Leaf crowns and pinecone people

We have been finding and collecting such great treasures this week outside and on our daily walks. Today the children helped to make leaf crowns and pinecone people. Yellow and golden leaves have been gathered in the backyard to make artful designs in between clear contact paper to hang in the windows. Working, shoveling, arranging rocks, watering plants, and riding new tricycles have been favorite activities as well. Several tea parties and picnics on the grass are taking place many times and go along perfectly with our new circle time themes.
Important learning happens all the time as new discoveries and observations are made in the garden, watching the chickens, finding bugs, designing treasure maps, collaborating with friends on the details of fort building, gathering and sorting branches, sticks, and rocks, arranging by categories such as size, color, and shape, and creating original pieces of art. The children get a deep feeling of satisfaction when they are allowed the time and space to carry an idea through to a finished product of their own making. These are the daily celebrations that bring beauty and a sense of wonder to all of our lives. We are reminded again of the gift and honor of having these young ones with us.

Circle time:
Let's go on a picnic - the sun is shining bright
Let's go on a picnic - the weather is just right

And let's call our pony so strong and so true
He'll pull the wagon, that he can do
But look, he comes limping so slowly along
Let's look at his foot and see what is wrong

My little pony needs a pair of shoes, how many nails must I use?
One, two, three, tie him to a tree
Let him have a bag of hay
Then he will not run away

Pitty patty polt
Shoe my little colt
Here a nail, there a nail
Pitty, patty, polt

And what shall we pack in our picnic basket
To take on our picnic today?
How about some apples

Rosy apples grow Rosy apples grow
Pick them, wash them, rub them, shine them
See how red they glow

And we put the apples in our basket."

Regarding the importance of circle times:
"One of the great gifts we receive as teachers is a deepening and enriching of the experience of the course of the year. For busy adults, it is all too easy to become caught up in the pressures of "clock time". Through singing and moving with the children in these seasonal circle plays, we nurture their natural, heartfelt participation in all that lives in the world of nature. At the same time, we rediscover our own connection with that world and the spirit which weaves in and through it. With the children, we enter the realm of the natural cycles of time, as experiences in music and movement. This experience is nourishing to both children and adults, and helps to create the mood of joyful serenity which we seek in the preschool.

There are several festivals we will be having over the course of this new school year and our first one will be happening on Saturday, November 7. Please join us for our second annual Lantern Walk. We will gather for some fall singing, warm cider, homemade baked treats, and a walk around the neighborhood with lanterns aglow. Check out older posts for some words on the importance of festivals. Looking forward to sharing the evening with all of you.