Thank you, dear families, for your flexibility in moving our week back one day. Hopefully we are past the worst of this cold and flu season!
Sometimes, in the quiet after school, I find myself marveling at all that has taken place during the day: how much the children are learning in so many realms--physical, cognitive, social--and the progress I see; how their questions keep becoming more interesting and in-depth, and frankly, how much I enjoy spending time with this group, each child very unique in themselves as well as their contribution to the group.
So now, an hour or so after the children have left, I want to share a lovely moment with you: this afternoon, a rosy fire glowing in the wood stove, your children were so engaged in their own activities that all I could hear was the ceiling fan whirring round. B, content on the rug near the puzzle and manipulatives shelf, lost in concentration working a cord through holes in a horse lacing card. V, sitting at our group activity, a collage on sticky paper, focused solely on the scissors in her hand and some magenta curling ribbon. And T, working silently at what he calls 'the tangled book', which is a skill-building quiet book: he was poking laces through holes in a 'shoe' and tying them into tiny knots between holes. This quiet, cozy afternoon time lasted for about four minutes before the children came together again, but it reminded me how much a well-fed, well-exercised child can get lost in playing.
It's been a busy week for your children. We are moving into thinking about winter, how the weather affects the animals around us as well as the neighborhood itself. On Thursday I shared one of our family winter traditions with your children,:we planted paperwhite bulbs, filling up glass jars with pebbles and water, then placing a brown paperwhite bulb on top. We are looking forward to watching their roots emerge and the shoots growing green and tall, eventually to be crowned with those white, star-shaped flowers. Today, our time outside was pushed earlier, after our Popcorn Picnic snack time, so that we could get out before the storms came. While we did get rained on, the children thoroughly enjoyed several rounds of "Hide the Shoe", which is very challenging right now, as the leaves falling from the grapevines are of similar colors. These leaves also reminded the children of umbrellas (with their stem) and butterflies (without) and the children played an informal game of chase with their butterflies. You have never heard such gleeful shrieking! Later, we took a walk down the block and checked the storm drains, clearing leaves with a turning fork from one of them to ward off the development of "Lake Flanders", the giant puddle that can form at that intersection which is a neighborhood low point. We talked about how leaves can become a plug, just like they have in their drain at bath time.
Another cozy moment was on the rug, all the children engaged in experimenting with the marble run. It's fascinating to me how some children like to just run a marble from the top to the bottom of a single piece of track, or to rock that piece back and forth with the marble going along, while others are becoming more interested in building. Identifying the purposes of certain pieces and their names is of interest; the support tubes are hugely popular for making "old man sticks" (this was V) and just putting them together for long, long pieces and rolling the marbles through them or trying to stand them up. (Interestingly, one child suggested the tubes together "looked like a sword, but we don't play swords at school". It's never come up before, but no, we don't!) Our dollhouse was set up on the large school table, too, and B spent quite a while having her dollies go in and out through the doorways before moving over to the marble play.
On Thursday, the weather was decidedly uncooperative, and so we played "Doggie Doggie, Where's Your Bone?", a group game that involves one "dog" who must suss out who is hiding the "bone" in their hands. Because there was so much disappointment around missing Hide the Shoe, we played an indoor version of Hide the Slinky; here I have to say that your children are getting very crafty at finding hiding places. We also did some play acting again. Here are their stories, as they told them to me.
B: A girl and a mommy and Sophie and a daddy. they play with B with her toys. B will tell the story about the bears in it with the girl and the mommy and Sophie and the daddy.
V:Once upon a time there was V and B and T doing a spiderweb in the kitchen and T and B and V are going to be the spiders. (perhaps recalling our first episode of play-acting?)
T: Once upon a time there was a B and V and V and they were kitties. They played with some kitten things.
The imagination of these stories was only trumped by the hilarity of today's Morning Gathering discussion. We read a book called "Thank You, Thanksgiving" about a child who is sent off to buy the whipping cream for Thanksgiving dinner dessert. Along the way to the store through the park, she thanks everything she notices. We talked along through the story about what she might have appreciated about the things she was thanking. (pretty clouds. rabbits, snowy hills) Afterward, I asked the children what they might be thankful for. V replied "I am thank you (thankful) for Christmas is coming soon." T seconded that idea, then added that he was "thankful for skis". V decided to support this statement too, then added, "but I don't never use skis before".
Other sweet, busy moments:
Fingerpainting! On Wednesday, everyone had a chance to fingerpaint. B used her fingers, T used the tools available, choosing a popsicle stick and a fork to mix the colors and make big/skinny lines. V did two pictures, one with fingers and one with all sorts of tools. Big fun.
Cutting folded origami paper for "snowflakes". All the children got very busy, practicing their cutting with each other at the big table. V chose some paper the same color as her friend. "T, I'm having green too", to which he replied "Oh, what a treat!"
B, scooping rice in the bin: "I'm making a cake and it's hot!" Later, she and T sit and work on the large wooden Nuts and Bolts toys. T uses his bolt to knock a puck-shaped Nut around, and blocks become the 'goal'. B sits and watches, happily threading and removing a few Nuts on the other Bolt.
All the children spreading cream cheese or butter on bagels for snacktime. Hard work, figuring out how to hold the bagel and use the knife to spread.
Poring over a nature book's illustrations: V had proposed that it would be neat if "your sweatshirt came from a flower". When I mentioned that it was made of cotton, which was a flower, we had to check out the book. No pictures of cotton, but we got out a few cotton balls to show how cotton is spun into thread, and enjoyed looking at flax flowers as well as more familiar herbs like rosemary, sage and lavender.
B, coloring. What are you making? I ask. Her reply: "Breakfast!"
The big easel with blue, white and black paint. Amazing how their techniques differ. Their stories and various observed techniques will go home with pictures next week.
Morning Gathering on Wednesday. We are singing a new version of "Mary Wore A Red Dress" which instead recounts what they remember from their days off school. B wanted to sing about falling on the sidewalk, T shared how he bit his lip and V "ate mac-n-cheese at a restaurant with daddy".
I'll be interested to hear what happens on our off-days next Tuesday. Have a great weekend!
