Young Toddlers and Toddlers
Today children in the young toddler and toddler program continued their exploration and
work with pastels. Children were invited into the studio to create their portfolio drawer
decorations. Each child has a special drawer where they will keep all their art and work at
school. Eventually this work will go into their portfolios.
As children explored pastels today they observed how they could use the pastels in
different ways. Gigi loved that she could add colors over colors and mix them all around.
Brody noticed that he could push down and the color of the pastel was brighter. Sierra’s
eyes opened wide and a huge smile spread across her face as she added each color to
her paper.
When asked what children were drawing this is what children had to say…
“Gigi draw her family. See mommy, daddy and Georgy!” -Gigi
“This is elephant!” -Sierra
“This is a tree. It’s green.” Brody
Young Toddlers and Toddlers
Children began their morning with getting their photos taken both individually, with our entire Early Childhood community and then with our entire school!
After a hike to the Upper Campus and securing and returning our red wagon for more fun in the play yard, we hiked up to Sagebrush Hill for another Woods Journey. Children gathered more wood for the fire ring. We also noticed that many of us had burrs all over our clothes,
which was cause for some alarm. However, after being reassured that they would come off, more play and further exploration continued. Children were curious about what made them stick to them. It is starting to look like fall at Sagebrush Hill. Children were noticing the yellow leaves!
Preschool
Children in the preschool classroom learned how to wake up watercolors today. During meeting they observed how we wake each color up one at a time using only a little water. Children were eager to paint and express themselves through art!
“Good morning orange!” – Lila
“Good morning pink! It’s turning pink! Pink like my dress. Now I wake up blue.” – Leah
“It’s every pink. It’s a bird. I make a beak for the bird” – Millie
“What does brown make?” – Parke
“Do you see how it changed?” – Arlo
“Black is a pretty color!” – Parke
Children continue to collaborate during play. Today children worked together to travel to “Baby Island” where they could take care of their babies who were sick. They helped each other find medicine.
Pre-Kindergarten
Today children discussed what tools are available to use when they are feeling sad, frustrated, or scared. Children drew pictures of their ideas and added some color with the language of
watercolor.
“This is the goo timer. It’s the pink and blue one.” -Colton
“I’m drawing clouds and trees because they can help people feel calm.” -Louisa
“I drew a tic tac toe board. It’s a really easy game and it makes me happy”’ -Paige
“I’m drawing my lovey. It’s a rainbow uni-dolphin” -Elsie
These beautiful images will be hung near our calm chair so that children can remember comforting routines in challenging moments.
Outdoor Explorations
Creating space for tree climbing is an important piece of our nature-based program, so today in outdoor explorations one of the available choices for children was that of joining the “tree climbing committee.” This committee was formed for a small, responsible group of children
to work together to investigate how to enjoy tree climbing safely. While investigating, committee members created a short list of safety guidelines that they’re excited to share with their friends during outdoor explorations meetings later this week. As they took turns investigating how to be safe while having fun tree climbing, children also continued work on their forts and explored sticky sap with intrigue. Following a post-investigation meeting, children established the following safety guidelines:
“There should only be two kids in the tree at a time so we don’t bump into each other.” – Etta
“There should always be a teacher watching climbing below us! – Addie
“Only climb as high as you feel safe.” – Louisa
“Don’t shake the branches!” – Ronan
“Check a branch to see if it’s stable before climbing on it.” – Soren
Studio with Preschool & Pre-K
Preschool and Pre-K children were invited into the studio today to work on their portfolio
drawer decorations. Each child has a portfolio drawer where they will keep all their work
throughout the year. Several times throughout the year children will be invited to work
with their advisor to pick some of their favorite pieces to go into their portfolios. These
portfolios will travel with them throughout the Mountain Academy journey!
Children were invited to make a beautiful decoration to make their drawer their own.
This year children are exploring the medium of pastels for their decorations. Children enjoyed exploring with pastels today.
“It’s kind of like a crayon but it feels kind of different!” -Jackson
“Look, you can rub the colors together.” -Colton
“There are so many oranges, I think I will use them all.” -Riley
“You can draw up and down or side to side.” -Arlo
