Monday, August 1, 2011

Celebrating each other..

A few photos from our playschool week..

mini bread loves to take home...

The beginning of a town...

snacks outside..

Treasure for the fairies...


Have I mentioned that I now have an "assistant" during playschool? She is a lovely 12 year old, H, who is very good with the children, has a beautiful voice, and a lot of patience. She is eager to learn all textile crafts, cooking, baking, and homemaking. I taught her to knit 2 weeks ago, and she's already doing it "with her eyes clsoed", as you can see. I'm so proud of her, and I celebrate her each day she is with us. Once H is back to school in September, I'll be searching for someone to fill her shoes (a tough job!). I've got a few perspectives already, so we shall see where this takes us!




We've been celebrating nature each and every day together, and our nature table lends itself to this. In our area, cicada shells are everywhere we look, especially under trees....the children have noticed this, and cicada shells have made quite an appearance on our nature table. We started out with two, as pictured above. Truth be told, I am not the biggest lover of bugs. Gah! I worked as a conservation educator at our local zoo a few years back, and I had to put on my bravest face while handling Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches in front of auditoriums full of children and adults. I've witnessed how children react when adults show their fears for these creatures...



...I am being very brave each time I walk by our nature table as of late! (which happens to be located in our dining room, by the way..haha!) Our brood of 2 cicadas has now grown to....well, more than a handful. Never the less, I am happy to celebrate nature and all her gifts with the children:)

(we are painting our stairs, among other home improvements!)


I am also celebrating one of our playschool children especially this week, as she learns to finger knit. She picked it up rather quickly after I used a story to go through the steps with her. She sat for the rest of the afternoon, quiet with concentration. I am so proud of her.


Her younger brother also learned to use our heavy duty scissors, with supervision. I am so proud of him, too!!! For the time being, L is our only playschool boy (besides my son, W) and I challenge myself every day to inspire him to participate in our bi-weekly crafts and daily singing. If he choses to watch our circle from afar, then that is his way of being a part of it. I never force the children to participate in anything, although I extend an warm invitation to everything if someone is feeling shy.



In closing, we're preparing to celebrate W's 2nd birthday this coming Sunday, and we're crafting all of the decorations and favors together. Pictured above is our simple garland which will be all over our house this weekend. Simply cut 6 inch strips of any kind of fabric and knot it on to a finger knitted chain.
They really do look festive!
xooxox

10 comments:

  1. Beautiful..
    Don't forget to sign for my giveaway.. This book will give you some more ideas for youy beautidul program..to keep their minds busy and happy.

    http://olivesandpickles.blogspot.com/2011/07/montessori-at-home-help-your.html

    Patty

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  2. Okay, so I'll go ahead and share this even though it might be considered super gross... When my daughter was about 14 months old she had a series of mysterious seizures that landed her in the ICU for about a week. The doctors never came up with any answers in terms of the how or why, but our acupuncturist recommended a tea made from cicada shells (which we had to boil in water ourselves). Was it disgusting? Probably. But she's almost eight now and well, no seizures! Powerful little bugs. And they didn't need their shells anyway!

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  3. Those little critters really ick me out, too! I love that little garland. My daughter has been finger knitting like mad! We all have bracelets and there are many lengths we're going to tie together for our solstice tree. This would be the perfect way to jazz it up a bit!

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  4. One of my fondest childhood memories is gathering cicada shells in my first grade schoolyard with my classmates. First grade was all wonder... I had cancer when I was four and missed kindergarten, so first grade memories are so vivid, like the whole world opened up. I remember the brittle delicacy of those shells and the joy of tromping outside to collect them.

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  5. I just want to say that I am in love with your blog. It has brought so much inspiration to my mothering. I have a new little boy in my life. My first. He is just three months old. I've learned a lot about Waldorf through your posts and look forward to each and everyone. In reply to this post, I just want to say: as a 30 year old, I am still in awe over cicada shells and often bring one or two in the house every year. Cicada tea, interesting and unforgettable info. Thanks for the entertaining and educating blog! Sarah

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  6. We don't have cicada bugs here so I'm interested in learning more about these bugs. I have only read about them in Eric Carle's book The Very Quiet Cricket.

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  7. Cicada’s never bothered me till I fished a dead one out of the pool I'de never seen one in MN before so I put it on our nature table. 6 hours later I found it crawling around quite alive EKKKK!! On a different note, I love the idea for W's birthday garland. Very pretty. Take care.

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  8. Your playgroup looks so magical. Wish I lived close to a similar group.

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  9. Hello -- I've been trying to find an email for you so I don't have to leave a lengthy comment... but no luck... so here goes the lengthy comment!

    First off, I mostly don't mind insects and other sorts of bugs... but those cicadas? gack.

    Secondly, so glad you found me again, too. I've been visiting you from time to time and have been excited to follow you through your adventures with your school. I was thinking back to when you started out wondering how to afford the education to become a Waldorf teacher. But here you are, right in the middle of it, living it everyday. It's so exciting and makes me so happy to see your journey! All the love you have to give, all the joy and learning with which you are surrounded... beautiful... Wish I lived closer so I could come and visit...

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  10. Rebecca, you were made for what you are doing. I can tell that you truly have a sense of joy about everything you are doing with these kids and entering into their lives. Noah isn't much into the crafting either, but I always offer it to him. Normally, he'll do it for two minutes and then is off to play in the mud or jump on the trampoline. Hope you find the perfect replacement for H, she sounds wonderful. :-)

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