We Are Creative Learners!
You may regret our latest gain in literacy... We learned to read and spell the word "No!" Earlier in the week, we read a book about when it's good and appropriate to say no. I suggested that this word was short,
and easy to read because it just had two letters, then inquired if the children would like to be the ones that read it in the story? Of course, and everyone caught on very quickly. Later in the week, we heard this in the classroom: "I think no. That's spelled 'n-o,' NO." You can put the blame squarely on me if you hear this at home... (and understand that it's a powerful concept and word that your child is "mastering!" ) There are times that a child's "no" is appropriate, and other times that we wish they had never heard the word... which was part of the book, and a part of lifelong learning, Are overcommitted you still learning about when it feels right for to say no? Me, too!
Would you like to see more creative ways we are expressing our literacy learning?
The Creation Station continues to provide inspiration and a creative bridge to increased literacy. We are imaginative story writers!
"This is the bear den...
and I made these bears that I'm going to cut out.""And here is a town I made for Bert."
" That's Bert! (pointing to bottom right corner.) See, I wrote 'BERTS SHOP' all by myself... And that box (pointing to lower right) is the opera house!" At these beginning stages of reading and writing, we encourage the exuberance of invented spelling!
Now back to the bear den... Our friend dictates a story, which we write in highlighter so that she can trace over the words. At the end, she writes her name in pencil. It says, "A daddy bear guarding the den. A mommy bear just had her cubs."
Meanwhile, a friend creates a picture story, complete with "word bubbles." He tells me, "That's just like in the comics."
"Look, the owl says 'HOO!' "
" The bear is coming out of his den because it's spring. He likes to eat the herbs to help his tummy digest again. And look where I wrote what he's saying, (pointing to blue letters camouflaged between bear den and sun) 'GRR.' "
The picture was painted with watercolors early in the week, clearly illustrating something that this child was thinking about. He was excited about it and wrote, "The hot lava, the lightening in the night sky." Do you see the silver lightning bolts between the sky and lava? Art and storytelling are ancient creative expressions, the roots of literacy, often depicting big events in the natural world. Now we Bear Cubs are branching out, blossoming into recognition of writing and reading as also providing meaning, purpose and pleasure in our modern daily lives!
Welcoming the Spring Solstice, we are eager to engage with materials that symbolize life and new beginnings... Using tongs strengthens the pincer grasp, and it takes considerable coordination to grasp the egg and move it to the other nest or place on the tray! 
Mitchell, the medical doll, opened up to us this week and showed us his heart and lungs. We have been talking about red blood cells that carry oxygen, and white blood cells that help us fight disease and infection. We are going to look at real blood (mine) under the microscope next week when our twin friends have returned to class... We'll be doing this on Monday with the Beacons, who are just finishing studying the human body.
To honor the first music we ever heard, the heartbeats of our birthmothers', we made drums. At circle, we talked about how anthropologists tell us that drums were the first musical instruments made by people. We thought about how the ancient ones might have made them, and imagined what rhythms they played on their drums...
Every child was drawn into the process with deep focus.
Later, we followed our hearts as we drummed the rhythm of our heartbeats, then our names. We compared the rhythms, counted beats and syllables.
With so many of our families literally fighting the "spring fever" germs, we reviewed (again!) how important it is to do a good job washing our hands. This is a nice sequence caught with the camera as I was walking by...
Get those hands wet and soap them up...Rub and scrub while singing the abc's (20 seconds), rinse well.
Pull a paper towel, 
dry your hands and use the towel to turn off the faucet. That keeps your hands from getting germs on them again!
Stay well! Happy Spring! Judith
