Marybeth & Lora’s Class Notes

This month, our project work was anchored by two exciting field trips around our local community. Early in the month, we visited Mitchell Park in Greenport, where crisp fall weather set the perfect scene for a ferry ride and a few joyful spins on the carousel. The children observed the park’s layout from both the wide green lawn and through the park’s camera obscura.

Back in the classroom, they mapped the park from memory and recreated its key features in the block area—including a carousel that actually spins! In the project’s final phase, the children are crafting miniature dolls of themselves, adding accessories like the boardwalk’s blue piano, and labeling their structures. Through this process, they’ve practiced essential critical thinking skills: breaking down memories into parts (buildings, layout, features), deciding which details to include or simplify, problem-solving when materials didn’t cooperate, and collaborating to reach shared conclusions. They are rightfully proud of their creation.

Our walk to Bridge Gardens immersed us in the beauty of October. We gathered leaves in various stages of decomposition and used them to study the rich colors of autumn. Back in the classroom, the children have been working in our “Fall Color Lab,” mixing paint to match the hues of the leaves. They’ll soon name their unique colors and use that language in a collaborative fall poem.

Be sure to ask your children about some of the other highlights of the month: Ramona Quimby, our “Author Wall,” and our spooky Halloween read-a-thon inside table forts!