Practice Makes (the EC version of) Perfect

This morning, we headed down the steep steps to the lower level, waited in the halls (with the aroma of cookies causing somewhat of a distraction) and finally headed into the auditorium for our first onstage rehearsal! All of Early Childhood was gathered neatly into rows, lights shining brightly to illuminate their beautiful faces, and they (for the most part) sang their little hearts out. We will be rehearsing in this setting two more times before the show, so look out! We'll be ready and we hope you will be, too!

We also gathered together today for our first run-through of our play! For the first time, we stood in our spots and listened for the cues from the robot narrator in order to make the play come to life!

Other Owlings:

Not To Sword

With the play progressing with leaps and bounds and the costumes for the characters virtually finished (Kristin is a magician, clearly), the Owl teachers noticed that many of our players envision swords as props. This morning we had a focused discussion around the fact that in our school, we are a peaceful place and we make peaceful choices, and swords (even if they are not being used in the play) are not peaceful. The Owls were amazingly impressive with how receptive they were to this conversation, and we began talking about three things: what we can substitute into our play to take the place of swords, what things are safe and how to be safe.

Many solutions were easily brought to the table for our sword problem. Friends decided to use golden staffs, suction cup shooters, and things to tie up foes. We also brought up how we make safe choices: wearing seat belts, listening to mommies and daddies when they tell us to come in public places, street precautions, and more. 

The Owls noticed that other classrooms were taking headshots and professional(ish) pictures, and decided that they wanted to be included in the photo fun. Here are some of the results:

Other Owlings:

The Catbirds made an I-Spy and let us try!

Writing letters in the writing center

More coloring of flubber

Rehearsing...Rehearsing...

Preparations Continue!

For the first time today, all the 3/4s classes joined together to practice our songs for Friday's music performance! The children are quickly mastering the words and motions to our songs, and even our Spanish lullaby is sounding beautiful!

Back in the classroom, Kristin continued to work on accessorizing the costumes, while Mike worked with some Owls on the set design.

In the Dramatic play area, some Owls continued to hone their acting skills by taking on the roles of kittens, puppies, mice, and vets.

And wanting to add color to our Flubber, we decided to see what would happen if we colored on it with markers...

The rain held off long enough for us to done our boots and head outside for some active play. The Owls were excited about the amount of water that had fallen, and worked together for a long time to fill the entire tub! It was amazing to see so many Owls working with such intent and team work!