This week, I had the chance to end a unit and start a new one. On Thursday we had lots of fun summing up the Honesty unit, including puppet shows, puppet making, and pigs in a blanket! During free play time I had the joy school cd playing and when the witch song came on Ches yelled, "It's the witch song. Elise! Run and hide!!" I think we all know about Elise's original trauma to the witch song. It cracked me up. Then of course, during "song review time" when I asked if the kids wanted to sing a halloween song, they all wanted the witch song. Then, during snack time on Tuesday, they all spontaneously broke out into the witch song. So cute.
We started our unit and talked about talking! We talked about how dogs show their feelings (barking, wagging, etc.), and how people tell their feelings ("I'm happy, I'm sad," etc.). When I asked why dogs don't TELL us how they feel, Ethan kept shouting out random answers until Mark rolled his eyes and said, "Because animals can't talk!!" It just made me laugh, because he was trying to give the other kids a chance to answer right, but in the end he just couldn't hold it in
We talked about how it is nice to have friends to talk to, and I asked them all who their friends were. It was very sweet because all of them mentioned their family. Then when I asked who their friends were besides their family, they all mentioned eachother's names. It took a little more prodding for them to remember they had even MORE friends. Then we made paper talking friends. I told them to tell me which one was them, and who was they other friend so could write their name. I thought it was very sweet that Ethan was the first to shout out that his friend was his mommy. Then he kept switching back and forth between mommy and Isaac. I don't remember who said it first, but Elise and Mark both picked eachother. They were pretty excited about that. Ches cycled through all of the JS friends but then picked Annika.
I must note, that before free play time I reminded them that we can talk to eachother a lot to work things out and be friends, just like the song "talk talk talk". This was probably the most peaceful free play time we have ever had. They were so good about talking to eachother and working things out. It was great.
Oh, and they loved playing musical spots. Definitely have to do that again.
The kids all got to draw a picture for someone else. At first I thought that sounded a little silly when I first read the lesson, but the kids loved it! They really had a lot of joy giving the picture to the person they made it for and from receiving the picture from the person who made it for them. I wish I could have captured that, but this will have to suffice. They are showing the picture that was made for them. Ches was very thorough and decisive on what his picture would look like. Mark was mostly excited by the service chart and couldn't wait to get started. Elise is always a good helper, especially in making sure the boys are following the rules! We made cookies for the doorman of the apartment building and the kids were happy to give them to him, but they also asked the moment the cookies were handed over, "Can we go back and play now?" Well, we can't expect perfection, they are only 3!
