An Outdoor Turtle Adventure!!!

After some time to play and gather our friends, the Turtles went on a much anticipated outdoor adventure. Packing up our snack and finding our buddies, we headed over to the Art Center to visit places we haven't seen since fall.

We snacked on the steps of the Art Center and were happy to see that our shadows have come back. Then we ran around in the "Echo Place," where we can go VERY fast and make a LOT of noise!

We sang a few songs while we were there, then it was time to visit some of our favorite statues - some that we particularly enjoy climbing up on.

We found signs of life and signs of spring, and excitedly shared these with one another. There were tracks, seeds, deer poops, buds, sticks, blue skies and bird songs.

Next, we found an incredible sight - some men building a new stone wall. They were taking huge rocks, breaking them with a hammer and chisel, and fitting them carefully into the new sign for the Art Center. They didn't mind us watching, and even cheerfully answered a number of Turtle questions while they worked.

We continued our hike and found even more art and more bits of nature. There were sculptures made of sticks and bamboo, and creatures painted on trees. Finally, we played in the slanted house, climbed a giant hill and headed back. It was good to be out in the sunshine.

The Sun Came Out Today!

After taking care of our pets and making some art, the Turtles had Morning Meeting. We sang our new favorite silly song, "My Name is Joe," and did some yoga with jumping beans, we had found in our invisible pockets. We played around with the letter "P" and discovered that it is part of many of our favorite foods - like peaches and pizza and pretzels! Kailyn then took the Storyteller's Stool and told us about a favorite toy that she'd brought in. She passed it around for each of her friends to play with and then answered their questions.

We had a couple of visitors from the Sunflower Room, so the Turtles explained some important things about how we do Choice Time - particularly about the sign-up sheet for the keyboard and about hitting the gong after we make our Choices. It was fun having new friends in the room and introduce them to all of our favorite activities. There were some new and challenging puzzles out today, and lots of imaginary play in the clubhouse. 

It was a beautiful, sunny day, so the Turtles were glad to be out playing in the melting snow. Many of the Turtles turned into baby birds - particularly talented ones who could fly and go to school and ride bikes. We also discovered a lot of ice and found out the you could use it to write and draw pictures on the stone. Good books and good-byes took us into lunchtime and an happily crowded table.

Dance Party!

Our funny friend Peter Moses came back to the Early Childhood Division! And he brought his beautiful guitar, and an amazing "old" machine: a record player! We had a preschool style dance party with hits from the Jackson Five, The Monkeys, and The Beatles.
At Morning Meeting, we thought about the letter B and alllll the words that we could think of that began with a Bbbbb sound. This was a fun game because the letter B is so much fun to say! Carol also taught the Turtles a new song, "My Name is Joe" about a guy working in a button factory. It is a hilarious song!

Choice Time was rich with new drawing experiences as the Turtles used oil pastels to draw a simple still life. The observation and drawing skills of the Turtles are just blossoming! The keyboard continues to be a popular choice, along with the sign-up sheet, and it has been interesting to see the "signatures" of the Turtles develop with practice!

Happy Valentine's Day!

What a sweet (and well-sugared!) day! The Turtles started the day with lots of energy and so excited to share Valentines with each other. Then they headed to the tables to create even more Valentines! At Morning Meeting, Tamara demonstrated the magic of the heart, how to make a beautiful heart by folding, tracing, and cutting half a heart. When they opened the paper, there was a beautiful heart! We also enjoyed delicious red velvet cupcakes outside for our first picnic snack of the season! Movement with Missy was so much fun as we pretended jumpropes were snakes, and giant balls were balloons. We also played Rocks and Trees, a very tricky listening game. Then we got to play on the playground for a few minutes.
At lunch, we picked up again on one of our favorite topics: the amazing things that our real and imaginary pets do, and for afternoon snack, we had tiny chocolate turtles and bananas!
What a wonderful day!