Advent Calenders and Sweet Potato Latkes

We started this morning making sweet potato latkes. Some of the Turtles helped to grate the potatoes, to get them ready for snack time.

Additionally, many of our caped crusaders returned to keep the room safe, and yet another scarved group emerged this morning - Turtles with arms in slings. We are fairly certain that the two groups are unrelated.

At Morning Meeting, Maggie's mom, Emily, came to read us a book about Advent and to share some Advent calenders with our class. She left the calenders so the Turtles could have a closer look.

Choice Time was filled with a variety of activities: building, zigzy-zagzy, writing center, latkes, books and the return of the box.

After a good game of Monster Family on the playground, we came in to warm up and hear a story from Max's mom: Iggy Peck, Architect.

Zigzy-Zagzy

Yesterday, Max's mom brought in a very astounding toy to share with the Turtles for a few days. As you can see, it is quite the contraption, but it had no name. So, this morning we decided what we would call it - The Zigzy-Zagzy! This was one of the most popular choices at Choice Time.

At Morning Meeting, Robbie's mom, Margaret, came in and read us two of their family's favorite holiday books: Runaway Dreidel and Night Tree. The Turtles really enjoyed both stories and, afterwords, Margaret told them about another surprise. She told the kids that she'd brought books that were going to be gifts to children who would be in the hospital over the holidays and asked that each Turtle sign a card that would go inside one of the book gifts. She explained that this was a season for giving, and that this would be a good way to share that tradition.

Turtles used their Choice Time today to continue working in groups on some very complex buildings. The teamwork in evidence in the block area these days is producing many complex structures, as well as requiring serious negotiation skills.

Still other friends worked with the watercolors, producing increasingly colorful and detailed pieces.
Oh, and it should be mentioned that, for quite a few Turtles, all of these activities occurred while they were Superheroes. Yes, capes have become a regular part of the Turtle uniform over the past few days, so you families can relax knowing that our classroom has an extra level of protection from evildoers.

Today, for the first time, we asked the Turtles to reflect on the choices they had made at Choice Time - specifically what they liked about their choices. This is an extension of "Plan-Do-Reflect"cycle of activity. As the children become more familiar with the idea of reflection, they are providing deeper and more complex answers to the questions.

There's Nothing Like a Big Box

The day started with a huge box! Although they had already called dibbs on the big box in the office, the Sunflowers decided that they would share their bounty with the Turtles - and the Turtles were very happy about this. Early on, we decided that we'd have to have a Safety Meeting to decide what the Box Rules would be. Many Turtles gathered around to discuss what they thought would work. We assessed the best position to play in it so as not to break it (being  aware that we should return it to the Sunflowers in one piece). Then, we tested capacity, and decided that the maximum capacity should be three. The only other rule that made sense was a that the Turtles share the box, but they chose not to be any more specific than that. We agreed to reconvene if the rules didn't work. After that, the box became a house, a hideout, a cave and a place for wild giggling.

At Morning Meeting, David's mom came in to read some books reflecting their holiday tradition. We sang along to a musical book about Frosty the Snowman and then she shared a book Snowmen All Year.

The Turtles remembered their new musical vocabulary from yesterday, and we sang "Little Red Caboose," both fortissimo (twice!) and pianissimo. Many children spent their Choice Time continuing their musical exploration at the instrument table, working both on changing sound levels and finding a rhythm to play together.

Softly and Loudly

At Morning Meeting, the Turtles started a book about instruments in the orchestra that Max and his family donated to our library. We read about the string section and violins, violas, cellos, basses and harps. The book has an accompanying CD, so we were able to read about the instruments and then listen to what they sounded like - many of the Turtles thought the bass sounded "scarey," and compared it to the sound of the wolf in "Peter and the Wolf." Tamara also taught us some new musical terminology related to dynamics: Forte/Fortissimo (Loud, Very Loud), and Piano/Pianissimo (Soft, Very Soft).

At Choice Time, the Turtles made plans to do several activities: some sorted the beads in our new windowsill location, others worked with gluing letters into words, and still others played instruments at the band table. There, we were able to  practice our new words - moving from Forte to Piano, and adding a new term - Mezzo, for Medium. The Turtles took pleasure in being able to use their new vocabulary to direct their playing and that of their friends. As friends move in and out of more novel activities, some familiar standby's are available as well - such as blocks and books and, of course snack.

After going on a bear hunt, we bundled up to go outside. It was quite chilly, so we had to keep moving to keep ourselves warm. Back inside, we read several books as we warmed up - including George Katherine's,  Cajun Night Before Christmas." This time, we talked more about the ideas and pictures - particularly the flying alligators.

Take Off One Shoe

At Morning Meeting, Chris Pinot (George Katherines father), came to share with the Turtles about one of their holiday traditions - St. Nicholas Day. First, all of the Turtles had to take off one shoe and leave it by the door. Then, Chris told us about the holiday and how it's celebrated in New Orleans, where GK's grandparents are from. He read us two books: Twas the Night Before Christmas and the very funny A Cajun Night Before Christmas (this one had the kids laughing...ask about who was pulling St. Nick's boat).

After the stories, we returned to our shoes to find that St. Nick had been there and left us each a candy cane!

Choice Time had some new activites today. Along with the usual favorites of books and blocks, Turtles could choose to experiment with a variety of magnets and both metallic and non-metallic objects. There were many theories proposed as to why some things stuck and others didn't, as well as about how many objects a magnet could hold.

Our Sound Table allowed friends to both play individual instruments, and work together to form a band. Instrument choices included a small guitar, a mandolin, an accordion, a drum and a piano.

The Turtles had fun experimenting with the individual sounds, attempting to drown one another out and, when that proved somewhat frustrating, trying to coordinate their efforts. What resulted was
some rhythmic playing that had varying tunes but similar beats.

Movement class we had a new and expanded obstacle course, with a tunnel 3 times as long as usual, with 2 places for hopscoth and several jumping spots.