Week Thirty Two: Learning to Sew

With the weather continuing to warm up, we are happy to spend more time outside. This week a new math project was introduced - creating individual 3D Figures booklets. The girls also were excited about a new sewing station set out at the Art Centre, exploring how to unravel wool from the ball, threading a needle, and sewing in burlap. The beautiful weather permitted for more outdoor time than usual, which we used for drama night practice and writer's workshop. Take a look at our week together!

G has started working on her personal 3D figures booklet. We were inspired by Not a Box, as well as the new sight words “this” and “not” to imagine what different 3D figures could become in our stories. On this page, G tells me that “this is not a cube, it is a house for a bunny”. 

Z and G create patterns, designs and stories in the salt. The girls are experimenting with this new material in a tray on top of the light table. They notice that it takes a lot of work to keep majority of the salt in the tray. 

The girls dance around with Elsa in the drama room. The high school drama class wrote a short play inspired by a variety of fairy tales, and performed it for the girls this week. The Early Learners asked fantastic questions about costumes, learning their lines, and character choice. They even had the chance to give the high school girls a sneak peek at their own play, which they have been practicing every day for in preparation for Junior Drama Night. 

S practices her sewing skills using wool and burlap. She starts out with the idea of making a small bag, but after working for a while S decides that she is making a tooth. Stop by the class to see what she has created!

Z carefully pulls the blue wool from the ball, learning how to find the same strand on the other side of the label. She works very slowly to get the amount of wool that she wants for her project. 

G models her new belt. She has spent a lot of time very focused on threading the wool in and out of the burlap to create a design. G tells us that the needle is like a sword. She is disappointed that the burlap is much itchier than planned, and that the belt won’t end up getting too much wear. 

K has lost a bottom tooth, and is thrilled to add this to our class “tooth tally”. 

S works very independently on her 3D Figures booklet. Instead of gluing down the pre-cut 3D figures, she opts for tracing the outline, and adding in the inner lines (some dotted, some straight) to show that the figures are 3D.

Z giggles as she reads out her Mother’s Day card. She has worked hard writing 10 things that she loves about her mom, and happy to share her ideas with her friends.

S and G make pathways for the animals in the salt while they work together at Light. They use the rolling tubes to move salt from the main tray to the insides of the animal shapes. 

Today for Writer’s Workshop, we decided to try writing on the roof. G noticed three window cleaners on a building beside the school, which made for great writing inspiration. K, Z and G are hard at work drawing what they notice and adding the words to tell the full story.

G and G take care of their rooftop planters by giving them water this afternoon. It is hard to remember to bring water up each recess, but with all of the rain over the past couple of weeks, their seeds are sprouting!

M gives me a toothless grin from the top of the mini-house. The girls enjoy “Early Learner” recesses, because this means that they get to climb onto the roof (because there is more direct supervision). They are great about knowing how safe they feel, and what choices are good to make for their bodies. 

K practices her skipping on the roof. She has a good handle on swinging the skipping rope over her head and jumping over, and is only struggling with the length of this skipping rope. 

It is dog day again in the Early Learning class! Brie brought her other dog, Whiskey, in for a visit and the girls are thrilled. Whiskey was so well behaved, and the girls were calm and thoughtful when spending time with him.

The girls worked together to make shapes with their bodies in Physical Education. This task required spatial awareness, body positioning, making corrections, working together, and a great understanding of letters.