The seasons have begun to change and the air is getting brisk.  It’s time to welcome fall and all the new adventures it brings. Since the start of September our focus in Quartz Room has been creating and fostering trust filled relationships. These relationships allowed children to be risk takers in their large body movements such as climbing, running, and leaping. Through observing the children in these experiences, the educators in Quartz have decided to begin the exploration of movement. Within the big idea of movement, we want to explore:

How can we move our bodies?

How can we move objects?

What moves in the natural world?

… and the very exciting,

Investigating things that move.

We started provoking these topics with the children through experiences like; creating balance beams and tire climbing structures outdoors, practicing yoga, balancing and stretching poses, placing bowls and scoops in water and sand, pushing and pulling wagons, and watching the wind blow the leaves off trees.

With the abundance of leaves on the ground this week, we brought nature inside to celebrate the first day of Fall.  The leaves made a great addition to the water table.  It’s surprising to see how many jungle animals can hide in the thick autumn forest we created. “Where did they go?”  “Are they sleeping?”  Bringing nature inside gave us the opportunity to experience the unique smell of drying leaves and closely examine the shapes and textures of a variety of fall foliage. Can’t wait to see what other fall nature items we can explore.

We hope that you all enjoy the first fall weekend of 2016. Maybe you can bring some leaves inside your home to explore with your children and family too!