Baby Bunnies and the White Rabbit

Dear Parents,

We began our week with baby Guinea pigs, bunnies, chicks, ducks, goats, and lambs. They were all six to eight weeks old, except the chicks and ducks, who were one week old. The animals came from Pennsylvania, the same farm that will bring our chicken eggs in a couple of weeks. Needless to say, the class was thrilled to pet the animals. The baby goats and sheep were a little nervous and bleated loudly for a bit. A couple of children were nervous of them too. The bunnies, chicks, and ducks got the most pats. When we were finished, we washed our hands thoroughly, and read books about farm animals.

Our trip to Puppetworks to see Alice in Wonderland was fun. Someone said after the show that the White Rabbit was funny, someone else said the Queen was not very nice, and two children said they did not like the Cheshire Cat. Another person said he loved the Cheshire Cat. 

The children told us they tumbled and balanced in tumbling class. While half the class was tumbling with Casey, in the classroom we made Valentine cards. We used red and white, pink and gold, and lots of glue and glitter. 

Thursday we began our day playing with gloop and adding the finishing touches to our Valentines. We talked in circle about the ways we show love to our friends and mamas and dadas. Someone said, “Give them a hug” while others thought “Getting them a cup of water” or “Going to the playground” were ways to show we care. We were busy painting with red and white paints at our easel. A few people noticed a new color emerge when the paints mixed together - pink! 

Friday we began our day reading Somebody Loves You Mr. Hatch. We talked about how Mr. Hatch was sad, then happy, then sad again, and finally happy by the end of the story. We took turns sharing about a time we felt happy or sad or mad, like Sophie in another story we like to read. We sorted out our Valentines, and kicked balls in the big room. Some friends were walking around holding hands or riding bikes together. Others were building pirate ships out of blocks, or cooking in the kitchen area together. You could really feel the love.

Have a love-ly week off!

Therese and Nicole

Apple Pie, Porridge, and Feelings

Dear Parents,

We began our week making apple pie. Everyone got a chance to use The Amazing Apple Peeler. It peels, cores, and slices the apples all at once! The children were excited to use it. We had to use strong hand muscles to turn the crank. We played in the big room while our pie baked. There was no shortage of pie lovers. 

During circle we read The Three Little Kittens, Bunny’s Birthday Party, and Little Red Hen and Lazy Fox. 

On Opposite Day we took our names off our attendance chart, instead of putting them up. The children noticed right away that the tables and carpet were turned in opposite directions. We drew using white crayons on black paper, and black crayons on white paper. We ate dinner at snack time- pasta with butter. Every single child ate all their dinner.

We read Exactly the Opposite, and Is It Larger? Is It Smaller?

We asked the class, “What color is anger?” “Sad? Happy? Calm?” The class said anger is red, sad is blue, happy is yellow, and calm is purple. We made a chart showing this and the children took turns telling us a time they had these feelings. Then we asked, “How did you go from feeling sad, to feeling happy again?” One person who had been sad at dropoff, felt better when he read a book with friends. Another friend said when they are sad, a hug from mama helps them to feel better. We used our bottles of potion to show how our feelings can get churned up when we're mad, and then calm when we're still. Someone said calm feels like slowing down. Another showed us what calm feels like: he sat silent and motionless. We took turns shaking the potions up, and then watched as the liquids slowed and settled, just like our feelings when we take deep breaths, or get a hug. 

We read two versions of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The children noticed that while the words in the books were similar, Goldilocks looked different and the bears did too. The illustrations were different. 

On Friday, the class was excited to act out the story, and several children kept talking about who they wanted to be. After snacks, we read a third version and then everyone chose who they wanted to be: the wee little bear, the middle-sized bear, the great big bear, or Goldilocks. A few children noticed that there were too many wee bears and decided to switch roles to make it more balanced. We acted the story out twice, because once wasn't enough! The bears all responded in their wee voices, middle-sized voices, or great big bear voices, and Goldilocks slept quietly while awaiting the bears arrival at the wee bed. 

We also ate porridge on Thursday. It was too hot. We let it cool until it was jusssst right, although one person said his was too cold. 

Have a just right weekend,

Therese