Happy Halloween! I can't believe how fast October flew by! In our family, I think the biggest hit from October's Month in Moments was apple cider making. Our little one loves smelling and tasting things and helping stir. I enjoyed making Acorn Friends. As a family, we created a pretty cool gratitude tree. We've been dancing to the Dot Song by Emily Arrow all month :). We ate a lot of pasta and had one epic fail when we tried some really creepy looking black soy flour pasta... weirdest consistency ever
Onto November! You can access the Google Doc calendar here or the pdf version here. This month, there's a focus on STE(A)M. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math - where trends suggest most future work will be. We also know that there are access and equity issues in STEM professions. Minoritized groups, women, and people with disabilities are less likely to pursue degrees or careers in STEM fields - often because they have less access to STEM education earlier on, and are less likely to see people like them represented in textbooks and the media. The A stands for Art and is sometimes added to STEM because success in STEM fields relies on creative thinking and problem-solving and arts are a way to do work those mental muscles. Some define STEM as "Strategies That Engage Minds". Young minds are most engaged in play and work that is authentic - they see a problem or scenario they want to explore, they have a question they want to answer. This month, we'll play with a few art tasks and dig in to simple machines in simple ways. We'll also try out color chromatography, a visually appealing way to introduce wee ones to chemistry.
After playing with simple machines and more, we'll go to sea with handmade boats and hunt for treasure. We'll pause to play with words and create islands and maps. Playing with rhyming words helps kids notice sounds in words that can improve speech and reading. Hunting using maps leads to fun types of dramatic play, and reading maps or arrows can help kids with visual literacy or the ability to understand graphs, maps, and charts. We are entering a season full of family traditions, so we'll focus on that by looking at family photos, sharing family favorites, inventing our own holidays, and more! Finally, we'll end by creating a nature scene using found objects to create critters and the things they want and need.
Share your creations and moments using #amonthinmoments! I hope you have a lovely month with lots of meaningful moments together!