Planes, Trains, and Irish Eyes

Our morning began with Max sharing his delicious Irish soda bread for snack. He gave each friend a piece of bread and an Irish stickers. At Morning Meeting, we found Ireland on our globe. We looked at Max's Irish flag and Hudson's and Scarlett's flags, too. Then we readied our passports and took the shuttle bus to the Sunflower's classroom. There we boarded the plane. First, we flew to Italy.  Then to France, Spain, China, and relaxed at the beach in Jamaica.  We listened to music from each country and made sure to get our passports stamped at the "immigration station". When we arrived back at JFK, we played in the Daisy's classroom with the world map and the boats and planes.

We took the shuttle bus back to the Sweet Peas classroom, dug in the sandbox, and worked with green play dough. We had a relaxing lunch after our big morning of travel!

Sombrero and Fiest

Lili started off our International Week celebration arriving at school in her sombrero. At Morning Meeting, we greeted each other in Spanish. Then we looked at our globe. Lili showed the Mexican flag and pointed to Mexico on our globe. Scarlett found Ireland and we looked at the Irish flag. Then we played maracas along to mariachi music as we danced around Lili's sombrero.

For Project Work, Lili and Scarlett worked on our collaborative spring collage by painting with flowers.

Then we had Music with Evan and took turns playng on his drum kit. What a fun morning!

Lili is painting "The Days of the Week" at the easel. "It's a long week," she added.

Lili is checking Scarlett. "Can you see inside my mouth?" Scarlett asked while Lili was checking her.

The Faces of the Moon

Today at Morning Meeting we introduced our new attendance chart. Starting Monday the children will begin "signing in" when they arrive at school. Harry's job was the bell ringer today. Nico was the attendance helper by counting how many people were in school. Lili's job was letting us know what day it is and helping us sing the Days of the Week.  Jacob was the song leader and chose to Twinkle, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Brandon was the book helper by picking what book we would read . So we read The Faces of the Moon. 

Then we went out for a walk around the neighborhood. When we returned, we had Yoga with Lakshmi. During lunch, we read Happy Birthday, Moon. Next, we sang Happy Birthday to Debbie and each child gave her a flower.

Hooray for Spring!

The children began the morning painting flowers with Q-Tips and marching to We Are the Dinosaurs. Hudson played the triangle for clean-up time. Rebecca joined us for Morning Meeting and we sang Come On and Sing With Me. Then the Sunflowers joined us for the dentist visit. We learned about how important it is to brush our teeth. The children took turns brushing "Clompers" the dog's teeth with the giant toothbrush.

At Free Play, we played together with the blocks. Scarlett made a bed out of blocks. Hudson shared with us that a triangle has three sides. Max and Brandon played in the sandbox. Then we went to Horatio Park. We ran and climbed and had so much fun. We read Happy Birthday, Moon during lunch. What a fun day!

Let's Get the Job Done!

When it was time to clean up, Jacob sounded the triangle. This initiated our conversation at Morning Meeting about jobs in the classroom. These are the ideas we have come up with the children so far: bell ringer, clean up inspector, 2 table wipers, attendance helper, book helper, sweeper, Days of the Week leader, and song leader.

Next, we investigated dried shaving cream, glue, and watercolor together with our hands. Jamie liked the way it felt so much, he wiped it on his nose and chin. Nico, Jamie, and Harry worked on their own individual shaving cream, glue, and watercolor mixtures using brushes to swirl. We are eager to see what they look like when they dry.

During Free Play, Jacob Harry, Brandon, and Jamie worked together to build train tracks. Nico and Scarlett put on wings and flew around the room pretending to be butterflies. Lili took care of her baby. While she was playing we heard her say, " We are going to the jungle to see the animals, We better hurry!" Then we had French with Deborah. 

Before lunch, Brandon, Lili, and Jacob worked on their self-portraits. Then we had a very special delivery from Scarlett's family Happy Birthday, Moon by Frank Asch. The children loved the story and we are looking forward to reading it again. Thank you Scarlett!

"I Love You, Scarlett"

All smiles, Max ran the classroom very eager to tell us about the BIG excavator he saw on the way to school. Scarlett and Brandon filled Jenny in on what she missed yesterday when she was not in school. At Morning Meeting, Hudson turned to Scarlett and said, “I love you, Scarlett.” Then Scarlett gave Hudson a very BIG hug. We played instruments and sang Come On and Sing With Me and Old MacDonald Had a Band and a Farm. As we began to sing Who's At Buckle My Shoe Today? Scarlett brought to our attention that their are not any teachers faces on the chart. So we handed her the camera, she and Brandon took a picture of us, and in the mornings now the teachers will "sign-in" too.

Then we stretched our bodies and wiggled our toes as we sang Wake Up Toes. Next, we sang Ring Around the Rosie and pretended to be "cows in the meadow huddled all together" just like in the song. The children worked more on our seahorse by adding fins and a eye. Then they swirled shaving cream, glue, and watercolor with paint brushes. For Free Play, we stretched and rolled flubber and dug in the sandbox. Before lunch, we read Mr. Seahorse by Eric Carle.