6/28/11, 6/29/11

Sorting beans...





Working on an area to add an entrance stone to the labyrinth...


Lunch...


Wood blocks...


Drawing...


Block "cell phones"...


Finger knitting...





Domino towers...


Yoga poses...


Chalkboard drawing...


Happy flowers...


Animal figures...


Rocks and minerals book...



The giant's chair...


More knitting...





Swinging...


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Have a happy day!

6/28/11

Chopping tomatoes for lunch...


Quiet reading...


Circle the first letter of your name...


Housekeeping...


Grab a chair, now dance!


Kinderlyre, soothing music.





Finger-knitting club.



Homemade journals...


Soft music and nap "nests" await the children after lunch...


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Have a happy day!

Monday, 6/27/11

It's rocks, gems, and minerals week as well as our first of five weeks of summer camp. The morning started with lunch prep...quartering red potatoes to roast...


Sorting pebbles by color...


Chalkboard drawing...


Using a hammer and pins to construct...


Watercolor painting with gem colors...





Making journals...



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Have a happy day!

Weekly Menu, 6/27-7/1/11

Monday
AM: dry organic cereal
Lunch: turkey meatloaf, roasted red potatoes w/ garlic, steamed broccoli
PM: peanut butter pretzels, organic apple slices

Tuesday
AM: bananas
Lunch: lentil taco salad (cooked lentils, tortilla chips), shredded organic lettuce, diced tomatoes, shredded cheese
PM: veggie sticks and homemade ranch dip (organic carrots, organic celery), rice cakes

Wednesday
AM: cinnamon toast
Lunch: homemade vegetarian bean chili, homemade breadsticks
PM: organic hummus, nut thin crackers

Thursday
AM: oatmeal w/ brown sugar and cinnamon, organic milk
Lunch: King ranch casserole (chicken, organic corn, flour tortillas, homemade cream soup, shredded cheese), organic baby spinach w/ homemade balsamic vinaigrette
PM: watermelon, ginger snaps

Friday
AM: organic raisins, organic animal crackers
Lunch: egg rolls, steamed brown rice w/soy sauce, organic mixed vegetables
PM: pretzels, string cheese

Lifeways Training, Day 8, 6/22/11

In training today, we discussed the importance of creative play that does not have an external or pre-planned purpose. Because the child "thinks outside the box" in imaginative creative play (with open-ended materials) he problem solves without the constraint of using a material only as it is typically used. It is always a pleasure for us to see our school children using their imaginations to make an inanimate object take on a life of its own! For example, a child using a block as a telephone first observed (using his senses) an adult using a real phone, then via his imagination and will, the child reproduces the phone in play. Such play trains the brain and builds synapses, laying a foundation for later academic pursuits including executive skills such as negotiating, imagining outcomes, and planning.

In the afternoon, we discussed seven life processes including breathing, warming, nourishing, secreting/discriminating/eliminating, maintaining, growing, and generating.

Janie and I had fun learning to use sewing machines over the last week. We made our own aprons!

Back at school...I enjoyed receiving a picture of my children reading together.


Nap time smiles...


Someone rolled off their mat!


Teamwork making pizza...


Pig round-up...


They grew an inch!


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Have a happy day!

Lifeways Training, Day 7, 6/21/11

Happy Solstice!

Today in class we spent time working with rhythm, routine and reverence. We are working to make sure that we have a personal plan to get what we need done at home and at work, but not to the detriment of time for artistic, nurturing, and spiritual pursuits.

We enjoyed being the children during a suggested ritual for putting children down for nap, which really begins 1 1/2 to 2 hours before nap as you prepare the child's nap area before lunch. We look forward to adding some of the nurturing suggestions to our nap time.

A couple of thoughts from our work today...

•When we don't make choices, life makes choices for us...one way or the other we will meet our life's destiny.

•Are you living life or are you lived? Your answer has an impact on your strength and energy.

Whew! Much to think about. Back at school, it looks like many wonderful moments were had.

Teamwork...


Taco time...


Tissue paper collage...


Measuring turtle babies...


Hatchlings...





Little lady...


Get a leg up...


Washing...


Snack...


Pals...


Undercover...


Melon...


BFFs...


Big guy nurturing...


Washing chairs...


Making bread...


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Have a happy day!