Sending Ice to Africa

 I just love a crisp walk around Long Lake this time of year.  Yesterday though, it wasn't part of my plan for the day.  My day started like many do, arguing with my daughter about why she had to go to school.  Poor thing is missing her Montessori environment.

So like any good mom I made a deal.  The deal was if she went to school I would come and get her at lunch and we would take our dog to Long Lake at lunch time for a big walk.

She was in and so was a friend of hers!

 The girls made quick time eating up their lunch in the car on the drive to Long Lake.  All the while talking about how they needed to be quick so they would have lots of time to play.  I hadn't planned even to blog about this except that as I watched them play I realized how happy they both were finding sticks to break up ice.  They also climbed rocks and poked around in the woods.  Neither of them needed anything more in that moment.  It was pure bliss.

So this is what they were doing...
They were breaking up ice to make an ice table and then I was told they were sending the ice off to Africa by throwing it in the lake.  The lake current would carry it away to Africa because it is so hot there and they would need it.  There was such a sense of purpose in this work or play.  I did not have the heart to tell them the ice would just melt and not make it to Africa.  I was just taken in by it all and it really was lovely to watch unfold.

Ice Tables

Breaking Ice Up

 In the past I have spoke of natural play spaces for children.  It really is important for children to feel a connection with the earth and the natural world.  How can we ask them to take care of it when we are gone if we don't foster that love early on?  I must admit, it was a great way to spend lunch time. ~Ms. Michelle

Sending Ice to Africa

This Week...

 This week I have been doing some letter recognition with my language sensitive children.  The urge to work with the large movable alphabet is so great these days and so we are doing just that!  The last few days I have had some of my children who are getting ready to head into pink reading boxes work with the large movable alphabet.

I would hand each child a letter and give them the sound and send them off into the classroom to find an object to match the sound.  This was fun and interesting.  I had to encourage some children to think outside the box and look in cabinets and through materials to bring items.  Funny how Montessori children are so sensitive to everything having its place in the classroom.  I really had to say, "its ok to bring a metal inset for the sound m".

In this picture wood was brought for "w" bear for "b" nut for "n" and tile for "t".

Fox for "f", Racoon for "r", Pink for "p" Owl for "o", Red for "r" and Metal inset for "m".

 I cannot express to you how much I love exploring art with your children!  They embrace many mediums and truly love this part of their day.  The poppies that are being drawn and painted this week are simply stunning!

Please think of a way to use these beautiful pieces of art that are coming home. ~Ms. Michelle

Georgia On My Mind

 It's true, I am thinking about Georgia O'Keeffe.  Leading up to this month, I knew we would be looking at her art and talking about poppies.

I love to study artists with children.  It leads into lovely art projects and beautiful discussions.  Today, I read Through Georgia's Eyes .  Reading this book to the children today brought out wonderful conversations on her art and what they saw when they looked at it.  Some of the comments were, "I see an ice monster" for one of the abstract pieces.  "I see the sun and mountains".  We talked about how sometimes we can see many things when we look at a picture for a long time.  We talked about how Georgia knew she wanted to be an artist for a long time but wasn't allowed because she was a girl.  We talked about her strength and determination.

There is a lot that is beautiful in our classrooms this week.  Make sure you take time to notice the beauty in it all.  ~Ms. Michelle

Georgia O'Keefe Art Cards with Labels

Cloud Work

Tissue paper poppies

Journey to Candy Land

 Lately the children have been making wonderful line drawings with markers at the art easel.  It is amazing how drastically a different medium can change how children create.  The children seemed to delight in creating elaborate drawings with markers.  As much as they love the paints painting doesn't seem to lend itself to detail like markers.

I was very intrigued by the side by side drawing that these two girls were working on this week.  They spent a great deal of time on these drawings that they call “Candy land”  If you look closely at “G”'s drawing you can see her Grandmother at the top of Candy land blowing bubbles with bubblegum.  I loved the process that these girls went through to create their pictures because they talked about it, they collaborated but they still had very unique drawings and I could clearly see each child's idea of what “Candy land” would be like. 

 K” was also working very hard at the easel that day and here I managed to zoom in on his picture of a “Boy playing the piano.”

Ms. Misook had her portrait drawn by “A”  Notice the matching shirts!

~Ms. Melanie

The Business of Bones

 The business of bones is funny.  At least I can say that now that we are in our fourth week with our girl and her SECOND broken arm in a year!

One of our Dad's offered to come in a cast arms for the children and talk about bones and why you would need a cast.  It was so much fun and it tied in beautifully with our class looking at X-rays of the human Skeleton.

 Dr. M put plaster on arms while the children generally played in the water and watched the process.  I think Dr. M had as much fun as the children that day.  One after one they all lined up to have a cast put on their arm.

Once the casting was done, we drew and signed each others cast!

Then they were cut off and saved to go home and played with.

 As an extension on this work, I set up x-ray making at our art table.  What fun!

And so, my girl didn't think it was so rough to have a broken arm.  After all you get to be an artist 24/7 if you want!

The invasion of Spooky Spiders

We have been making spooky spiders at the art table this week.  The
children have been very engaged in this activity. They have shown
great concentration and fine motor control when pressing the
plasticine over the styrofoam balls.
This kind of activity really helps to strengthen fingers.

Also some children have been extending the spider theme to the art
easel.  "K" drew a whole family of spiders.

Counting Your Maple Leaves

 We did some Autumn Leaf counting today. "K" spent a long time doing this work. When it was completed it looked quite beautiful.

Off the Hook Goodness!

 Sunday morning 6:45 I am up making fish sticks for the Maple Tree Children.  It is a labour of love.  Like all things, I am committed to good food that is local and sustainable.  What it means, is that some times, most times, I am working on my weekend.

I've been wanting to add fish for a long time to our menu and finding the right way to add it has been tricky.  I am not a fan of wasting food and so you will never find anything on our menu that we haven't tested til perfect or that the children don't love.

 Let me say this, they love our homemade fish sticks!  They were served up with some roasted potato wedges and a side of raw veggies.  not a scrap was left behind!

The fish was purchased fresh from Peter at the Fish Shop at the Farmers Market.  Peter loves that I am buying fish for the school and so he gives me a bit of break on it.  THANK YOU Peter!  Line caught fish is expensive. Our Halibut came from Sambro head.  It was beautiful and fresh.

Because of all the different food needs at the school I had to get creative.  I had to come up with an egg free and gluten free version of our fish sticks and so I did!  I almost love this kind of challenge because I need to research and pour over cookbooks and well, I love that.  our regular version is simply, fish sliced into sticks (I did not wast a bit of our fish so don't be fussy if your fish stick looks wonky).  I seasoned some flour with salt and pepper, dipped the fish stick in the seasoned flour, next dipped it in egg wash and lastly bread crumbs.  Our gluten free version was done with seasoned corn flour, Flax eggs and gluten free crackers.  Both versions are super tasty.

Flax eggs, 1/4 cup flax seeds and 1 cup water.  Grind the flax seeds in your processor and then add water and mix until they are the consistency of eggs.  Fax eggs keep for 1 week in the fridge.  1/4 cup of flax eggs is equal to 1 egg.

When I was done making all the fish sticks, I stuck them in the freezer and quick froze them and then transferred them into a ziploc bag.  As you can see my portions were generous and each child had two for lunch plus we gave out seconds, because we can :)   Now that I have figured this out I will be taking some parents up on their offer to come in and make these for us!