Harvest Time

We have been adapting and preparing for winter in many different ways, from the clothes we wear to the foods we eat to our daily rhythms.  With all the bounty that autumn has offered us to explore, we have been thinking deeply about color, shape, and line, with particular attention to gourds/pumpkins, leaves, and apples. We have explored those autumnal elements using tools from various arts and sciences, as we will share below. We are also getting ready for Harvest Feast, a culminating celebration to the season! That means using what we have learned about fall to create special foods and decorations for our upcoming all-school event. We have been eagerly counting down each day and are so excited to share our creations with our Randolph community.

Gourd Still Lifes
The first step before noticing what has changed is noticing what is. For the first time this year, we used a "thinking routine" at Morning Gathering to explore a work of art that would inspire us to create our own. A thinking routine is a term that originates with Harvard's Project Zero research. Thinking routines are typically a set of questions or a series of steps that help teachers scaffold and support children's thinking. Many of the thinking routines created were designed for older children, but can be adapted for use with the preschool age group. On this occasion, we started with a printed out picture of a painting, which we all looked at quietly for a moment, before the teachers led the children through a version of the "See, Think, Wonder" thinking routine.

We start with... "What do you see?" We prompt kids to think about shape, color, and line.
"A circle."
"I see a line."
"I see shapes."
"I see a lot of circles!"
"I am noticing, like a round shape."
"I see a round thing."
"I see white."
"I notice some purple."
"There's a curvy line."
"I see brown."
We observe that the children are also thinking about quantity, which we hadn't considered. They seem focused on the food.

We move on to... "What does that make you think?" We prompt kids to use their previous "see" observations as a base for their thinking.
"I 'see' pot."
"I see yellow and I think it's an apple."
"I think the blue is pot."
"I think there's a table."
"I see something blue. It looks...blue."
"It looks like apples."
There continues to be some debate about what kind of food is on the table. We think that the objects are inside and that the artist arranged them.

Finally..."What does it make you wonder?" We prompt kids to ask themselves what they want to know more about.
"What state was it made in?"
"When was it made?"
"What could it be?"
"Where was it taken?"
"What area was it painted in?"
"Which building was it painted in?"
"What day was it painted?"
"What time was it painted?"

We end by sharing what we do know about the painting: it was created in 1905 by Paul Cezanne, entitled Still Life with Apples and Peaches. This information answers some of our wonderings. Other wonderings may lead to more research, or may allow our imagination to wonder and wander some more. This activity preceded the introduction of our first still life of the year, using our gourds from Meadowbrook Farm as inspiration.

Stone Soup Stories
We used the different versions of Stone Soup that we read last week as inspiration for our own version, starring the Sunnies teachers and students. With our imaginations, we transformed loose parts into the different ingredients we needed, and ended up cooking a delicious soup. After this Morning Gathering, we heard choruses of "Stone Soup is what you need, when you have some friends to feed..." echoing throughout our outdoor classroom all week long. Children were invited to participate in different kinds of "stone soup" exploration, from sensory tables filled with sand and natural loose parts to the kitchen/restaurant in the lean-to. Every vessel became an opportunity to make a soup! We even got to make a "real" (edible) version as well, combining fall produce with "butterfly" pasta for a warming soup that filled our bellies on one of these recent colder days. This was an opportunity to practice our health and safety skills around cooking, as we prepare to make food to share with our school community and engage in more cooking projects during the winter. We learned how to handle the Downstairs choppers and cutting boards, keep our fingers safe around a hot burner and pot, and use our senses when it comes to preparing food, smelling, listening, and seeing the changes that happen when we apply pressure, heat, and other outside forces. What a perfect connection to our transformation play!

Making Apple Sauce
Bringing bags of apples back to school from Meadowbrook farm inspired apple play as well as apple cooking. We used the apples to make applesauce for Harvest Feast, doing all the jobs of washing, peeling, chopping, mashing, and milling the apples. We had to work together while taking turns with all the different tools. We used a combination of fine and large motor skills, such as cranking the apple peeler or dicing with the chopper. The milling of the cooked apples was of great interest, as children curiously watched to see how the mechanics worked. The children were eager to help and proud of their contribution to our shared Feast. Using real tools and being able to do “real work” in the process of creating a dish that they are able to eat and enjoy as well as share with their peers and older friends helps foster a sense of pride and community.  Harvest Feast is a school-wide celebration of the garden work we have done all year long, a connection between this year and the last and the next, and a time to gather in gratitude with our community. We did sneak a little taste of the applesauce just to make sure it was up to our standards!  

Exploring the Three Sisters: Squash & Corns
A variety of screws, screwdrivers, and pumpkins are all you need for a fun, engaging activity that activates the brain and body, working muscles large and small. The open-ended nature of the materials as well as the focus required engages children as they interact with the activity in their own unique way. Tapping, twisting, pinching, holding, and pulling are all foundational fine motor skills that are connected directly to fostering writing at this age as well as hand-eye coordination. After we were finished with the pumpkins, we fed the scraps to the chickens. We also made the chickens a special pumpkin, where we filled small holes with grubs, and the chickens took the rest of the carving from there, creating their very own jack-o-lantern!

Gourds were also presented to the children, along with materials including rubber bands, magnifying glasses, and scales. Stretching  and manipulating rubber bands of all different sizes and resistance over and around gourds also lends itself to exercising those fine motor muscles that children use daily.  This strengthens the muscles in the hands as well as developing hand-eye coordination.  Children practice coordination, dexterity, and precision when placing the rubber bands. Children were also able to examine the gourds closely, comparing and contrasting their size, shape, and weight, using the tools available to them.

Another choice was corn cobs, as children worked with our fingers to remove kernels from the cob to add to our sensory table. This activity has similar benefits to the two shared above; having multiple opportunities to practice related skills provides children with the choices of when and how they want to engage, ensuring that everyone finds an entry point that feels comfortable for them. After we finished removing the kernels, the kernels were mixed with different open-ended materials, like scoopers and tubes, and suddenly we had our very own potion kitchen, as the children stirred "around and around in the pot."   

Downstairs Poems
Literature and poetry are additional ways to explore what is happening now, as the seasons transition. Historically, the Downstairs has recited and memorized a different poem each month of the year. We have chosen poems each year that reflect the time of year, the children's interests, and our group's particular journey. In October, we learned "I Love These Days," and now, in November, we have been learning "November Comes." The first time we heard the poem read aloud, we all closed our eyes and shared what images came to mind. We were able to make many connections between what was in the poem and our own experiences at Randolph and in autumns past. We will continue to add new poems to our repertoire!