This past week brought new friends and the building blocks of new experiences. Our class is growing in number and teeming with imagination as our friends spend time working indoors and out.
We read an exciting story shared by one of our enthusiastic readers about a lovely tiger who joins a family for tea. After an adventuresome afternoon where the tiger eats everything in sight, the family enjoys a necessary yet delicious dinner at a local cafe. In true exploratory fashion we bundled up and went to tour our very own local cafes. On our way we visited cheery yellow canaries at a local grocer, noted the newly bare trees, and sang what is becoming one of our favorite songs,
"The Ants Go Marching!".
At the cafe, we mimicked the hungry tiger by gobbling yummy muffins and fresh fruit, and we spoke of the exciting things we'd observed on our rainy walk. 
On many walks we've stopped to stoop down low and listen to the trains rumble. Our friends are consistently fascinated by the subway so we finally decided that this was the perfect week to take a closer look. Our mini-field trip to the subway station inspired color exploration (green for G, orange for F), beginning recognition of the letters F and G, as well as the honing of our listening and class safety skills. We also learned a new song about trains that our friends sang with much enthusiasm!
Back in the classroom the hard work continues! Duplo blocks are the medium of choice this afternoon. Our friends work with teachers, asking questions, and using their problem solving skills in order to create tall structures that won't tip over. After much trial and error and many giggles as the towers came crashing down we discovered a wonderful solution: wide on bottom, skinny on top, of course!
It's always exciting to see our friends use their bright minds to open up new dimensions of play and discovery!
