This morning we had some beading and gluing projects to do

Then it was time for Music with Jenny. Today she brought in a Native American drum, and we were surprised to learn that the drumstick AND the drum were made from sticks. We all got a turn to play.

After we sang the drumming song, Jenny brought out a Mommy Turtle puppet and her baby. After we took turns checking them out, we all sang the Turtle song.

Then we did shaker eggs and the Shaker Egg song.

After a brief stint on the playground, we were off for a special Outdoor Morning Meeting.

The grass was very wet, so we had our moment of silence on the basketball court. We were just getting ready to eat our snack, when suddenly we were surrounded by big kids playing basketball! They said we could stay, but we decided it wold be safer to go to a table. There, we attracted the attention of many of the 8th graders.

Some of them accompanied us to the giant rock pile, to join us in our climbing and sliding.

Then we headed to the kindergarten playground. This is a great place for the Little Frogs to have supervised play, because they enjoy the challenges the bigger kids equipment offer.

Then we stopped by Nurse Heidi's for Carol's flu shot. Most of the friends gave Carol good advice about being brave, and stayed to watch (a few didn't).

Then, we were off to find our friend Nancy, to serenade her with "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," (a song that one friend picked and that we practiced in Music class).

We were on our way to her office, when we found her coming our way. So, we jumped up on a bench and sang to her right there! She showed us her Frog earrings, that she had worn in our honor.

We found some curious things on the ground, and in the trees. Friends thought they were old banana peels.

We spent a little more time in the Kindergarten playground, before heading back - with a stick hunt on the way

We discovered sticks with leaves still on them...

and sticks that were stuck.

Then we headed in for stories. Geneva was with us today, and read us, The Mouse Mess. Then Carol read a book the one of the friends had picked out from the Lower School Library (did I mention we stopped at the library?), Are You My Mother? Then it was time for lunch and more Knock-knock jokes. I sincerely hope you are sharing in this pleasant phase. Please let me know.

Small, Medium and Large (Soft, Medium and Loud)

Today began with new hats and bubble wrap and, really, is there a better way to start a day? In addition to being way fun, the bubble wrap got us all excited about jumping, which is a great way to build our strength and balance.

We did an experiment with a container of sand, wondering how many cups of water it would take to wet it all the way down.

We set up our stick counters (yesterday, we wrote a book about counting with sticks - it's in our room, come check it out).

Friends also did some drawing with the color pencils (which are also quite fun to sharpen).

At Morning Meeting, we had another exceptional Moment of Silence. We also practiced "Soft, Medium and Loud," with our voices. This was also very fun, and is part of helping friends learn that they have control over their volume and their voices. 

Next, we had another "Stick Talk," where Hoppity the Frog came and read us our new counting book. He also brought three boxes and  we figured out which was large, which was medium and which was small.

Outside, the new wagons are very popular, with lots of negotiating about who rides and who pulls.

Then we went on a Stick Hunt, and found sticks that were small, medium and large - depending upon which box they fit into. There were also GIANT sticks, that we are going to use for our stick building.

We also found a stick that was stuck in the ground! We tried hard to get it out, but it wouldn't budge. It is very strange and we will have to try and figure out what's up with this.

We have begun to put together the decisive and complete reference book on everything you could ever want to know about sticks. For example, one of the things we learned today is that some sticks are shaped like rainbows (I betcha didn't know that!)

Before lunch, we read another book called, A Mouse Mess, about a mouse who comes out when the family goes to bed and makes a huge mess in the kitchen (with many of the Little Frog's favorite foods). 

I must warn all of you that, lunchtime started a very enthusiastic round of what I like to call, RANDOM KNOCK KNOCK JOKES! Please know that these jokes begin as regular knock knock jokes, but, in the end, they MAKE NO SENSE! However, you are still required to laugh hysterically. An example:

Knock Knock

Who's there?

Stick.

Stick who?

Boat!!!! (LAUGHTER)

Please join them. It's kinda nice, you don't actually have to remember any jokes, and you still get the laughter.