The Name is Nothing (or The Sound of Music)*

Tamara tried to stump the Turtles again today, with written double digit numbers and subtraction!

With the help of some blocks, they were not fooled.

At Morning Meeting, we talked about our summer plans. Many of the Turtles have started to think (and some to worry), about ending our time together and what will be coming next. We plan to have lots of talks about transitions in the coming days.

Inside Outside time was much more pleasant today, so we had snack outside and much running, riding and swinging.

Inside we built, mixed colors and worked on our books.

*As named by The Turtles

The Big Double Bike

The Bun Bun Blog

Hop Hop Hop

Our Weekend Adventures and Our Week Begins

Every day, Carol and Tamara try and outsmart the Turtles by having them guess, in some tricky way, how many minutes until clean-up. We have tried flashing numbers very quickly and having the Turtles have to add up fingers and written numbers. Today, Tamara had the Turtles subtract written numbers, and we still didn't fool them!

At Morning Meeting, we went around the circle to hear from each Turtle what they did this weekend. Here is what they said:
Kailyn: I do this weekend, I saw the silly bands; they go on your fingers. I got them from my grandpa. That's all.
GK: I don't remember. I ate lunch with the rhymers.
Katie: My mom went to where my birthday is going to be to get my cards that I put in my friends boxes.
Noah: My friend Wawa came from New York. She played with me and she left little things for me, like little pieces of paper and Easter eggs, and that was all.
Max: I went to Giggleberry Fair. And it was fun to climb. And I went to it a few years ago and a couple days. And when it was time to leave, I left.
Maggie: I played with my dolls. I played with the doll house.
Robby: This weekend I went to ski camp. And remember we were also here doing summer camp? It was snowy so we only skiied. We stayed in a line. That's the place called Jackson Hole.
Naomi: I went in my car and I saw Noah in my car.  And then we went to the park and then I got a soft pretzel and then we went home and then my babysitter came and then we went to bed.
Carol: this weekend I went out with a big saw and a big set of pruners and I cut down some big trees in the yard. I felt like a lumber jack.

Then it was time for Robby to share his Treasure Box.

At Choice Time, some of the Turtles worked on stories with Tamara, while others worked on drawing their characters on the Smart Board.

 Friends are enjoying drawing on the Smart Board, because it allows them to undo and rework their pictures until they get them looking a way that satisfies them.

At Movement class, we played t-ball and everyone took turns hitting and running the bases.

Missy also blew bubbles using the fan. The Turtles ran and laughed and popped them.

Outside time was lots of fun, as everyone enjoyed the beautiful weather.

So Much To Do

Today, the Turtles came in busy and stayed that way all day - there was barely enough time and space to contain them and the many things they set out to do.

Towers were constructed, superheroes arrived, guinea pigs were fed, maps were made, boats were built, the North Pole was conquered and Mary Poppins showed up with her young charges. All of this even before snack!

At Morning Meeting, we had a wide-ranging discussion about what the Turtles think makes for a good story. Characters, they decided, were very important, as was setting. They also realized, through their own examples, that most good stories also had a problem that needed to be solved.

Next, we reviewed the characters that each of the Turtles have chosen for our story, and some decided to change theirs (making changes and improvements as we go is part of our creative process). We began working on choosing the characters that will be having the problem, from the list we brainstormed last week.

At Choice Time, Turtles played Numbers Lotto, watercolored and continued their construction projects. We also started "sketching" our characters on the Smart Board. The Turtles have learned to look at what they want to draw and make a plan for how best to do it, that includes positioning, color choices and shapes.

We had some outside time and the Turtles got a chance to run and bike.

They also worked on a big vat of mud and stick soup, and found a worm that was rescued and relocated to our garden.

Sarah Lynne's mom, Dawn, came in to read us an especially funny story called, The Three Little Cajun Pigs, before it was time to sing goodbye to our half-day friends and have some lunch.

The Many Uses of Numbers

We had two rollicking games today, and both involved numbers! First, we played Numbers Lotto in small groups. The Turtles are working on a bunch of math skills like one-to-one correspondence, numeral recognitions, and even simple addition! When a child filled the Lotto card, the whole group would sing BINGO!

Later, we played the biggest game of hide and seek ever! The Turtles all counted to 20, while Paul hid amongst the trees in the cemetry. Again and again, we found him. He was a good hider!

We also had our first Spanish lesson! Alicia will be teaching us Spanish every Tuesday, and she came and began by teaching us two new songs in Spanish.

 Also, our seeds are sprouting! The children have noticed that many of the seeds are sending up little green sprouts!