Little Green Monsters
On Tuesday, we started the day in two groups. Three year olds and five and six year olds. The five and six year olds chatted and worked on puzzles, while the little guys visited our chickens and rabbits. The kids fed Snug and Fluff and then we headed into the chicken run. There was a little bit of apprehension toward the chickens (they are not quite so snugly as our rabbits), but I’m sure the kids will be picking them up and chasing them down in no time. During Circle Time, we sang a few songs, counted to 11 while doing jumping jacks, and played a fantastic version of Duck, Duck, Goose. We sang A Tisket, A Tasket and dropped a scarf behind another child when we sang, “I wrote a letter to my love, and on the way, I dropped it.” It was such great great fun learning the lyrics, figuring out directionality, practicing running, waiting for turns, and dealing with the simple frustration of not getting picked. We will definitely be playing this again next week!
Our pear tree has been producing like crazy this summer. We decided to harvest some unripened ones and do a still life and stamping using shades of green and yellow.
My peach and pear are quite the pair,
They hang out often everywhere.
They roll around from shelf to chair,
And giggle sweetly in the air.
The peach is soft and kind and round,
With rosy cheeks so plump and sound.
The pear is tall with curves just right,
And always shines in morning light
The still life drawings quickly transformed into abstract paintings as quickly as it takes for a pear to fall from a tree. Not only did the paintings become abstract, the whole exercise became a sensory exploration and avenue for self-expression. I soon found myself working with a group of miniature Hulks, in appearance only.
The kids are like Hobbits. We have second breakfast, elevenses, and lunch here at Blackberry Blossom. During one of our eating sessions, we read some great books that really made us laugh and prompted Pam and I to teach the kids the song, Who Stole the Cookie From the Cookie Jar. And . . . the kids even spotted themselves in one of them!
As the morning wore on, the heat increased, so naturally we added mud and water. The boys had fantastic time in the mud kitchen. Everything they made became chocolate. I ate chocolate soup, drank chocolate milk, and the kids even made a machine that poured chocolate directly into your mouth! We ended the day playing on the playground and chatting under the tree and reading books.
On Wednesday, we read an awesome book entitled, Rosemary Long Ears by Susie Ghahremani. It was such an adorable book with beautiful illustrations and a playful little puppy who couldn’t keep her ears from getting dirty. The inside flaps of the book had an awesome map, so, on the fly, I decided we should make a giant map ourselves.
One of our older Blackberries, handily taped together a giant map for us. We had a discussion about solo projects versus group projects, and how our minds need to be open and our plans flexible when working with others. The kids easily understood the assignment and worked with friendly, creative minds on their parts of the map. The concentration was intense and the language explaining their creations was rich.
“This is a house with Gatorade.”
“These are paths, roads, and trees.”
“Here is a spaceship.”
“This is a giant tornado coming!”
“This is a broken pool. I fixed it. No the baby pool is broken.”
“Here’s a big, big spider.”
This is a giant protector with shields!”
Finally, it was time for us to mark the map with Rosemary’s muddy paw prints. The map got muddy from her, and the brown paint also transformed into something else brown and unmentionable!
Thursday was such fun! In the morning, we did some animal care. We noticed the rabbit’s den area needed cleaned. I explained that keeping their area clean keeps them healthy. I scooped out the waste, and the kiddos helped me place fresh hay in there. We then visited the compost pile, dumped our rabbit poop, and discussed how it will turn into compost to help the plants grow next spring. Then we headed to the garden yard for Community Circle. The children were begging to play our version of Duck, Duck, Goose again. Not only did we play the game, we also threw several children in a pot atop the “fire”, stirred them into soup, and added lots of different “vegetables”. Then we played Clean Up the Yard. We broke into two teams. Each team had to clean up their side of the yard by throwing the items into the other team’s yard.
After a snack, we tossed the old pigskin around. The boys decided to play Shirts vs. Skins. Then one group rode bikes and the other group observed bugs. Our flower garden was absolutely crawling with bees, butterflies, and a type of milkweed bug. We even got out some magnifying glasses and a special picture microscope for a different perspective. I once read a book entitled, Brave New Learner by Julie Bogart. In it she writes about how adding items that enable a child to see the world in a new way is an invaluable tool for parents and educators. This includes magnifying glasses, microscopes, binoculars, telescopes, periscopes, kaleidoscopes, etc. I will definitely be adding some binoculars to our toolkit in the coming weeks! We ended the day on the Adventure Playground, getting in some rough ‘n tumble play. There was lots of climbing, jumping, and swinging. I turned into a monster and chased the kids as they screamed with delight. They also pushed their friends in wheelbarrows and cleaned our utility wagon. See you guys next week!
