SPL's Blog

Wendolyn, SPL’s outdoor preschool teacher, sends us monthly journals via email so we can know what happened each day of school.  She has great observations and insights into the kids and I love reading them.  Here they are for the first 4 days of September 2009 (September 8, 10, 15, 16):

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Day one Gibbous Moon Hidden Villa
Our first day back and how wonderful it was. Easeful transition to circle time and complete presence/attention

•Group welcoming of each other and welcoming of the day’s adventures

• A calm and ease around the large amounts of Yellow Jackets at lunch

• Yellow Jackets eating ALL of the salmon I put out to keep them away from the rest of us.

•A super highlight: the chickens were more peaceful than in all the years I have been coming to Hidden Villa (47), and most of the children got to hold them, several times. The Older Boys helped catch them. Truly AMAZING!

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Day 2 was SPL’s 1st day @ his other preschool so he missed that trip to Martin’s Creek.

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September 10, 2009 Day three

Last Quarter Rancho San Antonio

Highlights:

• we could see Grandma Moon in the Western Sky • Everyone was here and it was a marvelously cohesive day • NO WATER!! Nope, non at all at Rancho San Antonio. Usually there is some here. The children ran to the bridge yet found nothing at all. • Discovering and remembering the Poison Oak and ways to avoid it • Playing in the magical and wonderful Bay Grove: there was the living room, bedrooms, dining rooms, keys to magick rooms, and storage areas and so much more. All the children had so much fun playing in their different rooms and creating wonderful stories to weave in and out of each others. • Acting out the story of the week. Gavin was a tree; Beckett a rock; Annika and Maya Fairy Princesses; Luke was a Black Squirrel and the others were the “watchers.” We have a dress up bag and they put on all that worked for them and had a lot of fun. The story of the week actually did not have most of these characters but that did not matter, it was fun to play out the gist of the story and dress up!

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Day 4 Crescent waning Moon Foothill Park- The Island
Finding a magic penny cooked into one of the biscuits (for snack). Angelina found it and got to choose whether we go to the big meadow or the Island. She chose the Island.

A brand new story with a brand new story box ( my eldest daughter re did last years box and it is very beautiful and magical.) The story however, some of the children know from the CD and Angelina in particular, had so much fun with it and SPL corrected me one time when I missed a part. Very great!!

They will now have little friends on the “story table” that will give us clues as to what the story is about. Today they had, and will everyday, Grandmother spider. A small spider figure made from Coconut husks. She will weave us new tales to be taken out of the box each week and then quite magically, story pictures will appear on the box!

They are all joining in with the songs and show pleasure with all of the hand movements. Snack was a big hit, biscuits with butter and Jam that Christie made and gave us last year at Christmas. Yummy!!!

Except for Shayna and Maya, the rest of them really want to help out at snack time with all of the jobs: giving out water, giving out snack, Thank you plate and helping with the hand towels. We got a book out and wrote down who has done what so that we can remember whose turn it will be the next day. They were rather pleased with that.

SPL and Milo ran to the bus to find the book and were so helpful and efficient with it.

SPL: Fun, he just had fun. He is learning about noticing what is Poison Oak and asking to make sure as he is also peeing outdoors and needing to know these things. He had fun with Keely and the ducks, shucking, only a little bit, playing chase and Tigers. Oh yes, forgot to say, they all were Tigers, had a tiger house and were eating me up. SPL actually caught me and ate me up. Shayna told him I didn’t want to be eaten up and even though she was a Tiger she wasn’t going to eat me.