Painting "Crook-ee" Branches

Today began with power tools...and hand powered tools...and journals. We set about finishing some projects that have been lingering, and talked about how and why a drill works.

Some friends settled in for a game of Numbers Bingo, which is not only fun, but is a way for friends to learn to count and identify the written numbers.

We had oranges and pretzels for snack, and continued our exploration of Things You Can Make Out of Pretzels  (these include a variety of letters, objects and animals). Who knew?

Next, we headed outside and brought our orange peels over to the new composter.

We tossed them in and friends gave it a few spins, to make sure they got well mixed in. We tried to figure out what would happen to our scraps over time, and decided to keep checking.

We had a little time outside. It was cold, but sunny on this first day of spring, and everyone was glad to be outdoors.

We headed to Art Class, and Sam had beautiful vases with branches in them on the tables.

She demonstrated painting branches, and how to make them "crookee" (a new word that was just right). She passed out black paint and brushes and we used the branches as models, or drew from our imaginations.

Then, we talked about Spring and cherry blossoms, and Sam gave out pink tissue paper and glue, so that we could put flowers on our trees.

We came back to our room for Morning Meeting. We sang a song about frogs, then had a Moment of Frog Noises and a Moment of Silence. Then, we read a rhyming book about a frog.

Choice Time today included outside, and most friends opted to head back out. There were many activities going on. There were friends digging, filling and dumping sand.

Some friends were building with blocks and balancing.

A number of friends figured out how to make their own teeter-totters - and experimented with shifting weights and balancing points. In honor of spring, this was one of our first "Inside Outside" days, where Catbirds could move from projects in the classroom to ones outdoors. As the weather gets warmer, we plan to make this a regular part of our days, as well as to move a variety of materials outdoors. We are SO ready for spring!