Spring 2023

This past Friday we gathered for our morning circle and figured out that during the break, we said farewell to February and welcomed the month of March. We are also in the midst of a seasonal shift and as we transition from Winter to Spring, there is so much to plan and look forward to! In parallel with the cyclical nature of the seasons, we are embarking on a new adventure...So,
During snack we looked closely at “The Chicken and the Egg” , a story with simple illustrations and no words to show us what happens when a chicken lays an egg and if that egg stays nice and warm, either under the chicken’s warm body or in an incubator, there is a good chance that after 21 one days or so, a baby chick will hatch! 
Robin and I planned it so that the children can collect, candle, anticipate and eventually (and hopefully) be a part of the hatching process in the weeks to come. We visited the chicken coop all together and it just so happens that one of our hens was sitting on two eggs! She was kind enough to allow us to take a peek under her wing and the eggs were still warm.  Carefully, we collected these and a few others in a basket and brought them inside where we have a small incubator set up. Each of the children took their turn to gently place an egg inside. Robin and I are excited to have the children be a part of our first hatching attempt! 🥚🐓 
We visited the bamboo forest and clipped long branches of bamboo to drag back for a treat for the goats. We did lots of digging and transferring of dirt and water to and fro, played with trucks and painted our paper maché moons.
During lunch we read about where thunder comes from and talked about how the speed of light travels faster than the speed of sound. In this way, we can anticipate the sound of thunder after we see lightning. There was a lot of sharing between us about past storms we had experienced with different perspectives on how thunderstorms make us feel. To be continued..

Hope you are all having a lovely, wild weather week!

Laura.



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Dear Families,
I think we were feeling very happy to be all back together this past Friday! 
It was fun to have you all arrive and spend time by the deck construction site with the children jumping into the holes and crossing over the little bridge. I’m so pleased to have them see and be part of the process; for them to play there and to watch it be built from the ground up. As much as I possibly can, I want to involve them, so that they may feel a deeper connection to what is going on around them.


We sang our new Spring songs at a new morning circle spot- the children were curious about the boulders out in the field that we removed from the building site and one of them is large and flat and quite perfect for a little meeting place. I will include the words to our new songs below- you may have heard them by now at home.


During snack we read one of my favorite stories, "The Listening Walk" by Paul Showers and then we set out on our own listening and looking walk around the property. Robin and I asked the children to look out for the daffodils that they themselves had planted late last Fall. It was so cute to see them looking all around, the wheels turning as they tried to remember that exact location. Once they did, they pointed out with such confidence which daffodils they felt they had planted : ) We paused to close our eyes along the way, hearing the beautiful calls of Red Winged Blackbirds, Grackles, Cardinals and Robins.
And then it was time to meet Spring! Spring is our first little chick, she hatched on the first day of spring, far ahead of the rest of our chicks who (on Friday) had been in the incubator for 14 days! (Today is Day 17) It was absolutely amazing to witness the childrens' response to Spring- all rather tentative at first. Her movements are quick and a bit unexpected, so we sat for a long while to allow them all to feel more comfortable around her. By the end they were entirely charmed by her and I think you will really enjoy seeing the photos of them with her. 
We candled our 14 day-old eggs and saw movement and heartbeats! Those eggs should hatch this week...........
We planted wheat grass, checked and watered our little pea plants and did some digging in the garden. 
Robin is starting to teach the children which egg belongs to which chicken- his idea : )
We'll look forward to seeing you all on Friday.

And hope to see you at the Woods School meeting tomorrow at Skiff's!

~Laura.

Spring songs:

Spring is coming!
Spring is Coming!
Birdies build their nests
Weave together twig and feather doing each their best
Spring is coming Spring is coming
Flowers are coming too
Daisies, Lilies, daffodillies all are coming through
Spring is coming Spring is coming
All around is fair
Shimmer glimmer on the river 
Love is everywhere.

Plant the little seed in the dark dark ground
Out comes the yellow sun big and round
down comes the cool rain soft and slow
Out comes the little sprout grow grow grow!