Building Stuff

This morning, there was some amazing construction projects going on in the block area - all manner of patterns and colors emerged and grew.

Then we headed off to Movement Class.

After some stretching of our muscles, we strapped on our paper plate skates and played a skating game of "Red Light Green Light." We got very good at FREEZING when Missy said "Red Lights!"

Next we got to kick the soccer balls, which is a favorite activity. It is very hard to remember not to touch them with our hands, but we are getting really good at moving them with our feet. When Missy says, "FREEZE," we have to stop with one foot on the ball and balance. Today, she kept making us switch feet, so it took extra balance.

We spent a little time in the Meetinghouse. Today, we explored some more doors, and figured out where they let us out. We found one that took us almost to the door of our building, and went out that way.

At Morning Meeting, we were rocking in our "Criss Cross Boats," and this started an impromptu discussion of waves and being at the beach.  After our Moment of Silence, we read, Llama Llama, Mad at Mama. Friends noticed that some of the words in the book were different colors, and we decided that they were particularly important, or loud words. This book got thumbs up from almost every friend. Next, we talked about the Treasure Box we are going to build, and Carol showed the Frogs how a box goes together, using the magnatiles, Then we took it apart and counted the sides. We found out we would need 6 pieces to make our box. Carol told the Frogs that she had a piece of wood in the car that they would need to measure and put lines on, and then, after Choice Time, we would go and find our friend April, who would help us cut it.

Today's Choices were: Measuring Wood, Snow, Snack, Sandbox, Blocks and Books.

Snow was a VERY popular choice. We took big bowls outside, filled them with snow and brought them into our art area. Then we put color in the snow and stirred it up. We mixed colors to see what would happen.

Snack was also very popular - especially when friends found out that Mile's mom had brought us rice krispie treats!

After we measured our wood, we put on all of our snow gear, (A reminder here that we love to play in the snow, so please make sure your child is fully suited up for optimal snow play), we headed over to find April.

We saw some very curious tracks on our way, including this one. Friends guessed at what could have made this strange mark:

"A horse"

"People"

"A crocodile"

or the group favorite-

"A GIANT CATERPILLAR!"

When we got to the auditorium, April showed us the tool she was going to use. Friends tried to guess how it worked. Then we went behind the safety line and watched her turn our one piece of wood into many pieces. It was kind of loud. We carried our pieces back and found more tracks in the snow. Tomorrow, we start to build our box!

Feel better Danielle! We missed you today!

Where Is This?

Our morning began with puzzles and flubber (and what good morning doesn't?).

Then a team got together to help take care of the guinea pigs, and get them ready for the weekend.

At Morning Meeting, we had a demonstration about how to use some new tools for map making. We learned how to glue on shapes with a glue stick and we discovered STENCILS! We learned how to trace inside a cut-out shape and around others - with a friend helping us hold the stencil in place. We ad lots of animal stencils, so we looked at each one, and made the animal sound.

The Turtles stopped in to sing us a song about houses. Then they taught us the words and the gestures, and we sang with them.

Danielle read us the book, Freight Train, and we helped figure out the colors. Most friends really liked this book, and some friends really did not.

Then we got out an exciting new tool in our classroom - the microphone. We are using it to make sounds and sound effects, and today we had our friends guess what our sounds were.

At Choice Time, we had several activities, including Crazy Noodles! We got to stick our hands in spaghetti and then mix in some colors. Finally, a chance to really play with food, without getting in trouble! It was a very popular activity, and a novel sensory experience.

Other friends worked on a giant map on the floor, using the shapes, glue and stencils.

Outside, we took some time to ride and run.

Then we played a game that is part of our mapping project, that we call, "WHERE IS THIS??" We have card photos of places all over the playground, that we will be using for our maps. Today, we used them in a running game, where the teacher would pull out one photo and shout, you guessed it, "WHERE IS THIS?" and everyone would run to find it. It was lots of fun, and many kids from other classes joined in the game.

Back inside, we sang songs with Arielle (who joined us for the day), and then had a Dance Party. After a few more sound effects with our microphone, we sat down for a leisurely lunch together. 

Many of us are hoping for snow!

P.S. I think I fixed the video glitch in yesterday's Rock n Roll post. Let me know if it's not working. Have a great weekend!