It's Raining Leaves!

Choice time was filled with some different activities today. While some friends worked excitedly with the letter stamps, others decorated the climber (and a great deal of the classroom) with "spiderwebs" for the Fall Festival. We also were happy to put the finishing touches on our beautiful Turtle shirts.
After some yoga and stretching, we settled in for a new story: How I Became a Pirate, (Melinda Long & David Shannon), with the Turtles playing the part of the pirate crew.

Next, we went on a Big Walk - first stop, our favorite tree. The Turtles were amazed to discover that our tree was naked and almost all of its leaves were on the ground. Then we remembered that we needed to find something for Scarecrow Bob... a spine! We searched through a variety of sticks - long and short, fat and skinny - until we found the perfect one to take back to Bob (which, hopefully, will help keep his head in place). The Turtles were really enjoying the beautiful day, when we realized that it was raining leaves! What followed was a dancing, leaf chasing and catching extravaganza. A lovely morning adventure.

 

Bob Steps Out

Just before Morning Meeting, a group of children helped Tamara fill Bob's head, and although he does not yet have a spine stick, he is almost ready for prime time. At Morning Meeting, the teachers announced that Bob is going to go outside with the other scarecrows, and so Bob needs some advice on how to make friends with the other scarecrows. Each child got a chance to share his or her thoughts and ideas, and here is what they said:
Naomi: Play in the leaves.
Maggie: Play with the other scarecrows.
Davie: I think Bob..I know how he could make friends with the other scarecrows. You know how? He could play in the garden with them.
Miranda: He could meet the other scarecrows. He could say "Hello."
Sarah Lynne: I take friends with me! Then he could go any place he wants to.
Max: I tell it by myself, "Bob, you understand that you are making any friends? You should bring more friends."
Kailyn: He will play friends with the leaf pile and the slide and stuff.
Matthew: He should say, "Hello!"
George Katherine: He can play in the leaf pile.
Robby: He could play with the other scarecrows.
Katie: Play.
David: He could run around and go, "rrr, rr, rrrr." He has boots for walking around really fast. The other scarecrows can run around and chase him, and then they can get him.
We feel that Bob is a very lucky scarecrow to have gotten such sound advice.
We also worked on stenciling our Fall Family Festival Shirts with a beautiful turtle shell stencil.
Daniel, Maggie's dad, brought in two beautiful books to read, Waking Beauty and Simon and Adele. (Daniel, who were the authors?)

Making Faces

The Turtles had a lot to do today, so we got started right away. First, we had to get our Fall Festival shirts ready for tie dying, so each Turtle carefully (or not so carefully) twisted their shirts and wrapped them in rubber bands.
Meanwhile, Choice Time was filled with a wide variety of artwork and dramatic play - including more music and even a magic show.

At Morning Meeting, we had a special visitor - headless Bob, our scarecrow. Bob expressed his ongoing concern about his lack of head, and the Turtles were eager to help. To help decide what Bob's new face should look like, we got to use an exciting new tool - our Smart Board. While we have used the Smart Board a couple of times before to watch ourselves on video, this was the first time that the Turtles got to actually move things around on the board. First, each Turtle got to "make a face," by choosing from various mouths and eyes. Then, we talked about each face and what the person might be feeling or thinking. Next, all of the Turtles helped decide what Bob's face was going to look like.

After a delicious snack of broccoli, pita, hummus, ranch dip and bananas, we headed outside. While some Turtles played on the playground, others went in to tie dye their shirts. Naomi's mom, Michelle came in to help us get our shirts together. After they were all finished, she stayed to read us a "Toot and Puddle" book. The Turtles enjoyed having Naomi's mom with us.

Surprise in the Basement

Today, during Choice Time, some Turtles realized that we only had one magnifying glass in the room, and thought we might need at least one more. A few of us went down into the basement to see if we could find one. We searched high and low and, although we did not find a magnifying glass, we found something better - 2 contraptions that look like they used to be musical instruments, but are now in many pieces. We brought them upstairs, cleaned them off and began to experiment with the sounds we could get out of them. We found and made different implements to strike them with, and tried to figure out when they made sounds and when they didn't. Investigations will be ongoing.

After warming up for Morning Meeting with some yoga, we did what has become a favorite activity - a Round Robin of Rhythm. After all of the Turtles had had a turn, we started to talk about what the sounds reminded us of (and how drumming on the floor sounded like a herd of stampeding elephants). What happened next was very fun, as our drumming sounds turned into a story about elephants with sound effects! The Turtles are becoming both musicians and scientists of sound.

Next was Movement class with Missy, where we did stretches and marched like a variety of animals. After freeze dancing with scarves, Missy got out balloons and we kicked them with our feet and kept them in the air with our hands, elbows, heads and noses.

Introducing Bob, the Scarecrow

Today at Morning Meeting, we read the book, The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything by Linda Williams and illustrated by Megan Lloyd. It is about a spooky set of clothes, that turns into a scarecrow to scare the birds away from the garden! We realized that we didn't have a scarecrow for our garden, and so we decided to make one! We stuffed its pants and shirt, but didn't know what to call it. Julian said, "It could be a man or a woman or a boy or a girl, but it has boy clothes so I think its a boy." We decided to call it Bob.

Next we stitched his head together but before we could make the face, we had to decide what kind of face to make.  Some kids thought we should make a scary face and some kids thought we should make happy face. We decided to have the children sketch their ideas. And they drew some amazing pictures! Check out our bulletin board! On Monday we will make our final decision.

A mystery also happened during Choice Time today! Tamara was reading some children some books, when she picked up the class favorite, Green Eggs and Ham. Only, all the words were different; it was in Latin! As she started reading it, the children were at first confused, then hysterically laughing! It was so funny, but we have no idea where it came from!

Our Day in Pictures

 

Today, we were just too busy for words...

A Deeply Engaging Choice Time

Today we had an extended indoor Choice Time, and the depth and breadth of the children's engagement was amazing to witness! Cooperative, imagintive play unfolded in every corner of the room. At the Art Table, children continued to deepen their exploration of water colors, using the water-napkin-color-paint! sequence to keep the colors clear and bright. We even made up a little chant to help us remember the order.

There was also a race happening. A couple of children set up the long carboard tube to race cars. Nearby, other children declared that they had tickets for the race, brought a picnic and watched the car races.

At Morning Meeting, we took the children on a Bear Hunt, and this time, the children chanted each line back, making the hand gestures that went along with the story.

 After a delicious snack of cheddar and apples, we divided into small groups. The groups took turns playing on the playground and giving the guinea pigs their first ever bath.

Pumpkins and the Magic of Fall

Today was a beautiful Fall day, and the Turtles took full advantage of it with two outside play times! At Morning Meeting, Tamara told an imaginary story about The Fairy and the Magic Pumpkins, and the little girl who learned the fairy's secret about how to make the pumpkins glitter with dew.

And then the Turtles got to work on their own magic pumpkins, brought in by Sarah Lynne and her mom Dawn Sandee. While one group was outside, another group worked inside on painting magically glittering pumpkins.

Center Time was also busy this morning, as children experimented with the cardboard tube that came with our new rug. They put cars through the tube, one after another in a rolling cascade, until there was an obstruction. David explained, "I just pick it up because the car is stuck, and then it rolls!"

Other children worked with the water colors, and they are quickly mastering the use of the water and paper towel to keep the paint colors bright and vivid.

Movement with Missy was so much fun as we stretched and danced with scarves. We even invented a new game, Noodle Soccer, using giant foam noodles to pass around a giant soccer ball.