Windy Wednesday

Animal On The Equator or AT-AT on Ice Planet Hoth?
(Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about, Star Wars fans)

The gorgeous weather has rewaded our paper airplane flyers with fantastic loops and flight patterns. More paper exercises continue with drawing and cutting animal masks. They know what parts are needed and are able to make them independently, with little assistance from teachers. Clean up, on the other hand, requires more than a little insistence. One fun tip is wrapping a piece of masking tape, sticky-side out, around their palms. They go at those tiny scraps like frogs after flies. More on this soon.

TODAY'S ACTIVITY
Today, Sonya helped the squirrels emulate stained glass by sandwiching brightly colored tissue paper between dark blue papers with holes. They marveled at how they glowed in the light. Tomorrow the raccoons will have their turn to do the same.

AUTUMN MUSIC CLASS
We continued using the small hand drums, this time with soft mallets. Annette led the class through songs about Autumn. The students performed musical reinactments of leaves falling and blowing in the wind. We also interpreted the Life Cycle Of A Pumpkin, as illustrated by photos in the book, Pumpkin Circle.

TODAY'S STORY
It's Mine!, by Leo Lionni. This is a book about learning to share. Three quarrelsome frogs live on an island and bicker incessantly about what's mine, mine, mine. A large toad from the other side of the island brings this to their attention. The point is made all too clear when a rainstorm floods the island and the three frogs become united by the same fears and hopes, as they shiver atop the only rock not covered by water. When the water subsides, they discover they were really atop the big toad and were reminded of his wisdom. From that day on, the water, the earth and the air full of flies was "ours."

A follow-up Q&A indicated that we have much sharing to practice.
Survey: ours or mine? (their answers in italics)
Shoes? mine. The blocks? ours. Pants? mine. The classroom? ours. The toys in the classroom? mine.


We defined three ways to share. When someone asks to play with something you have, you must answer one of three solutions:

1) Yes, we can split the pieces so you have some and I have some.
2) Yes, we can play together, with all the pieces.
3) Yes, we can take turns. I'll tell you when I finish (within pre-determined, reasonable period of time - usually 5 to 10 minutes).

Limiting solutions to these three answers simplifies the process and clarifies their communication with one another. Parents, begin your answers with "Yes, after you..." or "Yes, as soon as we..." is a positive way to provide motivation and empowerment for your child. Plus, they'll feel a sense of accomplishment and enjoy their request more.