The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Do you know the story of Peter Rabbit?

Finlay's family - his mom Camille, sister Maisie, grandma Peg and grandpa AJ from Arizona - shared a fantastical family tradition with us!

​When Maisie and Finlay visit their grandparents they love to play "Peter Rabbit". Together with Peter (grandma Peg) they love to build rabbit holes out of pillows and blankets and steal carrots from Mr. McGregor (grandpa AJ) who is trying to scare them away from his precious garden.  They shared photos and stories about their pretend play over zoom with us. But Peter Rabbit even came and visited us in the Brown Room! He also brought carrots for us...
Did he steal them from Mr. McGregor's garden?

After Finlay's mom read the story of Peter Rabbit to us Finlay invited his friends to play Peter Rabbit with him in the classroom. They started by constructing their rabbit hole. What would be a good place for it? What do we need for it? 

"We need walls!" - Hugh

The children also considered how the entrance to their rabbit hole should look like. In the end they decided on using a bench surrounded by pillows, which you had to crawl under in order to get in and out of the rabbit hole. 
(Electric) candles were used to illuminate the hole, which is fairly dark because it is under ground. We pulled the shades down and turned off the lights in the classroom to enhance this experience. 

Sam pretended to be Mr. McGregor, who sometimes likes to take a nap in the warm sunshine. Then the rabbits can sneak out of their rabbit hole and quietly make their way over to Mr. McGregors garden to steal some of his carrots (books, scarves, ...). But beware when Mr. McGregor wakes back up! You better run back to your rabbit hole before he catches you!

Looking through "binoculars" can help you spot Mr. McGregor in his garden or a bunny that is coming out of its hole... 

​Everyone absolutely LOVED "playing rabbit". ​Right as Luke walked in to school this morning he asked "Can we play rabbit? Run away from bad guy."
Thank you to Finlay and his family for sharing their tradition with us!

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The upcoming holiday ties in perfectly with our focus in the classroom on friendship - Valentine's Day! What a wonderful occasion to celebrate friendship and love.

How can we celebrate Valentine's Day?

 Making cards! - Finlay

I'm gonna celebrate Molly. I'm gonna make something for her. Cause she's nice. Just making something for Molly and Lily. - Bea 

I already made some valentines cards. - Lily

You need to put hearts on them. - Daniel

​Today the children started to decorate their Valentines Bags. They will be set up in the classroom and ready to be filled with lovely messages. Every child is invited to make cards at school or if you would like you can also prepare cards at home for all the children. If you decide to do that, please consider that we have 15 children in the Brown Room and remember to not address them to a specific child. That will make it easier for handing them out. 

Since Valentine's Day falls on a weekend this year, we will celebrate it
on Friday, February 12th and Tuesday, February 16th.