WINTER STARS

I stood beside a hill
Smooth with new laid snow
A single star looked out
From the cold evening glow
There was no other creature
That saw what I could see
I stood and watched the evening star
As long as it watched me

Sara Teasdale

Wishing you warmth and peaceful holiday celebrations...

A GRAIN A DAY

Here's a copy of our new weekly menu which may include some or all of the items listed for each day:

Monday
grain: rice
color: purple
rice cakes, almond butter, grapes
steamed rice with beans or tamari
rice cereal with maple syrup

Tuesday
grain: oats
color: red
oatbars, apples
oatmeal with strawberries
oat bread or muffins
red bell peppers, tomatoes
chips and salsa

Wednesday
grain: millet
color: yellow
millet squares, bananas
fresh baked bread, butter, raisins
Dr. Sears fruit smoothie

Thursday
grain: barley
color: orange
stone soup day with vegetables and barley
cantaloupe, oranges, carrots with hummus

Friday
grain: rye
color: green
rye crackers and cheese
pears, kiwis, grapes
celery, broccoli, green beans with veggie dip or peanut butter

We give our children a special gift by introducing them to whole grains, especially in a simple cooked form.
Beginning in January we will be reading the story of Stone Soup. Thursdays will be soup day and each child needs to bring in a container of their favorite vegetables to add to the soup. We will all be making the soup together before lunch.

NEW DATE FOR LANTERN WALK

NOVEMBER 21 IS THE NEW DATE FOR OUR LANTERN WALK.
FRIDAY EVENING BEGINNING AT 6:30 WE WILL HAVE SNACKS, FOLLOWED BY SINGING AND A WALK WITH OUR LANTERNS.
I HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL THEN, HOWEVER, IF YOUR SCHEDULES ARE CONFLICTING, PLEASE KNOW THAT THERE WILL BE AT LEAST ONE GET TOGETHER LIKE THIS EVERY SEASON.

MONDAY MUSIC

Mondays are music day and the children enjoyed a variety of musical instruments including drums, tamborines, shakers, mallets with clacking blocks, maracas, and more.
We also set up an arrangement of blocks angled in different ways to explore the many notes and sound possibilities that happened when we hit them.

What we listened to today:
Putumayo Presents Latin Playground
Lullabies of Latin America

Books we read:
I'll Always Love You by Paeony Lewis
Brian Wildsmith's ABC
Daddy's Lullaby by Tony Bradman
Baa Baa Black Sheep by Iza Trapani
One Grain of Sand a Lullaby by Pete Seeger

We worked with the soft shape sorters and talked about circles, triangles, and squares.
Hiding small stuffed animals around the living room, we played hide and seek asking "Where is the puppy?" and then it would come out and "say" its sound.
We rolled ping pong balls through paper towel tubes, arranged felt shapes onto a flannel board, crawled through "tunnels" made from big cardboard boxes, stacked paper cups on top of each other, and watched the effects of different colors in buckets of warm bubbly water with a variety of sponge shapes.

Do you have an idea for a special activity or seasonal celebration?
Your suggestions are always welcome here.
Lantern songs were practiced and new fall circle songs were introduced as well.

With warmth....

It Feels Like Fall

It really feels like fall today!
We enjoyed many new fall songs, balls rolling down wooden ramps (which Luna especially liked), walking and stomping through the crunchy leaves, and rolling the ball back and forth to each other. Lying on our backs for a few minutes in the grass brought mesmerized wonder at all the breezy wind blowing the leaves down. We talked about soft leaves, crunchy leaves, rolling the ball slow and rolling it fast, still quiet and blustery loud.

One is a giant who stomps his feet
Two is a fairy so light and neat
Three is a mouse crouched down real small
And Four is a GREAT BIG BOUNCING BALL

Having fun as always with these wonderful little souls...

THE APPLES

"What hue shall my apples be?"
Asked the little apple tree
"That is easy to decide;
Have them green," the grasses cried.

But the crimson roses said,
"We should like to see them red,"
While the dandelions confessed
Yellow seemed to them the best.

When the apples were all ripe,
Many wore a yellow stripe.
Some were red and some were seen
Dressed in coats of softest green.

Lee Burns

What we ate today:

Baked apple pancake
Peanut butter, crackers, cheese, and cranberries
Minestrone soup

Thankyou to Amy and Beth for donating new books for our reading enjoyment this week.
Moo, Baa, La La La
Everyone Poops
What Shall We Do With the Boo-Hoo Baby?
The Very Busy Spider

We played in the rain today, made apple tree pictures, built many towers and knocked them down, sang our lantern songs with the piano, and held Luna cat.....a lot.

WELCOME AUDREY AND NEW BABY COLIN

Audrey is our new helper who has just started this week. She will be here from 9 a.m until 12 noon every day and is a wonderful addition to our daily life!
Katie has returned with her new and quite adorable baby brother, Colin.
Please bring in any extra leaves you find as we are collecting them for upcoming projects in the next few weeks.
Here is a poem we are learning:

Way up high in the apple tree
Were two red apples and
They were smiling at me
So I shook that tree
Just as hard as I could
And down came the apples
Mmmm they were good

Hopefully everyone received the copies of the lantern songs we will be singing on November 15

Have a peaceful weekend.