6 years, 2 months/4 years.

We hiked Bear Mountain!  We took the Anthony's Nose trail to the summit (2.6 miles).  The boys were excellent trail guides--enthusiastically pointing out every. single. blaze. --and would have happily played in the stream at the base of the mountain for a long time if we hadn't needed to hurry home for Gil's birthday party.

6 years, 2 months/4 years.

Worm hunters and kite flyers.

6 years, 2 months/4 years.

Graham reads himself to sleep most nights.  He is reading chapter books now---the Magic Treehouse series, the Boxcar Children series, and Roald Dahl.

6 years, 2 months/4 years.

Connor is basically an expert on his bike already.  

6 years, 2 months/4 years.

Connor's birthday party was sandwiched between t-ball and little league games, with a side of Grammy's last day in Brooklyn.  It was such a packed day that Graham fell asleep during dinner at a Chinese restaurant.  The games went well and Connor had a fantastic time at his party, though, so the day was a success!  Thanks for a great visit, Grammy!

6 years, 2 months/4 years.

Party prep time!  The boys and Grammy stuffed Connor's goody bags this afternoon.

Therese's e-mail of the week, entitled "The big bad pig":

Hi everyone,

We began Wednesday with the children retelling the story of The Big
Bad Pig and the Three Little Wolves. Then we acted it out. The
children chose characters, huffed and puffed, and in the end, made
friends with the big bad pig.

While in the yard we discovered our tree had new leaves, our bulbs
planted in the fall had bloomed, and several sleeping snails that were
woken.

Alex came from the Brooklyn Conservatory, and drums were heard
emanating from the big room. She said the children did great! While
some children were making music, the others were beginning
storytelling. We talked about how stories usually begin and how we
could use animals as characters. We identified who the characters are
in several books we've read. One group created a tale involving a
dragon whose head was chopped off and given a shark head. The story
ended with cupcakes and cake for dinner. The other children told a
story about a turtle that surfed in California, narrowly escaping a
cheetah that tried to eat him because he thought the turtle was a
rock. This story ended with the turtle going to his mom and dad's
house.

We wrote a story with the whole class too. They titled it The Legend
of the Lost Treasure. The children were excited to act it out. There
was lots of (pretend) fighting, and a newborn baby dragon who found a
toy.

While story-writing, we are exercising listening and language skills,
analytical thinking, and pre-writing skills. It is empowering for the
children to create the stories and take charge of the characters who
regularly die but have miraculous recoveries and magical powers
transforming them into other beings or turning them invisible. When
acting, they get to chose to be a character or an audience member, or
practice pretend fighting, running in place, or how to die, among
other things. It's a struggle to hear the narrator sometimes because
the actors have a hard time listening while in character.

Next week: more writing and dinosaurs.

See you Monday,
Therese

6 years, 2 months/4 years.

Happy birthday Connor!  I can't believe the silliest, most good-natured, up-for-anything, do-you-want-to-try-my-ice-cream kid in the world is 4 years old!  You make us laugh constantly--especially when when we are trying to be stern and get you in trouble but can't due to the insanely cute grins you flash--, would follow your big brother anywhere, are fascinated by the natural world, from dinosaurs to earth worms, roll with the big kids but are kind to and include the little ones, and run like the flash.  Never change, buddy!