A Fish Story

Last week we read about The Very Hungry
Caterpillar and how he turned into a butterfly and flew away. This week we experienced the real thing: Miss White took my friends out into the courtyard and then released the butterflies they had raised from caterpillars. One by one they flew out of their butterfly cage and away. We didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

But we still had our other friends. For class today, we’d each brought in one of our favorite stuffed animals. It was fun. But before long, we’d exchanged them for something even better: wonderful musical instruments that Miss Paula had brought in — things such as an ocean drum, a shaker egg, a cabasa, a rock shaker, a maraca, even a Djembe drum. Oh yes, one more – a fish! Did you ever play a fish? Eleanor played a green one. (See photo on right.)












Kanaan and Jordy decided to color fish than to play them. But they didn’t release them into the ocean; unlike the butterflies who flew into the forest, the fish might not be so lucky...

Things that Fly

Who could believe that this funny-looking green critter could ever get off the ground? Miss Forbis read to us of just such an event.












Miss Forbis then told us how he made a little house and called it a cocoon. Two weeks later he pushed his way out of the cocoon and he became a beautiful…














Then we learned that you can actually eat kites! Miss Forbis and Miss White made kites from strawberry Twizzlers, graham crackers, cream cheese icing, and dessert sprinkles. Kanaan (bottom right) made his even better by adding peanut butter and bananas.






















What better thing to do next than to go fly a kite! So that’s what we did. We all marched outside and then the fun began.
— (sung to Miss Paula’s new song: "I’m not small. I’m so tall").

Things That Go

No matter how you put it, far, far away is a long, long way to run.
Hit it Camden! (From the Sound of Music song "Do Re Mi".)

Cinco de Mayo

Today and all this week we celebrated Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for "fifth of May"). On Thursday Mexicans will celebrate the 149th anniversary of the Battle of Puebla as Cinco de Mayo, a national holiday in Mexico. It’s really a party that celebrates freedom and liberty.
…Of course, this calls for a piñata fiesta, which we read about – both in Spanish and English – by counting things that go into a piñata – i.e., dos trompetas (two trumpets), tres animalitos (three little animals)…

 
No, we did not dance around a sombrero – instead we took turns counting sombreros – “One. Uno. Two. Dos. Three. Tres… (pictured is Noah)” – all under the watchful camera of a fotógrafo. He was here today to document the activities of our friends for the school’s website (www.frankielemmonschool.org).


Of course, a Cinco de Mayo party would be nothing without great Mexican food. We marched down to the break room where Miss Forbis helped us melt cheese and salsa together – something called queso. Then Miss White helped us carry it back to our room for a delicioso snack of melted queso and tortilla chips. We tried to keep it in our mouth – and not on our clothes. Muy bueno!





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