Hi Mamas and Papas,
We began our week talking about our feeling chart and thinking about how we move from happy to sad feelings and back again. Children gave examples: when someone shares it helps me feel happy, when my friend says unkind words I feel sad, when I cuddle I feel happy, and when I have a boo boo a bandaid feels better. We also read From Head To Toe and people took turns to go in the circle and act like wild animals. The class guessed what animal they were acting out. It was wild. There were gentle and wild wing flapping, kicking of heels, howling, scratching, roaring, and a little bit of spinning round. Who knew we had such acting ability?
During our last tumbling class with Alexis people were seen rolling over and over and over on the mats. In the classroom we let the children do a retelling of The Three Little Pigs. They knew the story like the backs of their hands. Then we acted it out. The children chose whether they wanted to be the peddler, the mama pig, the three little pigs, or the big bad wolf. One person chose to be an audience member. Guess who your child chose? We reminded people not to really eat the pigs and most acted accordingly. Someone had the idea of using our family tree as the apple tree in the story. In the end we all enjoyed a nice pot of wolf stew.
The children retold The Three Bears too, and afterwards we acted it out. We had eight bears, six Goldilocks, and one audience member. The acting was superb with deep voices, middle sized voices, and squeaky little bear voices. Goldilocks fell out of chairs and slept soundly when the Bears returned.
We wrote a list of animals to act out in the big room during a game of stop and go. The children came up with fast and slow animals, fluttering and slithering animals. They acted out all of the above as well as singing the animal sounds. We ran like a cheetah (the favorite), back and forth and back and forth across the big room. When it was time to be a sloth, one person just couldn't shake their cheetah feet.
We are continuing to add to our Acts of Kindness list. We talk some about the Golden Rule. Everyone agrees they like when friends invite them to play, share, and take turns.
Next week, animals that fly.
Have a wild weekend,
Therese