Mitten Tree

Well today was great! I took in the tree and just placed it in the room - didn't say anything about it. You can just imagine the curiousity it aroused! They would ask and I said, "Hm, it's a mystery." I also placed paper mittens up one wall. That attracted their attention as well - they are very observant.

I spent the morning getting to know them by taking them each aside and we made a special mitten name tag. They spelled their names for me and we drew mittens while they told me about themselves. Children love to talk!! It took me 2 1/2 hours to get through 16 children!!

Anyway - the center activities were all a hit - probably just because they were new - but we were able to get a lot of math, writing and language activities completed in the short afternoon. And it was all fun in what I like to call the "busy" classroom.

I couldn't find the best angle to get the whole tree without children crowding around - and I'm not allowed to take any pictures with them in it. So you get what you get - but they worked very hard on those mittens and did it all independently. Nothing is more fun to a five year old than a whole bottle of fresh glue :-)