number bars

poking holes around the shape of a continent

crushing chamomile flowers

preparing a leaf for our tree

spelling words with the moveable alphabet

transferring liquid from one bowl to another

tasting exercise

the color of the week is a glittery orange

smelling exercise

Back to Work

the "tens board"

counting practice
cleaning his own mess

leaves will be a recurring theme this season

dusting the leaves and watering one of the class plants

sorting land, water, and sky images

number procession

cleaning paint from her smock

using a screwdriver also helps with the development of fine motor skills

Walking in the classroom when it's in full swing is a like a breath of fresh air. Classical music serenades the children as they each work on their own activity. Photographing these moments is an absolute art. We'd like to capture the child's focus, while at the same time, not disrupt the fragile rhythm of learning. It's also very difficult to decide which photos to include on this website! The children participate in so many different activities that we find ourselves swimming in an ocean of photographs, each telling its own tale of a special moment. Thankfully, this is just the beginning of the school year!

First Day of School

We had some special musical guests. Each month, they'll return with a new instrument and introduce it to the children through song and dance.

Lemonade

Can you believe the kids juiced SIXTY lemons?

We've never tasted better lemonade...

Bubbles

Flower Pounding

One of the most entertaining parts about working with children is observing which activities make each individual child light up with newfound energy and a passion they never knew could exist. Some kids loved painting with watercolors, others loved kneading bread, and the most unexpected kids went nuts over watching Abby's dad shoot arrows. Every single child had a fantastic time smashing marigolds they had gathered from the garden into the cloth tapestries you've probably seen hanging on the fence. It can be difficult coming up with ideas that will keep the attention of all ages and all personality types, and of course, some kids were done flower pounding after only ten minutes. Some ran off to collect leaves and rose petals, only to bring them back to the table. Some were smashing flowers so exhuberantly that they lost track of time and found themselves still doing it after 45 minutes straight. In this case, those kids were the girls you see draping themselves in the tapestries. By the time most of the other children were swinging, making mud spaghetti, or playing tag, these two were still happily pounding away. When they found themselves alone with these beatiful tapestries, it occured to them to shake off the petals into the wind, and adorn themselves like flower princesses.

Zucchini Bread

Zucchini straight from our garden makes for a very sweet bread. The children did all of the work themselves and enjoyed the fruit of their labor with butter, jam, and bananas. Yum!

Happy Bithday!

Old Fashioned Goodness

Click here for a biography of the band, Silent Whys.

Their lovely music is accessible to all ages.