Boxes and Beads and Building

The boxes came out again this morning and the Little Frogs moved in. Friends brought out their imaginations and became all manner of animals and house dwellers. Having multiple boxes let friends move in and out and experiment with closing the doors (and risking the darkness).

Other friends worked on beading, using or stretching their knowledge of the letters in the name, as well as testing their fine motor skills.

At Morning Meeting, we continued to focus on our bodies. Today, we talked about our necks, and how strong they have to be to hold our heads up. The Little frogs seemed surprised to learn that, when they were babies, they couldn't hold their heads up! Today, we also started to work on Choice Time - and the Frogs talked about what Centers they would like to have available. The water table was a popular choice, as were trains and snack.

Our friends, the Turtles, came to visit us with a problem - all of their cars were stuck in the tube! The Little Frogs examined the problem, but they couldn't figure out a solution.

However, we told the Turtles that we also had a "stuckness" problem - all of our sponges were stuck in a bottle. One of the Turtles worked very hard to solve our problem for us, and managed to pull out all of the sponges with her fingers.

Outside, it was raining a little, so some friends made the covered table into a stage an sang a few songs. It was several different songs, all at the same time. However, what they lacked in harmony, they made up for in enthusiasm.

We also did some work on our stick house. It seems some more big sticks might help, as well as some basic knowledge of knots. 

Back Together Again

The Little Frogs, and the guinea pigs and all the friends and teachers were very happy to see one another this morning - four days seems like a very long time!

Nellie and Princess Froggy spent most of the morning standing up on their hid legs, being fed treats.

Puzzles were out, and today marked a new level of teamwork in figuring out how to put them together.

Alexander's family donated 3 new boxes to our room, and there was much excitement about putting them together and then crawling in and out of them.

At Morning Meeting, we are working on learning more about our bodies - how to stretch them and to make them stronger. Before our moment of silence, we are learning how to sit criss-cross and how to tie an imaginary string to our heads (which we then throw over a cloud and pull on, to help us sit tall). 

Today, being Tuesday, was also Inside Outside day with our friends, the Turtles. We enjoy these days because they let us choose from a variety of activities, both inside and outside, and also to figure out when we are ready to sit down for snack. The Little Frogs use their name cards (which have their photos on them), to indicate where they are going to be, and they have gotten very good at moving their cards when they move - without even being reminded!

A number of friends were fascinated by the pencil sharpener in the Turtle room. They spent quite a bit of time figuring out how to get it to work, and helping each other out.

Musicians, Firefighters and Construction workers also populated the indoor play, keeping the world safe and sounding beautiful.

After Inside Outside time, we helped our friends clean up the room and then went out on a walkabout. Our mission today - to gather big sticks! On Friday, Carol went to Briar Bush and got to check out their Natural Playscape (Briar Bush is nearby and worth checking out, if you haven't been there: http://www.briarbush.org/). One of the cool features they have if a wigwam and tunnels built out of sticks and twine. Given the Little Frogs love of sticks, it seems like something we should try. So, this morning, we went out hunting sticks. As usual, we found quite a few, and hauled them back to the playground. We also found a bunch of walnuts, which are fun to collect and to throw.

Back at the playground, we gathered for a new story, Should I Share My Ice Cream? An Elephant and Piggie Book. This was a good question for the Frogs to think about, as this whole sharing thing is an ongoing puzzlement for us. Then, we sang our goodbye song and headed in for lunch. Lunchtime