birds, birds and more birds

 What are we doing lately?  Here's a photo walk through the week...

potato soup from the children's garden

 First we harvested our vegetables...

 next we talked about the harvest ... then scrubbed the produce...

 Peeled them.... and cut them

 Once all the veggies were cut we went to the garden to collect some sage, chives and thyme...

 And added it to the crockpot.

 We cooked the potatoes', celery, onions and a few other garden veggies in the crock pot over night, along with enough broth to cover.

 In the morning we blended the soup adding a few more chives, salt, pepper and milk.

The result was delicious!!

Painting with the toddlers

The toddlers and I spent the day experimenting with wax crayons and liquid watercolor on hot-pressed water color paper.

To facilitate some color differentiation, each child worked with a single color at a time.  This was not only an aesthetic choice. I wanted the children to experience the full saturation of each color and how adding different hues over time changed the piece....sometimes blending and other times overlaying depending on the wetness of the underlying color.  I also attempted to offer lighter colors first to further this investigation.

The use of brushes and drawing tools foster strength of the hand, pincer grip and more...all indirect preparations for the writing and drawing ahead.

 It was yet another beautiful day with the toddlers.

Dia de los muertes

Happy Dia de los muertes!!!  We celebrated the ebb and flow of life as a whole school, courtesy of a CGMS family with roots in Mexico.

Sylvia and Alex set up a beautiful seasonal alter before joining us for a school wide assembly in both the morning and afternoon programs.  Together they shared some of the traditions surrounding this celebration, sensitively and brightly communicating the cycle of life and death and how the Mexican culture celebrates the departed on this special day.
When we finished the children returned to their classes and everyone was invited into studio where we made corn tortillas and enjoyed them with fresh pinto beans and salsa.

 A good time was had by all.

Our deep gratitude to the Salcedo-Rojas' family for generously sharing their family/cultural traditions with our school! These experiences deepen our cultural awareness and enrich our program immensely.