The Triangle Classroom

Triangle school doesn't resume until Wednesday, April 3 - one whole week from today. But Abby and Susan met today, as we usual do on Wednesdays, to look ahead. There is a LOT on the calendar for the next two months!  We are ready for something new and fresh - I think everyone is ready for Actual Spring, having recently progressed through Fake Spring and Third Winter. We take our eyes from the icy ground and raise them to the skies and blossoming trees. One of the best things to notice and admire are the beautiful clouds that form. There are several cloud books we will share, but some of them are It Looked Like Spilt Milk , When Cloud Became a Cloud, The Cloud Artist - there are so many good ones. Some of these naturally lead to science activities, like making a rain cloud in a jar, while other lend themselves more to the imagination and arts, like puffy paint cloud making and cloud dancing/yoga. Hopefully we will be graced with some lovely clouds flying over our magical playground...

I'm a collector. In the past I've collected things like pie birds, salt and pepper shakers, dishes, barware, certain types of books (travel, poetry, cookbooks, particular authors), wool to felt with and knit with - and, at one crazy time - cats. Now I'm down to one cat, and much less of everything else too.  However, one thing I will ALWAYS collect and cherish is the beauty of nature. Over the years, I've come to own several vintage cabinets that I display tiny finds of my nature walks. I call them my cabinets of curiosities. Here are a few examples: Over Spring Break, we would like you and your child to go on nature walks and look for tiny signs of Spring. Tiny tree buds, green grass, the first flowers bravely peeking, worms, nesting materials that a bird may use - you get the idea. Bring all items to school after break and we will fill our "cabinets of curiosities"  in the classroom!

Pizza Week has arrived! This is a tradition we (eagerly) enjoy, as Triangle families have before us. This is a fun, celebratory week that is just right for the week before Spring Break. We will have a selection of books to read, including  Pizza Day by Melissa Iwai, Pizza for the Queen, and one of Susan's favorites, Pete's a Pizza. We have quite a few pizza puzzles and educational/fun games - these will be available all week. Our little kitchen area will be decked out with a few special items. Pizza might be our inspiration for arts and crafts this week as we paint with the colors of the Italian flag, or make paper pizzas. And, of course, no pizza week would be complete without making our own REAL pizzas for snack - thank you parent Sara!

We've been learning about taking care of our bodies for the past several weeks - going to the doctor for annual immunizations, how to keep our teeth healthy through dental check-ups, daily brushing and flossing - as well as learning about our eye and ear health. We've added some healthy foods to try to give our body parts what they need - crunchy celery and cream cheese for our teeth, avocado bread for our eyes, spinach for good general popeye-ness.  This week we will continue to learn about nutrition and good food to eat. Some of the books we will have in our library to read at story time include  Alex Eats a Rainbow and Eating the Alphabet. Taste testing some unusual fruits and vegetables and making good things to eat are on our plate (ha!) this week, and we can add a little math by graphing personal preferences. Process art (experimenting with different materials with no end project in mind) will be available all week. If you have colorful produce advertisments from your gr...

As we March forth this week (sorry) and come together to finish the year strong, we are changing and simplifing a few things. Our lesson plans will still be delivered by blog, but we've switched platforms.  This week we will continue extending our health center, and learning more about what health professionals do to keep us in tip-top shape. Books we will be reading include,  Does an Owl Wear Eye Glasses ,  Robin's New Glasses , and  Douglas, You Need Glasses!  We will learn one way sightless people read by examining a braille board.  Art activities this week include process art, blindfold painting, watercolors, and playdough. With enough adults, we will make spaghetti sauce and carrot muffins at the cooking station. We will add eye patches, eye occluders, eye glasses, and an eye chart to our health center. Our worms and garden are probably in need of some TLC after a week off of school. We can all use some TLC after this week off of school.