Picture This at Alverthorpe Park!

 

We went for another camera walk today, this time to Alverthorpe Park! The Turtles were so busy taking pictures, we almost didn't make it to the playground.

 First we prepared for the walk with a Morning Meeting outside.

 Then we buddied up.

 And finally it was time for the cameras.

 Luckily we made it!

And back again the same day! (The hill is so much bigger on the way home!)

Camping In

This morning began with some surprises for the Turtles, as they found an intriguing pile of nylon and sticks in a pile on the rug. Before long, they worked together to turn these into two tents. It was then that the adventures began - camping in, hiding in, building fires and "sleeping," were all part of the games.

At Morning Meeting, we talked again about developing our core muscles and this lead to a discussion about how we change from being very floppy babies, to strong kids who can run and sit up. The Turtles had fun acting out the process - from not being able to hold up their heads to learning how to crawl.

Today was Miranda's turn for the Treasure Box, and she enjoyed sharing some stuffed animal friends from home, as well as answering her friends questions.

At Choice Time, the tents continued to be a popular choice. The Turtles also worked on puzzles, and played with making words with wooden letters in the Writing Center.

The easel was also open today, and friends had a blast experimenting with big, bold colors.

We had some time outside, and then Movement class with Missy. Today, we got to chase bubbles, and then played a game of kickball.

Max's mom came to read us a couple of good books: Beautiful Oops (about making Art out of what might look like a mistake), and Only One You.

If You Give a Turtle a Camera...

The Story of the Digital Storybook

We have been working on digital storybooks for several weeks now. On Monday, we presented our work to the faculty. Here is the presentation:
Tamara and Carol's Presentation on Story Telling

And here are our first two short stories:

We are still working on one more short story, and one GIANT story with the whole class!

Pictures and Peter and More (Oh My...)

Today we began looking through the 565 pictures that the Turtles took yesterday on our photo outing. We put them up on the Smart Board to enjoy them, and then started to look at them critically. Whenever we came o a picture that one of the Turtles thought would make a good story element, they would raise their hand and share their ideas as Tamara typed them. The photos themselves are quite amazing, and we're working on posting them on the blog.

 Then, Peter Moses, that funny guy, came to do a a beautiful springtime concert! He sang silly songs and songs about loving the earth, and we had a parade around the whole playground!

 Next we went to frolic in the grove. Yesterday, on our camera walk, some children had spied an egg, probably left over from somebody's Easter egg hunt, and they wanted to see if it was still there. But it was missing!

So instead, we collected flowers, climbed trees, and noticed cool things like the fungus on a tree.

Carol read us two books. She said that they were tiny tiny books, but actually they were GIANT books. One was called, "Ants, Ants, Ants," and the other was called "Three Billy Goats Gruff."