Cutting Fruit

Today the children got to practice cutting, using platic knives and fruit. They shared cutting boards and got right to work on apples, peaches, strawberries, grapes, pears, and banana. The best part was eating the fruit salad they made. This activity is part of our farm and grocery store theme.

Farm Field Trip

We were excited to visit Comstock farm to help harvest some vegtables for the food bank. We had a chance to pick tomatos, peppers, and a few strawberries.

Red cherry tomatos are fun to pick and eat!

Next we got to pick some strawberries. These were grown by one of our student's last year and she happy to share with her friends.

And of course who could resist climbing a the perfect size trees.

So much fun on the farm!

School Room Pictures Part II

Nature and seasonal table.

Naptime storage and other odds and ends.

I'll have to add pictures of a few other views as well a some of our outdoor space. Also the table area where we do our arts, crafts, and baking.

School Room Pics

After a year of learning and activities our school room is looking more lived in and loved. During the first weekend in September we will be arranging the room differently in preparation for the new school year. I always love seeing pictures of how others set up their school space. So here is ours!
The whole group learning area:

Our focus items this summer where calendar activities, letters, and in August learning about the farm. While I like to keep a Waldorf base for the school there is a need to intoduce some of the mainstream academics since we don't have a local Waldorf school for our students to attend after age 6.

Our reading and book area.

Play kitchen and puppets.

More play house items and dress up.

I think our new set up will be wonderful and add a little extra imagination to the room as well as creating some additional work and play spaces.

Backyard Bird

We were blessed this summer with a mama dove that build her nest right above our walkway area in the yard. About a month ago she layed her eggs and two weeks later a chick hatched as we were out playing. Father bird came to the nest to clean out the shell and then sat with the new chick as mama took a break. We were sure there was only one chick, but the next day a second chick appeared in the nest! This picture shows one of the chicks, a little over a week old. He is right below the mama's chest. The new birds took flight two weeks after the last one hatched and have not been back to the nest but have been seen around the yard with their parents. This circle of bird life was such an exciting thing to watch.

Outdoor Painting

What is better in the summer than outdoor painting. At school we get a chance to be creative in our yard time at least 2-3 times a week. It looks like there will be a lot of painting this fall as well.

Taller Than a Two Year Old

Our sunflowers have gotten really tall this month. We started them from seed in late spring and 3 of them made it to this stage. Taller than a 2 year old. Can't wait to see the seeds form next.

Dinosaur Fossils

We used playdough, shells, plastic dinos, and plaster of paris to create our fossil. After pressing the playdough into the bottom of a small cup, we imprinted a shell and dinosaur shape. Then plaster of pairs was mixed and poured on top of the prints. The next day we excavated our dinosaurs by pulling off the clay and using tooth picks to get into the small areas.

I will say that the fossils their year were a little rough around the edges. Hence no up and close pics of them because they really were had to see. My plans of using the black playdough from Halloween didn't go as smooth as I thought. What else are you supposed to use back playdough for? Looks kind of like dirt & using it for our other playdough play just didn't seem inviting. Truth be told, fresh new black playdough is about the most sticky thing in the entire world and does not come off of anything very easily. In the past I've used modeling clay for this project, much more firm, and will do so again in the following years. Lesson totally learned! At least the kids still had fun with this one.

Most Everything Can Be Fixed

This was a road for some little dinosaur to walk across. Until a large one came crashing through. Even though someone bigger may come and change the plan of your actions its nice to know that most things can be fixed with a little help from friends. Its really hard sometimes when things get knocked down by accident or another person wants to change the course of play. Voices raise, feelings are hurt, and sometimes tears are formed. We focus on helping kids find the right ways to communicate through the situation and come to a loving way to make the hurt better. Its easy to forget how little situations, even like this, mean so much more to a littler one. Its nice to know though that most everything at this age can be fixed. Oh the things we learn in preschool!

Dinosaur Prints

Need other uses for all those little plastic dinos at home? Well dinosaur prints of course! Just plant their little feet in some tempra paint and have them 'walk' across the paper. Different sized dinos and various colors of paint add to the fun.

Textured Dinosaur

We used tempra paint to finger paint our dinos. After then were dried and cut out we pasted them on to contruction paper. Then we used scissors to fringe cut some grass and cut out triangles for the spikes. Some of the dinosaurs tried to hide in the grass.