We began our day with a springtime spirit walk in the warm drizzle. We kept silent as we walked and we opened our senses. These are the observations we made upon our return:
Charlotte: I saw pretty rocks and new grass.
Kate O’: I felt warm air on my face. I heard woodpeckers. I saw a fallen tree with lots of holes in it. It looked like an apartment building for mice, or voles, or chipmunks! I also saw daffodils and forsythia!
Rhiannon: I felt, smelled, and heard the rain falling.
Stella: I felt soft, green moss. I heard my feet make a jumping sound on a hard rock.
Sydney: I saw everything around me.
Zoe: I heard the wind and a woodpecker, and I saw a daffodil.
*Kate D. not present today.
We’re having fun with letters and rhyming words. We’ve been working with finger spelling and decoding, and practicing vowel sounds with short words such as “at,” “it,” “in,” “et,” etc. We then add consonants to the beginning and read all the words that we have made on our letter boards. Just using the letter boards and manipulating letters seems to be fun for friends. I begin by placing a small word on the board, and we sound it out using our ASL alphabet. Then they place the same word on the board five to six times. After the board is set, then we add a consonant to the beginning of each of the words, and together we gather around and sound them out. We work in pairs, finding letters, placing them on the letter boards, and then come together as a group to sound them out. Today we went through A-F in our Peace Travelers Alphabet Book, using our finger spelling, and naming the words that begin with each letter. Many of the friends are beginning to read, and others are just getting the hang of associating sounds with various letters. Ask your friend about our voice warm up in the water, and you will see our ASL signs in combination with sounds and words associated with bodies of water (lakes, rivers, brooks, oceans, etc.).
In terms of early math skills, we have explored basic patterns, pattern blocks and had a brief introduction to geometric shapes. We will go on to explore patterns found in numerals from 1-100. In the next month we will be counting by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s. Eventually, friends will become proficient in counting to 100. Once that is mastered, the sky is the limit in terms of predicting what comes next (at any particular point) in the language of numerals!
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