Play outside!

The New York Times says that we should play outside! Happy Soltice!

Water, Magic and Memories

The excitement level was palpable this morning, so it wasn't long before we had a brief Morning Meeting and opened the door for our final Inside Outside Day. We brought our snack outside and burned up some energy.

Next, we got out the hose and, with the excuse of cleaning toys and furniture, began a wild romp in the water. Pretty much everyone got soaked!

Then the Turtles insisted on putting on another show. This one was very loosely cast, with a fluid kind of script. Next, it was time for our Magical Adventure!

With our recorders playing, we marched out to the grove, where we sat together on a blanket and had our Moment of Silence. Next, Tamara and Carol told the story of their amazing journey to visit the Old Turtle and get some magic for their Turtles - for Being Brave in the future and Remembering Turtleland. Each Turtle then took a turn putting something in the center that they wanted to remember. Out of the velvet bag came a Turtle Shell full of Magic Necklaces, and the Turtle's sang a magic chant:

"Turtle, Turtle, brave and true

____________ is a Turtle and we love you!"

Each Turtle's name was filled in as they received their necklace.

With a magical potion, we drank a toast to the year we've had, and the future we wish for all our kids. Again playing our recorders, we marched back to our classroom.

There, we got to preview the movies for tomorrow. It was a lovely final day.

WE WILL MISS YOU TURTLES!!!

So Much To Do....

 The day started with lots of art at the easel and the tables. As we begin to clear out our supplies from the year, the children are enjoying revisiting many medium like custom mixed colors and shape collages.

 At Morning Meeting, we did the last of our narration for our book! It is just about ready for our World Premier on Thursday!

We also read the letter that we got from Bun Bun, the beloved bunny puppet who has kept us company during naptime. She will be spending the summer touring the country in a motor home with her mom BeeBee and cousin Fluffy. She will be missed, but we know she will have fun!

 The Turtles have been taking good care of the garden, and today a few peas were ready to eat! They were delicious!

Inside, several children put on a show! There was a princess, a dragon, a bad guy and a super hero.

Telling Stories

In yet another attempt to confound the Turtles with math, Carol got out the abacus today, and showed them how to use it for addition and subtraction. They were, once again, not fooled by our wiley ways and managed to get the correct answer. Then, they got together and worked out some problems for themselves,

Some Turtles also discovered a new way to get the cars to go through the tube much faster.

Then, after a tragic tempera paint accident, Tamara decided to use her gory appearance to weave a scary story of mayhem, about The Alligator That Attacked!!" The story was so successfully mortifying, that the Turtles immediately asked for it to be told again.

Another Inside Outside Day brought magnatiles and cars outside, and they were a very popular choice.

Inside, the children continued the process of narrating their storybook. They are very excited to finish and be able to show there families.

At Storytime, Carol read, Sleeping Bobby, a different take on Sleeping Beauty. The Turtles have found that there are many different ways to tell basically the same story.