The note below says it all. After spending eighteen days in our classroom, T. P. has left the building and has begun his journey home. We have had so much fun sharing about what we do in Kindergarten and hope that T. P. takes all of the great facts he learned home with him to report back to Monty and Frosty. Good-bye T. P.! We will miss you!
 |
| What is the toilet paper for? We thought that T. P.'s luggage must have been too heavy so he decided to leave it and the cactus behind. |
Day Eighteen (December 11): A Toasty T. P.
With a blanket of snow covering the Kawarthas over night, the second snow day of the year took
place for those in the area. This did not stop T. P. to carry on learning in our classroom. A few friends who braved the weather noticed T. P. was sitting over near the Loose Parts table and warming up after being in the tub all day yesterday (see Day Seventeen below for details).
In his note, we discovered that he was sitting there to warm up before heading home to Finland. BS2 pointed out that T. P. must be using the heater to warm up. A few friends that were eating lunch with us from our class last year, who are now in Grade One, were excited to see that T. P. knew Frosty and Monty. One thing they remembered almost instantly was that if T. P. got too close to the heater he could get hurt because that is where Frosty melted last year :(Day Seventeen (December 10): Splish Splash!
Splish splash! T. P. was in the bath this morning when we arrived. As many of us crowded around the water table to check out T. P. we noticed a lot of things he was using to clean up with before heading home. Together we counted eight things: water, bubbles, soap, three sponges and a towel for him to dry off with when he was done in addition to the water table!
Once we started unpacking our own belongings to get our day started, some of us noticed letters in our shoes again from T. P. Yesterday (Day Sixteen), some of us wrote T. P. to find out a little more information about him and to say hello.RM found out that T. P. is also from Finland just like Monty and Frosty. JC discovered that T. P. did, in fact, go to the hospital before he came back to the school sick room for a rest. VB was excited to share her card that T. P. returned to her with a note that let her know that he liked her too! So many great pieces of information were learned and lots of kind thoughts were sent back our way from T. P. as he seems to be getting closer and closer to leaving us from the looks of his notes.
Day Sixteen (December 9): T. P.'s Packing
This morning we came across T. P. sitting on our water table with all kinds of things from around our Kindergarten room. "What is T. P. doing with all of our stuff?" many friends asked one another as they moved in to get a closer look.
"His notes says that Frosty and Monty have asked him to bring back things to show them from Kindergarten!" read AA."I hope that means that his isn't leaving today!" exclaimed DF.
"I hope not either because it is awesome having him here to see what he does each day!" added AG.
So many of us have come to love checking for T. P. in the classroom each day when he arrives that we decided to reflect back on his journey thus far. In his note, T. P. told us he was collecting things to take back to show Monty and Frosty and that if there was anything he was forgetting to put it out for him to add to his box.
Using our blog to look back, we added a few more items for T. P. to take back with him. Below is a list of items we added to help T. P. remember his trip to Kindergarten. We added:
- a toilet paper roll and Kinex piece from when he built us a sculpture (BS2)
- a piece of paper towel from when he sat up on the paper towel holder (OR)
- an envelope and paper so he could write to us when he returned home (TL)
- some sand from the sandbox to remind him of when he visited there (GS)
- two band-aids in case he got into trouble flying home and crashed (DF)
With all of these things in his box, a few of us thought that it might be too heavy for him. After discussing this together, we came to the conclusion that since he was magic, T. P. could handle carrying the box using his powers to help him. Fingers crossed he stays for a few more days so he can keep learning with us!
Day Fifteen (December 8): T. P. Takes the Airways
"Cool! T. P. made something! I wonder what it is???" were the excited cries from students as they entered the classroom this morning."What does the note say? Maybe it will give us a clue!" said CS as he brought the note to Mrs. Ridgway to read to everyone.
"It says, 'here the airplane nnnnn' Time to get ready to go" Mrs. Ridgway read to all of us.
"Oh look, it looks like an airplane" noticed DF as he came to get a closer look at what T. P. had created from the recycled materials at our Craft Area.
"I wonder why he is thinking about leaving?" asked VB.
"Remember when Monty and Frosty came last year? They didn't stay very long either" recalled OR.
"Maybe someone could write T. P. and ask" thought Mrs. Ridgway, "Then we will know for sure. Who know? Maybe Monty and Frosty have contacted him and need him to come home"
Hopefully T. P. will stay with us a little longer as we know there is so much he still can learn about being in Kindergarten!
Day Fourteen (December 5): Bravo! Bravo!
As we walked into the classroom this morning, we were surprised to see T. P. had made it all the way back to school. "He must fly pretty fast" RM told us all after realizing how far it was from the school to the church.
"Yeah yeah, we had to take a bus there for the practice so it IS far!" chimed in some other students."He must be quick because he made a tree for us! Oh cool! He made it with our wreath" said VB. In his note, T. P. reminded us about his unexpected visit and that he loved our singing and performance.
Last night, he showed up at our Holiday Concert! We couldn't believe it! He even dressed up with a bow tie to our special evening. He even brought us a good luck note!
Day Thirteen (December 4): T.P.'s Back!
For the last six days, our dear friend T.P has not been with us. Due to an accident, T. P. was hurt and left our room. Many of us hoped he would come back and thought that if we apologized that he might, just like when we did last time.We figured that T. P. must have been either very mad at all of us or off somewhere recovering because he didn't return until this morning when Mrs. Jordan, our principal, brought him down from the office! "Mrs. Jordan! Mrs. Jordan! Where did you find T. P.?" the class shouted as we welcomed her into the room carrying no one other than T. P.!
"I found him at the office in the sick room with a note on him. Can someone help me read what it says?" AA volunteered and was able to let us know loud and clear that since T. P. was hurt he had gone to the office for help. Mrs. Vella was able to fix him all up, but his note also told us never to touch him again because he didn't want to get hurt. AVW and VB thought, "it would be nice for T. P. to sit on one of our blue chairs with a comfy pillow so he could rest a little more". Everyone agreed this was a great idea. EH also added "maybe we should tell T. P. to always be up high so friends can't touch him at all!" Yet another great idea. Hopefully T. P. takes her advice!Day Twelve (November 27): A Toasty Warm T. P.
"Whoa! T. P. is wearing Mrs. Corner's boots!" cried OR as he entered the coat room this morning.
"Look! He's also wearing her hat and mittens" added CM.
"Let's check the note that he left for us!" said a few friends as they joined the excitement of finding T. P.
We decoded T. P.'s message and figured out that he was planning on heading outside. T. P. must have heard all of the reminders Mrs. Ridgway, Mrs. Corner and Mrs. West have been giving us since it has started getting colder out. Even though we check the weather each morning, sometimes we seem to forget once we begin getting ready for recess. We are so glad that T. P. has learned that it is now cold outdoors and that we need to dress warmly to keep our bodies healthy!
This afternoon, while returning from second recess, we were not surprised to find T. P. was no longer in our room. Just before heading out, one of our friends became upset and decided to not only touch, but throw T. P., which hurt him very much. "Oh no!" cried VB, "T. P.'s hat even came off!" We all remembered the reminder T. P. had sent us earlier during his visit not to touch him, so we had a feeling that he would be gone once we returned. Our upset friend did apologize to T. P., but we figured that this just might not be enough. Hopefully he is only out getting fixed up and feeling better...only time will tell!
Day Eleven (November 26): T. P. the Projected Shoe Snatcher
"Mrs. Ridgway! Mrs. Ridgway! T. P. left a note on one of the cubbies!" shouted OR as he began to unpack his bag for the day.
"Mrs. Ridgway! I think T.P. took my shoes because they aren't in my cubby" exclaimed CS who noticed that his indoor shoes were not in their usual place like everyone elses. Quickly putting these two thoughts together, the class determined that T. P.'s note must have something to do with the missing shoes.As a team, we pieced together T. P.'s daily note and figured out that he had borrowed CS's shoes and that he was hiding somewhere in the room with them. Making our way to the carpet for morning announcements, a few friends spotted T. P. sitting way up on the SmartBoard projector. "Aaahhh!" yelled VB, "I think I see CS's shoes up there with T. P. He DID borrow them just like he said!"
Following a short debate about how T. P. managed to get up onto the projector, everyone agreed that he didn't borrow Mr. T's ladder, but that he used his magic to get there. Since he was up, "pretty high" as noted by HW, we discussed whether or not we should bring T. P. down to safety.
Many of us thought that he was alright up there because, "he's sitting and there's a big enough space to keep him safe that he should be ok" as mentioned by RM. We did decide to bring CS's shoes down so he could wear them, "just in case there happened to be a fire drill" like he noted.
In addition to borrowing CS's shoes, many friends also found letters from T. P. between their shoes in their cubbies. JC's letter was one that caused a lot of excitement as we FINALLY learned what T. P.'s first initial stood for...Tom! In the letter that she had wrote, JC asked T. P. what his first name was. We are so glad to finally know! Now all we need is the second name and we are all set. Fingers crossed that someone writes to T. P. and asks. A few friends are still waiting for a reply from T. P. and hopefully it comes soon. We are thinking that maybe they could come as an e-mail because T. P. knows all about the computer now. Only time will tell!As we came in from second recess, we found T. P. sitting on our step with all of the things that make the SmartBoard work! He was even sitting on the eraser. His note shared that he thought the SmartBoard was SO big and he wanted to know what it did. We told him that the projector that he was sitting on in the morning is what makes the SmartBoard work. We know all about this because we talk to Mr. H, who takes care of all the SmartBoards and computers at JCPS, everytime he comes in.
Day Nine (November 24): Tech T. P.
"Oh man Mrs. Ridgway! T. P. is at the computer with all of our sticks out!" exclaimed GS this morning as the class entered the room.
"What does it say?" asked TL.
Together, we worked through the note and discovered that T. P. wanted to know about the computer and how we use the headphones. Or, at least we inferred about the headphones because he was wearing them!
As the day went on, many of us let T. P. know what the computer was by verbally sharing and talking to him and letting him know. We were so excited that he asked and were so happy to share all of the great things we know computers can do to help make our lives easier.
Also on the computer were some letters for friends who had written to T. P.. As each person opened their letter, they were very excited to see what T. P. had to see about the letters and cards they had sent him. A few friends are still waiting to hear from T. P., which sparked an interesting conversation about how the mail system works. Hopefully more letters will arrive tomorrow!When we came in from second recess, T. P. had moved to one of the blue chairs and was enjoying a CHIRP magazine. He wondered what all of the pictures meant and we told him that they were for reading. We also shared that magazines had lots of information about different topics and that they are, "pretty fun to read and do the activities in" as quoted by VB who told us she has her very own subscription that, "comes to my house in the mail!"
Day Eight (November 20): A Prickly Good Morning from T. P.!
Wondering what the thorns might actually be there for, we
shared our ideas about what their purpose could be. OR and VB both thought that they, "probably help keep the plant safe and protected".
CM then piggy backed on this idea and added that, "they keep the plant safe from animals". To be sure, we double checked using one of our iPad minis and found out all kinds of neat facts. One being that the thorns DO protect the plant from animals and other things that might be interested in taking it's water (or juice) to use to rehydrate.
JC told us that most cactus, "grow in the desert where there isn't much water and it's really hot a lot!"
Before getting on with our day, CM thought it would be nice if we moved T. P. to a safer and more comfortable place, which was such a thoughtful idea. To make sure he learned as much as he could about cactus, we decided to set T. P. down beside the pot in case he wanted to read more about the cactus as we noticed the two smaller cacti had information about them on their pots.
Day Seven (November 18): T. P. Loves to Build
"Ooooh Mrs. Ridgway! There's T. P. over by the rolls!" (JC)
"That's a pretty cool tower he made to show us" (GS). Too bad he didn't think to take the iPad with him to take a picture of it because that's what we always do, especially since he tried it out yesterday when we found him in the iPad cubbies on the logs (Day Six).Finding T.P, sparked a lot of interest at this learning centre today as large
structures were designed and created by a large number of friends. It was amazing to see all of the ideas come to life and hear all of the conversations take place as they occurred throughout the morning as different students entered and exited this area of learning.
Day Five (November 14): A Sandy T. P.!
This morning we walked in and found that T. P., was "over on the sandbox" (VB) and even more specifically because, "I saw him right on the edge when I was on the carpet!" (EH) We thought he must have spent some of his evening, "playing with the sand" (AV), which we all know is so much fun!
When Mrs. Ridgway asked the question, "how did T. P. get the lid off?", we shared a variety of answers.
With a quick reminder from BS1, "not to touch him" and that, "You [Mrs. Ridgway or Mrs. Corner] should move him to where the pencil crayons are on the shelf so he can be safe and we can play in the sand", we quickly got onto our day filled with lots of learning and message writing to T. P. to tell him all about the learning that we do at the sand centre.
Day Four (November 13): T. P.'s Back!
"Look Mrs. Ridgway! Look Mrs. Corner! Look look! T. P.'s back! Our idea worked!" were the excited shouts we were met with this morning once friends located T. P. back in the classroom.
Yesterday, our new found friend, T. P. (we still haven't gotten around to asking him what his initials mean!), left our class. At first, we were not sure why, but then we found out that two friends had chosen to touch T. P., which we determined he must not have appreciated. As a group, the class thought the two people who touched T. P. should write him an "I'm sorry" card and they did in hopes that T. P. would return today.The idea must have worked because low and behold, T. P. was back this morning at the writing table!
He even had one of our pencils and left us another note! It reminded us to keep our hands off (only adults can touch him to move him if he decides he wants to be at or in one of our learning centre areas). We are so glad to have T. P. back! Here's hoping he stays with us and everyone thinks twice before touching him!
Day Three (November 12): T. P.'s Gone!
So far, T. P. has been with us for two and a half days, but this afternoon, he disappeared!
This morning (Day Three), we started our day off with T. P. being discovered on our light table! He even had time (overnight is what we think because we would have seen him working!) to create and label an 8 car pattern for us to see and make connections to. Many of us noticed right off the bat that he had created an ABCD pattern and that it repeated twice.However, as the day went on, T. P. magically left the room! We have determined that since he is friends with Monty and Frosty (see Day One entry for details) someone must have touched him which him afraid and leave.
Two friends eventually admitted that they did touch T. P. and asked the class what they could do to try and bring him back. Everyone thought it might be a good idea for them to write T. P. an "I'm sorry" card. Fingers crossed this brings T. P. back!
Be sure to check back tomorrow to see what happens...
Day One (November 10): T. P. Arrives!
Who is T. P. you ask? That is a good question. T. P. is a magical friend that appeared in our classroom this morning! We haven't figured out what his initials mean yet, but some of us who really want to know are going to ask him by writing him a letter.
What is T. P.? We are not sure about that yet either. Some of us think he is a marshmellow, some of us think he is a fancy cardboard toilet paper roll and some of us are just not sure what to think, but want to find out. Again, we thought we should write and ask him by to see if he can fill us in.Where did we find T. P.? FL found in the washroom, of all places, this morning sitting on the back of the toilet tank beside our 'PLEASE FLUSH' reminder.
When did T. P. arrive? We think he must have come either over the weekend sometime as he wasn't in our room on Friday!
Why is T. P. in our room? We think that he is here to learn about Kindergarten! T. P. wrote us a note asking about the pink reminder note on the toilet tank and then later on in the day he told us he was friends with Frosty and Monty. Last year, those two friends also appeared in our classroom and we had so much fun remembering all of the crazy antics and learning they got up to in our room!How did T. P. get in our classroom? He must have snuck in before the doors were locked at the end of the day. Since he is little, we thought it would be easy peasy for him to sneak into our room undetected once the night custodian finished in our classroom.
Check back soon for regular updates on what T. P. has been up to learning all about Kindergarten by being the newest member of our class!
