Feelings of Gratitude and Stone Soup

Every week the Whales are growing more and more. Their hearts are bursting with gratitude for one another, and kindness for our community. With Stone Soup happening on Friday, the Whales spent the week talking about gratitude and what it means to feel and show gratitude. The Whales each wrote on a paper maple leaf one thing that they are grateful for. We put those leaves together, and created a gratitude tree. The gratitude did not stop there. Before we went to Stone Soup we turned the classroom lights off, turned our candles on, got into meditation circle and shared with each other what we are grateful for. The Whales each had so much to share. The Whales were extremely kind when hearing what others had to say, and we all agreed at the end that we are grateful for our classroom and ELC community. One Whale said, “I am grateful for the people who take care of me, the people who make me smile, and the people who teach me.” Everyone felt the love in the air.

As we continue on our unit of study of trees and leaves, the Whales spent the beginning of the week exploring different trees on campus and collecting the leaves that had fallen. The Whales collected Maple, Gingko, Oak, Dogwood, and Chestnut leaves. The Whales noticed that so many trees are losing their leaves however, they also noticed that some trees are being really brave and holding onto their leaves. Later in the week, the Whales split up into groups and worked together to sort their pile of leaves. One group sorted by color, another group sorted by type of leaf, and the last group sorted by size. Each group communicated to each other where each leaf fit. When they finished sorting, they worked together to count the leaves in each section and wrote that number down. When everyone was finished we walked around to each groups work. Each group shared with the class how they sorted their leaves and what their outcomes were. The Whales are mathematicians and are practicing talking about their study in front of a group.

The Whales curiosity for different art mediums and practices continues to flourish. This week the Whales practiced creating leaf prints of the various deciduous leaves they collected. They used orange, red, yellow, brown to create leaf prints that were unique and vibrant in color. Their leaves are hanging alongside their beautiful poem that they weren’t together as a community to write. The Whales truly are an artistic and creative bunch.

We ended our week visiting the library to pick out books to read with our Sea Lion Buddies. The Sea Lions were able to visit are classroom this week. The Whales were excited to listen to their Sea Lion buddy read their library books. They also got to practice reading their book bag books to their buddies as well. At the end, the Sea Lions showed the Whales a new activity/song. It is so spectacular to see the Whales grow connections with the 3rd and 4th graders.