This morning, our 7th and 8th grade Friends showed up to spend their final morning with us. While friends were coming n and finishing journals, they built with, drew with us and played in the sandbox with us.
Then, it was time to head outside, where we spent the whole morning! Knowing it was going to be a hot one, we slathered and re-slathered all of the Catbirds with sunscreen and got some icy cold water to take out with us.
While we were setting up Choices and stations around the Outdoor classroom, our friends helped us build a house on the stage - complete with a slide!
We also, of course, spent time moving water about.
We had our Snack outside.
The Portrait Studio was one of our Choices, and friends had a lot of fun taking one another's pictures.
The Owls brought out sidewalk chalk, and Art emerged!
There were many friends making concoctions in pans and buckets.
And a station of Musical Instruments.
Over in the Garden, a couple of our older friends (Mikey and Jack), helped us plant the beans seeds that we had glued on to strips of newspaper. First, we weeded out our raised beds, then used shovels to turn the dirt over. Next, we dug trenches to put our seeds in. We had them perfectly spaced out, so we could bury them, newspaper and all!
Some friends went inside to work on projects.
We also had a table for cutting and gluing our "I Spy" board - Jordan helped us with that.
Other friends discovered the Mud Kitchen, and made all kind of muddy mixtures.
Today was a really wonderful day. The kids were actively invested in all that they were doing, and playing wonderfully together. Many of the EC classes were out at the same time, and there was a real fluidity between classrooms. The weather, though unbelievably humid, allowed us to spend the whole morning outdoors. Having our older friends meant that there were helping hands available everywhere. The morning really flew by and the Catbirds weren't even ready to come in when lunchtime rolled around. A day really doesn't get any better than this!
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