Run in a Circle and Fall on the Floor

What better to do on a rainy day than bake? The Turtles started off making banana bread - using their measuring and stirring skills to create one of our favorite treats. Then, once again many of our friends morphed into kittens and puppies, so we crawled down the hallway to serenade Debbie and Tricia with our animal version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." The Turtles really enjoy the make believe and the crawling is great for building core strength.

We also did some yoga - today with tiny bugs in our hands - to help us stretch and limber up.

The Turtles listened to some classical music with their eyes closed and practiced using their "minds eye," - the pictures they create behind their eyelids. Then, we talked about the images that the music helped create.

We had a demonstration of a new art medium - drawing chalk on dark paper. The Turtles had fun with the new feel and look of their drawing.

A new Alphabet Bingo game was also part of Choice Time, and the kids got to work on their phonetic awareness while matching pictures and letters.

We spent some time in the John Barnes room (since it was too rainy to go outside). We played one of our all-time favorite games - "Run in a Circle and Fall on the Floor.*" For those of you interested in playing along at home, the game goes something like this:

1. Everyone runs wildly in a circle (we recommend encouraging them to go in the same direction).

2. The teacher says, "DROP!"

3. Everyone falls giggling to the floor.

4. The teacher gives some instruction, like: "When I say a word that starts with B, everybody run,"  or "When I name an animal with fur, everybody run!"

5. She then lists a whole bunch of words, until she finally says the cue.

6. Begin again at #1.

*Requires some open, unbreakable space and a tolerance for noise. Good for a rainy day.

Just a reminder - 

the Visiting Nurses Association will be here next Friday (March 4) to conduct screenings of children's hearing, sight and speech/ language. Many families choose to do this screening, which is convenient and fairy inexpensive (vision and hearing screenings are each $10.00 and the speech/language screening is $15.00)  We have offered this service for many years and have found that their screening results have been very reliablYou should have received the screening forms. They are due to the office Tuesday March 1.  Let us know if you need a copy.