Notice: Due to the sheer amount of work that goes into maintaining the blog we are forced to reduce the quantity of posts. Blog posts will be on every Friday. We are going to try to make all of the new photos available to you over the internet as well, instead of just a select few. The difference in the blog will be in the amount of information that will be provided- instead of a full description of the day, we are going to write about highlights from each part of the day, whereas mundane information and daily routine will be less emphasized. I hope all of the parents will still feel satisfied about being included in their child's life as school! Thanks for checking in, we greatly appreciate your interest!

-Lindsey



Morning Meeting:

2/2: The kids are trying out our new talking sticks in order to learn polite conversation skills, and they're doing wonderfully.

2/3: We used the talking stick again today and they're still doing great and starting to learn when to stop talking when someone says "its my turn". Amy started a conversation will the children about color and what one can do with color. Everyone got up and danced to the chicken song today, and we also sang several songs (fuzzy caterpillar, twinkle twinkle, etc.) Amy also cued up some images of drawings the children made that morning, and showed them how each child has chosen a different color scheme for their drawing. These are hanging on the wall behind the easel in the studio.

2/4: Amy wasn't with us today, so we let the children have free play the full hour before snack time, instead of having meeting.

2/5: Amy introduced green circle today to the children. So as not to add too much information here, their conversations will be transcribed and posted on the wall inside the school for all to see- I highly recommend reading it- the children had some beautiful comments. We talked about all of the people in our personal world and how they come into our world. We talked about what makes us feel happy and inside the circle, and what makes us feel bad or outside the circle. We then talked about what we can do for our friends when they feel outside the circle in order to help them feel happy again. At the end everyone told stories about nice/loving things that they had witnessed- each time a story was told Amy poured some water into a heart shaped bowl. When there were enough stories- the love water overflowed. She taught them the green circle song, and let each one touch the love water and put it on their heart to symbolize sharing love with one another.

2/6: Amy went through green circle again today as we had a very different group of kids- and the ones who witnessed it before only got to know the green circle a little bit better. There were more lovely comments- we can't wait to share this wonderful tool with our parents.

Snack Time:

2/2: Bananas and pop corn! We were proud to see how many students wanted seconds and even thirds on the banana. They filled their bellies up today!

2/3: Orange slices and animal crackers.

2/4: Pretzels

2/5: Fruity cheerios (with vitamins!)

2/5: Cheesey crackers

Outside Play:

2/2: Pearson, Hedwig, Addison, Violet, and Ethan all had a blast on the glider swings. Sam and others enjoyed the sandbox and Ethan and Kieran really enjoyed the jungle gym and playhouse.

2/3: It didn't last long- most had very cold hands and came inside quickly.

2/4: Another very cold day

2/5: Mostly swing, sandbox, and playhouse today.

2/6: Today our outside play lasted almost all day long. We skipped studio time and stayed outside until lunch time, and then quickly did the same thing for focus time- we had to enjoy this beautiful day! The new stairs are built next door (they're very nice- very safe) and so the children played up there. They also got out badmitten rackets and played bass ball with the wiffle balls- Pearson and Carson really enjoyed this. The older boys played a lot together- piling leaves in the wheel barrow and other such activities.

Project Work:

2/2: Everyone mixed paint colors- we made the three secondary colors by experimentation. The younger kids that had a hard time following the directions went to the light table and painted while the others mixed paint which interested them much more.

2/3: The children were provided with cupcake trays and a bowl full of colorful translucent objects which they sorted by color into the cupcake wells. Afterward (two step studio today) they chose one color at a time, and matched the objects with the same color of window frame on the tiny window board (its hanging up in the window in the school now) and glued them in a design inside that window. Our youngest students were especially patient for this project.

2/4: We had a totally different group of kids today, so we just repeated the project from yesterday. Sam did more than anyone else and even helped top clean up the studio after he finished the last window that was empty. Kieran and Maya were most challenged by sorting the colors so this was a really good activity for them.

2/5: After the green circle morning meeting, we wanted to complement it with our studio time. I taped a large piece of paper, the size of the light table, to the light table. The children were asked to depict that which is inside their circle- their world. Many drew pictures that reminded them of good times they had with their parents.

2/6: We skipped it today in honor of the beautiful weather.


Focus Work:

2/2: They practiced addition, and rhyming. They read rhymes in a book and had to guess at the last word of the phrase using context clues. They also spread shaving cream over the table and practiced drawing shapes.

2/3: Today they did the rhyming practice again the same as yesterday. They did journals of course and then the two- Gillian and Pearson- played very nicely together for the remainder of the time.

2/4: I ran focus time today- after reading some books to the kids (peter rabbit, and others), we made a discovery. Dalila had tried to save a baby flying squirrel but it did not survive (the cold got to him). She saved the squirrel before burying him so that the children could examine him. Elijah and Hedwig were very taken with the tiny creature and drew him in their journal. After that they created a little city for the squirrel in case he woke up. Elijah placed some holly berries in the city so he would have something to eat. When it was all over Dalila took them on a walk to where they found the squirrel so maybe they could spot his nest, with little luck. Everyone had some free play after that.

2/5: Pearson and Gillian were our focus workers again today. Pearson's addition/subtraction challenges are becoming greater as Amy has discovered his aptitude for it. After that they sat down and Amy helped them to create a book about color after reading a book about how rainbows are made. This book will be available to read after its finished.

2/6: It was entirely outside today- again, it was just so beautiful! Amy got to stay with them outside because Carson, her son, came to school with her today.
 
Free Play:

2/2: Hedwig got the idea to paint the windows, so we used colored light filter plastic to cover three windows. Now we have one purple, one yellow, and one green. Pearson especially enjoyed the tinker toys today. Violet and Ethan explored the studio shelves together and had a good time making discoveries there. Ethan, Kieran, Addison, and Lily found their way under the sensory table with all of the baskets from the pretend play area. They made a little house down there.

2/3: All of our students have been drawn to our new game shelf and have been using it quite a bit every day. Addison and Gillian were especially excited about the games today and got many of them out to try when they weren't in the studio. At one point almost all of our students were in the studio drawing together in the morning. It was wonderful to see them bonding over artwork.

2/4: Most of the students crawled under the lunch table today to hang out. It was short lived but very cute. Ethan and Kieran were very concerned with the tinker toys today, and Kieran wanted Ethan (and others) very baddly to help him build a robot or airplane. I sat down with everyone to help them build whatever was their goal which was quite challenging. This lasted a long time.

2/5: Ethan sat for a long time this morning cutting a cardboard flap with some scissors (which is not easy to do!). Gillian and Addison used some movable letters to fill solidly the display board with the letters in three rows. This took some hard work! Again, in the afternoon Gillian and Pearson played very nicely together in the last leg of the day.

2/6: Dalila helped most of the children to put together a big puzzle this morning. Carson was a big help in doing this- and all of our older boys showed some of their puzzle skills. We got the projector working again so there was some excitement over that this morning.