November 2024: I’m thankful for…

Mindful Focus: Gratitude/Thankfulness

Explorations: Homes around the world, Life in Africa, and Tools

We had a fun month of playing in the leaves, cleaning up our garden, hosting our family volunteer day, building, creating, and whole-hearted living!

Read ahead to see what the teachers wrote about our month of learning and love!

- Miss Demi

Africa Exploration and Homes Around the World:

This month, children observed many different types of homes from various cultures around the world. We looked at real life pictures and discussed the variety of materials used and why they were used. Children made their own homes and villages together using wooden frames, cloth, and clips. They stretched their creativity and collaborated together while building. During downstairs playtime, the children further investigated homes and villages by using teepee tents for dramatic play. Many reenacted what they had seen families in Africa doing such as cooking food over the fire.

We were grateful to have Miss Jenny share about her two years living in Zambia working for the peace corp this month! She had many fun and fascinating keepsakes from her time in Africa that were brought back and the children explored. They learned about how children in Zambia use tools to complete jobs and that food is cooked over an open fire. Along with tools, children also explored several types of musical instruments and had an energetic circle time using drums!

- Miss Lottie

November was a beautiful month. We had the incredible opportunity to facilitate learning and help the children better understand gratitude and thankfulness. To help the children with this process we introduced them to places and people around the world who live differently and are less fortunate than us. This process helped the children understand how much we have in the United States; we have cars, electricity, heat and A/C, stoves and microwaves, etc. Throughout the month we would frequently bring up these places to remind the children just how much we have to be grateful for. A phrase we often used was “I’m glad” this was a simple way for them to understand gratitude as well. We took time asking each child what they were “glad” or “grateful” for and had fun writing down their responses. Some of them said things like, “I’m grateful for ice cream” or “my toys” but some children dug a little deeper and said things like “my family and friends”. It was special seeing them gain this understanding throughout the month and it’s our hope that they will continue to find things to be thankful for.

- Miss Annie

This month one of our main explorations was tools! The kids all immediately jumped in on this by playing with our playdough tools - like scissors, rollers, and shape cutters - as well as our outdoor play workbench. They absolutely loved shaping the playdough into all sorts of crazy designs and pretending to build things with our wooden tools. They all got even more excited when it was time for our lesson on what actually qualifies as a tool.

When asked “What kinds of things are tools?” of course most of our kids' minds immediately flew to their parent's toolbox, shouting out things like “A hammer!” or “A saw!” which, of course, is correct. But as we explored with them this month those tools are not the only kinds. Many other things are as well because a tool is simply something that helps us with a job or a task. During this lesson, the kids got to unwrap all kinds of different tools and figure out what job they help us with. It was so much fun to watch the excitement and shock on their faces as they realized even things like a fork, a toothbrush, an instrument, or a key count as a tool - because they help us with a task! Watching them the rest of the month as they engaged in classroom and outdoor play was so cute as they discussed what was or wasn’t a tool. “We need a broom to sweep out the kids' cottage! - Wait, teacher! Is a broom a tool?”

The last aspect of our tool exploration was some special guests who came to show off some of their tools. All our kids got the lucky chance to watch as Mr Rogers - our lovely Miss Jenny’s dad. Or Mr. Felix - our lovely Miss Annies dad - came in and showed off all of their tools, explaining the many ways they can be used. They discussed the safe ways to use hammers, drills, nails, etc. The kids also got to learn about different professions using these tools - like a carpenter, electrician, and plumber - and even got to go up and take turns using some of them with our guests' help. They even jumped at the chance to use the vacuum cleaner to clear the room of sawdust.

- Miss Sushi

This month the children got to work with one of their favorite art materials, Clay! They quickly made connections from Miss Jenny’s circle time which explored all sorts of items from her trip to Africa. We got to make pinch pots just like they did in Africa! Unlike our other clay projects this involved a little more teacher guidance and step by step instruction. It really challenged their patience and involvement in creating their own pots. We had to first start with a ball of clay then take one finger and push it through the center, being careful not to make a hole. Then it was time for duck hands! This is a fun way to help the children understand the concept of using their entire hands to pinch the clay in a circle, creating a bowl shape. They also got to add some fun stamps to their pinch pots, their own personal touch. After they were fired in the kiln it was time for the final step, they needed some color! Each child got to personalize their pinch pot by painting with watercolors. It is always so wonderful to see how each one turns out and how excited they are to make it their own, they were so proud of their new creations. They even got to use their very own pinch pot during our thankful celebration, what a special way to eat snack, in a bowl they got to create themselves!

Continuing with our African unit, each child got to create their very own drum! This was another project that required some good listening ears! We noticed different patterns in the chintenge and how a pattern is a color, shape or design that repeats. We asked the children if they think patterns can be found in nature and we discovered together that patterns are all around us! Giant pinecones, pumpkins, leaves and more. They thought deeply about what pattern they’d like to include on their drum then quickly got to work. Their creativity shined as they decorated the top with markers then it was time to add a pattern to the sides. Each child got to choose 2 different colors then with a small sponge they focused on adding one stripe of color at a time, alternating between the 2. They had so much fun and you can notice the hard work of little minds behind this project. Once a string was added to the top they were able to wear their own drum, they could not wait to take these home!

- Miss Mallorie

The Thankful Celebration is a fun activity that shows our students about gratitude. Throughout the month we did small things to help the children put more focus on gratitude. We had them write thank you cards to share with their class mates. The children we able to use clay to make their own bows (pinch pots). We also made apple sauce muffins to be shared during our “feast”, which was an extra special snack time. During the “feast” the children were able to eat lots of different foods and have more autonomy during their snack, choosing which snacks they wanted more of and limiting the foods that they didn’t enjoy as much. Lastly, each class went on a gratitude walk. This was extra special because the students had the opportunity to invite family members to our school to participate as we walked as we walked down to the stream and discussed how grateful we were for different aspects of nature. We did this over the course of a couple of days and we were all surprised by the difference in weather over a short weekend. While some classes went on their walk when it was sunny and brisk (only needing a jacket and mittens), the other classes went when it was cold, wet an muddy (needing mud suits, coats, rain boots, mittens and umbrellas). This was an awesome opportunity to reinforce whatwe stand for at SimpleLife: we dress for the weather, it doesn’t change for us. Most importantly, we found joy in what we had as we walked that short distance in the rain, helping the children make connections to things we had been learning about all month.

- Miss Annie