A Not So Good Friend

 

The day was a little out of order today because our science project needed some extra time to "work".  We made Friendship Flowers.  The kids all paired up in groups of two to work together on this project.  Each friend group had a flower to share.  Every child had a different color cup of water in front of them.  We all made predictions about what would happen when the flower stems were cut in half, with one half placed in each cup of water.  It's a visual demonstration of what happens when friends work together rather than all alone!  We headed outside and left our flowers to "drink" the colored water.

 

 

After playground, we read The Recess Queen by Alexis O'Neill.  Mean Jean is the reigning Recess Queen, pushing and smooshing, hammering and slammering the other kids whenever they cross her. And then one day a new girl shows up on the playground and catches Mean Jean completely off-guard. Not only is little Katie Sue not the least bit intimidated by the bully, she actually asks her to jump rope with her. In no time flat, Jean and Katie Sue are best buddies, and the playground is safe for all again.  The kids LOVED this story.....and I loved that it teaches children to work out problems on their own.....without tattling to an adult!



Immediately after the book, the kids were so anxious to check their Friendship Flowers.  (I must tell you that this experiment needed some adult facilitation in order to be so miraculous....but don't tell the children!!)  To our amazement, the flowers had all turned colors.  Some were one color on the top, and another one the bottom....some were one color on one side, and another color on the other side.....and some were all mixed up!  But each flower had some of each friend's colored water!  That sealed the deal.....WE ARE ALL GOOD FRIENDS!

After lunch we had some writing time.  The Beginnings friends have been asking about the journals that the Transitions friends do each afternoon, and although we are not all ready for a "journal", each Wednesday we are going to try and work in some writing time.  Practice makes perfect.....and if we want a journal, we need to practice first!  Each child did some pre-writing strokes.  Up, down, left to right, tracing the dotted lines.  It was serious work.....and they all took it very seriously!

I'm not sure why....but they all seemed extremely tired when we sent them home today!  You know the school day is a success when kids go home tired and ask if they can come back tomorrow!