Our First Friday

GRASSY PLAYGROUND
We concluded our first week together with what has become a Friday tradition for Room 4 - a visit to the grassy playground. Our recently repaired sprinkler system should have the green back in short order. Nonetheless, this change of scenery is welcome by the children. In addition to a big sliding board, seesaw, climbing tunnel and bars, the trees, garden, and insects promote plenty of investigation. Plus, It's just fun to run, fall and roll around with consequence no more painful than a grass stain. The most popular was playing "roller coaster" on the slide. A close second was human bowling with large, soft blocks. It's also interesting how adept they are at gathering and sorting every stray leaf by size, another pre-math skill.

MOST POPULAR ACTIVITY
The painting easel was in high demand today. At any given time, there was someone developing gross motor control and visual awareness. Henry and Christopher began painting next to one another. Within seconds, the race was on to cover the entire surface of the paper. There are few things more entertaining than simultaneous painting, concentration and laughter.

TODAY'S STORY
My Friends, by Taro Gomi. My Friends is a story of a young girl paying homage to all the animals, people, and things that taught her everything she knows how to do. The repetition from page to page lends mastery and confidence for children, allowing them to focus on the primary difference of each page. Gomi's vibrant watercolors and simple compositions provide the visual cues necessary for very young children to read. Of particular amusement to the class are things in the picture below that are not usually encouraged, to put it politely.


A TRUE FLEDGLING DEMOCRACY
At our afternoon storytime, we introduced our class to the concept of voting. We provide each child with a ballot block and a choice between two or three stories. Everyone gets to vote, unlike in my home state of Ohio. They cast their vote by placing their ballot on the stack in front of the story they wish to hear. First, we look at the stacks and estimate which one has the most votes. Then, we count the stacks to see if our predictions were correct. Anyone who wishes to perform a "recount" is invited to do so, with no meddling from other branches of power. On average we have about 7 recounts and a very satisfied electorate. In addition to empowerment and consensus-building, it develops practical math skills. On the subject of math Room 4 alum is not likely to say, "When am I ever gonna use this?"

In case you're wondering, by one vote Timothy Goes To School broke a three-way tie to beat out Meet The Barkers and My Friends. One voter was quoted as saying, "That's funny when Claude says, 'You're not supposed to wear a sunsuit on the first day of school.'" Who would have guessed the callous disregard of a racoon would be funny?