Chinese New Year and the Equal Sign!

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Extending our study of holidays around the world, the Whales were lucky enough to be given a special presentation all about Chinese New Year from two of our Whale parents! Whales learned about Chinese traditions during the time of the Lunar New Year, as well as the history behind the celebration. We got to experiment with writing our own Chinese character, and practiced saying some words in Chinese. It was great fun!

During numeracy, we learned more about the equal sign and what it represents. We worked together in groups of four to create number sentences using the equal sign correctly. We used fingers to do our work!

Whale Winter Read-In

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Accompanied by the people they love most in the world, the Whales spent an enchanting evening together in a candle-filled classroom, snuggling down with comfy pillows, warm blankets and special stuffed animals. Families spent time singing songs, sharing stories, drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies together. A feeling of light and warmth was testament to the close community we have built already this year.

Many thanks to Mr. Mark for capturing images of the night so beautifully.

Whales Learn About "Tree Talk"

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Whales have been learning amazing things about the ways that trees communicate with one another. We discovered that trees communicate through their root systems (with help from some very smart organisms called mycorrhizal fungi). This fungi helps send messages to neighboring trees when they are under attack, and they help trees collaborate and share resources like water and minerals. In return, the tree supplies the fungi with sugar. This sugar helps produce the fruit of fungi - mushrooms!

Whales spent time playing an intricate game of “tree-to-fungi telephone” and we found that we could spread messages quickly around our entire Whale forest! Following our game of telephone, we went outside onto the Pacific campus to look for evidence of some of this “fungus fruit”, and we were thrilled to discover many beautiful types of mushrooms. Whales even found the exposed root systems of trees and insisted on getting down onto the ground to see if they could hear the roots talking….

The Whales are curious observers of our natural world!

Trees, Gratitude, Stone Soup and MORE!

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The Whales have been incredibly busy this week, answering important questions like “How do trees make babies?”, “How do trees drink?”, “Can trees grow thinner?” and “How do trees stand up?” The Whales completed some deep observation and exploration to find the answers to all those questions and more!

We also spent time talking about gratitude. We watched a puppet show with Jonny and Nicole and read a book about how gratitude is one of our greatest superpowers. It can make a bad day better, and it’s a sure-fire way to pull us out of the mud! We spent time meditating on the things we are thankful for and sharing gratitude with others.

On Friday we worked hard together, chopping vegetables and cheese for our Stone Soup feast! It was wonderful to be able to share a meal with ALL of our ELC friends!

We ended our (already-amazing!) day on Friday with an engineering project led by Whale parent Mr. Nate. The Whales had to work together to create a structure that was strong and efficient, just like the trunk and branches of a tree.

Leaves and Trees With Whales!

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Whales are budding dendrologists! We have been exploring the way trees breathe (with thousands of tiny “mouths”!), the way they use sunlight for energy, and why the leaves of deciduous trees turn different colors and drop to the ground in the fall.

We discovered that trees (just like animals) have a season of rest. To prepare for their winter rest, deciduous trees get rid of things they don’t need anymore (the chlorophyll that gives leaves their green color and produces food for the tree). We likened this “dumping” of chlorophyll to going to the bathroom before sleep. After the tree has “gone to the bathroom”, the brilliant colors underneath come shining through! Finally, the tree gets undressed before bed, because (just like us) a tree can’t undressed while it’s sleeping! That’s why the tree drops all its leaves right before the first frost sets in.

After discovering so many exciting facts about trees, we went on a long field study walk and checked out the various trees on campus, collecting leaves of various sizes, shapes and colors and learning about tree species as we went along. The next day, we worked to sort our leaves by a variety of different attributes and presented our groupings to Whale friends.

Monster Art and Halloween Fun!

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The Whales had a happy (and only a little bit spooky!) Halloween Monday this week. We played Halloween inspired games and ended our day with a parade around Berglund Hall, where we were cheered on by lots of adoring fans!

Later in the week we started a new art project based on the book Monsters Love School. Our monsters are so unique, colorful and fun. We can’t wait to get them up on our classroom walls so you can see the stunning results!

We also had our first library visit. We were thrilled to see our very own art gracing the walls of the Children’s Library. It’s good to be a Whale!

Dia de los Muertos, Pumkpins, Felicity Handwriting and more!

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It’s been yet another busy week for the Whales. On Monday, we found a mysterious package perched on our reading couch. When we read the card, we discovered that a beautiful Handwriting Fairy named Felicity gifted us special workbooks, fancy pencils and special fairy dust to practice our penmanship! We have loved working in our books this week and we already notice our letters are getting easier to read!

On Tuesday we finished exploring our pumpkins. We talked about making predictions (or hypotheses) by using our previous knowledge to help make a reasonable guess. We made predictions about the weight of our pumpkins, the number of seeds in our pumpkins and whether our pumpkin would sink or float.

On Wednesday and Thursday we spent time exploring the Mexican and Latin American holiday Dia de los Muertos. We read stories and talked about the words ”ancestors” and “honor”. We learned that families take time to honor those people who have passed on. They celebrate their lives and the memories they have of their loved ones. Along with the Otters class, we created our own Dai de los Muertos sugar skull art. We practiced using patten and line to create symmetrical art to adorn our skulls. It was wonderful to be together and share space with our Otter friends!

To finish off our apple unit, we read Ten Apples Up On Top and made more predictions about how many “apples” we could balance on our head, and how many steps we could take without letting them fall. It was great fun!

Celebration Of Community

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What fun it was to see the Whale classroom buzzing with excitement, positivity, warmth and love! Families came to celebrate the promise of the coming year and acknowledge all the growth these Whales have made so far. In the photos below, you can feel the pride on the faces of Whales and parents alike. What a tremendous year we’re going to have together!

Apples With Whales!

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The Whales have been studying apples this week. We worked as scientists, noticing tiny details on the outside and inside of apples, drawing what we saw and sharing our observations with friends.

We acted out the life cycle of an apple, taking turns being trees and pollinators, growing fruit, falling to the ground, decomposing, and growing into new apple trees.

We shared our hypotheses regarding the sudden decline in our ELC apple crop this year. Our ideas were wise and discerning and spoke to our deep understanding of plant life cycles.

On Wednesday, we worked together to make apple cider! Ms. Ellie arrived with an entire bushel of apples and we worked very hard cutting, crushing and pressing all the apples. As one Whale said “It was hard work, but we just kept on going!” Whales are hard-workers, and good friends!

Pumpkins, Apples, Data Collection and Bar Graphs!

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The Whales have had so much fun this week! We have been scientists, noticing and recording tiny details in the fall splendor around us. We spent time noticing even the smallest things about our pumpkins and apples, drawing, painting, measuring and recording what we saw. We studied the art of Matisse and Cezanne and noticed the way both artists used shape, color, light and shadow to make their still life paintings “pop” off the page. We tried using new techniques with oil pastel and watercolor to make gorgeous apple still life paintings!

Ms. Abby taught us all about graphing and data collection. We learned how to create tally charts, bar graphs and pie charts. Through our graphs, we were able to quickly see important information about our Whale community, like what pets we have at home and what our favorite type of apple is!

Whales are amazing mathematicians, scientists, artists and friends!

Goldilocks And The 3 Bears

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What amazing fun the Whales had producing their first play together!

We worked hard creating beautiful costumes for the forest animals, helping each other with engineering, coloring and design. Our stage hands helped move heavy props and worked hard to make the setting look just right. We created beautiful tickets, and our ushers were welcoming and efficient, getting our preschool friends seated before the show began.

All our performers had practiced their lines and challenged themselves to use strong and confident voices on stage - and our preschool friends were absolutely captivated by the play!

And what did our young Whales think about the work they accomplished together? Here are just a few of the comments we heard during our community discussion following the performance.

“We were awesome!”, “I was scared and nervous, but I did it and I feel so happy!”, “It made me feel like a real actor!”

Find photos of some of the work leading up to the play below, and check out the Watch and Listen tab above for a video of both performances. Whales are thespians and good friends!

Whales are readers, artists, thespians, engineers and friends!

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The Whales have had another exciting week together!

We started with a story study, looking at the similarities and differences in the well-known tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We discovered that many authors and illustrators had their own special way of telling the same story. The Whales were so inspired by the tale that we decided to put on our very own play. Stay tuned for more information about that!

During Classroom Choice and Literacy time, the Whales are growing and stretching their reading brains. We are learning so many letter sounds, and have practiced them enough that we can see the letter and then say the sound lickety-split! We read our first book independently, practicing how the letter sounds blend together to make a word. Wow!

After hearing a story about the life of Van Gogh, Whales reproduced his famous painting of sunflowers. We practiced brand new techniques with our paints and brushes and were so proud of the results!

On Friday we flexed our engineering muscles, working together to plan, create, build and test a new design for Baby Bear’s chair. The Whales had to listen and work with one another to create the final product. The chair had to be strong enough to support a Whale body. It was so much fun!

Field studies, letter sounds, bunny breaths and more!

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The Whales have been super busy this week, learning and growing together!

We continued to talk about the brain and the handy tools we can put into our PFC (Prefrontal Cortex) toolbox when we’re feeling overstimulated. We practiced our favorite breath (the Bunny Breath) and have been using it multiple times during the day. We even used calming breaths during our moving meditation when we danced silently with colorful scarves, enjoying the sound of the music and the feel of breath in our bodies.

The Whales took a long walk across campus and Main Street to a local Sunflower House where we completed our first scientific field study, taking time to notice tiny details in the world around us. It was a wildly successful first field trip!

We are enjoying playing with letters and letter sounds and have become well-versed in our first set of letter-sound words - a, m, s and t! We’ve discovered we can make LOTS of words with just those letters!

Whales are becoming alphabet experts - ask your Whale to sing you our Whale Alphabet Chant!

Our math time is filled with number sense activities that challenge our young Whales to be flexible in their thinking and enjoy the process of working with numbers. Ask your Whale to tell you about how we play Mingle Math.

Finally, we are creating amazing self-portraits, taking the time to notice tiny details in our own faces and include them in our drawings. Our self-portraits will be placed on our cubbies for the rest of the year. Come have a look at your Whale’s self-portrait the next time you visit our classroom!

Off And Swimming With The Whales!

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Only three days in and what amazing fun we’ve already had together as Whales! The list of activities are endless, but here are a few of the highlights.

We played outside together, enjoying the beautiful weather, the big blue blocks, the climbing structure, and the company of new friends.

We began our exploration of sunflowers, examining them up close with magnifying glasses and tweezers, measuring their length, looking for similarities and differences in each stalk and becoming sunflowers, moving through the motions of a plant life cycle together at carpet.

We had our very first Writing Club, and Whales are practicing sharing what they know with readers through illustration and words.

We are discovering new things about our brain, putting important tools in our Whale toolbox that will help us regulate our emotions, concentrate, and stay calm and safe. Don’t be surprised if you hear your young Whale talking about their Amygdala, Prefrontal Cortex, or Hippocampus!

Finally, we are enjoying the magic of words together; creating rhyming chains, making up nonsense words, reading books we know by heart, and giggling together about the sounds of words!