OCTOBER 2023 NEWSLETTER
The Importance of the Outdoors
At Garden Gate children spend hours outdoors each day - our playground is designed as an outdoor studio and our daily walks through the Featherstone campus and MVLandbank trails inspire curiosity and wonder.
As educators, we have made exciting discoveries around the ways social relationships are formed outdoors. In addition to the emotional benefits that nature has - generating positive emotions such as calmness, joy and creativity - we have seen changes in the ways children engage with each other as they play in nature. With only natural materials and their own imaginations, the children rely on each other for inspiration and play.
“Learning is constructed by the child during their relationship with objects, people and nature. This idea is the basis of Piaget's theory of cognitive constructivism. Each new discovery is assimilated and accommodated alongside what the child already knew about the world, making it increasingly broader. The activities that most stimulate young children are those that involve movements and the process of action. Sounds, sensations, touch and body movement attract little ones’ attention.” Outdoor experiences provide unlimited opportunity for whole body movement, big body work and full sensory immersion.
At Garden Gate we also rely heavily on Vygotsky’s theory of social constructivism which “focuses on the collaborative nature of learning. Knowledge develops from how people interact with each other, their culture, and society at large. Students rely on others to help create their building blocks, and learning from others helps them construct their own knowledge and reality.” In our outdoor environments, our children co-create knowledge about the world and each other.
In the Gallery
Our mask project has culminated in a stunning collection of face coverings made from loose parts and found objects. Through social media, the children’s work has been shared with the artist and the curators responsible for the original Featherstone exhibit - they are thrilled to see the work of these “budding artists”!
The current gallery show, Summer Celebrations and Reflections has been extended until October 29 so there’s still plenty of time to see the show with your family! Featherstone is accepting applications for the 2023 Holiday Gift Show now through Monday, October 16th! For artists: drop-off for the show is Monday, November 6th and Tuesday, November 7th. Doors will open for shoppers Monday, November 13th through Sunday, December 17th.
STUDIO ONE
We have made many discoveries on the deck, in the yard, on the trails and at the stage! We’ve observed the wild geese from our deck, read the book The Day the Goose Got Loose by Reeve Lindenbergh and gone on a “wild goose chase” through the labyrinth. We’ve watched the mole’s burrowing around the stage. The children have been noticing a variety of sounds outside these days, including airplanes, birds and lawn mowers/leaf blowers. It’s been fun to pin point and identify where they are coming from. Oftentimes we hear a bird call or airplane, but don’t see it.
Most importantly, our children are discovering new things about each other everyday! They are discovering similar interests, sharing ideas, helping each other out and creating games together. We will be sending home a book with a page for every family to fill out and share so that we can continue to build relationships and learn more about our Garden Gate community. Each child will have an opportunity to take the book home when it’s finished!
Also, we are continuing to explore and create things to look through - please continue to send in interesting items for our “makers’ basket”! And thanks for all you have already sent in!!
STUDIO TWO
On our daily walks, children in Studio Two have been listening to insects, looking for different types of birds and collecting materials to use in various classroom projects. We have noticed interesting things in the forest, like mushrooms, a hornets nest, lots of acorns, and leaves changing colors with the season. We also had the amazing opportunity to see butterflies released in our garden when Olive brought in her butterfly habitat! This week, we took a trip to the community garden to see what changes had happened over the past few months.
Our upcoming curriculum has us thinking about things that fly, and children are making kites to bring outdoors. We are so excited to run down the hill and fly a kite!
KINDERGARTEN
Kindergarteners have been busy, exploring the outdoors, especially with this amazing autumn weather. Seeing that the days are getting colder, children in the kindergarten room have been invested in creating habitats that will sustain wildlife throughout the winter months, and will be observable in our garden, and from our classroom windows. We are in the beginning stages of building a home for bees, and are researching the behavior and the needs of a bee colony. And, of course, moles have been a fascinating subject. Children are observing mole behavior, studying and re-creating, burrows, and finding common characteristics of animals that build their homes underground. In the process of the study, we will also be building houses for the birds - who we began feeding again - and will work with special artists and guests as we move through this curriculum.
The Kindergarteners have been hard at work writing a chapter book! Here’s Chapter 3, inspired by recent observations and study of moles.
Chapter 3: The Three Kindergartners Go Underground
The three kindergartners found a hole in the road. John Frank took a look and put his hand in the hole and something bit his finger. They knew it was a star nosed mole. So they were like “Wow! I wonder if we could turn into a star-nosed mole?” So how did they get turned into moles? They were just thinking so hard about it, and they just turned into moles!
After Lemmy became a mole, there was a witch, who then turned John Frank into a mole while Lemmy was still digging in the dirt. Lemmy was still working on his tunnel. Lemmy used to be a person, but now he had lots of flat black fur and his hands were turning pink. He had another thumb and sharp claws.
The two kindergarteners, now moles, were in the tunnel but they had forgot Edward and his dad, so John Frank called up to them, “Just think about being a mole so you can turn into one and come with us in the tunnel”! Edward became a tiny person and joined John Frank and Lemmy in the mole tunnel.
Edward couldn’t eat anything because he was still human, but the mole kindergartners were eating worms. They stored the extra worms in their food station.
A fox came by and John Frank and Lemmy were at the surface. John Frank was trying to catch a ladybug. John Frank got eaten by the fox, but Lemmy went under the ground back into the tunnel. He knew the fox was out hunting. Fortunately, John Frank was still alive, and in the fox‘s mouth. He pulled out all of his teeth and blood came out. John Frank escaped.
Edward was still digging in the tunnel and he had sharp nails because he never cut them. Even though Edward was a good digger, Lemmy was still able to dig perfectly like a mole with his big muscles, and perfectly shaped claws for digging.
They wanted to go back to the surface, so Edward’s dad wished very hard that they weren’t moles anymore. All the kindergartners, including Edward, who had been sad, came back to the surface as regular humans.
THE END
