Today is the two for one blog.  Sorry, yesterday’s blog failed to upload and we didn’t notice until the evening time.   Rather that two posts, we have two days in one post!

Thursday

Today we had a great time at the farm. I forgot the camera memory card (oops!), but I did snap a few pictures with my phone as we went along. The first thing that caught everyone’s interest was the fuzzy caterpillar that Jane found. He was very active and the kids were entertained by him for quite some time.

Next we helped by washing the harvest of squash to prepare it for the farm garden cooperative.  After that we spent a very long time pulling green beans off of the dead stalks to later harvest the dried seeds at WF in the afternoon.

This morning, the main interest was an exploration in washing the farm animals with bubbly water.

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For breakfast we had whole wheat bagels and bananas.  For lunch we had whole wheat flat bread with PB, mixed veggies, and watermelon.  Snack was Sophia’s birthday treat: Fruit pizza.  Yum!  Wee sprouts were cucumbers.

Have a great evening,

Tami

Wednesday

 

Using unclaimed and glorious WF art, cut into strips, friends aspired to creating a paper chain. We first studied how the two ends of the paper come together. We discussed how to tape the ends together. We saw the circle we created and identified other circles on the table. We practiced slipping a long strip through the new circle. creating a chain.

Arleigh discovered a new way to use the chains. Ada tried it too, and added a flower.

Lisa played a rhyming game. Friends looked at a picture, identified the picture and matched a rhyming sound to the object they saw. They used the message board to explore other rhyming words.

Yesterday, Lea picked a flower and as she explored it, the moisture of the purple petal rubbed off on her hand. This morning, Mel picked a variety of flowers from our garden and led WF on a flower petal coloring explorations. Friends determined which petals could be used as color sources (like a pencil) and which could not.

She also added a few food items.

When Gordon’s delivers their fruit, they always include bubble wrap. Some friends pop the bubbles with one finger, others smash it with their whole hand.

Sophie has been working at pedaling the trike all week. Today it all came together! Congratulations, Sophie!

Each day, a mini-society is created in the Cottage Climber. When a teacher is able to sit back and listen to the conversations and negotiations, it is really astounding at how complex and detailed the mini-society is. What’s more astounding is the length of time the society occurs and the respect each member of the society gives to his/her chosen role.

Today is went like this: Jane was mother to baby Marina and teenager Macy. Arleigh was mother to Nate and in charge of the primary cooking space.

Jane asked Arleigh if she had any basil available.

Marta entered the society as a grandma preparing soup.

Mommy went to the store and her child was sad. Her child waved goodbye, waited and watched for Mommy to return.

 

Happiness.

The authority shifted and Jane made the decision to change locations for a quiet rest time.

We hear fights and laughter in this mini-society. We hear children working things out with words, compromise and surrenders. They are able to practice how to decide what to fight for and how let some things go, moving on to the next moment. The teachers are close by to help but also to give them space to sort things out, when appropriate. And then there are the daily jobs. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, we all have to do ‘em. Here’s our new cot set-up team and they rock it out!!!

Oh yes…..we haven’t been able to find the two baby birds, but Mama is back, starting over.

Wee Sprouts: Tomatoes. Breakfast: WF garden carrot muffins and apple slices. Lunch: Whole grain rice with roast beef, bananas and peas. Snack: Orange, mango smoothies and cheddar cheese slices.

Have a great day.