Fantastic Flying Fish

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Friends were buzzing with excitment to meet Miss Gene’s baby in person this week! Baby Simone came in with her daddy, and was the perfect model for us to compare how much we have grown and changed. We looked at her clothes, shoes and body, and confirmed that once upon a time we were all this small (yes even the teachers!) We talked about what babies can do, and Simone showed us how she can roll on to her stomach from her back, and kick her legs when standing with support. We used unifex cubes to count how tall Simone is, and discovered she is 31 unifex cubes tall….most of the Preschool friends are 60+ unifex cubes tall Special thanks to Miss Gene and her husband Ibarra for sharing their gorgeous bundle of joy with us!

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Costume Day provides a wonderful example of the emergent/ negotiated component of our Preschool program, wherein student interests are used to promote meaningful learning experiences.  The Flying Fish have been interested in costumes since the beginning of the year. We have talked about the fact that costumes can make us feel like the character is real, and that different characters elicit different emotions i.e. a monster character may make us feel scared. It was quickly discovered that the majority of our class love to dress up, and that many friends enjoy reflecting on costumes they have worn to date. The first week of our new school year Santiago popped the question: “Can I please wear my Spiderman costume to school tomorrow?” In order to be fair and ethical, we decided to find out if there were other friends who would like to wear a costume to school….and so Costume Day was born The team used their communication and collaboration skills to plan for the day. Posters were made to inform our community about the event, and letters were written to all Preschool classes inviting them to participate.  We decided; 1) To wear our costumes to school and bring a change of clothes in case we get hot 2) To snack and have lunch in our costumes 3) To act out a story using all of our characters and 4) To have a Costume Day Parade. Our planning skills combined with a fun and purposeful event resulted in a fabulous Costume Day for all!

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The Flying Fish went to the Science Pond early this week, to wish our turtle friends a Happy New Year. When we arrived there was great concern for the turtles, as something was floating on top of the water, and it looked like paper. We were worried that it may not be good for the turtles or fish. When the class was asked what we could do, Curren Pace said “Write a letter to the principal!”. We returned to the classroom and the older friends did just that. Mr. Adam Campbell visited us the next day, which was perfect timing as we gave him our letter. Mr. Adam sought the help of Mr. Mike Flynn to investigate the turtle pond, and much to everyone’s relief it was discovered that what looked like paper was actually colored fish food. We let out a big sigh of relief, and wrote a final letter to Mr. Adam and Mr. Mike, thanking them for diligently following up with our concern. The Flying Fish team felt happy, knowing that we had cared for our turtles. We also felt a strong sense of community, as our voices had been heard and responded to. Well done to the Flying Fish friends for being so caring and ethical!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Sincere apologies for the delay in getting our holiday concert video to you! Enjoy!

Anissa, Petr and Gene