Cool Tools

The morning began with the arrival of our new goggles! After we had put ours on, we delivered the rest to the Turtles - who are also building things.

We looked through some of the new tools in the room. Friends were very interested in the box full of drill bits, the t-square (they realized why it was called that) and the big yellow clamp.

We also looked at the circular saw (or the "wood breaker", as one friend called it). Friends had questions about all of the parts and what they were for.

Then the Turtles came up to ask if they could borrow our drill. A Frog Committee went down to meet with them and show them how it worked. Everyone got a chance to run it.

We were just starting Morning Meeting, when another Turtle came. Today was Flip-Flop Day, so he came to tell us about the choices in the Turtle room: Snack and Blocks and Easel and Books and Sandbox and Shaving Cream. We told them what the Choices would be in our room: Cars and Tracks, Sandbox, Snack, Books, and Playground Map Making.

We read a story that Evan brought in called, Stone Pizza. In spite of Carol's silly Italian accent, the Frogs enjoyed it. They noticed how similar the pizza making in the book was to our pizza making - until they started adding pickles and jelly beans!

Then it was time to Flip! Half of the Frogs headed down to the Turtle room, and half of the Turtles came to our room. Friends at the map making table got to practice their scissor skills, cutting out pictures from the playground and then thinking about which things were close to each other outside.

Safety goggles were used for many different tasks today.

After we had Flipped and Flopped, it was time to head outside. It was beautiful and warm, although there was still some snow left. Friends had fun digging it and throwing it and trying to get it to stick to things - like the sunflowers.

It was so nice out, that we decided to have our story outside. We read, Ten Apples Up On Top, and we did everything that the characters in the book did: We balanced imaginary apples on our heads, and hopped and walked on tight ropes and ran without them falling off. We were even chased around the playground by birds and bears swinging mops! Not one of us dropped our apples! We are amazingly talented, as you all undoubtedly know.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Tomorrow is Pajama Day! All Little Frogs should come to school in their pajamas (with clothes to change into for when it is time to go outside). We will do some lounge-around kinds of pajama things in the morning, and have a very silly time.

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!