"Who's that trippin' and trappin' over my bridge ? I say who, I say who?
Who's that trippin' and trappin' over my bridge? I say who?
Is it....YOU???"


 Thanks to the Rockin' Billy Goats app on the ipad we've been trippin' and trappin', rockin' and rappin' all week long. I highly recommend  this lively version of the story for all of you ipad owners.

I found a version of the terrific storyteller, Storyteller & Author Dianne de Las Casas, telling the tale to a group of kids. Watch this video to hear the story and learn the songs. I love the way the kids jump every time she shouts "Hoogedy boogedy woogedy troll!"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU_shtehmKY


The Scaretroll (and his 3 Billy Goats) moved to his new home at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens today. A BIG thanks to the awesome John and Jennifer O'Connell (parents of the equally awesome Jakob) for designing and building the frame (out of an old bicycle!) and delivering the finished product.  The students tore fabric strips and tied them around the frame. I got shot down on painting the goats--but honestly, they look pretty cool as is. Here's our fella...

and here are some close ups from Jennifer O. She couldn't resist adding a little extra hoogedy boogedy (with a dash of woogedy) to the face.

Make sure you get a chance to visit Mr. Troll at the gardens in October. Sounds like a good opportunity to get the classroom gang together for a weekend outing, doncha think?

We learned a fun new math game this week. An old favorite from my childhood:

It's been years since I played this one and I was excited to teach it to the kids, especially since Rack-o fits in nicely with our recent greater than/less than math activities.

Here's how you play (thanks to Wikipedia):

The deck consists of 60 cards, each containing a number from 1 to 60. Each player has a rack containing 10 slots to hold his cards.
A dealer will shuffle the cards and deal 10 random cards to each player. The players will take one card at a time, without looking at what number is on the card, and place it in the first available slot in their rack until the rack is full. For example, in slot 10 you might have 3, in slot 9 you might have 23, in slot 8 you might have 59.
Each player's goal is to replace cards that are not in ascending numerical order with cards that are. The cards need to be in order from lowest to highest, although they do not need to be consecutive. For example, if a 58 appears in slot 1, you know you have to replace it with a smaller number. This is where the strategic thinking comes in, as you must decide what numbers to discard and what numbers to keep. A player may not switch the numbers within his own rack; only numbers drawn from the deck or taken from the immediately previous player's discard can be used.
It is not necessary for numbers to be a certain number value or in consecutive order as long as they are in numerical order from lowest to highest. You are considered the winner if, for example, you get an order such as this: 1, 27, 31, 39, 43, 46, 50, 56, 59, 60, even though the jump from 1 to 27, for example, is large.
Each player, in their turn, will either draw a card from the remainder of the deck, or will take the card discarded by the previous player. He will then put that card into one of his own 10 slots and will then discard the card which he has replaced in that slot. To win, you must yell "Rack-O!" as soon as your 10 cards are in numerical order.
Confused?
Here are some winning Rack-o displays from our class:

The one where Aidan beat me...

The one where Annabella beat me

The one where Oliver beat me

Tani and Aidan celebrating the fact that...yep, you guessed it...they beat me.

So, Rack-o seems to not be my game anymore. I swear, I'm not letting these kids win. What gives?



Introducing...

Red Bow Tie and Black Bow Tie! 

 No, silly, tadpoles don't wear bow ties. Frogs, yes. Quite dapper, those amphibians.

But tadpoles???? Don't be ridiculous.

Tani just liked the sound of "Red Bow Tie", and so did the majority of the voting class members.  And since there are two, the other one just had to be named "Black Bow Tie". We are so excited about this addition to the class zoo! These see-through tadpoles (you can actually see their hearts beating) will morph into frogs over the next month or two.Test your child's knowledge on the life cycle of a frog by showing them these pictures. Can the remember what each stage is called? At which stage do they have gills? When do they develop lungs?

Ribbit.