork back down on the table, but this time the flat end was towards the straw opening. He blew hard.  "It's not moving anymore!" He looked at the cork and then looked into the container full of other materials. He quickly wrapped the cork up in some paper and tried blowing it again. It worked! B then got another cork to try again.  L wanted to give it a try. She picked up the pinwheel and started spinning it with her finger. She looked around and saw the othe...

F & E started running down a path towards the fence. They stopped abruptly and watched the leaves on the trees rustle around as the wind blew. F picked up a handful of wet leaves and tossed them in the air. E noticed more leaves on the ground and tried it too.  "They are flying!" For the next few minutes some of the boys tossed both dry and wet leaves in the air.  "Dry ones fly!" How do the leaves fly? The wind died down and the boys watched the leaves hit the ground rather than float through the air. It was time to move on. They raced back over some paths and ran into B who had a giant yellow leaf.  "Look how big this leaf is!" He tossed the leaf into the air and watched it float to the ground. Friends around him started searching for the same large leaf.  "It needs air to fly. It needs like the wind!" Soon the wind picked up and B threw the leaf into the air once more.  "The wind makes it...

Since our last chat about the weather, the kids have been noticing how different the days have been. Last week we looked a little bit closer at tornadoes, but became more fascinated with the wind.  "We can make our own wind!" "Yeah we can use our mouths and like blow!" "It feels like the wind." The kids decided they wanted to experiment with different materials we had out to see if we can make our own wind and what exactly would be flying.  They started out by taping different materials on to strips of paper.  "Look, it's blowing!" E sat and tested each hanging strip of paper. Some of the papers had packing peanuts, while others had gems or pipe cleaners taped to them.  "The gem is hard to blow." "I think it's easy." "The feather is really easy!" "Look, look it's going!" E blew on the tape containing a pipe cleaner and a packing peanut. He watched as...

The best part of capering is being able to be a part of the other classrooms and getting to work with materials they do. Today some Pine friends found tubs of flour in Dogwood to engage with. Their imaginative play began with two friends filling up bowls with the flour.  "I have three bowls. This is the ingredient bowl, my mixing bowl, and a flour bowl. I am going to make a cake." E started sorting the flour into the three separate bowls laid out in front of her. She worked slowly as the flour sifted between her fingers.  "It's so soft!" "I'm going to make a princess cake. It tastes like vanilla! That's my favorite flavor." E continued to fill her "flour bowl" up and mix it around with her fingers. She worked with purpose as she packed the flour into the tin.  "It's almost ready. I am going to share it with everyone when it's finished." As E finished her cake, V was also separating...