We had a great day today. We talked a lot about recycling and went to work cleaning up our yard and ended with a picnic to celebrate the warm weather! It was fun to lie on our backs and watch the clouds so swiftly moving across the sky and we wondered if we could jump up, grab onto a big cloud and take a ride with them! There was a lot of earnest work going on with shovels, scoopers, and buckets of all shapes and sizes. The children also enjoyed playing with the Tangoes tangram shapes as they constructed many pictures and we played the board game, Labrynth, where each person takes a turn building a maze to go through. This inspired the making of our own mazes outside to challenge each other!
We ate veggie burgers, pita chips, salad, and hummus and heard the story of The Moon Princess.....ask your little one if they remember the little girl who shared her jewels with the sky to help light up the darkness. We will hear it again next week and focus more on recycling in art, music, and activities.
A very Happy New Year to all of you!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
A New Year, Recycling
Thank you all so much for your expressions of kindness and generosity over this past week. Your thoughtful and creative gifts have been so special and meaningful!
I hope your crystals are growing and that they will be a small and colorful reminder of how love grows in the hearts of these children when tended to with honor, care, and love!
This week we are talking about recycling.
Monday: Food scraps and leftovers. What can we do with these? It's good for our earth to try not to waste things. We will make recycled art!
Tuesday: Have you ever wondered where paper comes from? How can we make more trees? How can we reuse paper? Old paper can be turned into new paper. Today we will make our own paper!
Wednesday: This week we will celebrate New Year's Day. Do you know what year it will become?
We will make noisemakers!
Thursday: People can save their used paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, and metal and recycle them into new things. We will sort recyclables today.
Friday: The new year is a great time to think about our daily routines and see if we would like to change anything. What things can we do each day to make our work easier? (lay our clothes out before bed, set the table before meals, clean up our mess right away,etc.)
This week we will be also making Potato Paper, recycled noisemakers, and finding lots of creative uses for old things!
Nature Walk Verse:
" You look around on your Earth,
As if she for no purpose bore you;
As if you were her first born birth,
And none had lived before you!"
"One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can."
Books we will share together:
Garbage and Recycling by Rosie Harlow and Sally Morgan
Why Should I Recycle? by Jen Green
Where Does the Garbage Go? by Paul Showers
Recycle Every Day! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
Recycle: A Handbook for Kids by Gail Gibbons
Eco Art by Laurie Carlson
The Wartville Wizard by Don Madden
Cecil's New Year's Eve Tail by Marie Fritz Perry
Re-Cycles by Michael Elsohn Ross
A Box Can Be Many Things by Dana Meachen Rau
Joseph Had a Little Overcoat
All the Year Round Story that will be told this week - adapted from Emilie Poulsson
I hope your crystals are growing and that they will be a small and colorful reminder of how love grows in the hearts of these children when tended to with honor, care, and love!
This week we are talking about recycling.
Monday: Food scraps and leftovers. What can we do with these? It's good for our earth to try not to waste things. We will make recycled art!
Tuesday: Have you ever wondered where paper comes from? How can we make more trees? How can we reuse paper? Old paper can be turned into new paper. Today we will make our own paper!
Wednesday: This week we will celebrate New Year's Day. Do you know what year it will become?
We will make noisemakers!
Thursday: People can save their used paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, and metal and recycle them into new things. We will sort recyclables today.
Friday: The new year is a great time to think about our daily routines and see if we would like to change anything. What things can we do each day to make our work easier? (lay our clothes out before bed, set the table before meals, clean up our mess right away,etc.)
This week we will be also making Potato Paper, recycled noisemakers, and finding lots of creative uses for old things!
Nature Walk Verse:
" You look around on your Earth,
As if she for no purpose bore you;
As if you were her first born birth,
And none had lived before you!"
"One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can."
Books we will share together:
Garbage and Recycling by Rosie Harlow and Sally Morgan
Why Should I Recycle? by Jen Green
Where Does the Garbage Go? by Paul Showers
Recycle Every Day! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
Recycle: A Handbook for Kids by Gail Gibbons
Eco Art by Laurie Carlson
The Wartville Wizard by Don Madden
Cecil's New Year's Eve Tail by Marie Fritz Perry
Re-Cycles by Michael Elsohn Ross
A Box Can Be Many Things by Dana Meachen Rau
Joseph Had a Little Overcoat
All the Year Round Story that will be told this week - adapted from Emilie Poulsson
Garbage
Pick up garbage, and throw it in the bin!
Push it down, and stomp it in!
Carry the cans to the street
for the garbage trucks to eat.
When the truck comes roaring by,
workers lift the cans up high.
Garbage falls into the back.
Crush it, mash it, smash it flat!
Set the cans down with a thump.
Now drive that garbage to the dump!
Down at the Dump
-sung to Down by the Station
Down at the dump early in the morning,
See the dump trucks standing in a row.
See them dump the garbage
In a great big pile.
Dump, dump, dump, dump,
Watch them go.
Pretty soon our dumps will all be full,
We had better figure out something to do.
We could all recycle
Some of our garbage,
Recycle, recycle,
Watch us go.
Pick up garbage, and throw it in the bin!
Push it down, and stomp it in!
Carry the cans to the street
for the garbage trucks to eat.
When the truck comes roaring by,
workers lift the cans up high.
Garbage falls into the back.
Crush it, mash it, smash it flat!
Set the cans down with a thump.
Now drive that garbage to the dump!
Down at the Dump
-sung to Down by the Station
Down at the dump early in the morning,
See the dump trucks standing in a row.
See them dump the garbage
In a great big pile.
Dump, dump, dump, dump,
Watch them go.
Pretty soon our dumps will all be full,
We had better figure out something to do.
We could all recycle
Some of our garbage,
Recycle, recycle,
Watch us go.
This week's reflection: Recycling
"The ultimate test of man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard."
-Gaylord Nelson, former governor of Wisconsin, co-founder of Earth Day
"Making wise choices for our planet now, even though the result may not directly benefit you, is the ultimate way to send love back to the life force that sustains and provides for you. The future of our earth is in your hands. What can you do today to make it a beautiful place for future generations?"
-Little Acorn Learning
"The ultimate test of man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard."
-Gaylord Nelson, former governor of Wisconsin, co-founder of Earth Day
"Making wise choices for our planet now, even though the result may not directly benefit you, is the ultimate way to send love back to the life force that sustains and provides for you. The future of our earth is in your hands. What can you do today to make it a beautiful place for future generations?"
-Little Acorn Learning
Monday, December 20, 2010
This week's schedule
Hello wonderful families!
I just wanted to remind you all that there will be no school this week from Wednesday through Friday. Enjoy the time with your precious loved ones and have a beautiful Christmas!!
I just wanted to remind you all that there will be no school this week from Wednesday through Friday. Enjoy the time with your precious loved ones and have a beautiful Christmas!!
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Wonderful day....
We had such a special day today.
We read a Russian tale called Uncle Vova's Tree by Patricia Polacco and also have been reading The Nutcracker which has captivated the children's attention. After our reading this afternoon, we all used pastels on paper while listening to a fully Orchestrated version by Tchaikovsky. The children practiced saying this difficult name and we talked about what was happening during some of the pieces of music.
I also told a story about an evergreen tree that provided a home for a bird with a broken wing and we learned all about trees that stay green throughout the winter. We heard about spruce, pine, and juniper trees and looked at pictures of each of them.
This week we will be making winter bird treats to hang in our trees, drawing sketches of trees in our nature journals, learning more winter songs, poems, and fingerplays and talking about the third week of advent.
We read a Russian tale called Uncle Vova's Tree by Patricia Polacco and also have been reading The Nutcracker which has captivated the children's attention. After our reading this afternoon, we all used pastels on paper while listening to a fully Orchestrated version by Tchaikovsky. The children practiced saying this difficult name and we talked about what was happening during some of the pieces of music.
I also told a story about an evergreen tree that provided a home for a bird with a broken wing and we learned all about trees that stay green throughout the winter. We heard about spruce, pine, and juniper trees and looked at pictures of each of them.
This week we will be making winter bird treats to hang in our trees, drawing sketches of trees in our nature journals, learning more winter songs, poems, and fingerplays and talking about the third week of advent.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Second week of Advent, Love,, St. Nicholas, and St. Lucia Feast of Light
Light one candle, Advent's here
Light one candle, Advent's here
Light one candle, Advent's here
Christmas time is near (clap, clap)
Light two candles, Advent's here
Light two candles, Advent's here
Light two candles, Advent's here
Christmas time is near (clap, clap)
St. Lucia Verse
Night goes with silent steps
Round house and cottage
Over earth that sun forgot
Dark shadows linger.
Then on our threshold stands
White clad, in candlelight
Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia
Santa Lucia
Santa Lucia, thy light is glowing
Through darkest winter night,
comfort bestowing.
Dreams float on dreams tonight,
Comes then the morning light,
Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia
The children have heard the stories of St. Nicholas, St. Lucia, and The Shoemaker and the Elves this week. We have focused on love and giving to our friends.
Today we sang "If you love somebody, clap your hands" to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it.."
We then made watercolor heart halves on paper and folded them over to make whole hearts.
We lit our advent candle and took turns giving hugs and love.
Books we have read this week include:
Lucia and the Light by Phyllis Root
The Light of Christmas by Richard Paul Evans
Celebrations of Light: A Year of Holidays Around the World by Nancy Luenn
Light the Lights by Margaret Moorman
Winter Lights: A Season in Poems and Quilts
The Nutcracker by ETA Hoffman
The Legend of St. Nicholas by Demi
We have talked about Christmas celebrations around the world and listened to a variety of Christmas songs from other countries.
Fun experiments with water and ice filled our afternoons and many projects involving snowmen!
The children enjoyed writing their own letters to Santa, friends, and family to illustrate their own ideas and wishes for the season.
We have played with dominoes, uno, and memory games at which the children are becoming quite skilled. Hide and seek was a popular game this week as well.
Join us next week as we celebrate St. Lucia day on Monday with wreath crowns for the girls and moon and star hats for the boys!
This week's reflection: Love
"Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul."
-St. Teresa of Avila (1515 - 1582)
"Love must be remade all the time to keep it new and fresh. Letting love sit inside of you without showing it in new ways deprives yourself and others of feeling its joy. Keeping love consciously alive in your mind, your actions and your words will change the way you see the world. How can you show your love in a new way to the people in your life this week?"
-Little Acorn Learning
Today we sang "If you love somebody, clap your hands" to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it.."
We then made watercolor heart halves on paper and folded them over to make whole hearts.
We lit our advent candle and took turns giving hugs and love.
Books we have read this week include:
Lucia and the Light by Phyllis Root
The Light of Christmas by Richard Paul Evans
Celebrations of Light: A Year of Holidays Around the World by Nancy Luenn
Light the Lights by Margaret Moorman
Winter Lights: A Season in Poems and Quilts
The Nutcracker by ETA Hoffman
The Legend of St. Nicholas by Demi
We have talked about Christmas celebrations around the world and listened to a variety of Christmas songs from other countries.
Fun experiments with water and ice filled our afternoons and many projects involving snowmen!
The children enjoyed writing their own letters to Santa, friends, and family to illustrate their own ideas and wishes for the season.
We have played with dominoes, uno, and memory games at which the children are becoming quite skilled. Hide and seek was a popular game this week as well.
Join us next week as we celebrate St. Lucia day on Monday with wreath crowns for the girls and moon and star hats for the boys!
This week's reflection: Love
"Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul."
-St. Teresa of Avila (1515 - 1582)
"Love must be remade all the time to keep it new and fresh. Letting love sit inside of you without showing it in new ways deprives yourself and others of feeling its joy. Keeping love consciously alive in your mind, your actions and your words will change the way you see the world. How can you show your love in a new way to the people in your life this week?"
-Little Acorn Learning
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