I was asked this week how it came about that Kindergartners are going to construct a strawbale playhouse on the cycle circle side of the playground.  The project is funded, in part, by the Emily Bailey Fund and a few other donors.  Their generosity empowers the children's work.  I've decided to dedicate the next several Kindergarten blogs to documenting the process of building the playhouse.  

     This is how it all began.  One day last fall, as we were sitting around the snack table, one Kindergartner declared, "We need another playhouse on that side," pointing to the cycle circle side of the playground.  Heads nodded in agreement and assent was voiced unanimously around the table.  I shared that the yellow house, also on the cycle circle side, has been built by Kindergartners ten years ago.  I explained that there once had been another playhouse built by Kindergartners on that side, but it had become unsafe with age and had to be removed.  "Would you like to build another one?" I asked.  Everyone was enthusiastic and positive. 

     Later that week we read a story from our class library about a group of nursery children, who build a climber for their playground with the help of a carpenter.  I explained that our playhouse would need to be built in the spring.  This would be a big undertaking, and I needed time to figure out how to support their plan.  The idea incubated over the winter, as we got busy with other work. 

     I live in a strawbale house.  My builders, Andy and Beth, live next door and have very close ties to the school, as alumnae, and former parents, and teacher.  My first Kindergarten group at Antioch School, to celebrate brown days, helped apply mud plaster in one of the rooms in my house.  For these reasons I thought strawbale would be a good choice of construction material for this playhouse--we have local expertise, the method allows for hands-on participation by the children, and additionally, it is a great example of a green building technique that is well adapted for this area. 

     In the type of serendipitous events that I find so frequently teaching here, on the early spring day that I planned to remind the children of their playhouse idea and to see if there was interest in strawbale construction, a Kindergartner shared his experience over the previous weekend of building a hay house at the farm of a relative.  Immediately, he inquired, "Could we make our playhouse out of hay?"  During the discussion that ensued,  he established that the hay was in rectangular bales, but that the house he built was not able to be saved, because the hay had to be fed to the horses.  "We don't have horses here," remarked one Kindergartner.  "Do we have any animals on our playground that would eat hay?"  I asked.  Another Kindergartner nodded knowingly.  "Deer!" she announced.  

     This was the point that I introduced the idea of using straw bales.  There was some further discussion of whether hay could still be used, if we were going to cover it with mud plaster anyway, but eventually we settled on straw as the material.  While I confirmed our plans with Andy and Beth, the children made preliminary sketches and zeroed in on the important design features.  Andy provided us with scale model straw bale blocks to help the children explore their ideas.  The children decided that there would be four walls with a window, a door, a tunnel entrance, and a slide exit from a loft area on each respectively.  Andy built a scale model to help the children further visualize their plan.   

     The children decided to locate the new playhouse, where the former one had been, near sand hill.  We did some preliminary measuring to get an initial idea of scale.  Last week Andy and the children staked out the location.  The children posted the following sign on one of the stakes, "Dear Nursery, YG, and OG, Please do not move these posts.  Love, Kindergarten." 

     If the weather cooperates, next week framing will begin, and their plan will begin to become a reality.  Stay tuned for more updates and photos of our work!

     Spring has come to Kindergarten at last!  The children were glad to be back together again after spring break.  It was over 10 degrees (celsius) every day last week and made it over 15 degrees at least one day.  The children decided that we should use celsius, instead of fahrenheit, after someone noticed the two sets of numbers on our new thermometer.  When I explained the difference, one child exclaimed, "Well, that makes more sense.", referring to the celsius scale.  The others all agreed.  They have enjoyed switching from being able to go out without a jacket at 50 degrees (fahrenheit) to 10 degrees (celcius). 

     Last Wednesday was our annual trip to the zoo, as we celebrated Zz days.  The children previewed maps of the zoo and discussed what animals they were especially interested in seeing--polar bears and gorillas topped the list.  They helped plan what friends would ride together for the hour trip to and from our destination.  We sang the song "We're Going to the Zoo" and read the book, If Anything Ever Goes Wrong at the Zoo. 

     The day of the trip was cloudy, but not cold.  The children opted to stay together as one group through the day.  They started in the North American area, so that we would be sure to have time for the polar bears.  We also were able to see grizzly bears, prong horns, reindeer, bison, pumas, bobcats, a wolverine, wolves, and eagles in this area.  There were a lot of fish swimming in the water in the polar bears' habitat.  Though the polar bears were sunning themselves and walking around the dry areas of their space, some of the children speculated that the fish were there as a polar bear snack.  We had made plans to have lunch in an indoor area, which was fortunate, as a thunderstorm came though at that time.  After lunch, we toured the Congo--where the children's favorites were the gorillas and the bonobos.  We also spent time at the manatee exhibit, where we learned that the rays and fish are permanent residents, but the sea turtles and manatees, who can be rehabilitated, will go back to the wild.  The children enjoyed seeing the sharks, coral, and other salt water creatures in the aquarium building.  Finally, we made a stop at the reptile house, which was a favorite for some of the children as well.  It was a lovely day together at the zoo, and the children enjoyed revisiting the maps back at school the next day and using our toy animals to recreate their favorite exhibits. 

     Another exciting plan we are moving forward with is the children's idea for a new playhouse on the cycle circle side of the playground.  The idea of a hay house was discussed, as one child had made one at a relative's farm.  The house had to be fed to the horses though, so after some discussion, we decided we would use straw instead of hay.  We are exploring working with Beth and Andy Holyoke, as our artists/builders-in-residence for the project.  The children had done some preliminary brainstorming and sketching with Brian and me, before spring break.  Last week they were able to use some scale model straw bale blocks to test out some of their ideas.  We also took a look at our possible site and did some measuring to see how big the house might be. 

     We closed out the week by setting fifteen chicken eggs in the incubator in our classroom.  We will begin Ee days next week by looking at how the chicken embryos will develop, candling our eggs to see if they are all growing into chicks, and, of course, turning them three times a day to mimic the way a mother hen would move them in the nest.  Thanks to three of our chicks from last year--our current hens:  Easter, Poppy, and Miracle--we will be able to hard boil some eggs for snack this week, as well.

     Kindergartners have continued exploring language with weekly letter days.  For Mm days the children listened to biographies of Martin Luther King, Jr., worked with magnets, and built a maze out of the big blocks for Mocha and Pistachio, our class guinea pigs. 

     We began Bb days by creating a ball pit in our room.  We washed and dried each ball, made rules for safe use, and made a list for taking turns.  The children also planned a day to bring stuffed bears, bananas, and baby dolls from home to school.  On that day we did the "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" chant, sang "Teddy Bear Picnic", and read My Brown Bear Barney.  We began our first read-aloud chapter book, The Boxcar Children.  Many children worked on fuse bead projects.  Placing the tiny beads on the pegs is a great exercise in small motor control and patience!  We put bird seed out for the birds in the feeders--one in the big maple tree and one attached to our window by the snack table--and on the floor of the little red house, where it is under roof and less likely to get covered in snow.  The children have delighted in watching the great variety of birds (and at least one gray squirrel) enjoying a snack, while we are having ours.  So far we have seen the following kinds of birds at the feeders on the tire swing side of the playground:  tifted titmouse, cardinal, house finch, slate-colored junco, chickadee, blue jay, crow, gold finch, wren, house sparrow, white-throated sparrow, nuthatch, downy woodpecker, and Northern flicker.

     One recent, cold, February afternoon, Kindergartners bundled up and headed for a long-awaited walk in the Glen.  Upon entering the Glen the children immediately noticed that the temperature in the woods was warmer than on the school grounds or the bike path.  We saw many deer tracks and one observant Kindergartner discovered that a fox had followed the trail for awhile.  Here are some comments I overheard Kindergartners say during the hike: 

"The things I like about snow are you can see tracks and it sparkles."

"Let's follow this fox!"

"We found a paradise!  There's a tent and a boat"  (said while observing some rock formations)

"Avast ye mateys!  Hoist the sail!"

     For Tt days the children loved using the mini trampoline.  They again created safety rules and a list for taking turns.  Here are their safety rules:  1.  Only jump on the black part.  Don't pick on the blue part.  2.  Walk or step off.  3.  One person at a time.  4.  Keep your distance from the trampoline, when someone is jumping on it.  5.  If you're jumping on the trampoline, you should have your socks on and take your shoes off.  The children also planned a tea party for snack with cinnamon apple tea and cinnamon toast. 

     Using floor puzzles and their own art work, the children created an ocean in our class library for Oo days.  The children drew and cut out whales, fish, sharks, jellyfish, and even a sunken pirated ship, complete with treasure.  We dove into the library for the rest of the week.  Transforming this space seemed to lead to other imaginative transformations and a further blossoming of intricate dramatic play, often including the entire group, for the rest of the week.  The familiar kitten themed play became mom and babies with almost all Kindergartners being the babies.  Later the babies went to school and the mom became the teacher.  The trampoline was propped up and became the door to the elevator--the new way to get to the loft.  

     The week of Valentine's Day found the Kindergartners busily making cards for family and friends.  There was much writing, spelling, cutting, gluing, thinking, discussing, and planning going on surrounding the cards.  The children were eager and appreciative on Friday, when the cards were delivered and received.  For our Valentine's Day snack, the children decided upon eggs (from Easter, Poppy, and Miracle, our school hens) and cinnamon toast.  We used a pancake shaper to cook the eggs into a heart shape for the occasion. 

     The children are already looking forward to celebrating Lunar New Year and Dd days by making the dragon for the traditional Kindergarten dragon dance to begin our Lunar New Year Feast.  The Kindergarten had made almond cookies in the past, but this year's group had decided to make an American Chinese dessert--fortune cookies!

     The children came back from winter break well-rested and happy to be together again.  We began preparing to start letter days by reading some of our alphabet books--the Miss Bindergarten books have become some of our new favorites--, learning the letter sounds song, and reviewing our sign language alphabet.  Following our snow day, the children noticed animal tracks on the tire swing side of the playground.  We found several animal track identification books in our library, and planned an animal track hunt for our walk that Thursday.  

     Although the children really wanted to walk in the Glen, the frigid temperatures kept us closer to school.  We found many tracks walking through the Enchanted Forest.  We found deer, squirrel, and even some fox or coyote possibly.  Around the playground that week, we found bird and dog or coyote tracks as well.  Using plaster of paris in Art and Science with Brian, Kindergartners made molds of their favorite tracks.  

     Last week we began our letter day celebrations with the letter Ss.  The children were very excited to make our first student book.  Whenever a student's name starts with the letter of the day, each Kindergartner makes a page for that person, and we compile the pages to make a book.  By the end of letter days, every Kindergartner will have a book made by her/his classmates.  The children also started our word collections by dictating words that start with Ss.  We wrote them on star shaped construction paper and posted them on our door for the week.  Some Kindergartners like to identify the word they have contributed to the collection, and some older students like to come by to read the current collection.  We move our old collections into the room to make room for new ones, as we move through the letters of the alphabet. 

     We celebrated Ss with more sewing--some children finishing previous work and others starting sewing stuffed stars.  Several children conducted experiments with salt--dissolving it in water to make a solution, leaving it to evaporate, stacking different strengths of solutions colored different colors, and putting the different strengths of solutions outside to see which would freeze first.  A snack time conversation about sound moving objects led us to explore seeing the sound waves in water, using a set of glasses. 

     The children decided to get the glasses out again next week for Mm days, as they found they could make music with them.  They are also interested in learning about Martin Luther King, Jr. and making another student book.