Volunteer Barb and Guinea Pigs

We are excited that Barb Perrin started to volunteer on Wednesdays at the Children's Garden. Her calm and relaxing manners have been appreciated by children. She reads stories to children and helps us with getting dressed and going for a walk, but the funnest part of having Barb is that she brings Guinea Pigs for the children to pet. Barb brings out Guinea Pigs during a circle time. After a few visit, children learned to be more gentle and not to be afraid of them, and Guinea Pigs learned to be more relaxed and friendly with children too. On the third visit, Guinea Pigs ate apples right off children's hands, AND pooped on the floor! Vera said "Mari, quick! Go get the scat book!" so we compared the color, the size and the shape with other animal scats. We listened to the sounds when Guinea Pigs crunch the apple pieces. We also learned that Guinea Pigs has three fingers on the front feet and four on the back feet! We are looking forward to learning more about Guinea Pigs. Thank you so much Barb for the opportunities for us to look closely to fuzzy friends!

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Snowy Walk

When I woke up in the morning, I think the temperature said -7F. By 10:45am, it was 22F. We bundled up and we went for a walk. The powdery snow made a beautiful frosting over Polly's hat and her hair. Opal said "On the way to preschool, we saw a snowplow". David traced a foot print of a small dog (?) checking the creek on the bridge on Joyce and Gil's drive way. It looked like the dog jumped off from the bridge to the bank to drink water. We traced a bigger dog (?) walking the same direction where we were going by Sandy Field. Mattias noticed a rhythmical sounds of snow chain on a Blossom Oil Company truck going down the hwy 80s. We met a mail deliverer and Sam and Anne talking a walk. They told us that Pete Seeger passed away the night before. We sang "Turn Turn Turn" song together.

Dancing children

Winter months are perfect for dress up and dancing. It is fun and it warms us up. Princesses and king, moo cows are all busy dancing! They had such a good time that some of them had difficult time changing back to the regular clothes.

Walk to Peggy's Garden

Our walk to Peggy's Garden takes place on Fridays. Children love to run down the big hill down to Peggy's cabin and walk on the stumps. I tell them that we have to be quiet as a mouse to go around the house because baby Opal might be sleeping. Children enjoy visiting a statue at the base of the huge oak tree that spreads limbs wide in the front yard. I tell them to put their palm together to greet the statue. One preschooler calls the statue "princess". Then we go to feed the ducks in the small pond. The ducks are so happy when children feed them left over sandwich pieces. Sorry we could not get the pictures of ducks. (while trying to do so, we had a little girl trying to swim with the ducks!)

We have a new friend, Theodore!

We have a new friend at preschool, Theodore! Theodore is learning to adjust to the preschool environment. On the second day, he almost sat through the whole snack period! There have been lots of kindness and sympathy expressed by "old" preschoolers. Theodore is teaching us lots of new signs- toilet, dog, play, all done. We are excited to get to know Theodore and his family. Welcome to the Children's Garden!

Welcome Ginger

We have a new friend at Preschool. Ginger comes with our new assistant Polly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. We had a wonderful start this week. Ginger was very observant to what was happening. We had wonderful walks: cold but refreshing.

Winter Celebration

Preschool Winter Celebration was held on Friday, December 13th at 5pm at CCC. We started with a lovely potluck. We acknowledged the hard work of parting staff members, Anna and Peg for the years they worked at the preschool. They were presented with bouques of roses and thank you cards. We will miss them so much! We then had the shadow puppet show, "Bird Tree". This was a lovely Christmas story that speaks to the children about being friendly to animals and with each other. It also brings in inter-generational values.

After the shadow puppet show, we moved upstairs to the evergreen spiral ceremony. The double spiral represents searching for inner light and bringing it outwardly to the world. We witnessed each child on their journey of life as we sung them a song. (pictures taken by Gretchen)

Snack Time

We turn off lights to promote calm and peaceful snack time. We notice the amount of natural light that comes into our room. This will depend on the time of the year (leaves shades the sunlight in fall. angles of the sun changes through the season) and also the weather for the day(cloudy day as opposed to sunny day. snow reflect sunshine to make the room brighter). We wonder together all the reason this happens in nature. We have been lighting a candle during late fall and winter. We simply appreciate the light. Everyone enjoys sharing snack and stories around the table.

Tuesday walk

Tuesday walks are comforting. No big uphill or downhill so it is a good warm up for the first day of a week. Many layers of clothes come off by the end of a walk as children warm up and the temperature raises by mid-day. We enjoy seasonal activities as making a dam in late summer and fall, collecting seeds in fall and winter, and checking out wild flowers in spring. It is always nice to see elderly neighbors we meet on our walk. This was Anna and Julia's last walk as they are moving onto different school next year. Enjoy pictures.

Martinmas and Lantern Walk

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November 8, we had our annual Martinmas and Lantern Walk. Opal's parents hosted us at a cozy neighborhood with a beautiful stream running by their home. We were blessed to have the strong wind subside half way through the day, so when we gather late afternoon to evening, it was calm and peaceful. Sherry Lovett started off the evening with a great story of Martin. She told us that Martin was a little boy who was very kind. Then he grow up and became a Roman soldier because it was the law. She talked about his kindness to his servant and to other people who were under-privileged. When the story was over, she lead us all to sing: See Martin's light is all around Within your heart it can be found Ha la, ha la, ha la, ha lo Shine your light every where you go Then we sang more songs of lanterns together. We walked with our lanterns on the driveway through the quiet neighborhood. It started to get dark and we could see the glimmers of our lanterns. We went back to the outdoor pavilion at Opal's house to have warm soup and bread and other food that people had brought to share. Gretchen and Jona treated us with home-made hot apple cider. We gathered around a campfire and we felt warm and I believe our heart felt light. Blessings to all.

Jack-O-Lantern

It took us two days to make Jack-o-lantern. First day, we cut open and got all the seeds out. Boys in particular were very excited with using spoons and tongs as tools to get the seeds out. David said excitedly that he is going to start 10 pumpkin patch from the seeds! We have in our classroom, some beans sprouting from the beans that children shelled, so maybe he was thinking about sprouting pumpkin seeds. We used an heirloom pumpkin I bought from a store since mine rotted in the garden due to the rainy summer this year. The outside of the pumpkin was dull orange color, but the inside was a bright orange! Julia drew the face on the pumpkin and I cut them out. We sang "Once I had a pumpkin" as we cut out the eyes, nose, mouth and ears (she drew cheeks too). They enjoyed plugging the cut out pieces back, and pulling them out again like pieces of puzzles. When it was finished, we talked about how the pumpkin will no longer hold water in as it did the day before. (Children pored water in the pumpkin using a small pitcher. It took 6 pitchers of water to fill the pumpkin.) We also talked about roasting the seeds to eat. We have been reading "Pumpkin Soup" at preschool, so I said maybe I will make a pumpkin soup for the Lantern Walk. They all thought would be a great idea. We lit the candle in the freshly made Jack-o-Lantern for snack time.

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Fundraising Pasta Meal

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We had a successful fundraising pasta meal at the Celo Community Center. Good crowd gathered to enjoy food and company of preschool families. There were marinara sauce, pesto, and Alfredo sauce to go with regular, whole wheat, and gluten free pasta. There was warm bread and local organic salad (Thank you Goldfinch Garden, Cedar and Ben!). Great brownies and cheese cake were served to complete the meal. We felt a strong support from the community and affirmation of love to children and young families. Great team work families and staff!

AMS Fall Festival

Preschool went to AMS Fall Festival on October 16th. We had a wonderful walk through the woods, field, and over hand-built bridges to get to AMS. When we got there it was almost our snack time, so we joined the biscuit making activities. Children measured, stirred, added and mixed all the ingredients. David rolled the dough and everyone helped cut into round shape. Julia and Opal moved the dough very carefully into the cookie sheet to bake. While it was baking, we ground some wheat into flour. Cosmo and Mattias especially enjoyed turning the handle to grind the wheat. Needless to say, we had a tasty snacktime. Brad brought us a warm fresh apple cider that was just pressed to go with our snack! We then made felted "pumpkins" with Kristen. Children felt fluffy wool turn into felted ball (or almost) by rolling them in their hands and putting them into soapy water.

Children was invited to dig Jerusalem Artichoke with Kevin. Kevin put good effort to make this activity child friendly. "We are going to dig for a treasure!" He and Micah helped children use an adult sized fork. David and Vera especially enjoyed finding interesting shaped edible tubers! They didn't want to stop!

We went to see chickens and turkeys. We climbed up on gravel mountain. We sampled garden mint. Then, we rode on a hayride! Up the hill and down, we enjoyed watching the autumn scenery. Vera told everyone that she is going to be a princess for Halloween. Then we went to look for pumpkins that were hiding on the trail back to soccer field where met the parents. We had fun comparing each others' pumpkins, hiding them again in the leaves, and making pumpkin heads! It was such a fun morning! Thank you Arthur Morgan School for this wonderful event!

Feeding horses, playing peek-a-boo, yummy nasturtium

We had a lovely walk to Becky's Garden. Becky came out to say hello to children as usual. She always has interesting stories to tell us, or informs us with names of certain plants. This day, she showed us a plant (common name "money plant" that went to seeds. She showed us how to peel layers to get to the seeds. There is a separating sheet it looks like a silvery full moon. She told us the scientific name is "lunaria". Vera especially enjoyed finding the moon, and she kept the seeds for planting.

The brown horse "cowboy" came running to say hello to us. We brought apple and pear cores left from our snack time to feed the hourses (white one is not pictured). Julia, Cosmo, and Vera enjoyed feeding them. Mari helped their hand to shape like a "plate" and she put apple core on the "plate". They giggled as cowboy licked off the food from their hands. Other children enjoyed watching.

On the way back, we walked by Fuller's house. Children played peek-a-boo with each other. Cosmo and Mattias loves to play "riding on a bus", at the base of a big trees. Vera has a favorite tree to climb. We checked out many mushrooms along the way.

Helping Annelise, indoor activities.

We have had lovely days when everyone found interest things to do indoor before we set out for a walk. Our virtue is cooperation this month. I have written many messages (filed in the art folder) about how each child showed his or her cooperation. When we cooperate, we can move towards the goal together.

We have been having wonderful indoor time. On Tuesdays paintings, we have been featuring apples, leaves, and pumpkins. On Wednesday, we do clay or modeling wax activities. On Thursdays, we have been cutting and gluing papers with pictures of seeds, vegetables, and pumpkins. On Fridays, we have been opening bean pods and collecting beans. They are big beans and when they come out, they are shiny and beautiful. We have been making patterns, pairing, counting and making designs with them.

Moon, ducks, bamboo forest

We are having beautiful fall days. On Tuesdays, we have been taking a small basket to pick up "fall treasures". There are so many beautiful fall leaves. We see red berries,fresh acorns, and purple asters. We have been tasting watercress at Tibbit's Garden. We have been carrying a small mirror to see the underside of mushrooms. Today Julia said, "let's see if this mushroom has gills or pores".

First Rainy Day

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Children wear rain pants in nearly every walk to protect clothes from dampness. We had real rain and children were so happy to jump over puddles and make "Harvest Soup" in a sandbox from rain water.

Happy October!

How quickly this year is already passing! We sang "Summer Good-bye" and had a wonderful Harvest Festival. Well I was sick, but thanks to Anna and Amelia we have officially welcomed autumn. I got a chance to make Harvest Soup for everyone. It was very sweet way for me to celebrate fall and say thank you to preschool parents, staff, and neighbors that support preschool. Blessings,

Snowy Day

We had a fun walk in the snow.   Micah has been volunteering during his spring break, and he pointed out a few animal tracks in the snow for the children to see.  Micah used to come to preschool when he was three so he remembers the fun outdoor time. David made a big snow ball, Vera made snow angels, and Emmet found an ice from the pipe that normally has a small stream of water coming into the pond.

Spring Masquerade

On March 15, We had a wonderful annual Spring Masquerade.  Children dressed in hand- made silk sash and a woolen head ornament had a joyful procession to where all the parents and friends were "still sleeping through the winter".  Children woke them up gently and told them that spring has sprung!  We sang "Winter Good bye" and had a wonderful potluck lunch afterwords.