This week brought a new science unit on living and nonliving. We discussed the characteristics of each and had a special guest help us identify what a living thing is. Bosco, Miss Kristine’s dog in Upper, made a visit to our classroom for this lesson. The students enjoyed loving and petting him afterwards as well. Our new sensorial unit focuses on the concept of big vs little. Students continued their care of the environment work by sweeping through tray sweeping. The “quiet rug” was added to our peace corner. This is a rug for reflection, observation, deep breathing, and calming the body and mind as you sit on the rug with a quiet body. We used our gustatory sense to taste dill vs. sweet pickles. Pin-punching was shown from the writing shelf. This work builds hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills as they pin holes around a shape and then punch it out. It was a very popular work! The bead cabinet was also open this week as our squaring chains were introduced. This work is first shown sensorially to show how the chain is the same as the square of the chain when coiled. It works with numeration 1-9. It also then leads into skip counting, finding the square of each numeral, and indirect preparation for multiplication facts.