Did any of your children tell you that Candace, our fish, died last week? We spent a lot of time talking about it at circletime, and it has come up a lot during the week. Some of the kids saw the fish barely swimming during the after school program and were very positive that she was going to be just fine. The next morning I told them that she had died and we went around the circle with the rainbow talking stick saying what we wanted to about Candace. Some of the kids really wanted Candace to come back, one said that her mom said that they might meet again, and another said that a Bandaid might help. I told them that Candace came from the pet store, and that she may have been very old. Overall, it was a sweet tender time. The class pretty much unanimously voted that our next fish be named Candace the Third.
We continued playing with our pumpkins, went on an acorn walk, and did several art projects with colorful leaves. I made some acorn peg people for our treehouse, and filled the house with bright leaves and acorns for some seasonal small world play.
We enjoyed two rainy days in which we DID get outside to play in our muddy river. J wanted to know where the fog comes from so we did a demonstration of how to make a cloud. We actually made fog in a jar. Now we point to our mountains when we are outside and talk about fog. Bring me your children’s big questions and we’ll see if we can answer them here.
We did some planting this week, filling a small pumpkin with dirt to see if it’s seeds will sprout. We also planted an amaryllis named “Bulby” that we will measure as it grows. I have all the supplies for planting our small forest.
This week we burst into our November art study. On Friday I introduced the term Primary Color and we free painted with primary colors. Today we’ll read a book about color mixing and start experimenting in earnest. Does your child have a favorite artist? We’ll have a very dramatic dress up day on the day that our art show opens, so start thinking. The costume could be an artist, an art supply, or even, gasp, a concept. We’ll work on answering the question “What is art?”
