Puppets, Scarecrows and Slides

At today's Morning Meeting, we talked a little about the meaning of "percussion," and each Turtle did a call and response rhythm pattern. We have realized that we are more than drummers, because we are interested in making a variety of sounds with percussion instruments (A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration.)

Then, the Turtles found out about our big surprise of the day - a puppet show at the Upper School library! We had a quick snack and headed off (with a fast stop at our favorite tree). Arriving was very exciting, as we went through a giant room full of books and made our way to the Reading Room. All of the children from Early Childhood were there, and the puppeteer was showing them her lion puppet. Then, she passed out pretend fruit and vegetables and desserts and rubber ducks to the kids, and the show began. It was the story of a man trying to give his rubber chicken a bath, and each of the children got to go up and put their "food" into his bathtub. The Turtles really enjoyed being part of the show.

Afterwords, we walked past the front of the school and got to check out all of the funny scarecrows standing there. Then we went to the Kindergarten playground and really enjoyed using all the different equipment.

We sang our Goodbye Song to our half day friends on our way back from the Lower School and headed in for lunch. Today's lunch discussion got very silly. We started off talking about the puppet show and then one of the Turtles proposed that the guinea pigs had also gone to a puppet show, while we were out of the room. Then, we discussed how funny it would be if the guinea pigs put on a puppet show for us. This led to a long and giggly conversation about the various kinds of clothing guinea pigs might wear. What a nice and silly way to wind up our week.

There was lots of Magna-tile construction today, as Turtles worked to build animal houses. When structures fell apart, there were more Turtles who came to rescue and rebuild.

Just as we were getting ready for Morning Meeting, Debbie Green came in and asked if we could have the Music classes in our room, because people were using the Meetinghouse. So we gathered up our snacks and headed to the Chipmunk room. At Morning Meeting, we tried out a call and response clapping game, where each Turtle got a chance to make up a rhythym, and all Turtles followed along. After our bananas and bagels, Tamara read an old favorite (No, David! by David Shannon) and we had a few minutes to play in the Chipmunk room (we were surprised to find that they have dry oatmeal in their sandbox!), before it was time to return to our room for music.

Alison was here with her guitar and led us in many of our favorite songs, as well as some dancing.

Next, we got to go out on the playground for a bit. Then, some kids came back inside to start our next Studio Painting project - The Story of Black and White (all of the kids will be working on this over the next week or so). Meanwhile, many of the Turtles outside continued our percussion study - and we were joined in our drumming by many children from other classes.

The Continuing Adventure of Percussion

Choice Time today was spent in construction, caring for the guinea pigs and in a impromptu "skiing" session, as the kids discovered the slidability of some of our long blocks.

At Morning Meeting, we sang some songs, and recorded ourselves talking about the discoveries we'd made on our drumming walk. The Turtles are exploring a wide range of sounds and the ways that we can make sounds change.

After snack (it was pretzel day!), we headed out for some playground time and another walking adventure. We stopped to visit our favorite tree and found, much to our surprise, that the Little Frogs were already there. Then, we discovered that our favorite tree was also their favorite tree!

The Turtles have gotten very good at making themselves the perfect drumming sticks, and we discovered some new ways to make sounds on fences and trees today. We also realized that there are a lot more leaves on the ground, and Robby orchestrated a group of friends to help him make a good leaf pile - and then to leap in it! We stood in a circle to sing goodbye to our morning friends and then came in for a new favorite story - A Giraffe and a Half by Shel Silverstein. The Turtles are getting good at figuring out - and making up - rhyming words.

Spiderwebs and Drumsticks

The Turtles were very happy to see one another this morning. Luna and Nellie were also happy to see us, as their cage had gotten a little smelly over the long weekend. So some friends helped clean up the guinea pigs home, while others built and worked with the alphabet puzzle. Then, everyone decided to get some string and the Turtles became the Spiders and constructed a giant web in the climber!
At Morning Meeting, Tamara told the Story of Music and of some special kids who go on adventures with percussion sticks and make music wherever they can find it. We did some clapping rhythms and then headed out to find sticks and things to drum upon.

We made music all over campus. We drummed on rocks and trees and pipes and walls and bleachers and fences! We noticed the differences that big sticks made and little sticks made and wet sticks and dry sticks and soft and hard and fast and slow.

We also spent some time visiting our favorite trees and noticed some ways that they've changed over the past week.

Then, we went to the tennis courts and played some games of "Red Light, Green Light," and "The Fox and the Chickens." A couple of Turtles got boo-boos, and we had a delightful conversation about all the things that you can do to help make a friend feel better. The Turtles have really started to bond as a group, and it's a wonderful thing to watch their friendships grow.

When we returned from our adventure, we found a surprise waiting outside our classroom: Our New Morning Meeting Rug! We have been waiting for our rug since the beginning of the year and the Turtles were eager to bring it in and roll it out. We gave it a good test and discovered that we can all fit on it, even on our bellies (our other rug was just too small). Then Tamara read part of a book Naomi brought in called, "Frogs," and we sang goodbye to our half-day friends. At lunch, we talked about medicine (yucky or not) and monsters (friendly ones). Tamara sang a storybook, Hush Little Alien, to take us into rest time.