Day 5- The Sun Returned, Albeit for a Short Bit, and Making Paper

Today we began a new routine of starting and ending the day outside. I began this practice last year while in Burlington and found it supportive of kids's need for movement, relationships with peers and nature, as well as easing into a busy day of Kindergarten. The change was originally inspired by a group of Kindergarten teachers in Ontario and subsequent conversations with them via Twitter and their blog comment section. The practice is also an underlying support for building self-regulation skills over time. Children who arrived prior to heading outside kindly helped to set up the gathering space with crates and cushions.

Kid's practiced building with various shapes using both the Smartboard, physical pieces, and the iPad app Pattern Shapes. We also made a connection with another Kindergarten working with similar materials via Twitter!

Lot's of book making occurred after lunch and a reading the The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. This lead to a short video call the The Silent Friends and our first group conversation leading-up to introducing the The Global Goal for Sustainability: Life on Land. We will unveil this goal tomorrow, however we began our work toward this goal by recycling old paper and using it to make new paper. The pulp was created with a blender and water after kids voted on the color they thought would emerge for each batch. See today's photos for videos of the pulp and much more!