Wednesday

TODAY'S ACTIVITY
Both groups drew self-portraits on large paper cutouts of the human form. Facial features were the first details to emerge, followed by...socks? It was interesting to interesting see the order with which they approached these monumental (for them) drawings. Some applied colorful clothes while others focused on inner anatomy.

MUSIC CLASS
The groups had a great time with Annette today. We began our session walking, skipping, sliding and hopping to different tempos. Then Annette played her ukulele as we sang songs about animals in the winter. She began each round by giving clues until the children guessed the animal. After a few, she invited them to name animals in winter. We had penguins, polar bears, seals, orcas and...a lion. Who'd have thought a preschooler would know about A Lion In Winter?

TODAY'S STORY
The Mitten, by Jan Brett. Nicky requests white as the color of the mittens Grandma is making for him. She does so, telling him,"When you come home, I will first see that you are safe and sound, and then i will check to see if you have your mittens." Not surprisingly, he drops one in the snow. A mole snuffles in to keep warm. One by one, he is joined by a snowshoe rabbit, a hedgehog, an owl, a badger, a fox and finally, a bear! All is fine until a little mouse, no bigger than an acorn climbed in. Her whiskers tickled the bears nose, triggering a sneeze that scattered the animals in every direction. It also lauched the mitten high against the blue sky, where nicky saw it and caught it. When he returned home, Grandma checked to be sure he was safe and sound, and wondered why one mitten was so much bigger than the other.