Dear Parents,
On Monday, Lilian’s grandmother Julia visited and talked to us about how to breathe during meditation. We felt our tummies fill with air and listened to our breath. We sat for about one minute. Afterwards, everyone got a turn to ring the bell bowl using a small stick. When asked, the children said meditation was being quiet and relaxing.
We had plenty of play time in the yard. On Tuesday Davina joined us for circle. She and Addy showed us their violins and played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Addy let everyone take a turn holding and playing her violin. Davina shared too! We learned how to place your feet for balance and that the bowstrings are made from animal hair.
Six sleepers on Tuesday. And Thursday. Shhhhhhh.
Wednesday during movement the children were heard clapping and what sounded like galloping across the big room. They were certainly moving! While half the class moved in movement, the other half worked furiously cutting and gluing valentines for family.
Puppetworks was entertaining. We learned that there was more than one magical instrument. The children said their favorite parts were: the crocodile, the dancing monsters, the part where someone said there was a monster on his nose, and when the prince and princess kissed. During the show, someone whispered, “The Queen is evil and rudey!” They explained that rudey means rude, rude, rude!
Upon our return from Mid-Winter Break, we will continue playing our instruments, have more family shares, and begin learning about simple machines.
Have a fun break!
--
Chicks and kazoos
Dear All,
The children had many baby chick questions upon arrival Monday morning, the main one being, “Where are the baby chicks?”
Monday and Tuesday the children made kazoos by first coloring paper towel tubes and then painting them. We attached wax paper to the end with rubber bands. We remembered the vibrating strings on our guitars and attempted to use our voices to vibrate the wax paper. The children made high and low sounds. It took some figuring out but most succeeded. Loudly.
Tuesday we had three, four, five, then seven baby chicks! We observed them wet in the incubator, waiting for them to fluff up as instructed by Farmer Tom. They cheeped while we kazoo-ed. By Wednesday we had eleven chicks. Number five, the last egg, never hatched. The children
pondered why: something happened to the baby chick and it didn’t come out, maybe it just died because something pulled its little string out, maybe the daddy didn’t put sperm in it, it probably just want to go to sleep, they weren’t ready to wake up yet, and maybe it didn’t hatch.
We reviewed our Baby Chicks Rule list. Everyone recalled how to sit, how to pet gently, what kind of voices to use, and to wash hands after holding them. The children were as gentle as could be, so much so, that many of the chicks began to fall asleep in laps.
Wednesday was our first movement class with Jerzey and Ms. Z. The children were seen doing leg stretches, arm rotations, and sidestepping. While half the class moved in movement class the rest of us chose between petting baby chicks or cutting with scissors.
The children named some of the baby chicks: Relaxa, Rock Climber, Fall-y, Richard, Chicky, and Squeaky. And then, as quick as they came, they were gone. Back to the farm.
In the big room, people have been building airplanes and bubble blowers with blocks, acting like all kinds of animals, running like crazy, tricycling up a storm, rolling on wheel boards, playing basketball, and moving soft blocks to every nook and cranny of the room. Everyone has been amazingly cooperative, helping return toys to their proper places.
We made our first recordings on Friday. After listening to the first two, someone suggested we name the next one Quiet. We did, and it was.
Next week, in addition to more movement with Ms. Z, we have Pajama Day on Tuesday- yes, the children can wear pajamas to school, and a field trip to Puppetworks! We also have one parent share and one grandparent share scheduled.
Have a restful weekend,
Therese