Fare Thee Well: June 19, 2014
Kid's Day Parade, May 10, 2014
April 2014: Mini Sand box play!
April 2014: Mickey Cake! Milk in the batter, milk in the batter, we make cake and nothing's the matter. Stir it, scrape it, make it, bake it! Put that batter up to bake a delicious Mickey Cake.
April 2014:
Mini Sand Boxes: I recently introduced these fun little contexts as a way to enable small group play and exploration. They are great to enabling a space for solitary play as well. In a busy place like ours, its nice to have a variety of getaways to choose from: like the privacy of the Alone House, or a quiet read in the bean bag chair, and now the mini-sandbox. Also enabling contexts where children can gather in two's and three's creates opportunity for relationship building, sharing a common interest in an imaginative and personal way. The children are enjoying these new additions to the classroom so much I plan to create a few more...like black sand and little digger trucks, perhaps a farm setting with fake grass would be fun and a Zen Garden. ~Liz
Nutrition as Curriculum: We are well into exploring nutrition as curriculum with the children. One fun venture is using our new dehydrator. Heidi has been a rock star in this regard. She and the children have dehydrated apples, peppers, banana, kale and even grapefruit! And everybody wants to taste their efforts.
One day I asked Miles and Luna to help crunch up some dehydrated kale into sprinkles using mortar and pestles. We put the dried kale into salt shakers and now offer them as a condiment for the children to use at lunch time. Some kids were reluctant to give it a go, while others like Damien was happy to use the new product. In fact his enthusiasm was just enough to inspire others to give it a try.
We are having so much FUN exploring food: like scientists we wonder what will happen if we make a change, for example adding whole wheat flour to the Mickey Cake or mashed up avacado with the cream cheese for morning snack. We chart some of our experiences and pay attention to the healthy aspects of what we are eating through lunch time conversations: Protein makes our muscles strong, carbohydrates give us energy. All this talk is growing our vocabulary and generating interest in food in new ways. We learn that somethings don't work too well like dehydrating grapefruit. We are developing a willingness to at least taste new things because we made them ourselves, like the barley flour Miles, Uli, and Anya made. And the exciting part is that we are discovering deliciousness!
One day I asked Miles and Luna to help crunch up some dehydrated kale into sprinkles using mortar and pestles. We put the dried kale into salt shakers and now offer them as a condiment for the children to use at lunch time. Some kids were reluctant to give it a go, while others like Damien was happy to use the new product. In fact his enthusiasm was just enough to inspire others to give it a try.
We are having so much FUN exploring food: like scientists we wonder what will happen if we make a change, for example adding whole wheat flour to the Mickey Cake or mashed up avacado with the cream cheese for morning snack. We chart some of our experiences and pay attention to the healthy aspects of what we are eating through lunch time conversations: Protein makes our muscles strong, carbohydrates give us energy. All this talk is growing our vocabulary and generating interest in food in new ways. We learn that somethings don't work too well like dehydrating grapefruit. We are developing a willingness to at least taste new things because we made them ourselves, like the barley flour Miles, Uli, and Anya made. And the exciting part is that we are discovering deliciousness!
March: Making paper dresses and jewelry with Liz
FEBRUARY 2014: Cape-making with Holly. Celebrating Wanda's 20 Year Anniversary. Measuring long cylinders of paper with Heidi.
JANUARY 2014: Lots of fun block play with Haley
Games with Tracey and Dawn. Restaurant play. Tatooing, coloring and musical chairs!
December featuring Polar Express!
Not a creature was stirring not even a mouse until...
Steve arrived to deliver our donations to the Food Shelf. We hope that we can continue this effort in the new year. Thank you everyone for sharing and thank you to Isa's family for offering to do the first delivery of goods.
Then Miles helped me dust out the cubbies--he worked on every single one naming people as we went along and he made sure all their stuff went back where it was supposed to. Thanks you Miles!
Robin arrived, the cookies baked and the hot chocolate brewed as families gathered in. The Polar Express arrived a little late due to the icy weather conditions but The Conductor (Andy Vota) called us "All aboard!", checked our tickets and we were off on another adventure!
Haley made a delicious lunch with a giant fruit salad that we LOVED!
Children nestled snugly on mats and an easy going song filled afternoon with lots of hugs and joy readied us for the new year.
Oh and Ayush helped me to mount some hooks for our dress up clothes; thank you Ayush!
Happy Holidays one and all!
Steve arrived to deliver our donations to the Food Shelf. We hope that we can continue this effort in the new year. Thank you everyone for sharing and thank you to Isa's family for offering to do the first delivery of goods.
Then Miles helped me dust out the cubbies--he worked on every single one naming people as we went along and he made sure all their stuff went back where it was supposed to. Thanks you Miles!
Robin arrived, the cookies baked and the hot chocolate brewed as families gathered in. The Polar Express arrived a little late due to the icy weather conditions but The Conductor (Andy Vota) called us "All aboard!", checked our tickets and we were off on another adventure!
Haley made a delicious lunch with a giant fruit salad that we LOVED!
Children nestled snugly on mats and an easy going song filled afternoon with lots of hugs and joy readied us for the new year.
Oh and Ayush helped me to mount some hooks for our dress up clothes; thank you Ayush!
Happy Holidays one and all!
October Days
Monday September 30, 2013 Happy Birthday Wynnie!
Thursday, September 5, 2013
While some children measured and poured, pulled and pounded, shaped and sang songs, others thought about dinosaurs, played board games, cooked up pretend menus, thought about cars and constructed racetracks, invented magic spells, cleaned and organized, painted and set the tables for lunch.
Tuesday, September 3
We searched for and collected slugs from around the backyard and watched them with magnifying glasses during the afternoon hours. On Thursday afternoon we searched for and collected worms and observed them in the same manner.
Monday September 2, 2013 - Tuesday September 17th
Welcome to the 2013-14 Steppers School Year!
Newly enrolled children and parents enjoy their "Welcome In' to Steppers.
Friday, August 30, 2013
Friday, August 30, 2013