Earlier this summer some friends of mine asked if we could do some more sewing. So, I thought I would present them with a new sewing challenge: The Cross Stitch. I asked my friends to draw a pattern on a piece of fabric that they liked and then try to follow that pattern with a needle and thread. And, it was such a beautiful day, we thought we could bring our sewing adventure outside! Some friends decided to practice threading their needle multiple times, while others stayed with the project until it was finished. No matter how far my friends dove into the project, they are showed lots of dexterity using their fine motor skills!

After nap that afternoon, some friends asked if we could do more cross stitching, so we made some more patterns and sewed some more beautiful artwork. 

Mesa loved making her cross stitch so much that she gave me step-by-step instructions on how to make one myself! 

I hope you enjoyed the photos and video I was able to capture. I loved learning how to sew with this amazing group! 

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Monday afternoon, we decided to go for an adventure. It was an extremely hot day, so after nap we took a field trip to our favorite frozen yogurt shop, Soyo. We we got there, my friends all had one scoop of strawberry and one scoop of raspberry frozen yogurt. It was so fun going on an adventure to get our yummy treat. Even Baby Slade got in on the action! 

On our walk back to school our friend, Lyle, invited us into her back yard to pick fresh strawberries from her garden. It was so neat getting to see all of Lyle's beautiful gardens. My friends especially liked walking under the plant archway that lead to Lyle's strawberry patch. Thank you, Lyle, for sharing your delicious fruit with us! 

What a great way to spend an afternoon! I can't wait until we can go on our next adventure! 

Thomas and Felix decided they wanted to do some reading. They found two extremely large books in our library and sat down to explore their contents. Felix was investigating a World Atlas and Thomas was examining a book all about the space exploration that has taken place over the past 50 years. 

Suddenly, Felix came across an illustration of the evolution of life on our planet. What took place next was an incredible discussion between Isabel, Thomas, and Felix while they tried to navigate the theory of evolution. Along the way, the conversation morphed into the physics of the deep ocean. I was able to video tape a small portion of their dialogue, but the video doesn't include how they were able to tie our investigation of fossils and dinosaurs into the evolution timeline. Their ability to understand such a complicated theory and connect it to the learning that has been taking place in our classroom over the past year really shows the depth of their cognitive development. Please enjoy the short video clip I was able to capture during this incredible learning exchange! 

Last Thursday, Elliot's dad, Spencer, came in to play some music and my friends were more than ready! As soon as they knew Spencer had arrived, they rushed into the resting room and grabbed instruments, eager to start playing! 

We all had a blast singing, playing, and dancing! Below are a couple of videos of some of the songs we sang that day - Old MacDonald Had a Farm, and an all time Steppers favorite, The Ghost Song! Enjoy!! 

On Friday, I was able to do some more work with my little sewing group. And, not only that, some new friends decided they wanted to join in on the fun! 

Even though Charlie was supposed to be the first person to sew, he graciously offered to let Sela and Isabel go first so they could finish their pillows. Isabel and Sela were very appreciative of Charlie's kind gesture and took him up on his offer.  They started with plumping up the pillows with stuffing and then got to work stitching the pillows closed!

Next up was Charlie. He decided he wanted to make a very small pillow out of the same fabric that Ada used. After we had finished sewing three sides, I asked Charlie if he wanted to put some stuffing inside and he said, "No. It won't be comfy if its not flat." And, since he chose to sew a smaller pillow, we were able to finish the whole project in one sitting! 

Jojo and Felix asked if they could join the group and make some pillows too. They chose some fabric and were able to figure out how to make a stitch pretty quickly. They worked so fast that they were also able to finish their pillow during the same sewing session. 

Everyone worked so hard on their sewing projects! The look of pride on their faces when they had the finished product in their hands was absolutely priceless. And, the pillows did a magnificent job carrying our little dreamers off to sleep.  

Some friends and I thought it would be exciting to take on some sewing projects. Since I don't know how to sew, I thought this would be a great learning adventure for all of us! 

Sela, Maggie, Gael, Lincoln, Isabel, and Ada decided they wanted to be in my first sewing group. We thought about what a good first project would be and Sela suggested making pillows for our stuffies and loveys for rest time. Everyone loved the idea, so we ran with it. 

First, we practiced on some sewing cards with some plastic embroidery needles. It didn't take my friends very long to figure out how to make their stitches. 

First up to try sewing for the first time was Sela. She picked out her fabric, and threaded her own needle. We used a metal embroidery needle. It was sharper than the plastic one, but still easy to grasp because of the bigger size. Sela was able to sew 2/3 of the pillow in one go! 

Next up was Maggie. She picked out her fabric and also threaded her own needle! Her fabric was really thick so we had to improvise a way to get the needle through. We figured out that if we pushed the fabric onto the needle, it would push the needle through and she was able to make her stitch. Maggie was also able to sew almost her entire pillow on her first attempt! 

Isabel was the next one to try her hand at a needle and thread. She threaded her needle all on her own and was also able to sew her almost her whole pillow! 

Ada was the last friend that attempted her sewing project this day. And like the others before her, she did an amazing job! She picked out her fabric and threaded the needle by herself. We found it a little trickier sewing her fabric since it was a smaller piece, but Ada figured it out and almost finished sewing the whole pillow! 

Lincoln and Gael were very patient throughout this entire process and were extremely gracious when we realized we had ran out of time. We made a plan that their sewing projects would be the first ones we worked on the next time we went in the loft to sew. 

And even though their pillows weren't quite finished yet, both Sela and Isabel chose to sleep with them at rest time anyway. 

"It wasn't the most comfortable pillow to sleep on. But, I think once I put in the fluffy stuff, it will feel much better." - Sela 

Felix and Tai spent a long time this morning working together to create hidden ramps in the magnatile structures they were building for their cars. Below are two videos from some of their play. The first video is of the two of them interacting together while playing with the building they just made. The second video is Felix showing me how the cars can use some of the ramps to break through the walls of the structure. Enjoy! 

Today we thought it would be super fun to play musical chairs. Some of our friends had never played the game before, so our more experienced friends took turns explaining how the game works. 

"First, you sit in a chair." - Finch
"Yeah, and then you have to walk around until the music stops!" - Felix
"But, if you don't get to a chair when there isn't music you're out! But, don't worry, you can play again on the next game." - Finch

After the rules were hashed out, we started to play! 

We played five rounds of the game, working together to make it a huge success! 

The day after our volcano experiments outside, I set up the sensory table with some containers filled with either baking soda or vinegar and some materials my friends could use to help them manipulate the two ingredients. I didn't give any instruction to the kids before they started experimenting because I wanted to see how they would use the materials provided on their own. 

Felix, Thomas, Lincoln, and Levi were my first curious friends wanting to investigate the items in the sensory table. Thomas said, "I'm going to put on some goggles to keep my eyes safe. I don't want to get anything in my eyes while I'm doing my experiments!" We all agreed that was a great first step and also put on safety goggles. Then they got to work!

Ella decided to join in on the fun! Levi said, "I'm going to use a dropper!" and he grabbed one of the turkey basters we keep in the Science Area. It worked so well that other friends started using them too!  

We had a lot of fun investigating baking soda and vinegar in various ways and experiencing the ingredients when they were separate and mixed. Can't wait to see which way our budding scientists lead us next!

After some discussions friends and I had about volcanoes, last Wednesday, Tai and Mei brought in a volcano from their home that they had made with their mom. They wanted to show our friends how the volcano explodes. We talked about what ingredients we need to make the experiment work (vinegar and baking soda) and then we all watched the chemical reaction together!

After watching Tai and Mei show us how its done, everyone became very excited to try the experiment themselves. At first, we were going to just decorate our own volcanoes, but then we decided to skip the decorating and get down to the business of exploding them! 

It was fascinating to see the difference between how Tai and Mei's volcano would explode, and the types of explosions my other friends were experiencing with their own volcanoes. A lot of hypotheses were considered, but we concluded that Tai and Mei's volcano was exploding out because their volcano was more slanted and not as tall as the other friends' volcanoes.

We also hypothesized that when Tai and Mei's volcano exploded, we were seeing what happens when a volcano erupts and lava comes out, and what we saw the other volcanoes doing must be what the magma looks like inside of a volcano when it begins bubbling up, but isn't quite ready to explode yet.

Please enjoy this video of our experiment in action!