Mindfulness as hibernating, waking, and hungry bears

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At circle today, we continued our exploration of mindfulness through storytelling, breath work, and movement. 

Today we were hibernating bears in a cozy cave. When spring came, we stretched and foraged for all kinds of fruit and fish in the forest. We stretched high and low to reach fish in the stream and berries on high bushes. 

With full bellies we became tired once again and returned to our cozy caves to rest and sleep. We also thought about what a snoring bear might sound like. 

Frogs and Democracy: Part 4

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We have exciting news! We took our final vote to name our African Dwarf frogs this morning. After receiving everyone’s votes (over the last few weeks by hand at circle time) we tallied all of our votes found Ambe and Zitaa are the winning names. In celebration, we sang a frog song (twice) and did some big bodied frog hopping. 

Mindfulness and Love

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Hi all,

Over the past week we’ve had some challenges with tricky nap times. We’ve noticed some big, anxious (and loud) feelings cropping up as we move to our (ideally) restful time of day. It’s been on my mind how to best support our friends as they move through these feelings and learn they have the ability to sooth themselves (along with much teacher help, patience, and love). 

One way to help is to give friends the skills to calm their minds and bodies. This week we started mindfulness yoga and breathing. We are doing this through animals stories (moving from and egg to a caterpillar to a butterfly looking for nectar for example). During these movements we often “go to sleep” and take long deep breaths, we then “wake up” and continue our animal story. We listen to the trees and leaves swaying in the breeze and the rain lightly falling. 

Today I introduced a few other stories from a new book called, Breathe Like A Bear: 30 Mindful Moments for Kids to Feel Calm and Focused Anytime, Anywhere, by Kira Willey and Anna Betts. We practiced holding a candle and blowing on it lightly to make the flame flicker and we held a delicious mug of hot cocoa and gently cooled it off with long, quiet breaths. 

In conjunction with our mindfulness and yoga, I’ve introduced our singing bowl as a focused calming instrument and we've also continued to practice asking for many many hugs from our friends. There was a lot of love in the classroom today. 

The most wonderful (and sad) news of the day was our circle time and snack time gifts of presents and hugs (and cupcakes) to Phebe! She also taught us a beautiful song about love and light. We love her so much and are incredibly grateful to her for her time and love she’s given us. We will miss her so! She will be back as soon as she possible. 

Have a lovely weekend!

Jen (and Phebe and Amy)

Frogs and Democracy

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Today, friends were greeted with an invitation to take a closer look at the African Dwarf frogs who live in the aquarium in the classroom. 

We all had the opportunity to create frog art (or anything else) with watercolors, markers, and crayons. We found a new “frog pond” sensory bin with wide flat rocks, mossy rocks and sticks, ferns, leaves, water, and forest animals that we might encounter in a Pacific NW frog habitat. We also listed to frog croaking and “singing” in the sensory bin area. 

And we learned a few facts about African Dwarf frogs. The most exciting fact: The some African Dwarf frogs originate from Cameroon! So at circle today, Phebe presented us with four possible Cameroonian names we might name our frogs: 

Ambe
Zitaa
Penn
Mulu

In the spirit of democracy and after a chat about what voting means, we voted (by raising our hands) on which names we liked best. So far we have two votes for Ambe and three votes for Zitaa (some friends abstained). We’ll continue to present and vote on the frogs names this week. 

Finally, we ended with a bit of frog (and crab, koala, and tree) yoga.


Learning compassionate communication skills with friends

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We are having such a fun time building friendships and playing collaboratively! Each day friendships are becoming stronger and more joyful. In the process we are learning how to communicate kindly with each other and negotiate our needs and wants with compassion. It’s hard work and friends are doing a great job. 

During circle time today, we read the book Tyrannosaurus Wrecks! A Preschool Story by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen. It’s a funny and sweet book about a dinosaur who moves through a preschool classroom and “wrecks” other schoolmates creations. The dinosaur is not meaning to be unkind, he is just unaware of how his actions are affecting his mates. By the end of the story, the Tyrannosaurus understands his actions,  works to make amends and is a much happier creature (as are his classmates). 

All that said, we have been working through the same challenges at school. Periodically a friend will knock down another friend’s tower or accidentally bump into someone or give an unwanted hug without first asking. When these things come up, we always make sure to check on our friends and ask how we can help make the other person feel better and comfortable. This helps clarify everyone’s wishes and establishes each person’s comfort level with space and trust.

After the book at circle, we decided to practice taking turns asking a friend for a hug. Some friends said “no” while most said “yes.” It was very joyful! We then sang a song about love and moved onto the jump song. 



Wednesday connections

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It was an exuberant day at school today! We did a bit of collage work with train images, paper, crayons, glue, scissors, and tape. A number of friends spent much time learning to use and experiencing scissors. 

The connections and friendships between students are forming and it is a delight to watch friends interact and create collaborative play. 

Constructing Train Scenes

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For the last number of weeks, our Tuesday friends have been quite focused on reading about and constructing trains and tracks with building blocks, tracks, and doll house structures and pieces. We’ve read Freight Train by Donald Crews and Steam Train, Dream Train by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld multiple times a day. 

Last week we began to look at the details of the various train cars (box cars, tank cars, hopper cars etc.). Today we invited friends take a closer look at printed photos train tracks, train tunnels, and trestle bridges. We also presented paper and drawing materials. P, H, R, and G were very interested in creating their own train scenes. P had the idea to draw tracks with railroad ties, cut out scenes of trains in snow, and glue them over his train tracks. So we added scissors, glue, cardboard pieces, and toilet paper rolls to our project. G followed suit with his own tracks and spent much time cutting out train images and choosing which to add to his tracks. R experimented initially with tracks and then moved on to create a train tunnel with a train track photo glued over half of a toilet paper roll. H used toilet paper rolls to create a subway and a Max train stacked on top of each other. V also joined us in creating. Later, friends joined M and M in building tracks and driving trains.

We will continue to explore train scenes over the next week and later introduce the idea of collaborating on a more detailed train scene/map with other materials. 

Community Garden Signage + Color Theory

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We are continuing our process of considering signage for our garden in order to communicate to and invite our families into our community garden. 

Again we are pairing this process with color theory by learning about primary colors and how we might make secondary colors. 

Today we met outside in the courtyard garden to color-mix, paint our cedar planks (soon-to-be signs), and play. 

Planting Swiss chard and broccoli and introducing the concept of clean water scarcity and accessibility

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We are continuing to care for our garden on a daily basis. We are also gradually filling our garden beds with vegetable and herb starts. Last week we planted eggplant, peppers, basil, sage, parsley, and oregano. This week we are planting winter starts.

Again, Phebe worked with small groups to plant Swiss chard and broccoli! They used their hands as tools to clear space and plant the small starts. Friends helped Phebe carry the water bucket back and forth from the spigot and dipped their watering cans into the bucket to refill their water. 

Phebe and I have been discussing water scarcity and how different water accessibility is in Cameroon to here in the PNW. We are beginning to have this conversation with the kids. We have a book written by an author who grew up in Burkina Faso called, The Water Princess by Georgie Badiel which Phebe will soon introduce to us. It tells the semi-autobiographical story of of a girl who makes the daily long walk to a stream to collect the day’s fresh water and her desire to bring fresh water closer to home. We’ll continue to explore this theme throughout the year. 



Building and maintaining a community garden, color mixing, merging indoor and outdoor learning, and play dough insects

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1) Last week as we were planting our starts and watering our seedlings we considered how to make our garden feel more complete. Today we talked about the idea of adding signs to our space for others to better understand our community garden intentions. 

At circle we discussed what makes up our garden and chose words that we might make into signs.

Word ideas:
Peas
Vegetables
Garden
Flowers
Spiders
Water
Sunlight

Separately, I’ve noticed many friends creating colors with our materials at the light table. We’ve had ongoing conversations here and there about primary colors, secondary colors and how we might create secondary colors using primary ones. 

Also, I’ve been wanting to better connect our indoor classroom with our outdoor classroom. 

As a result of all of the above, we brought our watercolor paints, table, and new cedar planks into our garden to paint our soon-to-be garden signs. Friends first chose to mix purple, then green, then orange. Painting outside was so much fun! 

Throughout the week, we will explore possible words to add to our garden signs. We’ll take a look at the letters that make up each word and think about the sounds each letter makes.

2) We are continuing to care for our garden on a daily basis. We are also gradually filling our garden beds with vegetable and herb starts. Last week we planted eggplant, peppers, basil, sage, parsley, and oregano. This week we are planting winter starts.

Today, Phebe worked with small groups to plant beets! They used their hands as tools to clear space for the small starts and followed along with Phebe. Phebe and friends again spoke about the elements needed for plants to thrive: soil, water, and sunlight, and daily care. 

What a wonderful process it is to build and grow a community garden!

3) This morning friends were greeted with an invitation make insects (and other creations) at a table filled with play dough, sticks, shells, rolling pins, and various other loose parts. Many of us were quite interested in creating insects. F said, “I need to make a thorax!” 

4) We also pretended to be fruit trees on the circle today and a learned a new song:

Way up high in the apple tree, I saw three apples smiling at me.
I shook that tree as had as I could, and down came apples and mmmm they were good.

Friends then take turns coming up with various fruit tree ideas and how many they see.




Exploring Exoskeletons

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It’s been a surprising day at the stick and leaf insect habitat. Our giant green stick bug has molted and left an intact exoskeleton for us to examine. G and M were particularly entranced by the development. Especially by the significantly larger, and very active insect climbing up the screen in front of them.
A snippet of their conversation:
M - “I think it might want to eat a blackberry leaf. It’s moving around!”
G - “Don’t worry, it wont scare you. It’s being careful.”
M - “It’s moving a lot, but not a little bit.”
G - “Uh oh, it’s going to get the leaf one! That was close! Oh my goodness!”
The insect stops climbing as it reaches the top.
M - “I think it’s taking a rest there. Hey, wake up!”

G and M proceed to show the insect drawings of itself and give it a pile of loose parts (mint, lavender, bay laurel, and sticks) and puzzle pieces to “wake it up.” They also hold up sticks to measure and compare the insect’s length.

At circle we took a closer look at the exoskeleton and tried to better understand just what an exoskeleton is and how and why the insect shed it. We’ll definitely continue the conversation.

A Very Special Guest Today!

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We were treated to a very special guest today! My beautiful friend Kariann (of 30+ years) is in town visiting from Vermont with her family. She asked is she could spend some this morning with us and offered to give us an acting class experience. First we stretched and warmed up our bodies and then our voices. Next we pretended to be frogs, giraffes, elephants, and snakes. We howled like wolves and growled like tigers. We learned to project our voices (not too much of a challenge) and move our faces like fish. We had a blast. 

Kariann stayed through snack and friends asked her to visit our community gardens. They were very excited to show her our seedlings and starts in the garden beds. Kariann even helped us water. Thank you visiting us, Kar! 

Stick insect anatomy, garden tending, and outside shenanigans

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Today we further explored the anatomy of insects: specifically stick and leaf bugs. A number of friends gathered around the large drawing of the stick bug and asked about the word cutouts. We read the question written on the paper: Can you find the head, thorax, abdomen, six legs, two antennae and the compound eyes? V remembered where to find the abdomen on a stick insect. R found the antennae and F found the compound eyes. We all worked together to count the six legs. We talked about the thorax and noticed all of the insect’s legs are attached to it. 

At circle time we again sang our insect anatomy song and discussed compound eyes. I walked around the circle with a detailed photo of a stick insect compound eye. We noticed all of its facets and talked about the tiny hairs that grow between the facets used for sensing. We then revisited our stick bug yoga. 

We tended to our community garden again today. We noticed some more seeds have sprouted while some others are still hiding in the soil. We gave them all a good spritz and then planted an oregano and sage start in our garden beds. 

We had a silly time outside again today, complete with wearing buckets on our heads and dancing to La Bamba (per request). 

Tending to our community gardens & stick and feaf insect adaptations and yoga!

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Our Tuesday friends tended to our community garden today. We cared for our seeds and seedlings by watering them using spray bottles. We also planted two basil plants in our garden boxes. Friends helped choose the spots for the basil and helped to dig holes. We then released the basil plants from the containers by gently squeezing the container, examined the root structure of the basil, and nestled the plants into the garden soil. We then watered the new plants and the rest of our gardens in the courtyard space.

Today we again explored our stick and leaf insects. We all gathered around their habitat and found all four of the creatures. We noticed how big the baby brown stick bug is growing. At circle we talked about “animal adaptations” and learned stick and leaf bugs use camouflage to help them hide from predators. Some friends helped to explain “camouflage” and R had the idea that the insects would probably hide in the forest to blend with the trees. We also learned the Giant prickly stick insect uses a “scorpion” pose in order to keep predators away. By using this pose, predators may believe the insect is actually a scorpion with a stinger. This fact led us to stick insect yoga! We tried out our version of scorpion pose and laid flat on our bellies then arched our backs to reach blackberry leaves for dinner. We laid still pretending to be asleep during the day (Leaf and stick insects are nocturnal!). And we thought about how to walk like a stick bug. We tried a version of that looked a bit like crab pose and then tried walking on all fours with our belies toward the floor.

We the learned and/or revisited our Stick Insect song (to the tune of Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes)

Head, thorax, abdomen
six legs!
Head, thorax, abdomen
six legs!
Compound eyes and antennae
Head, thorax, abdomen
six legs!

Our Seeds Are Growing! And We Take A Closer Look At Leaf & Stick Insects

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Our seeds are sprouting into seedlings! With all of the care we are giving our newly planted seeds (water, nutrient-dense soil, and sunlight), our plants are beginning to thrive. Today we spent time watering the seedlings and seeds with our spray bottles in the courtyard. We also planted a yellow pepper plant and an eggplant plant in our garden beds. 

Also, as we become familiar with our indoor and outdoor classroom, we thought it’d be fun to look more closely at the creatures we share space with both inside and out. This week we are exploring the four leaf and stick insects who reside in our art area.
Friends were greeted with an invitation to explore insect anatomy with drawing, painting, and loose parts. We examined the head, thorax, abdomen, compound eyes, antennae, and six legs of the insects. At circle time we learned an insect anatomy song (to the tune of Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes)

Head, thorax, abdomen
six legs!
Head, thorax, abdomen
six legs!
Compound eyes and antennae
Head, thorax, abdomen
six legs!

Oh! And my niece, Olive is here visiting from Fairbanks, Alaska. She spent the morning playing with us!

Watering our Beans and Sunflowers and Outdoor Fun, Friday Edition!

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While Teacher Phebe is away at a family wedding in Wisconsin, Teacher Isabel is playing with us! Today after much play dough, dramatic play, books, and songs (Purple Stew, Five Little Apples, The Frog Song) we ventured out into the courtyard to spray our green bean and sunflower seeds (and run and play). Next we decided to move our play to the main outdoor area to play in the sand, water table and play house. We ended up having a dance party near the sand lake (led by R with his favorite song, La Bamba). Also, G was a monster finding hiding friends. There was much laughter and delight. We’re now taking a snooze.

Planting Sunflower Seeds with Phebe and Decorating the Playhouse

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It was an outdoor kind of day at Lavender Farm. Teacher Phebe taught us more about planting seeds in soil and helping them to grow with gentle watering and sunlight. We filled small containers with fresh soil using our play shovels, then gently patted the soil. Next Phebe gave each of us two sunflower seeds to plant in the soil. We used our fingertips to gently pat the seeds into the soil. Then Phebe came around with a pail of water and helped us to water the seeds. Both today’s sunflower seeds and yesterday’s green beans are now sitting in the sun (hopefully germinating).

After our gardening, we moved to our main outdoor play space. Many friends helped decorate the playhouse with colorful chalk (see below).

Our New African Dwarf Frogs

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We have two new amphibious friends in the classroom: African Dwarf frogs. They are a little difficult to spot sometimes as they blend well with the substrate. But they do move quickly and come up to the surface for air. Today the two were swimming quite a bit. One even swam right up to F. She exclaimed, “the frog kissed me!”

Planting Green Beans with Phebe!

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Day three of our garden project: Planting Green Bean Seeds

We began our gardening experiment with Phebe in the courtyard today. Phebe created a space for friends to choose a container and shovel soil. 

Next we met at the picnic table with our soil-filled containers. Phebe gave us each two bean seeds to plant in our containers. We gently pressed the seeds into the soil and lightly covered them with the soil. Phebe and friends talked about the elements for growing plants. We decide the next step should be water. So friends took turns watering their seeds with a pail. 

Tomorrow we’ll continue planting and watering our seeds. 

Wednesday Gardening Exploration

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When friends arrived this morning, they were invited to examine few gardening and nature books along with growth cycle photos of green beens, spinach, radishes, and sunflowers displayed on the lunch table. Some friends enthusiastically told us about their gardens at home. 

We also invited friends to paint with photos of the above vegetables and sunflowers available for reference. We took a look at the printed words, Green Beans, Radish, Spinach, and Sunflowers and talked about the first letter in each word. 

At circle, we read the book, Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger.  We were delighted by the green wiggly worm (as Finley described it), the celadon luna moth, the glowing green fireflies, and the green tree ripe with red apples.

Next we learned The Apple Rhyme. 

Five little apples sitting on the floor, we pick one up and then there are four.

Four little apples up in a tree, we take one down and then there are three.

Three little apples we know what to do, we pick one up and then there are two.

Two little apples sitting in the sun, we pick one up and then there is one. 

One little apple in our lunch, we pick it up and crunch, crunch, crunch.

These invitations are in preparation for our soil delivery (happening Tuesday) for our garden beds. Friends are excited about starting beens, spinach, sunflowers, and radishes (along with other edibles) to eventually plant in our new garden beds. Over the next few days we’ll continue to talk and explore gardening and growth cycles with books, art, rhymes, discussion, and other. We’ll then begin our planting experiments!