Winter 2022

Dear Families,

This past Friday was a gorgeous sunny and breezy day that kept us outdoors for much of the morning and into the early afternoon.
During snack, Robin shared that he (finally!) lost his first tooth- one that had been wiggling for over a month with the new tooth fully grown in behind it. This was of great interest to the children who then felt like their own teeth were wiggling throughout the rest of the day : )
This week we learned about how the moon is like a mirror, and that the light we see when we look at the moon is reflected by the sun. We revisited our other fun moon facts- a favorite is that the moon stays in place because of Earth's gravity and then we have fun dropping items and then picturing what would happen on the moon where gravity is not as strong.
Throughout the morning, we took turns ripping and then pasting pieces of newspaper onto balloons; the first step toward making moon night lights! 
Outside, we moved big pieces of driftwood to start a new shelter under the juniper tree. We did lots of digging and building of little streams, we let all of the animals out and took time to observe and approach them. The children are really at ease sharing space with the chickens and the ducks now and we managed to get the ducks up for a swim in the pond which is always a good laugh. It even felt warm enough to take off shoes and socks and feel our feet in the grass a little.
We took a break from our bread baking this week to make Valentine's cookies that we enjoyed while singing and playing drums at the closing of our day. You may be hearing some of our Valentine's Day song that goes like this:
"I made a Valentine for you and heart shape says I love you,
H-E-A-R-T H-E-A-R-T H-E-A-R-T and heart shape says I love you"  : ) To the tune of B-I-N-G-O.

Happy Valentine's Day!
&
See you on Friday,

Laura.




​Our last Friday together before the Winter break was a whirlwind of wind, rain and emotions : )
Robin's good friend Eilish from Kaila's Woods School came to visit with her mom, Bryn and 3 younger sisters, Maili, Sheelah and Andy. We visited with the chickens and the ducks and had quite an adventure carrying the ducks up to the pond. We did some water play and turned an oversized box into a fort that took on various forms throughout the day; a home, a restaurant and finally a shelter from an imagined thunder storm. 
Thank you for the lovely visit, Eilish and family!
We worked hard to finish the first step for our moon night lights- ripping and pasting newspaper to our balloons. The goal was to cover up every inch of space so that we could no longer see the balloon underneath. This led to the children pointing out exposed spaces on each other's balloons and by the end, they were all working together, helping one another so that it was more of a collaboration than an individual endeavor. It was a wonderful thing to watch   and I know they will be keen to help Finn get caught up on his moon project after the break : ) We will continue our moon study for the last few weeks of the Winter season once back.
The possibility that rain may lead to a thunderstorm (a thunderstorm was not expected but it came out in play) brought about excitement and also some fears. And so, we decided to learn more about storms when we are back together. And shadows! (Remember when we discovered our own shadows a few weeks back?) These ideas for learning emerge so naturally in the outdoor environment- I'll look forward to expanding our understanding of weather and light this Spring : )
Before rest time, we mixed together the ingredients to make a delicious banana bread, enjoyed heartily by all during our closing circle, singing and dancing and munching away.

See you all in a couple of weeks- enjoy the break!


`Laura.
Reading this week: Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin

                               Tiny, Perfect Things by M.H Clark

amazing Banana Bread Recipe, happens to be vegan and so delicious:

• 4 medium ripe bananas
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup unsweetened non-dairy milk (we used Oat)
• ½ cup light brown sugar (we used brown coconut sugar)
• 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt 


• mash the bananas, add the wet ingredients to the mashed banana. Mix together dry ingredients separately and then combine without overmixing. Transfer to greased bread baking dish, bake at 350 for 40 mins, then cover and bake  for another 10-15 mins.

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