The River Otter students were excited to enjoy so many areas of the campus this week. Due to weather conditions and our new afternoon schedule on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, we were able to play not only at our base camp in the forest but also the area outside the garden, the forest area at the bottom of crab walk hill (behind the 3rd graders’ dome), the playground, and our indoor classroom. The students really enjoyed the change of scenery throughout the week and the opportunity to use different materials and play in different ways. They also enjoyed a variety of temperatures, both light and heavy rain, and many wonderful puddles.
Extra time indoors allowed us to spend a larger amount of time coloring with block crayons, which students love. They made pictures to take home and to give to their friends, and a few students chose to do some finger knitting. There was a lot of great block building, imaginative play with peg dolls and the play kitchen stayed busy as well.
The River Otters look forward to their Spanish class with Ki Maria on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons. Our class time seems to fly by as the students are having so much fun with the songs and games, and many already know the two songs we have learned by heart. Students have been learning how to greet each other and ask and answer the question “how are you”, as well as ask and answer the question “what is your name”. We are excited to return to our Sign Language lessons with Ki Emily and watercolor painting with Ki Fatima on Fridays after spring break.
This week’s story was the story of Ostara (the goddess of spring) and the hare. This story takes place when the world was young, during a year when Ostara accidentally overslept by three months! When she heard the children and fairies singing her praises she woke and knew what she had to do. She made her way to the surface from her sleeping spot deep in the earth, and she began to dance her lovely, graceful dance. Everywhere her feet or hands touched, beautiful flowers bloomed. The children, animals, and fairies joined Ostara in dancing to bring spring to the land, and everyone was filled with joy. Then one of the children found something. It was a bird who was injured and whose wings had frozen over the too long and cold winter. Ostara wrapped the bird in her cloak and breathed warmth, love, and peace over the bird. The animals, children, and fairies joined her in breathing life into the injured bird. When Ostara unwrapped her cloak, the bird had turned into a snow-white hare! The hare took a minute to stretch and try out its legs, then began to run around faster than it ever dreamed of running. The hare could even do blinkies, where it would jump, turn, and kick in the air at the same time. It was so much fun the hare did them over and over, running joyfully while the children, fairies, and other animals watched with glee. Suddenly the hare stopped and everyone else stopped too, for they could feel the hare’s mood change and become very sad and tearful. Ostara stooped down to the hare and asked him with gentle compassion what was wrong. The hare thanked Ostara for saving him and turning him into a rabbit and assured her that he loved running fast and doing blinkies. He also shared that he missed flying, staying up in the sky where he was safe from predators and now he was afraid. The children, fairies, and other animals understood that he missed being a bird and begged the goddess Ostara to change him back. But Ostara answered that if she changed him back into a bird he would just be the frozen and injured bird again and that she would not be able to save him. She did have an idea, however, and told the hare that she could make the moon his home, where he would be safe and could have all of the greens and carrots he could eat. The hare was thankful but said he would miss the children, fairies, and other animals who found him and cared for him. He asked Ostara that he be able to show them his gratitude. Ostara offered to allow the hare to return once a year when she awoke to dance and usher in spring. He would be her companion for the day and play with the children, fairies, and animals. To show his gratitude, he would now be able to lay the most beautiful, colorful eggs anyone had ever seen and hide them as a thank you game for the children, fairies, and animals. The hare was overjoyed and gratefully agreed to the goddess’s idea. From then on, the hare joins Ostara every year when she returns to dance and bring spring to the earth, and hides his beautiful colored eggs to be found. Although Ostara still likes to sleep in, the hare now makes sure she doesn’t sleep for too long again.
Golden Knights
This week the Golden Knights continued working on their circle, and are making a lot of progress on remembering the words and movements for the newer song. They also heard the tale of Rumplestiltskin for the second and final week. For the first days of the week, the students worked on individual projects, however on Wednesday and Thursday we worked on (and have nearly completed) a special project that included stringing different sized wooden and glass beads for a beautiful auction piece we will all put together as a class. This was a great fine motor and focus/attention activity for our older students, as well as a great early math lesson. It was interesting to see the different patterns students chose to make, and that some students consciously chose to not make a pattern. We will finish this project and start a new one after the break.
Thank you for sharing your children with us and for being part of our community. We hope you have a fun and restful spring break and look forward to seeing everyone on campus again next week.
Warm regards,
Ki Holly and Ki Fatima
