Forest News
February 22, 2018
I hope everyone had a great three-day weekend last week! Forest teachers were fortunate to have had an in-service day where we got a lot of great work done for our classroom. In addition to having our carpets cleaned we got a little head start on some deep spring cleaning, made materials and got some great planning done.
This Week’s Focus – Culture and Diversity
Through wonderful literature and classroom discussions we explored what makes us different and special in different parts of the world. We discussed foods, dress, different housing and customs of children around the world. We learned that people can be different and unique, yet still have much in common. We learned we all laugh, cry, have feelings, feel joy and sadness. You would be impressed with the children’s’ ideas on all of our similarities!
Tools of the Mind– This week our Forest boat and train station are up and running! The children were busy making props for these centers and discussing roles for play.
Specials – We had another fantastic performance this week from our professional musicians. Olga and Devon from the Center for Musical Arts. The children had a mini recital and were able to play the cello, violin, trumpet, french, horn and flute. It’s an absolute joy to see their face light up when they are able to make a powerful sound from a funny looking instrument.
Combining the excitement of music this week with our big idea theme of culture and diversity, we discussed different instruments we might hear around the world and created wonderful new instrument matching work.
A big thank you to Laila’s family for donating a great book to our classroom library, Have You Filled a Bucket: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids by Carol McCloud. This heartwarming book encourages positive behavior by using the concept of an invisible bucket to show children how easy and rewarding it is to express kindness, appreciation, and love by “filling buckets.” It compliments what we try to practice each day in the classroom. A little act of kindness can really go a long way!
A peek into next week – We will dive into our Big Idea of Culture and Diversity for one more week with so much more to cover!
Have a terrific weekend!
Ms. Melissa, Ms. Jess, Ms. Suzanne and Ms. Freya
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