We love the Earth!

Monday was fabulous. We started out with some busy free-play outdoors. We came in and made a card for Malik’s birthday in the afternoon, and we had Yoga with Ms. Liz. We practiced using our yoga breath by using straws and feathers. Malik’s family provided delicious salty snacks to celebrate! We sang Happy Birthday together!

Tuesday started with rolly polly searches. We checked under rocks to see how many we could find. We talked about being gentle with the bugs, and taking care of them by always putting them back in the grass. We all gathered around the giant picnic table in order to make our grand Earth Day fruit salad! We talked about the importance of sharing and caring for each other, and the importance of all of us sharing, even if some friends didn’t happen to bring food that day. We mixed up all the fruit, and serve it in paper cups.  In the afternoon, we had Yoga with Ms. Vanessa. We pretended to be elephants, dogs, cows, and turtles. We practiced breathing along with the breathing ball, and all had a chance to hit the singing bowl.

Wednesday started out with books under the play scape. I didn’t get a chance to take pictures of show and tell, but it was great! So far, show and tell has been tremendously successful. We each sit down with our show and tell in our lap, and do our best to remain patient as friends stand up, one by one, and tell us about or demonstrate their toy/object. After circle time we had snack, and then went outside to do some water painting with flowers as our inspiration. In the afternoon, we had a chance to bring out our show and tell and share them. As we waited for Spanish time, we played Mr. Clown and showed off some “tricks.” We sang songs in Spanish and Daphne read us a story about opposites.

Thursday morning we all helped water the gardens. We came in, had circle time, and discussed sustainability. We related it to saving water for the fish and animals in the sea! Ashley showed us an illustration of  the different levels in the ocean, and the different animals that live there. We had Montessori work time, and every one got their focus on. Then, we sat around and reflected on pictures of us doing activities of the past. Daphne was not able to make it in the afternoon, so we played a fun game instead. We called in The Rainbow Game. We sang our Spanish color song, where we name all the colors of the rainbow, and then had every one find objects in the room that matched the different colors. We talked about which color had the most and the least objects collected!

Friday started with awesome face-paint! We became dragons, fairies, clowns, raccoons, cats, batmans, spidermans, among other things!  We used a mirror to see ourselves. We went in for snack, and when we came out we were ready to do another Earth Day activity. Later in the afternoon, we colored sea creatures and posted them around the sink to remember “Save the water for your fishy.” Really, just asking “Which one is yours?” keeps them motivated to save the water! Mike came and shared a cooking project with us. He brought fresh cilantro from our garden, rice, and lemon wedges to make cilantro lemon rice! Some of our guys really gobbled it up! Later on, we had chance to use glue sticks to make a collage of pictures, and then glitter to decorate it. Whoa! Some days are perfect for staying busy!