The Biggest Tornado Ever

Dear Parents,

We began our week writing a story. Each child added a sentence. “There was a little girl and a pig walking through a forest, when animals rushed in…Everyone gets eaten by a stomping monster,” and later, “burped out.” In addition to eating animals, the monster enjoys french fries and chocolate cake. After we read the story, someone said, “That is the weirdest story!”

On Tuesday we wrote a second story. It begins with a pretty princess who makes friends with a jaguar, but is soon eaten by him. He befriends another jaguar while looking at shops. Later, they hunt deer and rabbits. After dodging a tornado, the two live happily ever after, in a castle atop a beanstalk.

We had planned to act out the story on Thursday, but the children were much too excited to wait. So, we had many princesses, three jaguars, four tornadoes, and two audience members. We had to stop once while acting because the pandemonium was so loud, we startled a dog who was downstairs and started barking.

Our last tumbling class with Casey was a hit. She gave everyone a medal. The ceremony was similar to the Olympics, with a platform of mats to stand on, while she placed medals around their necks.

While half the class was tumbling, the rest of us worked on our third story of the week. It began with the Biggest Tornado Ever and ended with a mosquito and a frog swimming at the beach.

On Thursday we acted out two more stories. For the first one, we used animal props and our finger puppets. For the second, we went in the big room and the children played the characters. Both were exciting, and then some. Usually the class is so thrilled during the acting, that they forget to listen to the narration and begin to run willy-nilly. We did manage to complete both stories. And then went to play in the big room.

On Friday, we acted out our third story on the stage in the big room, The Dragon and the Tornado. Our tornados looked especially synchronized spinning around. All the performers were eager to take a bow at the end of the show. Bravo!

Have a fantastic break,

Therese and Nicole

Mr. Owl, What Time Is It?

Dear Parents,

We began our week brainstorming animals we know that live in the city. We wondered what each animal ate and looked up owls, raccoons, and ducks. We played our Mr. Wolf game but switched it to Mr. Owl. We knew that owls eat mice so we pretended to be mice. Needless to say, the owl was famished and had many mice for lunch. 

On Wednesday, while half the class tumbled with Casey, the rest of us played a counting bingo game. We practiced one-to-one correspondence, which takes time. 

On Thursday and Friday, we added our plastic pigs to our dirt bin. We added water. The pigs didn’t seem to mind being buried in piles of mud. 

We played with magnets. The children spent time figuring out how to make them attract and repel each other. Some children built small structures, while others spent time picking up paper clips. 

The easel has been getting lots of use this week. 

We read books about birds and made feather art. When we read our bird books, we looked to see if we could find all the colors of feathers we had used. We found all but purple. 

In the big room we have been using a tetherball to hit back and forth. We hung it from the ceiling in the block area. It was a big "hit" with lots of laughter and a little bit of chaos.

Have the best weekend possible,

Therese