Notable November Learning Fun!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It is hard to believe that the fabulous fall is already winding down.  Thanksgiving is upon us and we had such a "friend-tastic" feast on Friday,  last week.  Time is flying by but memories we've made will stay forever.  Mrs. Cummings and I are thankful for these memorable moments with your children.  Please enjoy the pictures from our happy November month.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and enjoy your week together.

Based upon what they learned about the Seminole nation during the month of November, the children not only made lists of foods they thought would make a yummy feast but also foods they thought the Seminole may have cooked for a special feast of their own. Corn was a staple.  The children decided that corn must be on the menu. Here, they are preparing cornbread pudding. Yum! 

Mrs. McIvor helped the children to prepare a delicious cranberry dressing.

Yummy in the tummy! The children enjoyed the delicious food that was all prepared by them and set before them on the colorful placemats they wove themselves out of strips of paper.  The children shared some of the things they were thankful for and these were printed on rectangles in the weave of the mats.

                        We are all truly thankful for friends and family to share special days with!

Many thanks go out to all of those who were able to join us on Friday, lend a helping hand and share in all the smiles.

Seminole Study

Finding color in nature for painting and staining. Crushing flowers, berries, leaves and more to create paints.

Planting beans, a staple crop.

Weaving!

Using technology to look at pictures and watch videos of the colorful clothing and shields that were woven by the Seminole people. The children loved what they saw so much they asked for paper and crayons to try and duplicate the pictures.

Drawings of a Seminole shield

Painting what we see.....appreciating nature.  It was lovely to use our beautiful covered porch to take our classroom outside.

plucking dry corn from the cobs and grinding it into cornmeal using mortars and pestles 

Earth clay and nature exploration.

Pinch Pots, just like those made by the Native Americans, were fashioned by pinching a ball of earth clay from the center out. The children each made their own pinch pot and etched designs into it using small sticks.  The pots were then fired in a large tub lined with paper, pine needles, leaves, and sticks.  The smell was wonderful and the pots took on a lovely smoked look.  The children had the option of painting them or taking them home in their natural splendor.

Weedon Island Field Trip

We had such a great time on our field trip to Weedon Island! It was the perfect way to wrap up our study of Florida's first people.

Our guides Jeanne and Brian from Sensing Nature took very good care of us and shared their respect for nature and vast knowledge of plants and animals indigenous to this area, how people lived off the land, traveled and evolved over the years.

 Dugout canoes were hollowed out trees that were burned in the middle and then dug out to make boats. Lots of Florida waterways to get across!

Tools and hunting weapons were carved from bone, rock and wood. Some were even made from shells found on the beach.


Very Special Visitors

What a treat it was to get a special visit from our Ava's Aunt Marcie and Grandma Susan, members of the Native American Seneca Nation.  Being fantastic storytellers and very proud of their Seneca heritage, they had many beautiful artifacts and stories to share with the children, last Friday. Our Junior Kindergarteners were thoughtful listeners, respectful and completely mystified. We were so thankful for this wonderful opportunity for learning.

Be sure to ask your child about the artifacts in the pictures.  I have a feeling they can tell you the stories better than I ever could. :)

These activities and sooooo much more kept us busy from the beginning of November right up until our feast day Friday.  Be on the lookout for more pictures in the future.  There are far too many for just one blog entry. Until next time....have a wonderful week!

Poetry In The Park!

Perfect Poets!

Poetry in the Park is always one of my very favorite days of the school year!  Just watching your children will tell you why!  They were (ARE) amazing!!! From the first day we introduced the poem to the last, Mrs. Cummings and I knew they had it! Boy oh boy did they show it!!! Enjoy.

Sea Creatures

by Meish Goldish

Come along, Come with me

Take a dive in the deep blue sea

Put on your gear! Let's explore

All the way to the ocean floor

See the snail wrapped in curls

Look! An oyster wearing pearls

Watch the octopus so dark

But don't you dare to pet a shark

Dive on down, seaward bound

Motion in the ocean is all around 

Dive on down, seaward bound

Motion in the ocean is all around

Now we're very far below

The lantern fish are all aglow

Is that a tiny shock you feel

You just met an electric eel

Giant blue whales start to stir

Bigger than dinosaurs ever were

Wave goodbye to the clam and sponge

This is the end of our deep sea plunge

Dive on down, seaward bound

Motion in the ocean is all around

Dive on down, seaward bound

Motion in the ocean is all around

Thanks for joining us last Thursday! Don't forget it's a busy week coming up in JK..............................

Monday: firing our Seminole pinch pots
Tuesday: Field Trip to Weedon Island.....if you are interested in chaperoning please let me know ASAP.
Wednesday: wrapping up our Seminole study
Thursday: preparing delicious food for our Friday Thanksgiving Feast
Friday: Exploring Centers and Thanksgiving Feast

Enjoy the week off with your children November 19-23.....NO SCHOOL

Have a WONDERFUL, HAPPY Thanksgiving holiday! Mrs. Cummings and I are truly thankful for the opportunity to get to know and grow with your awesome kids every day! 

Hugs, 
Mrs. Carson

iPads, iPads, iPads!!!

Hi! A parent asked me the other day if I could repost the iPad apps from an earlier blog post.

As promised, here are a few (and a few more than were posted previously) of the iPad apps and websites we are enjoying in class:

FW Animals
Monkey Math
Sound Seeker
Counting/Adding Beads
Handwriting Without Tears "Wet/Dry Try"
Caboose (Patterning)
Sam_Phibian
www.starfall.com (The children absolutely love this one!)
drawing pad
ABC Shape Puzzle
ABC Music
Rush Hour (logic and reasoning)
Caterpillar
Word Magic
ABC Food
The list will grow as we introduce more learning apps to the children. They are discovering that the iPads are wonderful for researching our units of study.  Today they saw pictures of Native Americans weaving with dyed fabric and yarn (from natural dyes of course) and creating pottery from earth clay and mud.  They were so excited that many of them sat down with crayons and paper to draw the shields, rugs, pots, etc. that they saw on the screen. I love watching our students learn!!!
Enjoy!
Please return Monday for the usual blog information and pictures.
Have a great day!

So Much Fun, It's Spooky!

Last Wednesday was spook-tacular!!! It was a  hauntingly happy Halloween parade and fabulous fall festival. 

What a topsy-turvy week it was in Junior Kindergarten.  Yet, we always have fun in learning.  This Thursday the children embarked upon a journey into the past, discovering the people and the way of life of the Seminole. We had a wonderful class discussion about what life would have been like before there were department and grocery stores, cars and other public transportation methods, custom built homes, etc. when people lived off the land.

The children offered sound ideas about growing and gathering food, hunting and fishing, weaving and sewing clothing from animal skins and thread made from plants and animals.  They decided

that tools could be made from sticks, stones and shells, as well as other materials found on the beach and across the land.  As a class we went on our own hunting and gathering party.  We hunted for leaves, palms, sticks, and pine needles to gather and take back to our classroom.  The children were interested in researching on the computer the homes that the Seminole built in the Everglades. The homes were called chickees.  The children pasted the natural objects they gathered to brown paper to create the roof of the chickee we "built" in our exploratorium.  We have transformed our exploratorium into what we imagine a Seminole village may have been like long ago.  This is always a very special unit of study.  Hope you will come along on this learning journey of the Seminole with us and enjoy it as much a we do.

A real Seminole Chickee!

making the roof for OUR chickee

weaving 

grinding corn and cooking vegetables over an open fire

pulling kernels from the full ear of corn (a great fine motor activity) and grinding it using a mortar and pestle

dressing up

making pesto from the basil we grew in our very own garden

The children were amazed at how natural objects such as berries, leaves and flowers could be used to dye fabrics.  They used hammers and safety glasses, but we discussed how the Seminole probably would have used sticks, rocks, and maybe even large shells to pound these things into a paint-like pulp for dyeing objects, thread, yarn and creating works of art.

Beautiful!

Stay tuned for more living off the land learning with the Seminole this month.

Dates to remember:

November 8...Poetry in the Park 8:30am

November 13.....Field trip to Weedon Island

November 16....Children's Thanksgiving Feast

Have a wonderful week!