We Love Fridays!

...but not for the reasons most people love them. We love them for the variety of fun things we get to do!

Lola makes sure her envelope has enough stamps.

ART STUDIO
What a fun day we had in the art studio. Some of our activities carried over from last week's session, while some were brand new experiences. Such balance of continuity to freshness is optimal for a diverse group of children with varying degrees of apprehension or enthusiasm. Here's what we did:

• Brightly colored blocks with finger puppet monsters.
• An enormous collection of rubber stamps and a dozen pads.
• Vertical drawing easel full of circles to color.
• Shiny round shapes to decorate the large blue "building" we painted last week.
• Drawing/cutting/folding with paper and envelopes - always popular.
• Easel painting with standard and metallic paints on orange, yellow or white paper of rectangle or circular shapes. Choices within set parameters provide automomy without confusion.

GRASSY PLAYGROUND
Gorgeous weather and a repaired sprinkler system have brought the green grass back and with it more bugs, snails and motivation for exploration. There is a noticable improvement in coordination as children synchronize thier movements to really get the seesaw rocking high, sometimes even bouncing off the seat a bit. Happiness comes in many forms.

POPULAR ACTIVITIES
Yet again a big ol' block of ice draws 'em like bears to honey. Today it took a bit longer to free the polar bears. One thing that cought my attention was when Mollie and Saiff-Deen were taking turns, seeing how long they could hold the block of ice before the cold was too uncomfortable. Hilarious, especially when they said the water was warm afterwards. The seeds of relativity have been planted for these two.



Sonya set up a cool arrangement of inclined tubes with little cars. They began feeding their cars into the tube, running to the bottom, sending it down the next, following the car. Soon enough the subversive goal of cooperation was attained, with the students remaining stationary, feeding the cars to one another as quickly as possible. Now that's rapid transit!

TODAY'S STORY
Swimmy, by Leo Lionni. We read this story yesterday and the class eagerly listened to this tale of the little fish coming out on top. They even cheered when the big hungry tuna fish were scared away. Who doesn't love a good underdog story? It is a tale of accomplishing big things for everyone's benefit through cooperation. This is a recurring theme in early childhood education. Hopefully, this doesn't inspire mutiny.