Two Tortoises on Red and Green Day

Red and Green Day is our end-of-Christmas-term party day! Normally our children wear uniforms to school so any grub day is exciting but Red and Green Day is always so festive! Once again we divided our year group up into three different classes (we like to mix them all up so the children can be with their friends in other classes once in a while) and had three activities:

                 

Making angels

Candy Cane Mice

Decorating Cookies

And where do the tortoises come in?

Well, one is our class pet - a box turtle of uncertain ancestry. Last year he was called Rosie Peanut but this year he has been "The Tortoise". He's more or less in hibernation right now - we dig him up every couple of days, soak him in his bath and offer food but really all he wants to do is sleep.

The Tortoise under his heat lamp

And the second tortoise is our Roman Formation that we practiced on the field today. I'm not sure that they would have survived in battle but my 11th Legion had a great time demonstrating the Tortoise, the Wedge and the Circle before having a mock battle. Sadly, we had to have a civil war (due to the fact that the other two classes haven't quite finished their shields) but we managed to get in quite a few blows before the swords turned into noodles :)

Our numbers were a little depleted due to two soldiers being back in the garrison with illness and two more incapacitated on the sidelines (aka friendship problem) but a small tortoise is better than no tortoise!