Week 33: Butterflies and Balancers

There is a big game of tug-of-war happening on the roof at morning recess. The girls are constantly switching sizes to keep the teams balanced.

This week the Early Learning students ...

P creates a story about butterflies on the Light Table. "First comes the egg, then the caterpillar. These things (cocoons) are small. [The white buttons are] when they go away. I'm making flowers because those are their homes and they're lying down."

P draws out all the stages of the butterfly lifecycle. 

A brought in her helmet so that she is able to practice pedalling her skateboard across the roof.  

A joins the grade 1-2 students in a game of "pass the ball". The girls have set themselves up in a shape where they are able to open up to new joiners.

A designs a castle floor which then morphs into a carriage using pattern blocks at the Math Centre. She spends a lot of time arranging and rearranging the shapes into a design that she is happy with. 

N's work at the Light Table this morning focuses on making smoothies to share with her friends. 

K looks closely at the cocoon / chrysalis that didn't manage to hang itself up. She remarks that it is shiny and golden, and that it also seems very delicate. She enjoys being careful handling it and reminding her classmates to do the same.

CERES class today is all about balance. The girls practice walking on a line with their arms crossed, and then they try again with their arms out to the sides. Many notice that is is much easier to stay on the line when they can use their arms for balance.

G balances on one foot and then tries to keep her "balance toy" balancing on her knee. I like the design that she made on the clothespin.

A uses her nose to balance the "balance toy" that she created during CERES today. The "arms" have weights that hang down to help it stay balanced.

A practices writing out her weekly words on a practice this morning once she is done her sort. She notices that each word has a rhyming partner.

G decides to put together a book all about her family during our morning Learning Centres time. She uses one page per family member, including aunts, cousins, grandparents, pets, parents, and herself, of course. When all the pages are done, Grace staples them together. 

N tells A about her creation at the Math Centre. There are little kids and big kids at Linden, as well as a line of teachers. The blocks at the front say "good morning Linden" and then the kids are welcome to join them to say "good morning". Her story reminds us of our weekly Greetings announcements.

K spends her morning at the Art Centre illustrating stages of a butterfly's lifecycle. The butterfly starts as an egg, which changes into a larvae, and then a caterpillar. The caterpillar forms a cocoon or chrysalis, and then eventually it turns into a butterfly. She is hoping that the butterflies inside the cocoons will be rainbow-coloured.

A has designed a butterfly story on the Light Table. There are two butterfly queens who eat the food (silver pipe cleaners) and then go and find guards to protect them and their babies. The beads are the caterpillars, who are hiding under the pile because they are scared. 

G, N, P and G watch as the beekeeper from Alvéole begins to prepare to split the rooftop hive. She's showing them the older and the younger bees on the container.

The girls watch as a honeybee walks around the roof. Despite initially being slightly anxious and scared about the bee being near them, the girls quickly realize that the bee is sleepy from the smoke that was put into the hive, so they choose to get in nice and close to observe its body and behaviour.

P works patiently with the glue gun during CERES class. The girls are using their understanding of balance to create mobiles. P's mobile has a plastic spoon on one side and a feather on the other - her challenge is to find the spot along the dowel where it will balance.

G's writing this morning is inspired by spending time outside at the park. She observes a tree on the hill and sketches what she notices. She's also collected a dandelion on our walk over, and she adds in a sketch of it into her work too.

A has requested that we spend our morning math lesson time working on mandalas. The girls like to use each other's previous ideas for inspiration this morning.

Earlier this week we had a visit from Ryan, one of Linden's Indigenous educators. He told the girls one version of a creation story and taught them about the 7 Grandfather Teachings. Each student chose one teaching to illustrate at the time. A and P work on completing their set of illustrations for the seven teachings. 

G ang G whisper to each other about the "How to Train Your Dragon" early readers they are reading while we are at the public library. They know that it's important to keep their voices down, but can't help their excitement about the stories.

N and P took a couple of bookmarks from the public library during our visit to use when they are reading at home. The girls pretend that the bookmarks are cell phones and take selfies with them. 

This afternoon the Early Learners and grade 1-2s headed up to the roof to practice our play. Despite it being very sunny, the girls managed to read their lines and practice their movements during our rehearsal.