Tuesday morning brought a welcome treat: a birthday circle for T, who has turned four. After singing what we'd done over the weekend, we began our song about the Earth going round the sun (V was designated to be the sun) and then sat down to feast on strawberries and read the story of "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel". Once the strawberries had been devoured and Mike Mulligan and Mary and were safely ensconced in Popperville's new town hall, we moved over to the big table for some play dough fun. T made a "spiderman" with Popsicle stick legs, B practiced her play dough cutting (her very favorite play dough activity) and V made lots of 'pasta'.
Later that day, we sat down for some scissors work. I'd drawn lines on paper, and the children followed the lines with their scissors, cutting the paper into strips. This was where I could really see that all B's cutting practice paid off... she literally flew through the first piece of paper I gave her! We also worked on a "Birthday Page" for our books; each child was asked when their birth date was and I wrote it down. Then we drew the number 4 (which we either are, already, or will be at our next birthday) and counted out four stickers to represent the amount.
On Thursday, we came together at Gathering for some lively songs, to choose our jobs again (interestingly, T and B continue to choose mealtime helping jobs and V wanted to be a helper at art time, even if she was unsure what the task would be), and to read a new retelling of the traditional Stone Soup story by Jon J Muth. In this story, three monks wandering China come upon a village which has greatly suffered in recent years, and whose inhabitants are first and foremost concerned with self-preservation. Once the magic of the monks' stone soup takes effect, however, they are all able to come together, opening their hearts and homes to the monks as well as each other. While some of the ingredients of their stone soup were unfamiliar (lily buds and exotic mushrooms), the beauty of the story was very clear.
Our housekeeping area now includes the old dutch oven for the soup pot, various cups of sorted nuts, pretend noodles and the wooden fruits and veggies as well as the tea set. Just as soon as Gathering was finished, B and V went right over to begin making "stone soup". B was the mother and V, the child, and their interactions were true to their roles. B told V that the almonds were "dessert" and she couldn't have any "until you eat your dinner". The Soup Pot was soon full of everything one could add to it, and later we had fun as a group, sorting it all back out (some children used tongs to pull things out of the pot, just for fun and good practice) and making the little kitchen "beautiful" again.
On Tuesday, T had noticed that 'we haven't done mail in a long time', and so on Thursday, I offered folded cards and envelopes for the children to color with markers. Interestingly, none of them wanted to use them for mail at school, so they were put into backpacks and taken home.
Our play dough time on Thursday started with my making a pot to continue our stone soup play. "What could go in here?" I asked. V offered two stones and a carrot, and later, T added "strawberries, some lettuce and a banana". Pretty wild! Then T used cutters and rolling pins to make patterns in the dough and then cut it into strips, connecting them to make "a dragon". Then he mashed the dough back up and the following conversation began:
T: I wanted to smooth it because I kind of want to make something else. I made pasta.
V:I want to make pasta too. I'm going to squish it too. Everybody squoosh with me. Squish squish squish!
T: I'm making circles.
V: I'm making roll-outs. Do you know what roll-outs are? Does your mom make roll-outs?
B patted a mass of play dough onto a stick, and then used scissors to cut it off the stick. She made a game of doing this over and over again. The conversation about "roll-outs" continued, and then V asked "Does your mom cook your bread?" This sparked another conversation about where our bread comes from-- the oven or the store.
I love the conversations we had at Popcorn Picnic time too. Spiderman and getting shots were the big topics of conversation. It turns out that different families do different things when kids get shots. Some get a sticker at the doctor's office, some get a sweet treat later on.
A few other moments from our week:
B and V on Tuesday, playing in the Heart Cookie Bakery. B was the mom again, and V was the child.
T works on our new house puzzle (which must be built with posts and walls, then roof) and then V took a turn playing with it. B then brought over the little dolls and they were placed in the house too!
V and T work on our big Noah's Ark floor puzzle together, spotting flamingos, zebras, giraffes and elephants and learning the name of those white birds flying-- snowy egrets.
Lots of play outside, singing around the Children's House, playing in the plum tree house--going in and out of it, and peering over the branches to 'look out the window'.
We are digging out our planting area for our snow peas. V was especially interested in my procuring earthworms for her to hold for a moment, then wanted to help me pull weeds. While we were set to do our double-checking for our peas (this means consulting the seed packet, measuring to make sure the stakes they picked out will be high enough and that we've enough room for our seeds to grow), the fickle rain on Thursday produced enough puddles to postpone our planting work. Instead, we went for a long puddle walk around the neighborhood, marvelled at the daffodils and crocuses coming up, and upon our return, checked our big pots in the backyard, where a hyacinth bud is emerging from the center of T's pot. Let's hope we can get our peas in next week, or we'll truly be running behind!
We'll see you next Tuesday with more fun about food, planting and so much more!
Hazel
