7 years/4 years, 9 months.

Valentine's Day playground shiner.  On the upside, Graham's friends really rallied around him to help when he got hurt.

Therese's e-mail of the week, entitled "Loud and quiet":

Dear parents,

On Monday, Lilian’s grandmother Julia visited and talked to us about
how to breathe during meditation. We felt our tummies fill with air
and listened to our breath. We sat for about one minute. Afterwards,
everyone got a turn to ring the bell bowl using a small stick. When
asked, the children said meditation was being quiet and relaxing.

We had plenty of play time in the yard.

On Tuesday Davina joined us for circle. She and Addy showed us their
violins and played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Addy let everyone take
a turn holding and playing her violin. Davina shared too! We learned
how to place your feet for balance and that the bowstrings are made
from animal hair.

Six sleepers on Tuesday. And Thursday. Shhhhhhh.

Wednesday during movement the children were heard clapping and what
sounded like galloping across the big room. They were certainly
moving! While half the class moved in movement, the other half worked
furiously cutting and gluing valentines for family.

Puppetworks was entertaining. We learned that there was more than one
magical instrument. The children said their favorite parts were: the
crocodile, the dancing monsters, the part where someone said there was
a monster on his nose,  and when the prince and princess kissed.
During the show, someone whispered, “The Queen is evil and rudey!”
They explained that rudey means rude, rude, rude!

Upon our return from Mid-Winter Break, we will continue playing our
instruments, have more family shares, and begin learning about simple
machines.

Have a fun break!

7 years/4 years, 9 months.

Snorkel practice for our trip to Cozumel next week.  The boys got the hang of it pretty quickly.  Graham was bragging that he has an advantage because he's a mouth-breather (true).

7 year/4 years, 9 months.

This is 7!  Smart, chatty, confident, opinionated, helpful, bossy, focused, silly, toothless.  Loves hard, feels fiercely.  We love you, Graham!

6 years, 11 months/4 years, 9 months.

Graham's birthday party!  He had a Robin Hood party--games, Disney's "Robin Hood," pizza, and cake.  Graham had a great time and we all survived despite the archery and a pile of 6/7 year-olds.  Guests -- Graham, Connor, Lily, Jacob, Raleigh, Eric, Isaac, Lachlan, and Ellis.

Thank you Nana for your help on another chaotic birthday party at our place!

6 years, 11 months/4 years, 9 months.

The chickies hatched!  

Therese's e-mail of the week, entitled "Chicks and kazoos":

Dear All,

The children had many baby chick questions upon arrival Monday
morning, the main one being, “Where are the baby chicks?”

Monday and Tuesday the children made kazoos by first coloring paper
towel tubes and then painting them. We attached wax paper to the end
with rubber bands. We remembered the vibrating strings on our guitars
and attempted to use our voices to vibrate the wax paper. The children
made high and low sounds. It took some figuring out but most
succeeded. Loudly.

Tuesday we had three, four, five, then seven baby chicks! We observed
them wet in the incubator, waiting for them to fluff up as instructed
by Farmer Tom. They cheeped while we kazoo-ed. By Wednesday we had
eleven chicks. Number five, the last egg, never hatched. The children
pondered why: something happened to the baby chick and it didn’t come
out, maybe it just died because something pulled its little string
out, maybe the daddy didn’t put sperm in it, it probably just want to
go to sleep, they weren’t ready to wake up yet, and maybe it didn’t
hatch.

We reviewed our Baby Chicks Rule list. Everyone recalled how to sit,
how to pet gently, what kind of voices to use, and to wash hands after
holding them. The children were as gentle as could be, so much so,
that many of the chicks began to fall asleep in laps.

Wednesday was our first movement class with Jerzey and Ms. Z. The
children were seen doing leg stretches, arm rotations, and
sidestepping. While half the class moved in movement class the rest of
us chose between petting baby chicks or cutting with scissors.

The children named some of the baby chicks: Relaxa, Rock Climber,
Fall-y, Richard, Chicky, and Squeaky. And then, as quick as they came,
they were gone. Back to the farm.

In the big room, people have been building airplanes and bubble
blowers with blocks, acting like all kinds of animals, running like
crazy, tricycling up a storm, rolling on wheel boards, playing
basketball, and moving soft blocks to every nook and cranny of the
room. Everyone has been amazingly cooperative, helping return toys to
their proper places.

We made our first recordings on Friday. After listening to the first
two, someone suggested we name the next one Quiet. We did, and it was.

Next week, in addition to more movement with Ms. Z, we have Pajama Day
on Tuesday- yes, the children can wear pajamas to school, and a field
trip to Puppetworks! We also have one parent share and one grandparent
share scheduled.

Have a restful weekend,
Therese

6 years, 11 months/4 years, 9 months.

We started out the day snow tubing at Campgaw Mountain and finished it up with the Eagles first (annual?) Super Bowl win.  A good day.  

6 years, 11 months/4 years, 9 months.

Will and the boys went to Madison Square Gardens today for baby's first live Duke game (v. St. John's)!  The outcome wasn't exactly as hoped but there's always tomorrow.

Therese's e-mail of the week, entitled "Shake, shake, shake and Baby Chicks Rule":

Dear parents,

This week we began working on our papier mache maracas. The children
helped tear newspaper into long strips, then we worked in pairs to dip
the newspaper in a glue and water mixture and cover the balloons. It
is a messy, time consuming, delicate task that the children worked on
for four days. On the fourth day, we listened to the hissing sound of
the balloons when they were pulled out of the hard paper shell. Each
person got to help fill a maraca with kidney beans, lentils, or rice
using a paper funnel. At the end, we all had colorful, noisy, musical
maracas! We shook them high, low, left, and right.

We have been playing our instruments and singing the A,B,C’s, Twinkle
Twinkle Little Star, and many other songs. We also listened to How The
Turtle Got Its Shell and played along.

Farmer Tom came and introduced us to the proud parents of our baby
chick eggs, Max and Ruby. He told us how the rooster uses his claws to
protect the hen and baby chicks from dogs and foxes. Everyone who
wanted got a chance to pet Ruby while Max steered clear. The children
helped dictate signs to post near our incubator to ensure their
safety. We also made a Baby Chicks Rule sign to remind us how to sit
when holding baby chicks next week. We have been observing the
sleeping eggs each and every day. No cheeps or activity yet.

Parent shares! We would love love love to have parents come in and
share their musical talents. Singing, guitar, bass, piano, horn,
violin, kazoo, cowbell, or any other instrument would be welcome and
appreciated. One, two, or three songs? Most days for the next two
weeks are available for bookings. Preferably during circle which is
about 9:45- 10.

Next week we are making kazoos.

Have a musical weekend,
Therese