Winter is one of our favorite times of experiences and explorations for 2 year olds! We always love to incorporate literature into our themes and this month was one of our favorites; The Snowy Day by Ezra Keats. Just like Peter the main character in the book, we tried to have the same experiences with snow that he 

did! We all took turns putting on boots and walking down the snowy path (shaving cream and glue whipped together) pointing our toes outward, inward, and sliding them without picking up our feet at all. We also took a stick to make lines next to our strides! Did we mention that pretend cellophane snow fell on us as we walked down the path? This long snowy pathway hangs proudly across the wall in our room and it provides a lot of language and recall enforcement.

The other snow experiences we have been enjoying are driving cars and trucks on tables covered with shaving cream. The sensory table has been filled with Insta snow and lots of animals that love the cold and snow, ie Polar Bears, Seals, Walrus, White Tigers and many more! Building snowmen out of assorted white boxes all sizes and shapes filled our construction area, while other friends adored themselves with hats, gloves, and mittens and engaged in snowball fights scrunching and squeezing tissue paper into snow balls and throwing them everywhere. Even Miss Susan joined in the fun!

There were also wonderful choices of manipulatives, games, and puzzles amidst all the flurry! We look forward to more winter fun in the weeks to follow.  

We've been learning about Medieval Times in the new year in the Treehouse. To better understand the period we've been constructing models of different dwellings of the middle ages. We're using cardboard covered with construction paper 'stone' blocks for a castle. We used some of our 3-D shape learning from math to help us make cylinder shaped turrets, cylindrical spires topped with cones, and a castle keep in the shape of a rectangular prism with a triangular prism for a roof. The stones in the walls had to follow the familiar masonry pattern that is noticeable in the stone walls of the Chance School.

In contrast to this stately building is the cruder wattle and daub construction of a peasant's home. The children employed their weaving skills learned or strengthened in Art classes with Ms. Langan to weave thin sticks between thicker ones to form a sort of wicker fence (which is indeed the way many small livestock fences were built in the days of yore.)

Then we used small balls of clay mined from our playground to smash into the wood to form a lumpy, clay-mud wall. All that remains is to plaster over this foundation with a more watery slurry for a smoother effect. If we get industrious enough we'll break and grind playground limestone into a chalky powder (the children have already demonstrated their interest in this activity when we studied geology in the fall) to make a lime whitewash for the wall. If we can figure out how to cook the lime we'll make a simple mortar as was perhaps used a couple thousand years ago to add a little real stone work. To literally top it off we'll make small bundles of grass straw (abundantly available across the road in the field) to create our own version of a thatched roof.

We also began work on a ceramic chess board for the Chance School auction. The square tiles were executed with care and skill. The players are next. The class has been learning to play chess as we relate the pieces on the board to the social hierarchy of the day. This unit of study has captured the imaginations of our young students and it is reflected in their creative fiction in Writing Workshop, and their general enthusiasm for the topic.

Parent Education

Friday, February 10, 9 - 10am
The Blessing of a Skinned Knee  This session, facilitated by Lisa Howie, will give participants the opportunity to discuss parenting issues and to stretch their thinking as they gain insight into optimistic principles of living. Her discussion will be based on The Blessing of a Skinned Knee written by Wendy Mogel, a resource for raising self-reliant, compassionate and ethical children, shedding light on the doubts and anxieties often experienced during parenthood.

Location: Art Room, 2nd floor in the main building with Lisa Howie, Educator and Chance parent
RSVP for adult attendance and child care by Feb. 8.

We Prepare Them Well    

At Chance,our approach to whole-child development fosters self-esteem, leads to academic success in middle school and lays the foundation for lifelong learning. Students are engaged in a fully accredited, rigorous academic program that yields high results on national standardized tests and middle school transcripts. By completing the program through Intermediate 5, students develop skills and personal habits that empower them to meet or exceed expectations at next schools. When they reach middle school, Chance graduatesare recognized as confident, creative lifelong learners prepared for their future. 

To document the preparedness of Chance students and graduates, the school releases tracking statistics each year. Results include standardized test scores significantly above national norms and 6th grade transcripts meeting or exceeding sixth grade requirements. In addition, the school is proud to announce that 70% of the current Intermediate 4 & 5 students have been identified as academically gifted and qualified for the Duke Talent Identification Program by demonstrating outstanding academic abilities with scores in the 95th percentile or higher on an accepted subtest of at least one standardized achievement test.

To review, click on Tracking Report of Chance Students & Graduates.