Friendship Garden

After talking about how friendship functions, their connection and responsibilities in our group, we came up with up an idea. We read the book the Curious Garden by  Peter Brown and the children recognized that friends are like flowers. We made a Venn diagram to compare friends and flowers, and everything that they came up with ended up in the middle. We care for our friends/flowers, friends/flowers need water, and need sunlight.  Tristan said that some plants need trimming, and guess what that is not a difference. Sofia pointed out that her friend Esme got a haircut. To connect our exploration and inquiries, we created a friendship garden, where we will be adding everything related to friendship on a daily basis.

Finding New Friends!

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The children in the Wind Group wanted to see what it is like to play with children with whom they do not often play. They all chose someone and introduced themselves and started to play together. Some of them bonded right away, while others displayed parallel play, which is to say they played next to one another without very much interaction.

Trystan said to Simon, “I really like playing with you, we should have a play date together”.  

Emily and Sofia giggled along while showing each other the structures that they built. 

Byron and Howard played next to one another but peeked from the corner of their eyes to see what the other is doing.

Friendship at Creative Minds

It is delightful to observe and interact with the different ways the children show friendship. I hope that these pictures can give you an idea of how much fun they all have.

 Rocco and Trystan playing a game together. What a wonderful way of showing how friends take turns and celebrate each other’s wins.

Natalya said from the tippy top “ Anamaria, remember when I couldn’t climb to the tippy top? My friend Olivia showed me how to do it and now I am very good at it”

Mila and Sofia were holding a concert for everyone in the forest. They were singing songs together and all the other children started to sing along.

 On our way to the forest, the children stopped 
 for a blackberry snack
 
 

A group of children playing a team game - running, climbing and exploring together. 

How Friendship Functions

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 New children, new ideas, new explorations...the first week of September we talked about Olga and the different ways she could look for a friend. Please see Kathryn's Blog for more information about the formative week.

This week the children decided that they want to talk about themselves and their friends. The wind group will have an exploration map where we will record our inquiries and discoveries and we will observe the evolution and the changes at the end of the unit. 

The children received small cut outs of paper people that they decorated. One was of them and the others were of their friends. On a piece of paper, the children drew a picture of what they were doing together with their friends – How Friendship Functions -

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Definition of FUNCTION - "The understanding that everything has a purpose, a role or a way of behaving that can be investigated".

Emilie said: “ I jump with my friend. I run with my friend” 

Trystan said: “ Sometimes I fight with my friends”; “ I play pretend games with my friends” ; Simon said: “ I read with my friends” “ I draw with my friends” ; 

Howard said that he “ holds hands with his friends when they walk to the forest” 

Sofia said that she “ reads books with her friends” “ My friend and I eat together” “ We share toys when we play together” “ 

Byron said: “ I like to play soccer with my friend” and “ I like to bike with my friend”

Please share more ideas on what friendship looks like at home so we can compare different things they do at home and at school with their friends. Pictures will be great so we can show them to the whole group and discuss them. 

Thank you, 

Anamaria