Week three is here! In week three we are learning about pine cones and other seed pods as well as our brains. We’re also investigating balance and learning about the Autumnal Equinox.

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Circle Time (every day)

• Song: Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley Grow
  • We are learning new songs now that Kai really enjoys singing and has begun to pick up the words to songs we sing all the time. Each song is scheduled for two weeks, so that she has plenty of time to pick up the lyrics and hand gestures.
• PE: Butterfly Yoga
  • Kai loves Cosmic Kids Yoga and we are working on Butterfly Pose this week.
• Calendar: Seasons
  • We’re learning about how seasons change from fall to winter, and what signs we look for to know winter is near (snow, trees without leaves, etc.)

Monday:

Outdoor Nature Study: Pine Cones

• We’re on the hunt for pine cones and other seed pods.  We will be recording the seeds in our nature journals and practicing counting them and sorting them by type. 

Process Art and Handwork: Pine Cone Mandala

• We are learning about radial symmetry and colors, and making beautiful nature mandalas with the pine cones and seed pods we find.

Tuesday:

Indoor Nature Study: Evergreens

• We will be using diagrams and three part cards to learn about the different parts of evergreen trees and talk about what makes a tree evergreen. With three part cards we often play matching and memory games, as well as vocab building.

Life Skill: Setting the Table

• Tuesday is tea time! First, Kai is going to set the table. We’re working on putting the utensils in the correct places. Then we are going to have a treat and some lemonade in a tea cup and read a book from the book basket.
• We also do a math activity from Mathematical Reasoning Beginning 1.

Wednesday

Science: Brain

• We’re learning about the human brain this week. We will be using three-part cards and our magnetic human body, and also playing “Your Brain Says,” also known as Simon Says.

Sensory: Balance

• We are going to break out the balance and scoops, and play with beans, lentils, and all sort of other stuff to see how many lentils weigh the same as a bean and investigate balance.

Thursday

Seasonal: Autumnal Equinox

• We are celebrating the autumnal equinox this week. We will talk about balance and how the night and the day are now the same length.

Kitchen: Cookie Cutters/Cookies

• We’re making cookies and practicing with cookie cutters.

Friday

Ancestor Tale: Dragon Story

• Instead of reading a story from a book, Fridays are for oral story telling. I learn a new story every other week to tell Kai, and we act out the story with props. Usually the story gets acted out again and again during playtime and bed time, as Kai tends to really enjoy this kind of story telling.

Painting and Drawing

• On Fridays, I tell a story and Kai is invited to paint or draw something from it.

Specific Materials for Week 3:

• Bucket Balance

See our School Supplies post for general supplies used throughout the year.

Cut-out Cookie Recipe

• 1 cup softened butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/1 teaspoons baking soda
• 3 1/2 cups flour

1. Cream butter and sugar together
2. Mix in eggs, almond and vanilla extracts
3. Add in salt, baking soda, and flour
4. Dough should be stiff, if necessary, add another 1/2 cup flour
5. Roll out dough to approximately 3/16th of an inch
6. Cut out cookies and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
7. Bake for 8-10 minutes  at 350F until golden
8. Cool on wire rack
9. Frost and decorate!
10. (They are even better on the second day).