Busy times!

One of our Serpent friends treated us to a mini lesson on playing the violin.

There are things growing all over our room!

We're exploring new math concepts . . .  

. . . and writing about things we have growing.

We had 312 ladybugs in class this week.  

A little teamwork on a sunny day!

We had to let some of those ladybugs free!

Our bean plants have topped 15 inches tall, our caterpillars are in their chrysalis and the ladybugs (the insect ones) are munching on raisins.  We are a hive of growing and happy children (and insects).

Spring in the Ladybug room

It's all about plants and seeds in the Ladybug room.  We have been learning about growing plants from seeds and the parts of a flower.  We have beans sprouting in the window and in cups.  We have flower paintings decorating the walls.  We even have caterpillars growing-we can't wait for them to turn into butterflies!  We're learning some new math strategies playing 1-2 Nim.  Ask your child to teach the game to you!

We've been hard at work adding to our collection of Ladybug books.

A science experiment dissolving packing peanuts in warm water.

We learned a new math game.

We even beat the Stingrays at this game a few times.

Working on "Cactus Hotel".

I'm not sure who won this round!

Differentiation in Pre-k

Seabury School is all about differentiating the curriculum to meet the varying needs of our students.  This practice takes place from pre-k through 8th grade.  How does that work in pre-k?  The wonderful thing about small children is their ability to know what they need in terms of learning.  Given the right physical and emotional environment, quality materials, interested adults and open-ended activities, most children will work to the best of their ability.  They will push the limits of what we think they are capable of and make us shake our heads in wonder every time at what they can do.  The pictures here show what 4 and 5 year olds can do when they are asked to represent what they saw on a walk looking for things that are growing.  Some children drew pictures, some tallied what they saw and some wrote lists.  Each of these works represent a different developmental learning level.  At Seabury,

we respect and celebrate these differences and encourage growth in every activity. No one gets singled out as being more or less capable, but everyone gets encouraged to be and do the best they are able to at that moment.

First Friday

It's 1st Friday today!  We're reading and writing with partners from the whole school!  We love working with the older kids.

Celebrating the return of the sun!

It seems like we've been waiting forever for a sunny day!  Today, we're making the most of it!
It feels so good to play in the sand in the sun.

Elmer the Patchwork Elephant

This week we have been exploring the series of Elmer books by David McKee.  Elmer is a patchwork elephant who is different from all the other elephants in the herd.  This was the perfect opportunity to talk about differences among people.  We had several discussions about being different.  It's amazing how much these children understand.  In addition to valuable discussions, we wrote books and made some beautiful elephants!

A little engineering. . .

a little science experiment . . .

suface tension . . .

A little time with the big kids. . .

A little art . . .

a little being read to . . .

 a little reading . . .

a lot of fun with Elmer!