Tuesday surprised us all with a nice dusting of snow on the ground and the coldest weather we've seen this season, which delayed our morning start. Since our Gathering Time is so important, we started our day instead with some playdough, rolling big balls to make snowmen and using the patterned rolling pins to create lines, which were furrows for "a farm"; V and I spent several minutes rolling tiny balls to place on the furrows as seeds. A little bit of a backward day, once everyone arrived, we had our snack a bit early and then rounded up for the Gathering, where we made up some little stories and counted bears as we moved them back and forth from their cabin, the snowy meadow, the frozen lake and the pine tree forest. Reading a book on weather, I showed the children a picture of a snowed-in town and asked them "what happens when there's too much snow". Everyone agreed that "cars can't go" and V added that "everything is white". What do you like on a cold day? B: "I like to play on snow days." V: "I like to eat snow on cold days" and T said "I really like to play in the snow". Afterward, the children were given paper snowflakes with holes and a length of yarn for lacing; T liked to loop his around his neck and announced it was a guitar, V followed suit.
This week, our water play bin was open, and we added color on both days, a straightforward blue on Tuesday and a mix of red and green, which the children decided looked more purple than brown. Our marble run pieces are still out and available. B connected many of the support tubes together then declared "Look at this big tower I made for the princess!" T and V spent a lot of time, trying out pieces to see if they connected and observing to figure out how they worked together.
Over in our little housekeeping area, the Alphabet Cookie play continues. I offered the puzzle frame to load the cookies onto, and T announced "Coming in for landing" as he placed the letters into their rightful places. B worked to get them back out of the frame and into her kitchen, and offered me a tray of them, correctly identifying several letters. The children came together at a few different times in this area, spreading trays all over the little kitchen, an extra stool serving as another counter, and used tongs and spatulas to distribute both cookies and horse chestnuts to all. In keeping with our letter-recognition, we played our Name Game at Wednesday Gathering, but in a new way; this time, the children were asked to choose 3 letters each from a pool of all the letters before receiving their name cards to match them on. It's apparent that the letters of our names are becoming a little more familiar, as only two letters of the entire group weren't correct matches. We finished out our cards, still working both on matching the letters as well as correct orientation.
Speaking of letters, we had some time on Wednesday to work with the stamp pads on pieces of paper cut specifically to accommodate the little mailboxes. B and V decided spontaneously that they wanted to mail their artwork home to their mothers instead of taking it via backpack, which T was very proud to do. He later confided this to a neighbor, that he "liked to take it home in my backpack for my mommy today", on our walk to the big mailbox. The girls enjoyed picking out a pine cone stamp and licking/sealing their envelopes. Our walk was a brisk one, but we did spy the neighbor, out chopping wood, and a lone hummingbird, visiting the fuchsia's near 47th. "Do you think the nectar in the flowers is frozen?" I asked, and there was a unanimous "yes".
Other outdoor activities this week included setting out more suet and water for the birdies (we are now seeing goldfinches, along with juncos, sparrows, a scrub jay and one fat flicker) and watching the acrobatic antics of a squirrel or two. We observed how the bigger animals knocked suet crumbs onto the ground and how the smaller birds, chased away from the suet cage by those larger creatures, ate the crumbs in relative peace. We also noticed that the birds don't visit when we are close by, but if we stand over by the gate or are inside, they'll stick around. Ice was a big attraction, too; the tarp over the sandbox had collected puddles which then froze, as did the water in the bottom of the ball bucket. The patterns in that ice were fascinating, taking the shapes of the different knobbly and patterned surfaces of the balls; it was fun matching 'which ball?' to the icy patterns.The children liked to drop and break pieces of the ice, and used sticks to 'write' in the snow that had accumulated on the rounds. We also noticed how our breath makes steam, although the children still confuse it for "smoke".
A quiet little week--here are a few more moments:
Painting at the big easel~ V says "This is a picture of a beach with blue water and red sand because there is no yellow". All the children sit around, watching her paint. Later at the easel, T continues the theme. "I'm making a big beach with lots of water. See the water?"
Playing "Doggie Doggie Where's Your Bone?" on Tuesday, all the children imitating panting, cute dogs.
We had the wood fire ablaze on Wednesday, and moved our Popcorn and Pears Picnic to the big rug. The children giggled as we sang "Way up High in the Apple Tree", shaking down apples, pears, lemons ("oooh! they were sour!") and kiwis, for which we adjusted the song to become "Way up high on the kiwi vine tree". Later, we read "Katy and the Big Snow" while playing with lacing cards.
T and B, then T and V, working with the nuts and bolts puzzles; T creating another game with his bolt, a couple nuts and some blocks.
All in a row: sometimes we have a series of nonsequitors that arise spontaneously. We were listening to some old Miles Davis, and listening to the sounds of the different instruments. The children identified a piano (which started us off, I'm sure) a horn, and drums. T starts us off: "The piano flied out of my house because I left the door open. So then I got a new piano, but the new one was yucky So I got another one and it was the same." This was followed by V announcing "Itsy Bitsy Spider!" and then B following up with an excited series of "Ta Da! Ta Da! Ta Da!"
As I said, a quiet week. As we sang our farewell song on Wednesday, I asked the children what they were glad and thankful for. T mentioned "skis" again, as he did last week. B, who loves to be the helper at lunchtime, brightly said "Lunch!" and V tickled my heart: "I am thank you (thankful) for school." I hope you have all had a happy Thanksgiving holiday and I'm looking forward to our next week of birds, triangles and so much more!
