Greetings Beaver Families!
It is hard to believe that we are already on Spring Break - especially since we had a few wintery mornings this past week! We splashed in muddy puddles, danced in the warm sunlight, and enjoyed the classroom while the winds were gusty and strong. Although the weather took us through the seasons this week, we managed to spend most of the time outside in the forest, on the playground, and in the garden.
The beginning of the week was warm, bordering on hot in the afternoons! We spent a few mornings in the garden feeding the donkeys and picking onion grass. The goats have seen us so many times now that they come up to the fence when we arrive! They still do not eat the treats from our hands but they are certainly curious and MUCH less afraid. Hopefully one day soon, we will be able to add brushing the goats to our farm chores.
The Golden Knights spent several days engaging in practical and purposeful work. We filled the Gorilla Cart with dirt and hauled it to the garden, emptying the dirt into our garden bed. After several trips and some help from the third graders during their daily farm work, the bed is finished and ready for planting. We will plant some marigold seeds when we get back and possibly some other sprouts that have been started by the third-grade class as well. The garden bed, with nothing planted there, looks remarkably like a large sandbox and was treated as such throughout the week by the Golden Knights and the rest of the class too :) The Golden Knights also worked on a special project with pretty glass beads that will be featured at the auction when we return from break. We hope you will like it - and maybe even bid on it - after seeing it on display at our auction event on April 16th!
While inside our classroom, the children built many intricate block structures, complete with roadways for a wooden car and room for many of the peg dolls to visit and play. We played with some modeling clay, which is a new activity this year, as we have been working mostly with beeswax. The children loved how easy it was to mold, compared to the relative work it takes to warm up and heat the beeswax in their hands. Lots and lots of pictures were colored with block crayons as we sat around our classroom table. One of the students taught many of the others how to draw a star, which was a theme of many of the drawings. We also finger chained and finger knitted with some new yarn that we received in many beautiful colors. We used yarn to fashion bird’s nests from tiny wreaths and were even able to place a fresh chicken egg in our wreaths to go home. We hope everyone enjoyed the eggs and that they stayed in one piece on the ride home!
On Wednesday, we started the day inside and then hopped into our rain gear and braved the downpour for about an hour. There were puddles galore and the mud kitchen was busier than ever with students jumping, pouring, splashing, and mixing until their hearts were contented. There is something magical about watching their faces light up in mid-air right before their feet splash soundly down. It serves as a reminder for us all to just be free and have fun!
Our story this week was appropriately titled “April Shower Fairies.” One day, Sam was listening to the rain splashing his window pane. He listened more closely, and heard it speak to him:
Pitter-patter, pitter-patter
Come and play, come and play
We do love a rainy day
Pitter-patter, pitter-patter
Sam dressed for the rain, grabbed his umbrella, and headed outside. He observed all the beautiful signs of spring before him. The air smelled so fresh and the tulips were blooming red, yellow, pink, and white, opening their petals to drink the sweet rain. Sam kept walking until he came to the edge of a brook. There he saw many tiny rain children in silver cloaks, playing in the rain. He played with the rain fairies all day long, making bark boats for them, splashing and laughing until Father Sun appeared and sent a rainbow down to the very stream they were playing in. It was time for the rain children to go back home to their sky home. They waved to Sam saying they would see him again the next time it rained. Sam was getting ready to head home when he discovered one rain child had hidden inside his umbrella because he was not yet ready to return to the sky. This rain child wanted to stay on Earth a bit longer to learn about spring. Sam took the rain child everywhere, showing him flowers, trees and squirrels playing. The rain child was thankful to learn from Sam and explore the wonders of spring. A sunbeam reached down and the rain child rode it back up to the sky, bidding Sam farewell. Sam walked home singing to himself:
Pitter-patter, pitter-patter
Come and play, come and play
We do love a rainy day
Pitter-patter, pitter-patter
We hope your spring break is filled with sunshine, puddles, and blooming flowers. See everyone next week. :)
Kindly,
Ki Amy and Ki Fatima
