Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day party, sharing food, valentines, books and games. We try to minimize the unhealthy treats and offer plenty of colorful fruit - but a few homemade heart-shaped cookies snuck in there! Our current favorite friendship books are Toot and Puddle by Holly Hobbie and Caldecott-medalist Hondo and Fabian by Peter McCarty. Both books show gentle respect for the many differences that often inform and nurture friendship. Along with making lots of valentines, we made some cute flowers in simple flowerpots that share 'my love for you grows and grows!' with the parents. The kids loved how the little construction paper 'plant' 'grew and grew' as you pulled it up its stake!

Building the imagination through nature

One of the important themes of our work with the children, after safety and social skills, is developing an awareness of the natural world. This is accomplished in several ways: The books we choose often have a nature theme to them, and foster a gentle approach to the world outside. We keep a lot of plants around - they purify the air, they move (the venus flytrap and sensitive plant), their flowers are decorative, and we learn which continent many of them come from.

We also have a horde of plastic animals that represent life in other areas. They may have seen many of these at the zoo, so it gives us a talking point, even for the littlest ones! Around 2 or 3 years of age, we introduce the alphabet and the sounds made by each letter. The animals help the children learn the alphabet, too. For the older children, finer distinctions develop (is this an Adele penguin, a macaroni penguin or an emperor penguin? Is this a leopard or a cheetah?) and we start to place animals in habitats and on continents.

First we learn about North American animals. We start from the familiar, the known and move to the less known. Every year we visit the zoo a couple of times, augmenting visits with family. Then we choose a new continent, sticking with it for a month or two. This is classic Montessori practice but is adapted to the age and space requirements of our program. The children love to do imaginative play with the animals once they learn their names - they acquire personalities all their own. : ) Dinosaurs are a particular favorite. This week we asked if anyone had ever seen a live dinosaur. 'No', they all said. 'Why?' I said they were extinct. 'Exink?' 'That means there are no more of them living.' 'Oh'. The word 'extinct' came up a lot yesterday!! One thing one must never do with children is paint a bleak picture of the world - just enough information to keep them engaged and upbeat!

Loving our new Legos!

Early this summer we purchased a special set of Duplos for the older children. Lego makes sets designed specifically for classrooms under their Dacta brand, and they have many features that their square and rectangular blocks do not - they can swivel, pivot, add motors and pneumatic features and comprise a real hands-on physics classroom in a box!

And the kids love them. They are safe enough for the two year olds to use, engaging enough to keep the older kids busy for quite a while and large enough even for the toddlers to try since they are not choking hazards. Here are some pictures of our older children's creations - spaceships and hotrods.

Living Simply for the Holidays

This year the Hanukkah and Christmas holiday season snuck up so quickly!! There was a last-minute decision to postpone the holiday party to after New Years to save everyone precious moments for their family. Besides, it extends the holiday season another entire week!! : )

This season I resolved to try to live sustainably and shop local. That meant looking at labels of origin and focusing on goods made here in the USA. Sustainability is not just about saving materials, fuel, and energy but also, for me, about saving American jobs. I realize that our world is more interconnected globally than ever before, but we want our children to have jobs someday and not have to go overseas for them, don't we?

The children have been wonderful this season - well behaved, well, for toddlers, anyway! - and so curious about what the holidays are all about!! Aromas of cookie baking entice them to participate in our cooking activities and of course they love the results! I usually make several kinds of cookies for home and gifts every year. The biscotti and painted cookies seem to reappear regularly by request!

The littlest ones are talking much more than they did three months ago, and are very clear as to their preferences. We always offer choices, and even if all they do is point to their chosen meal preference, that's helping them develop a sense of ownership of the environment and an awareness that their preferences are respected.

They also love arts and crafts - we had time to make some pop-up cards of a Yule tree this week and the children were so proud of those!

Next week we are off - I was hoping to have the kitchen floor sanded but the contractor had to cancel so we'll have to postpone to the summer. There is plenty to do here at home - this will be a 'working stay-cation' for me! We are expecting the arrival of some new bathroom hardware - I'm really tired of looking at the broken handle on the vanity this past two years!

Green Holidays?

The summer has raced by, the last of autumn's leaves are in a pile by the curb, and Black Friday is just a few days away. How will we celebrate the holidays this year? With another mad dash to the mall to spend precious dollars on (to me) cop-out gift cards or imported goods quickly ditched or broken? Or with quality time spent with family, getting to the heart of the season of good cheer with open hearts and arms?

Without adopting the hubris of trying to solve the nation's deficit problem myself in one season, I resolved this year to adopt simplicity as a life style and seek that true Spirit of Light that so many cultures embrace at this time. It really bothers me that huge foreign countries own so much of our debt, not to mention where that debt came from! So to the greatest extent possible I set myself the challenge of supporting American families, American factories, and feeling some pride in keeping my dollars here at home.

While I won't give away the gifting surprises ; ) I'm pleased to say that I was successful in finding things for the kids that were made here at home, or in small countries I was happy to support. (Not to mention minimal packaging, a small environmental footprint, and/or the ability to continually repurpose or recycle.) And do you have any idea how hard it is nowadays to find American-made goods anymore? It was a wonderful adventure!

As we enter December with mindfulness of the many unmet needs of others much less fortunate than ourselves, may we embrace a simplicity of the spirit which allows us to see everything, everyone, as a Divine Gift reflected in the face of every person we meet, and act gently, and even generously, according to that Spirit.