A Treehouse Grows Inside

Today we were visited by our wonderful friend April, who is the technical director of the AFS theater. For those who are unsure about what a technical director does, basically, April is the mastermind behind all of the sets for plays, lights and sound for the theater, among many, many other things.

April visited us to help us enhance our cozy box, which she helped us build earlier in the year. We had been discussing with friends about different ways to encourage new types of dramatic play in our classroom, and altering our cozy box was a suggestion that we thought would change things dramatically (get it? get it?)!

 Last week it was suggested that the cozy box become a tree house, and the Owls got so excited at the prospect! So before April came, we collected branches and sticks to help add a more wild feel to our wooden box.

 When April came, we attached the branches to the box all over the perimeter, showing us how to use drills, screws and special fasteners as tools and materials.

April also helped us attach a back to the box, which makes the structure more sound and stable, and it provides extra cozy support for friends who are enjoying the cozy box!

Other Owlings:

Making a store in the hall! See how the blocks became shelves?

Trying papaya for snack

Hello Timothy!

We had a very special visitor today in the Owls classroom: Timothy Coleman.

Timothy is the newest addition to the Coleman family, and the Colemans are wonderful parts of the AFS community. Kathleen works in the Tyson House, and Maura (Timothy's sister) is in Raji's Kindergarten class here.

Timothy visited to help us with our ongoing study on babies. Timothy is only 3 months old, and is still getting acclimated to our world, which the Owls found very fascinating. There was some question as to what stage of infancy Timothy was in, since we know that most babies crawl and eat baby food, but Timothy is still too young for that! Friends were referencing what they remembered from the visit by Joon, who is a year old. Although Joon and Timothy are both babies, they are so different! How exciting! The Owls were very excited to share what they knew about babies and ask Kathleen a few questions as well.

Other Owlings:

Most recent graphing question: What's your favorite way to be shown love: Hug, "Say I love you!", or kiss?

Enjoying the surprisingly spring-like weather!

Fat Day!

Today is Mardi Gras, which is French for Fat Tuesday (or Fat Day, as some of our friends were calling it). Annabel's mother Marguerite is from New Orleans, and shared with us the tradition of masks and parades for this special day.

  

Marguerite showed a book that illustrated the classic styles of celebrating Mardi Gras with parades and particular attire. She also brought wooden Owl masks for us to decorate, and friends were extremely focused and intent on creating majestic Owls. We were so excited that we needed to do a parade around Lower School chanting, "It's Mardi Gras, we're gonna have a ball, let's march, march, march!"

Alicia visited today and played a game with us to help us with our Spanish colors. Cards for each color were laid out on the floor and two friends were given a fly swatter. Each time a color in English was called, the players needed to move quickly to swat the corresponding Spanish name. The Owls were so excited to play!

 

We also launched our first day of mailing out of letters through the First Grade Post Office! We bought stamps, wrote more (and more...and more...) letters, and delivered them to the drop off box. In just a shorty amount of time, our letters will be carried off by busy 7 year old postal workers to their destination.

 

Buster Williams!

Today was the day that Buster Williams, renowned jazz bassist, came to Abington Friends School!

He spent his morning with the Owls and the Doves. Each friend told their name, and Buster said, "Every time someone asks you your name, I want you to be proud it say it! Be proud of your name!" Wise words, indeed. 

He asked us to sing songs for him, and many Owls were excited to sing things like the ABC's for him. Both classes also sang our classic "Say Hello" song for him, and he accompanied on bass. He even played for us while friends got to dance and move!

 Singing with Buster!

Early Childhood singing "Say Hello", featuring Buster Williams

We also continued playing cooperative games. Thanks to Caimin for bringing in Bird Bingo! 

Other Owlings:

Building a snowman

...and a mini snowman