Welcome to the Bento Cafe!

What a Tuesday! If only i could upload pictures of this fabulous day!

We started off our day by having snack at a pretend restaurant called Bento Cafe (the kids came up with the name.) While we ate we did a fun literacy activity in which we came up with menu items and Arielle wrote them down, creating our first Bento Cafe menu! All of our friends "paid" for their food by handing Arielle a quarter that she had given them at the beginning of snack (an emergent math activity in the making!)

Then, after having a fire drill (which was so successful that we earned a party sticker) we painted a sign for out on the playground and also painted a shelf that we will eventually install in the classroom. And then the inspiration started flowing and we had one of the most creative lunches yet. Leina, wearing an apron,  was our hostess, server, and cashier at Bento Cafe! We were seated and provided napkins to put on our laps, and pretended to give Leina our order. While we ate we discussed more ideas about this restaurant theme (which Arielle wrote down on the marker board) such as costumes, table cloths, different types of menus, chopsticks, etc! Afterwards we paid Leina with a coin (which she put into the play cash register) and got ready for nap. Lizzie and Arielle noticed a shift in lunchtime behavior today. Everybody was happy, on task, on time, polite, and used respectable manners (a topic that we discussed throughout our meal.) Lunch was so pleasant and fun, we earned another party sticker!

Folks, I believe our class has begun a new unit/theme/project today, as part of our Reggio Emilia approach to emergent curriculum design! Beautiful.

After nap we pacticed writing our names with dry erase markers on laminated sheets, then Leina did the secret sack during snack, and we ended our day with yoga.

A most excellent Tuesday, indeed.....and that's honestly an understatement!