Art: Ladybugs Make "Little Blues"

This month the 2-year-old Ladybugs are studying colors! Yesterday and today they created their own "little blues" (like the character from the book "Little Blue and Little Yellow"). 

Get to Know a Co-op Administrator!

The 10-Question Teacher Interview for Brevoort Office Manager , Mariana Valencia

1. How long have you been working at The Co-op School?

"I have worked here on and off since 2009."

2. What’s your favorite part of being part of The Co-op School?

"I am very lucky to actually love where I work because I find that many people don't love their jobs. I've met thoughtful, caring people here and I feel appreciated and loved as part of this community. Meredith is also a wonderful person and boss."

3. What do you like to do for fun?

"I like to go to museums and I like to read."

4. What’s your favorite restaurant

"My favorite restaurant is nineD : a Thai restaurant on Court St. in Carroll Gardens."

5. What’s your favorite sandwich?

"My favorite sandwich is a Vietnamese Banh Mi."

6. What’s your favorite song?

"Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless) by Crystal Waters is my new favorite song."

7. Where do you want your next vacation to be?

"Iceland."

8. What are you reading right now?"

"I am reading three books right now:"

              "The Mad Man" by Samuel Delany (not to be confused with MadMen)

              "Gentrification of the Mind" by Sarah Schulman

              The Complete Short Stories by Lydia Davis

9. If you could buy yourself anything what would it be?

"I would buy a house in Mexico City."

10. What TV sitcom family would you most like to be a member of? 

"I would absolutely be a Cosby kid."

Community: The Ladybugs Visit a Community Garden

The Ladybugs have been talking about the different ways people can participate in their community. Zara's dad, Khem, invited us to see his community garden. This morning, the Ladybugs took a small trip to the 100 Quincy Street community garden in Bed Stuy. They got to smell, taste and touch different vegetables in the garden and visited the 5 chickens in the chicken coop. They even got to pet a chicken!

Community Service: The Bees Study Bees!

For the Bee's yearlong community service focus, the Bumblebees will be exploring the endangered honeybee. To launch the study they had a bee farmer come in today to tell them all about the honeybee. they learned about honeybees. Here is some of what they learned:

• There is a Queen Bee (female), the worker bees (females) and the drone (male).
• The honeybee has 4 wings, many legs, 3 eyes (it's third eye is located on the top of its head and it helps it see in the dark!), and it is yellow and black. 
• They saw pictures of a Queen Bee and learned her job is to lay eggs. She can lay up to 1,000 eggs each day (very surprising as you can see from Josie's reaction)!! 
• The worker bees are the ones that look for nectar from flowers, which they turn into honey. 
• Farmer David gets his bees from another bee farmer in Florida. The bees are sent to him by mail in a crate. Since it is a long trip, the bees have to eat or they will starve. A can with sugary water is placed in this crate. The can has two little holes on the bottom where the bees use their long tongues to drink the water. 
• He also showed them where he keeps his bees (in trays inside a "super-" the blue and red box). They got see see and even touch one of the bee trays that had combs on it. 

David brought them real honey from his bee farm. They got to taste it - 2 thumbs up!!

 It felt "dry" and "sandy." It also "smell[ed] like honey." 

Community: :Ladybugs Build a Fort Together

Kicking off their Community unit for the month of November, the 2 year-old Ladybugs have been working together to paint their fort/house with paint brushes and rollers. Every morning they have been practicing sorting color objects into bins and mixing colors together to see what would happen.

Inquiry: Fireflies' Postal Service Study

The Firefly Postal Service all stemmed from an activity during which they discussed the idea of how and why they write letters to friends.  After the discussion, the Fireflies worked in small groups to write letters while the rest of the class was on the playground.  After working with the first group, it was amazing to see:  just about every Firefly was involved in cooperative pretend play using cardboard bricks that had been left outside and pretending that they were packages.  They were carting them around, stacking them in the "mail truck" and delivering them all over the playground.  While they worked they began talking about postal workers and what they do, for instance postal workers (ideally) do not throw our packages because they might be fragile.  

Since the Fireflies initially displayed their genuine interest in the postal service, they have sought out to answer the following questions "What do postal workers need to ensure that the mail gets where it needs to go?" and  "What happens to our letters and mail after they get put in a mailbox?" Through this exploration, they have gained hands-on experience with the basic process of sending, receiving, sorting and delivering the mail ultimately have learned a great deal about the inner workings of the postal service.

Making observations of a real mailbox.

 Making their own mailbox.

 Sewing their own mail bags.

 Learning about and checking out some stamps.

 Checking our mailbox.

 Placing their "FF" (Firefly) origin and canceling stamp over the postage stamp.

 Sorting the mail.

Delivery time!

Inquiry: Dragonflies Hair Study

Blocks: More like CaterBUILDERS!

The 3-year old Caterpillars have loved their expansive block area since the first day of school. During Free Play, there is often a castle or train station being designed and built by a team of very focused workers.  One day, the Caterpillars brainstormed the buildings you find in a city and then paired up to build a whole city themselves!  It had a zoo, supermarket, school, train station, police station, hospital, and post office. Believe it or not, cleaning up is almost just as much fun. The Caterpillars put blocks away one shape at a time. First all the medium rectangles, then squares, then cylinders, etc..  With this creative vision and excellent teamwork, who knows what they will make next?

Get to Know a Co-op Teacher!

The 10-Question Teacher Interview for Irving Preschool Teacher, Shaniqua Pippen

1. How long have you been working at The Co-op School?

"This is my third year working at The Co-op School."

2. What’s your favorite part of being part of The Co-op School?

"My favorite part about being at The Co-op School is knowing that there is an entire gang of people that will have your back if need be. I've been a part of many teams but nothing comes close to the sense of community established here. Oh yeah, and the parties! Who doesn't love The Co-op parties?!"

3. What do you like to do for fun?

"What do I do for fun...hmm...I like to workout, participate in sports such as: basketball, softball, and boxing! I also like walking all around the city, chatting with friends with absolutely no destination, jumping out of planes - basically, anything and everything that gets my adrenaline pumping and my mind going!"

4. What’s your favorite restaurant?

"Caracas."  

5. What’s your favorite sandwich? 

"Turkey, muenster cheese, mayo, lettuce, and black pepper."

6. What’s your favorite song?

"As of 1:24 PM on October 27, 2013 my favorite song is Avicii feat Aloe Blacc's "Wake me Up". Tomorrow, it'll probably be something different. LOL!"

7. Where do you want your next vacation to be?

"HAWAII or PATAGONIA!!!!!!!"

8.  What are you reading right now?

"I was reading an article by Jean Anyon titled "Social Class and School Knowledge."

9. If you could buy yourself anything what would it be?

"More time."

10. Who would you want to be your sitcom family?

" I don't know. I hardly ever watch television. But since I have to choose, I guess I would like to be part of the Orange is the New Black jailbird family (minus the jail part) because they are hilarious."